Learning Adventures At Home: June 2018

Sunday, June 17, 2018

2018 Field Trip: Sam Houston Memorial Museum

On a fine Sunday in May, we loaded up and drove to Huntsville to enjoy the General Sam Houston Folk Festival. It promised to be a day full of fun and it was until angry storm clouds rolled over the town and drenched the museum grounds. The festival got cancelled, but the museum was open for the visitors. So, we took refuge in the museum and learned a lot about the first and third president of the Republic of Texas.

Outdoor kitchen

The Woodland House.

Some Civil War era toys

From a quilter's booth.

Soap making demonstration.

Lye making machine.

Houston's law office.

'17/18 Week 32 through 36

The last weeks of our school year -- the whole month of May -- was a big blur of ... everything. Somehow this year, all after school activities lasted longer than in previous years, and all of them decided to have their grand finales one after another. It was exhausting, but we made it. Our last days of school fell on the first days of June which is a perfect timing as the pools in town opened up the same time and the library summer programs started up.
Although our school work is done, we will not be relaxing too much this summer. Andrew is volunteering at the library events and participating in church youth group activities. Also, our taekwondo classes continue throughout summer, and there is a art camp coming in July. But it does feel good to slow down a little and smell the rare flowers that manage withstand this summer heat.
Here comes the picture overload of many, but not all, the things we did in May.

Science. Saara built another type of working compass.

Playing detectives. One way to find out the make of a fabric swatch is to burn it. The color of the flame, the charred remains, the duration of burning -- all this information can give us clues.

Time to pick dewberries!

Science. Saara made a telegraph machine.

LA. Brainstorming for an essay about heroes.

Prickly cactus

We did not have time to find out what kind of moth it was.

King snake strangling a copperhead in our back yard.

Just one photo from this year's choir concert. It was beautiful as ever and the kids did a fantastic job.

The king snake did strangle the copperhead to death and left the body behind. As we had a fresh kill on our hands, I found it a prime opportunity to have a impromptu science class. We dissected the dead snake.