'17/18 Weeks 28-30

       Three weeks and our Easter break have flown by fast. Spring weather  has coaxed out lots of beautiful flowers in the fields, and the kids have been outside every day enjoying the colors and their free hours. We have only six more weeks of Sonlight program left, and we can see the finish line. 
       In Science, Andrew started reading a new book which takes a closer look at the theory of evolution and the flaws in it. He has become fascinated with the subject and reads more than his daily requirement. The other day he said that Science, History, and Math are his favorites now. I would add reading to it as well. Although he finds the current required reading book boring, he has devoured a series of three books he borrowed from the library. The boy is reading and enjoying it, that's what matters. We will get through the boring books too in time.
      Saara also has been borrowing books from the library she reads through in no time. She loves reading and has already finished all her required reading books for her grade, plus a couple of Read Aloud ones too. And although both of them have their noses in the books a lot, they still love the times when I bring out a storybook and start reading to them. It makes me smile for I cherish those times a lot.

LA. Building a story line for a fictional short story that happened at a historical place in Texas. Saara wrote about a treasure hunt at Caddo Mounds and Andrew about a jewelry thief in Alamo. Great stories.

Caught reading.

Spring brought flowers out everywhere.

Science. Testing for starch with iodine.

Foods that contained starch turned drops of iodine blue-black.

Even pieces of potato turned blue.

More flowers.

Mapping magnetic fields.

This was one of the most exciting experiments Andrew has had this year. For starters we made a starch-iodine solution.

The starch-iodine solution was very blue.

Then we added lemon juice to it and watched the blue disappear.

Iodine made a stronger bond with Vitamin C than with starch turning the blue solution (starch+iodine) into a clear one (Vitamin C+iodine). 

It is spring time after all. 

LA. A new game to help out with spelling practice.

'17/18 Weeks 24 and 25

      So much has happened these past few weeks, I do not know where to start! We celebrated a lot of holidays, both American and Estonian; had fun at a friend's birthday party, worried our hearts out for our dog who had to spend two nights at a hospital, did oodles of science experiments, and wrote two serious essays. Somewhere there we crossed the 2/3 line. It means that out of 36 weeks of school only 12 remain. And somehow the weather turned a corner, and we started seeing signs of spring everywhere. 

Shrove Tuesday with cardamom buns - an Estonian tradition we are keeping.

Valentine's Day celebration at our co-op.

LA. Brainstorming for ideas. The kids had to write a travel brochure for our state. 

LA. In Andrew's science class, we learned how to clean silver. We were really learning how electrolytes work.

This experiment worked. Andrew was disappointed I did not have more tarnished silverware to clean.

Weekend fun. We went to check out a trampoline park in town.

Celebrating Estonia's Independence Day.

At a friend's birthday party.

After weeks of cold and rain, spring has finally arrived.

History. Finding all the different countries involved in the WWII

Science. There's copper in Windex. We cleaned up a copper penny only to see it pick up a coating of copper from the window cleaner.

One of Saara's experiments with magnets. 

Learning the different parts of the microscope. 

Measuring the strength of a magnet.

Detecting different substances by the color of the flame. We did not have all the suggested solutions at home (like borax), but we did see a couple of different color flames with the salts we have. Table salt (sodium chloride) burned orange.

A white flame from Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate).

'17/18 Weeks 22 and 23

      These past two weeks have flown by fast. Our main focus was completing an excellent research paper on a subject of Texas. Saara chose to research some interesting facts about the state's wildlife. Andrew chose to write about some symbols of the state. For the first time the kids included in their work a full outline of the paper and a page listing the reference materials they used. This writing assignment was probably the most serious and longest one we have done so far. I was thankful to see that the process of writing paragraphs was not a big challenge to either of the kids. Practice does pay off.
      Beside the writing assignment, we continued with our regular classes. Both kids had a number of interesting science projects they enjoyed and learned from. 

Math. Saara learning about angles and how to use a protractor.

Science. Andrew had a fun lesson on why we are not able to see the other side of the Moon.

LA. Saara was using her beginner typing skills to write her final copy of her research paper.

Early one morning, Andrew and I went outside to hang up some birdseed ornaments.

Science. Lesson about light and how it bends through different lenses. Once again we were having an experiment the kids were able to eat afterwards. We made Jell-O molds for our lenses.

Building a homemade galvanometer for detecting electrical current.

Later we used the galvanometer to test different solutions for conductivity. Sugar water does not conduct electricity, but salt water does.

More experiments with light. Using special lenses to separate the colors in white light.

And then we did the opposite, we tried to turn the colors back into white light. We almost succeeded.