'12/13 Week 38 Day 3

And the last day of school is over. With Saara, we finished reading a few of her books, and she filled out the last assignments in her LA workbook. With Andrew, we went over all the events, countries, and people we studied in history this year. He remembered some and had forgotten some. This gave me an idea what to do with him in the summer ...
All in all, I do not feel like drawing conclusions or summing up the year. Our adventures continue with or without the curriculum. I do not see Andrew nor Saara ever saying "The school is out. Now what?"

Saara's done with preK and Andrew with Grade 1. Let the silly summer begin!

'12/13 Week 38 Day 2

Another book we finished today was the story of George Muller. Both children liked the book very much, but, I think, I was the one most affected by this story of simple faith and obedience. Powerful. I know, I will be borrowing this book from my childrens' library again. For me. 
We also finished Andrew's book about the Christian life and tomorrow we'll read the last pages in Saara's Bible stories book. Things are winding down on many fronts.
But, we are still going strong with math, reading comprehension, reading practice, and science. For a little while longer.

Andrew's LA - finding and sorting common nouns and proper nouns.

June 4th is Estonia's Flag Day. To celebrate the holiday, we made sugar cookies and frosted them blue-black-and-white.

Happy Estonian Flag Day!

'12/13 Week 38 Day 1

Last week of school. It is going to be a rather intense one because I did decide to combine two-three days and do two days' worth of assignments in one day (which is really not a lot if I leave all of my own additions out). Like today, in some subjects we covered two days' material and still got done in good time. No lallygagging though. :o)

Also, today we read last chapters of a couple of books (like Andrew's poetry book) that we have been reading bit by bit since August. It is kind of sad. 

And I totally take back any doubts I had about "Detectives in Togas". Andrew declared it his favorite book (just like all the others we have read). I am not going as deep into this book as we did with Mr. Popper's Penguins, but 'Detectives' is a good book to learn about the characters. We have seven boys as main characters, each with a different personality. As we read (and we will be reading the book for a while still), I would like to focus on discovering bits and pieces about the boys' characters. Andrew helped me make a chart ready for this study. He himself would loved to be one of the boys, I am sure of it - full of mischief like he is.

I photocopied the pictures of the characters from the book and Andrew helped me set up a chart for a character study.

Boys, be ready! Here we come.

Saara reviewing her knowledge in math.

'12/13 Week 37 Day 5

Today's keyword was 'reading'. I should truly capitalize it. The children read some, I read some. Then again, Andrew read some, and I read a whole lot. While I was cooking dinner, both children were reading their June magazines and playing games on Highlights.com. As soon as Dad was home from work and brought in today's mail, the kids grabbed their just-arrived July magazines and read again. While I was washing dishes, Andrew opened up his Action Bible and read out loud again. Wow! It does not happen every day, but when this reading frenzy does take place, I just step back and am thankful.

By the way, Andrew is hooked on "The Detectives in Togas" now. He could not wait till I got done with our readings in History. Oh, he was so eager to know 'who-done-it'. 

Saara and I practiced dividing words into syllables today. She thought it was a great game and did not stop (read: what did I start now!) for a long while. I would not be surprised if she picks it up again tomorrow. All good. 

Now, then - one more week and then ... may the sleep-in mornings officially begin! :o)

Teamwork: finding hidden objects in a picture. Highlights.com

My kind of (dream) life: homemade oatmeal cookies (best remedy for an aching sweet-tooth), glass of milk, and a magazine. Relax.

 

'12/13 Week 37 Day 4

Today's science class will go down in history as one of the coolest ones. We explored the light again and what happens when the light slows its traveling speed in the water. Trust me, it was pretty cool!

Andrew took his 14th math test today and scored 34 points out of 36 (lost his focus toward the end of the test). Recently, finishing his common addition and subtraction tasks has been like pulling teeth. The boy can solve the problems and solve them excellently, but he is doing it at a snail's speed. I might have to pull out my stopwatch again. 

The 'Detectives' reading comprehension book has proved to be worthy of our time. It is not only an exciting story, but the following chapters (after the first rather challenging one) have been a pleasure to read rather than a pain. So, on we go to find out what? who? where? and why?

A bent pencil or tricks the light will play on us.

The light can easily twist your words around if you look at them through a marble.

A pickle jar full of water can work as a magnifying glass.

Saara reviewing her tally marks.

'12/13 Week 37 Day 3

We are on the 'summer' schedule right now which means I have the kids play and run and exercise outside in the morning before the humidity and heat pick up. I did school like this last year and it worked out beautifully. 
Today, however, we started school even later than usual. The reason - we were tired of our usual choice of breakfast foods and decided to treat ourselves to something different. 
Breakfast muffins do not sound like an extraordinary dish, but if one does not get it on a regular bases, it may feel like a piece of heaven amidst the mundane oatmeal, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc. And while the muffins were baking, we got out spiritual food by having our daily Bible reading.

The rest of the day, went as planned. It was a good day.

Peanut Butter and Jam Muffins recipe at www.myrecipes.com

Saara completing some Kindergarten level assignments. Worksheets from www.teacherspayteachers.com

'12/13 Week 37 Day 2

A full day of all sorts of stuff. It does feel like the end of the year is close. I am not tempted to take up any new subjects in LA. Rather, I revisit some things Andrew learned months ago. Today, he reviewed punctuation marks and completed a worksheet all by himself. Correctly.
Also, we started reading "Detectives in Togas" - a new reading comprehension book. I am not quite sure about it though. I will give it a fair try, but judging by the first chapter, it could become a challenge. A galore of new (rarely used by us) words could shift the focus from the story to learning and figuring out the vocabulary. This was the reason I never finished "Betsy Understood" - just way too advanced and reading it was not a joy, rather pulling teeth. But, like I said, I will give the "Detectives" a fair chance. If it will not work out, I have a plan B book ready to go.

"... and make our home with him." (John 14:23) - a new song to learn this week.

Math: estimating the proximity.

Saara's nursery rhymes: "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush", of couse.

My detectives in togas. We started reading a new book in the appropriate attire.

'12/13 Week 37 Day 1

We had a busy, but relaxing Memorial Day week end. Now that our batteries are recharged, we are ready for the final two weeks. 
Last year I combined lessons into one to keep up with the schedule. This year with Andrew, I was paying more attention to his progress and ended up with some subjects we studied a bit longer. It all means that there will be a book or two we will still be reading well into the summer. I do not regret for a minute slowing down the pace, even though now I am facing more weeks of  'make-up' days. 

One of those 'slower' subjects has been Vocabulary Learning/Reading Comprehension. It took us double the time to finish "Mr. Popper's Penguins", but I heard with my own ears this morning what a right decision I had made. Before we read the last chapter, we went over the chain of events from the beginning of the book and Andrew floored me with his memory. He remembered everything in details and in the right sequence of events. Saara helped him out with a name or two, Andrew could not recall as fast, but the retelling of the main story line was excellent. 

Now, onto the last book about kids in Rome. Hopefully, it will help us a heap with all the facts about the multitude of Roman emperors we have been covering lately.

Something suitable to celebrate the finale of "Mr. Popper's Penguins". We are not quite done yet. I am planning to borrow the movie from the library. None of us have ever watched it, so I do not know quite what expect. But it will be worth trying.

All of Andrew's new vocabulary words. He was quite shocked when we laid every single one out on the table "That's a lot of words!" And he knows every one of them.

'12/13 Week 36 Day 5

   The day had a very energetic and vigorous start. The morning was beautiful and not hot at all. So Andrew spent some time outside practicing his throwing and catching. Somehow he managed to plant the net that holds the balls high in the tree branches. Boys! (Dad saved the day and brought it down later).

   Our Bible reading time was full of laughter as we tried to use musical instruments similar to the ones mentioned in Psalm 150. 

And then, somewhere between Andrew's Additions and Subtractions practice, the weather changed and the low pressure made us all yawn. It did not stop us from finishing our school day, but the circling rain clouds did postpone Andrew's game till next week. 

Saara almost jumped out of this shot. The children have been learning a song set to the words of Psalm 150. When the song says 'dance', you have to dance.

Or make a lot of noise with clashing cymbals.

'12/13 Week 36 Day 4

Today was supposed to be the last day of school for this week, but Dad's schedule changed and now we are doing school tomorrow and the day after. Which works out beautifully.

The school day itself was rather ordinary, no bells nor whistles. We got our work done in all the subjects and headed off to the library. 

Review of some double phonics sounds. Fit for both kids. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZOIl0VCrco

At the library I signed Andrew and Saara up for this year's summer reading program.  They had one for adults too!

I can not see Andrew having a problem filling his reading log. Today, I found him reading at home ...

... while waiting to get in the car ...

... at the baseball field.

'12/13 Week 36 Day 3

Our morning was special. During our Bible reading we talked a lot about the Lord's Supper and ended up having one ourselves. I was surprised how seriously both of them approached the subject. They were happy and respectful. I believe, they did understand that Communion is not just a snack but there is a deeper meaning behind the command Jesus gave us "Do this in remembrance of me".

Priceless. I could not resist taking a picture of Andrew praying.

Saara finished her math book for the year, but she is not done yet.

The history of Rome when it jumped from a republic to a kingdom is full of new names. We had to sort them out somehow. I printed out some cartoonish clip art pictures to go with each name. It seems to help memorize the characters and events.

'12/13 Week 36 Day 2

Our pond is full of turtles. We see them all the time. What we see rarely, however, is a turtle far from the pond.
As the kids were outside this morning before the school (and before the heat), they found a snapper chilling in the middle of the field. Naturally, it took us a while to tear ourselves away from the turtle and settle down for studies.

Which went well. Things somehow took a while today, although both kids stayed focused throughout the whole day. Were the tasks longer? I do know, the chapter book that Andrew started reading for his Reading Practice, has longer assignments than any book we have had before. He is doing well. To help him out a bit during the day, I ask him to read the next day's pages the night before. Homework taking shape.

'12/13 Week 36 Day 1

   A very busy Monday. At first, it looked pretty blue, but it brightened up as the day went on. 

   The highlight among other many things was, of course, the science movie. We are still exploring and experimenting with light. Today, Andrew (and Saara) learned about how light travels. We all huddled up in the kids' bathroom and did some tests with light and its rays. 

   In LA, Andrew learned a little about alliteration and went crazy coming up with is own phrases. The best one was: "Queen Elizabeth's quiet court". With the rest, you had to have a rather excellent imagination to make sense of the phrase. But, Andrew got the point of what alliteration is. 

   It is very odd, but if there are snakes involved, Andrew can remember the story so much better, even names. In History, we are still working on the memorizing facts about the Roman empire and Julius Caesar, Augustus, and even Antony. But Cleopatra and how she met her end seem not to be a problem at all. Odd. But it works. 

   Did I say, it is a busy Monday? Saara's got her game tonight in the 90 F heat. Oh, bleachers, here I come!

Andrew learning about ounces and pounds and feeling the weight.

 5 lb. My 'sack o' potatoes' feeling how much he weighed when he was born.

The flash spoiled it all, but Andrew was having fun directing his light. He said it was much like shooting. Light does travel straight.

Andrew making the 'light-bunny' on the wall illuminate the tennis ball on the floor. Using mirrors and light.

This was our favorite experiment: building a model of the Sun, the Earth, and the Moon. Andrew finally understood the moon phases. Can you spot the half moon tennis ball?  Pretty cool.

'12/13 Week 35 Day 6

   I decided to go ahead and have a school day despite the lack of air-conditioning in our house. We did the minimum required amount in LA, reading, math, and science. No extra activities today. Just bare bones. We got done in time - right when the service man pulled into our driveway.

   As I was switching off the fans and enjoying the cool airflow from the vents once again, I chuckled to myself: this past week we read about a freezing plant service man in Mr. Popper's Penguins, we also read about a group of workmen who went to repair a furnace of the orphanage in George Muller's story, and, now, we have our own 'need-repair' story to add to it all. Theoretically, we were prepared.

The best spot in the house this morning - Andrew reading his book in front of the fan.

Whoosh! Feel the air in your hair. Saara busy with a task in her LA workbook.

'12/13 Week 35 Day 5

I am trying to decide whether to have classes tomorrow or not. Our A/C unit decided to malfunction and is currently switched off waiting for a service man tomorrow. Things like this tend to happen right before a week end and before a heat wave. Nice ... 

This morning was cool, though, and we had a good time doing our lessons. I have not taught the kids any sign language for a very long time, so this morning I showed them a few signs to go with the song we have been learning. I am not an expert in ASL not even a beginner, just a step ahead of the kids because I know where to go online to learn the signs. :o)  http://www.aslpro.com/cgi-bin/aslpro/aslpro.cgi

Our penguins made the whole house rock with laughter during our LA class. Today's chapter recounted Mr. Popper's attempts to train the penguins to do tricks for a show. I had my 'penguins' do the same to the same music Mrs. Popper was playing on the piano. What a show we had!

Andrew learning a sign for the word 'commandment'.

Saara signing 'love'.

Andrew taking a closer look at penguin's anatomy.

Act 1: marching to the music of Schubert.

Act 2 was waltzing in my book (not in the story) to the Merry Widow's Waltz. Atc 3 climbing on top of a step ladder.

Space studies. "The Eagle has landed"

Saara's done with her math!