'15/16 Week 17 Days 2 and 3

Saara and I have been under the weather for a couple of days. Because of that, we have been moving along at a slower pace. It has been rather enjoyable, and I am amazed that we have finished all our daily task and some. 

Arts and crafts time! Saara tried out her new looming kit and made a sweet little rug for her brother.

Math. Learning to read word problems carefully in order to find out what to do with the remainders. 

Saara's last ballet class this year.

History. Learning about Joan of Arc and the 100-YearsWar.

Today was this kind of a school day.

History. Going over the events that lead to the Great War.

LA. Finding the subject in simple statements.

For a couple of classes now, Andrew and Saara have been perfecting their letter writing skills. Today, Saara finished her letter to our friends in West Virginia.

'15/16 Week 17 Day 1

In science, Saara was reading about some exotic birds and their nests. At the end of our school day we took a walk in our woods to see how many nests we could spot. The recent storms knocked down a number of them, but we were able to find a couple. Besides the nests, we also saw a lot of other interesting things.

For her birthday Saara received a sewing basket. She came to help me with her new tools.

Science. We finished reading another book.

Things we spotted on our nature walk.

Nest #1.

Ferns growing on a tree trunk.

By the weak smell we detected, we think it is an active skunk hole.

Everything is either very colorful ...

... or not at all.

Nest #2

'15/16 Week 16 Days 3, 4 and 5

What a fantastic last couple of days of our week 16 of school, and what a fun filled weekend! I am so glad I could adjust the volume and intensity of our studies during these three days. I postponed our reading assignments and focused our attention and time on important math lessons. Saara continues to learn her multiplication table, and Andrew is learning practical ways to use his division skills, like in finding an average of some data. 

After a good dress rehearsal the day before, the children were ready to perform in the Christmas story.

I was so proud of Andrew. He overcame his stage fright and did such a grand job!

The weekend also brought a lot of rain and flooding. Our creek at its worst.

At the downtown Christmas parade.

And, yes, we got a lot of school work done as well. Science. Andrew learning about some surprises electrons can cause when they decide to take the path of less resistance.

'15/16 Week 16 Days 1 and 2

In addition to our little outing to look at the lights in the park, the children had a couple of more Christmas time events last week end. First, we watched the city's Christmas parade. Second, the children had their annual Christmas concert. It all was very lovely.

At the Christmas Parade.

Saara taking a photo of her favorite characters at the Christmas parade.

Christmas concert. A quick rehearsal before the concert.

Another quick rehearsal before the concert.

Our school days have been busy as usual. There have been a lot of new skills both children have been learning and practicing in math. Saara is slowly memorizing the multiplication table, and Andrew is learning to divide larger numbers.
In history, Andrew crossed over to the 20th century. Today, we read about the Spanish-American War. Saara is in the middle of learning about the vast empire of the Khan dynasty in Asia.
Andrew finished his reading practice book and I let him choose his new one. He was so excited when he saw "Old Yeller". He had heard about the story from a TV show he watched once, and now he cannot wait to read it himself.

Science. Saara was answering a few questions about owls. I brought out my collection of owl feathers we have found on our property.

We examined the feathers to see for ourselves the reason the owls have such a silent flight. 

Saara is becoming more independent. She prefers to read her book by herself now.

Math. Learning to multiply by tens.

'15/16 Week 15 Days 4 and 5

The children had their last choir practice this year. The concert will take place on Monday and they are very excited about it. Today, we also took a little trip to see the lights in the park. After a small gathering to celebrate Saara's birthday we walked around the Central Park, had hot chocolate and cookies, and even sang a Christmas carol to a passing hayride. It was a lot of fun.
Our school day on Saturday was a little shorter than I would have liked to. Andrew's science experiment called for steel wool which was mysteriously missing from the science kit we ordered. Next time we are anywhere close to a auto parts store, we will get some steel wool and catch up with the experiment.

An early birthday party for Saara.

Art. For this week's art project, I asked the kids to use crayons and watercolors to paint thank you notes for Saara's birthday gifts.

'15/16 Week 15 Days 2 and 3

Now that we do not have any baseball to claim our evenings, the kids have been enjoying our regular reading time. And we read a lot - each kid has a read-aloud book and a reading practice book. So every night we read a few chapters or portions from at least four books. I addition, both kids have a ton of books they have borrowed from the library that they read whenever they can. I love that I find books laying everywhere in my house. Truly, we have more books toys scattered around the living room.

'15/16 Week 15 Day 1

Andrew capturing the frost that greeted us one morning during our vacation.

After a nice Thanksgiving break we are ready to continue with our studies. Nothing earth-shaking happened today. It was just a normal school day. We picked up where we left off in November. 
At the end of the school day, we took a nice mile-long walk along our country road. We will try to go for a walk every day after school when it is not raining. 

Math. Saara looking for missing numbers.

Caddo Mounds

On a very windy day in November we visited the Caddo Mounds. We learned that more than 1200 years ago a group of Caddo Indians built a village and three mounds around their village. We learned about the purpose of the mounds and about the everyday life of these ancient Indians.

An short but very interesting documentary about the Caddo Indians, the historic site, archaeological work done at the site, and Caddo culture nowadays. 

A Caddo bow came up to Andrew's chin.

Caddos traded with other Indian tribes near and far. The trade routs were used later by the Spanish.

The burial mound.

The ceremonial worship mound on the other side of the highway.