'15/16 Week 25 Day 5

I found out that my kids do not like cubism. They thought it odd and kind of childish. We looked at a number of paintings by different artist. The kids had fun seeing the shapes formed into familiar objects or people, but they still thought it was odd. 
We took a closer look at Pablo Picasso and his paintings and tried to imitate his style. It was different for the kids, but they seemed to enjoy the drawing process and went wild with colors. They definitely had their own take on Picasso.

Science. Saara building a model windmill that supposedly demonstrates how to utilize wind energy.

The pinwheel worked some and lifted the button off the table, but the construction was wobbly. After watching a video on the subject, we saw that we could have improved the original instructions by adding one more support straw. 

Art. Drawing a cubistic face.

'15/16 Week 25 Days 3 and 4

The baseball season is here. After getting and A+ from her doctor, Andrew headed to the baseball try-outs this evening. Soon the teams will be picked and the practices will start. 
Also, the kids had fun throwing the ball and batting in the yard after school. The day was beautiful and I was glad we got done with school quite early so the kids could go outside and play.

Science. Andrew observed what kind of an effect one magnetic field has on another magnetic field.

It was fun to watch the magnets spin.

Math. Saara solving her first multiplication word problems.

After school.

At the try-outs.

At the try-outs.

'15/16 Week 25 Days 1 and 2

In the morning, Andrew had a doctor's appointment for a yearly check-up. He was pronounced a very healthy boy. 
Although we spent the morning in town, we still did a considerable amount of schoolwork in the afternoon. Andrew entered the World War II together with the US and Saara built her own thermometer.

At the doctor's office this morning.

Science. Saara testing the greenhouse effect. The ice cube under the glass was supposed to melt faster than the one without the glass.

Saara building her own thermometer.

Placing the bottle into a hot water raised the temperature.

Children watching the temperature fall when the bottle was placed into icy water.

Math. Andrew learning to draw circles with the compass and to mark and measure diameter and radius.

'15/16 Week 24 Days 4 and 5

I and Andrew have been enjoying our math lessons. He has been learning about lines, angles, and now also about how to name circles. We brought out the protractor and the compass and used them in measuring angles and drawing circles. 

Science. Saara learning about the air pressure pushing against the paper.

More air pressure. Saara's home made barometer.

Math. Andrew learning to use some geometry tools.

Andrew named this big guy Legs.

'15/16 Week 24 Days 1, 2, and 3

These have been usual and uneventful school days. The weather has been fabulous and we have spent every free minute outside. The kids have been fishing in the pond or helping me dig in the garden. My voice has been hoarse and I have not been able to read to the kids a lot, but they have been doing a fair job of reading their own books by themselves. 

An after-school activity.

Science. This short book was a fun to read and experiments with light were awesome. We are done with it now.

In science we moved on with our experiments with magnets. This time, Andrew had a number of magnetized pins and he had to figure out the poles of those pins.

'15/16 Week 23 Days 2, 3, 4, and 5

Valentine's Day and all the activities around it made the week fly past. Andrew did a lot of experiments with light in his science class. Saara finished recording how strong the wind  had been these last ten days. In math, Andrew continued his studies of lines, angles, and regular shapes. He is learning a few new terms to better describe shapes. Saara started learning the Roman numerals.
At the end of the week we read about and listened to the timpani drums in our studies of the orchestra. In the art class, the kids tried their hand at abstract art for the first time.

Science. We have been reading two chapters of this book since the beginning of the school year. Now we are done.

Awesome visible spectrum.

We were trying to make the rainbow colors turn back into white light. We got pretty close.

Math. constructing some regular shapes with tooth pics.

A morning visitor.

Math. Learning the Roman numerals.

Valentine's Day Party

Andrew and Saara had a lovely time at Saara's co-op's Valentine's Day party. It was the first time both kids had to bring decorated Valentine's Day boxes. We had cards we brought for putting into their friends boxes. They also had a great time playing games with lots of other kids. The party ended with an abundance of Valentine's Day snacks and sweets. On our way home, both kids had fun reading messages kids had dropped into their boxes.

We ran out of space on the counter top - there were a lot of kids at the party.

We started off with just a few though. Soon, the number doubled.

One of the games was a competition who could build the tallest candy tower.

Another game required paper airplane folding skills.

It also required to fly your plane past the mark.

'15/16 Week 23 Day 1

We tried to get as much done today as possible. Tomorrow we will spend a lot of time away from home. We have a Valentine's Day party and Saara's ballet to go to, plus our weekly visit to the library. It will be an exciting day!

LA. I am rather proud of my kids. They have been working on their writing assignments every week. Today, they had to write descriptive instructions to a hidden treasure. 

Science. For Andrew's science, we had to figure out which are North sides of the magnet. For this purpose we let the magnet tangle and settle facing the right directions.

'15/16 Week 22 Days 4 and 5

The end of the school week was busy. In math Andrew started geometry studies again. We reviewed everything we had learned about lines, rays, and angles. It slowed us down a little on Friday and I had to postpone our history lesson for we did not want to be late for the choir practice. We caught up with the missed lesson on Saturday. We finished our chapters about WW I and are reading about the 'roaring twenties' right now. Saara moved on to the Tudors. She likes Elizabeth I a lot and I am glad Sonlight includes a book about her life for her age-group.

Science. We made jello-lenses in special molds. The concave one made the text look smaller.

A very interesting morning: frost on the ground and thick fog above the ground.

We celebrated the Shrove Tuesday early with traditional Estonian cardamom buns.

BV Museum of Natural History: The Story of Early Photography

This week, both kids had a chapter in their history books about the early steps of photography, how it was invented and how it developed over decades. Our local museum had a small exhibition displaying a number of old photo cameras. Of course, we went to see the exhibition.
Afterwards, I asked the kids what surprised them the most. The answers were: I did not know 1) the cameras were so big, 2) the cameras were so tiny, 3) there were cameras that were binoculars, 4) they colored in the negatives to make color photos.

The dark room

The chemical baths and rinses to develop and fixate the image. I remember helping my Dad do this.

After the photography exhibition, the kids and their friends has time to look at other things in the museum. Here Saara is trying to identify some rocks she brought with.

The snapper turtle.