'15/16 Week 6 Day 5

Saturday has become our fun day because Andrew does his TOPS experiments and the kids end the school week with an art class. 
Today in his science class, Andrew made a circuit puzzle for Saara. I had made one earlier for Andrew and both of them had fun connecting the puzzle dots.
In art, we read about and looked at Caspar Friedrick's paintings. A lot of his work depicts silhouettes of people, and the kids made a mixed media painting with watercolors and a wolf silhouette. 

Science. Andrew making a circuit puzzle for Saara.

Some of the dots in the puzzle were connected, some were not. Saara had to figure out which ones were connected.

The connected dots formed a closed circuit and the bulb lit up.

Art. Using the wet-on-wet technique, the kids painted a background for their wolf silhouette.

'15/16 Week 6 Day 4

I am amazed how disciplined the children can be. Yes, I saw a frown and heard a grumbling when I announced a spelling exercise and dictation, but they did not argue. Instead, they sat down, grabbed their pencils and got the work done. It is life, I guess - there are plenty of things we do not like doing, but they need to get done. 
At any rate, our school tasks were done by the time we had to leave for the choir practice. Andrew's voice was still kind of rough, so he sat out the choir, just assisted where he could. He fully enjoyed himself at the chimes, though.

PGM. Andrew was assigned a chime today.

Mrs. Lassiter is demonstrating what our diaphragm does when we breathe in and out. 

'15/16 Week 6 Days 2 and 3

It has been two busy days. Our second day was filled with lots of scientific experiments. Saara was reading about her ear and how it works. We also found out why people put their hand behind their ear in a gesture to hear better, and how and why it works.
Andrew learned a lot about the static electricity, not just fun little things like sticking a balloon to the wall or bending a trickle of running water. We actually got to the bottom of it, down to the electrons and negative charges. Very interesting.
Today went a little slow. Partly because Andrew was feeling sickly most of the day. He did perk up in the afternoon and felt better. So much that he did not miss his scrimmage game this evening. 

Science. Saara learning about the ear and feeling how her voice makes the air vibrate just like her ear drum.

Look, ma, no hands! Static electricity in action.

More static. Bending the water. 

'15/16 Week 6 Day 1

Our weekend activity: giving our mudroom a fresh coat of paint. Both children had their own sections of the wall to paint.

In the morning, we rushed outside as the sun was rising to enjoy a few minutes of cooler temperatures and to water the garden. As we were coming back inside for breakfast, Andrew literally stumbled over a frog that still sported a long tail. We have now seen frogs in all stages of life - the spawn, the tadpoles, the tadpoles with legs, and now, the frog with a tail. 

Our morning encounter.

History. Today, we concluded our lessons on the American Civil War. 

Geography. Saara taking on another set of countries - the British Isles.

LA. Searching for Action Verbs and Linking Verbs.

'15/16 Week 5 Days 4 and 5

Friday turned out to be a challenging day for all of us. The kids were sleepy, and the teacher was not feeling very well. We took it slowly, and still managed to complete all assignments. A miracle in itself.

On Saturday, we all fared much better. Andrew had a fun scavenger hunt in the house looking for objects that conduct or do not conduct electricity.

At the end of the school day both kids went through a box of older photos. They chose one of a person they wanted to draw. This little exercise was to ensure they remembered from last week how to draw a person's face. Both of them did. They also added a background to their drawings this time.

The children also finished their research papers on wild animals. They had picked their reference books, read and wrote down the information they needed, organized their notes, and wrote a short paper on the animal they chose. It was a good first experience for them about how to gather info and write a research paper. We will do it again soon.

Science. We are finished with this book in science. A story based on a diary of a teenage boy back in 1805. We loved reading it.

This is what my 'class' did when I confessed I was not feeling very well. This huge bouquet of field flowers made my day.

 

Science. A conductor or an insulator? Andrew testing the flow.

He found a few surprising objects around the house that conducted electricity.

Art. After successful self-portraits, the kids drew pictures of other people.

Saara's four-page research paper on bobcats.

'15/16 Week 5 Days 2 and 3

We have had two afternoon in a row nothing but fun playing with friends. These have been good rewards for hard work in the mornings and early afternoons. 
Yesterday, we took a few minutes in the morning to walk around and look for color in the nature. Everything was rather green still. We found a few berries and flowers that were purple or yellow, but majority of our fall is still very green.
Saara finished reading "Stuart Little" by E.B. White. Neither of us were impressed with the story. "Charlotte's Web" by the same author is a much better read. 
Today, both kids took their second math test, started writing their drafts of their animal research paper, and learned about new kinds of verbs - the linking verbs, among other things.
Thankfully, it has not been raining these past few days, and Andrew was able to go to his baseball practice.

Looking for fall color in the forest.

Science. Saara learning about lungs and testing out a lung model.

LA. After a week of researching in books, the kids are finally ready to write the information they gathered into paragraphs.

Practicing his old songs and learning new ones.

Park Day! We made it to the second park day. It was lots of fun.

'15/16 Week 5 Day 1

At yesterday's practice, Andrew did a great job pitching.

We had a good school day. The children itched to learn one more song on the recorder. They are practicing four songs and soon we might put on a little concert. 
The rain this afternoon cancelled Andrew's baseball practice. Maybe for the better. After yesterday's practice, he complained about his arm hurting. A rest until Thursday is a good idea.

Geography. Saara started learning the countries of Scandinavia. I had to pull up the photos we took in Helsinki. Our stay there was brief, but the kids can honestly say, they have been to Scandinavia.

'15/16 Week 4 Days 5

In our art class, we looked at some paintings of Francis de Goya. As he was known for the portraits he painted, we also took a look at drawing a picture of a person. Saara has been sketching smiley-face people, and I thought, it was time, they both got a little lesson on how to draw a proper portrait, something more just just a circle for a face and an arch for a mouth. What the kids ended up drawing and coloring was rather nice.

Science. Saara read about and watched lions in her science class today.

Andrew learned about and experimented with electricity. This time we learned what happens when the battery cells are side by side and not in a series.

Art. After making faces for a while, both got serious and started drawing their own portraits.

'15/16 Week 4 Day 4

The choir-day has arrived! We had to be at the first practice a little early. Because of that, I had to divide the children's math lesson into to, we did half of it today, and we'll do the other half tomorrow. 
The choir practice itself was wonderful. Andrew is older now, and he moved up from baby bells to older bells' choir. It will be a learning curve for him as the bells are different and reading the music is more serious as well. 
Both kids got plenty of play time on the playground while the other one was at the bells practice. Both kids are still together in the choir.

Science. Saara watching the toothpick move as her pulse throbbed.

Playtime while waiting for sister to finish her bells practice.

Girls Gaga Ball team against boys. Playtime for Saara while Andrew is in class.

Sweaty, but happy. Cooling and calming down before the choir.