13/14 Week 41 Days 3 and 4

As the school days get shorter, there is less and less to write about the children's learning adventures. Part of me is sad to say good-bye to all this fun we had, the challenges we faced and overcame, the new knowledge we were exposed to. But part of me (I am sure, the kids too) is ready for a break.

Although we are done with the classes now, we have not yet 'officially' ended our year. And I do not mean just those 'end of the year' pictures and a cake, but really a trip down the memory lane to look at accomplishments, leaf through the children's school binders, bring out their masterpieces, watch through the videos we took, and flip through the photo albums. I am thankful for this blog - not only keeps it me accountable to myself and to the kids, but it also serves as a diary of our learning adventures. 

So, thank you, God, for the blog, for yet another great homeschooling year, for Sonlight, and for the love of learning and teaching.

Science. It does not happen often, but sometimes Dad steps in and does a great job as a substitute teacher.

 

Science. The kids and I have still a few science experiments left to try. This one is about water and electricity. Part of the class was teaching Andrew (and Saara) about the electrical safety. Here, Andrew made the water conduct weak electrical current by adding adding salt to it.

Dry salt in itself did not conduct any electricity.

Andrew building a water timer.

As soon as the salt water touched the foil covered wires, the buzzer went off.

A sweet moment. Andrew rereading some of his old school books.

Summer break is finally here. And so are the dog days of summer.

Bye, Kindergarten. Bye Second Grade.

'13/14 Week 41 Day 1 and 2

Our final days of the school year are going pretty fast. One by one, we complete our programs and read the last chapters. Today, we finished the language arts. Only science, Saara's geography, reading comprehension/vocabulary learning books, and Andrew's math remain.

'13/14 Week 40 Day 5

We are wrapping things up. Andrew had his last geography/history class today. He mastered the times table already a couple of weeks ago, but it was only today that we filled in the missing numbers in his chart. 

One more week of odds and ends, and then we will call our school year officially over.

Math. A journey that started in February has come to the end. He has mastered the simple multiplication facts.

Science. Saara was learning all about juice today. Needless to say, they ate their school work. Again.

Exploring the cells.

'13/14 Week 40 Day 4

We started our day with science. Before it got burning hot outside, we gathered a supply of peppercorns, marbles, and other tiny objects, and a soccer ball. All this to demonstrate how tiny the planets are compared to the Sun and how far they are from each other and the Sun. It was eye-opening. We did not manage to fit Neptune into the picture - its orbit ran into our neighbor's pasture. 

Science. Our tiny Jupiter.

Saara is standing with Uranus, and Andrew is with the soccer ball Sun.

LA. The children working on their last story dictation. We have only a few more pages of additional handwriting practice, phonics, and Andrew's language arts to do. Andrew is choosing to write in cursive whenever he can.

'13/14 Week 40 Day 3

Just another quiet day. Very quiet. During the breaks, Andrew and Saara decided to practice sewing. Andrew leaned how to sew the running stitch, and he practiced it all day long.

'13/14 Week 40 Day 2

It was a quick and easy day. Andrew is nearing the end of his history/geography program. He has been exposed to a lot of new facts, names, and events. I could barely expect him to remember each one of them, but at least he has a reference point now. We can always revisit the lessons to refresh our memory. Many movies and books about people or events in history will make more sense, I am sure.

'13/14 Week 40 Day 1

I had good plans to have a school day on Friday and Saturday, but these happened to be the days of the Estonian Dance and Song Festival that takes place only once very five years. Instead of hitting the books, we ended up watching the events live through internet. 
The children were curious about the dances and listened in to the songs that have been sung in Estonia since the mid 1800s. Because the festival is such a celebration and so important to the whole nation (can you imagine 10% of your population gathering in one place to sing, just sing for two days straight) and such an essential part of our nation, I did not feel bad canceling the classes and enjoying the concerts instead.

10 000 dancers, over 30 000 singers, and 120 000 spectators.

Today, we went ahead and covered another day's full of work. Saara ran out of her reading practice books from the library, so she brought me her favorite princess tales. It is a mighty chapter book, but with her having it read so many times, it may not be much of a challenge to her. Until we go to the library again, we will read about princesses, again.
The end of the day was fun with Andrew's science experiments. I did not think, I had all the necessary things to build a little buzz game board, but with Andrew's ingenuity, we found all the components and built a working model. Needless to say, the kids were having a blast with it.

Science. As the marble run its obstacle course, it dropped onto two wired pieces of foil, which the marble pushed together closing the circuit and making the buzzer go wild.

 

13/14 Week 39 Day 3

Science class with baking soda was lots of fun today! Saara learned about bases and acids. 

Andrew took his last but one test and received a fair A.

'13/14 Week 39 Day 2

A quiet, but industrious day. Nothing spectacular happened. I am just thankful the kids were focused, worked hard and well.

'13/14 Week 39 Day 1

We were slow-moving this morning, but that was OK. Andrew's focus was sharp, and he got done with his tasks in time and well. His ears were tuned in in history class, and he remembered well our lesson on WWI from yesterday. Excellent!

The other day it was rather windy. We tried to get our kites off the ground. It was fun until the wind died down suddenly.

'13/14 Week 38 Day 5

100 years ago, on June 28, 1914, "a young man who lived in Serbia shot an Austrian prince". That is what Andrew's history chapter said today. What a timing to learn about World War I. Because the war was so crucial for the Estonian nation, within the framework of the lesson, I told the story of the Estonian declaration of independence, and the war for freedom that followed. 

The fun part of the school day, was, of course, Andrew's science class where we learned why one bad bulb can spoil the whole strand of Christmas lights.

Science. Andrew building a series circuit.

Rather dim series.

After building a parallel circuit the lights brightened up, and one bulb still kept on working when the other was screwed out.

Our parallel circuit owl. Lights on ...

... lights off.

 

'13/14 Week 38 Day 4

Yesterday ended up being a day of stories. Lots of them, plus a visit to the library from where we brought home even more stories. Somewhere in between all this reading fun, we managed to fit a math lesson as well. Although we worked hard, I did not count the day as a full school day.

LA. Saara counting the grains of rice just like in the story.

Math. Andrew learned how to mark and read coordinates on a grid. This lead to another lesson: how to play the battleship. The old-fashioned way.

 Ten. This is the number of school days left after today. I can not believe we are so close to the end. Saara finished her math program today, and she is already pouting to have more math lessons. I guess, I will be printing out worksheets from education.com. 

Bible. This was completely out of the blue. Andrew's memory verse was set to a lively cha-cha tune, and I could not resist teaching the kids just a few basic steps. I am not into cha-cha nor rumba nor any other Latin dances, but it never hurts to know. Besides, even the basic steps provide a very good exercise.

Math. Saara working on her very last page of Kindergarten math.

Done!

History. Ingrid Bergman as Gladys Aylward.

'13/14 Week 38 Day 3

It rained cats and dogs today. Every dent in the ground is full of water and, from what I heard, it flooded some streets in town. There was no way I would have ventured to the library today. Not in this flash-flood weather. 

Thankfully, there was enough (school work) to do inside. And, if we happen to have enough time tonight, we might start watching "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness" with Ingrid Bergman. It's a film version of the life of Gladys Aylward, a missionary to China. We are almost through reading a book about her life. Totally amazing story.

Math. So, does mom drink coffee by gallons or cups?

LA. Phonics/spelling. We are sounding out and learning some tricky vowel pairs.

'13/14 Week 38 Day 2

The highlight of the day was Saara's science class. She was learning about the power of the wind, and how people can use it. They played with the wind winch, one of the experiments, until bedtime.  
In math, Andrew started learning about thermometers and how to read them. Saara is almost done with her math program. Wow!

Science. Our balloon rocket. We stretched the track from one end of the house to the other and made the balloon shoot straight across powered only by air.

Making the wind winch work turned out to be the children's favorite activity until bedtime.

Andrew and Saara were offered a golden opportunity to feed turkeys and chickens, gather their eggs, take care of a dog and a cat for two weeks. They loved it. Today, we feed our charges the last time, and the children were genuinely sad. Makes me want to build our own chicken coop. One day, why not.

'13/14 Week 38 Day 1

After a week end of pure fun for the children, I was not surprised at all that they had a hard time focusing on school. At times, it was challenging, but we did not give up and completed our daily tasks. Thankfully, not without joy. 

The Field of Dreams. Saara and Andrew donned their River Cat uniforms one last time to participate in the Field of Dreams, an opportunity for children to run onto the field with the Bombers players before the game. Here's Saara # 10.

Andrew # 6.

Geography. Andrew testing his knowledge of the states. He has learned the names and locations of almost all of them.

'13/14 Week 37 Day 4

If yesterday was a day of smooth sailing, then today the sea was rather rough. Some mysterious bug had bitten both kids, one had hard time focusing on tasks, and the other was complaining about everything. Balancing discipline, positive attitude, and doses of humor we got done with the day's work. Looking back, although challenging, it was a good day.

Today was Andrew's last All Star game.

'13/14 Week 37 Day 3

Oh, what a fun day again! Andrew was super focused and scored 37 points out of 38 in his math test. He flew through his LA and could not stop playing in the science class. Seriously, playing and learning at the same time. That is my kind of science.

Shh! The math test.

Science. Andrew making a flashing light.

The flashing light came handy when we made our own lighthouse.

Santa Maria!

'13/14 Week 37 Day 2

We are plowing on. Andrew's science talked about tanks. It was truly interesting. I just had to find Dad's army picture with a tank in the background.

The rest of the day went surprisingly well and fast. I am thankful for days like this. 

'13/14 Week 37 Day 1

We are almost out of our baseball season. Saara had her last game last Friday, and Andrew got done with his camp. Now only All Stars remain. 
And so do a few more weeks of school. It was unthinkable to add anything else to the children's schedule last week, so we took a week-long break. 

Now, we are back, refreshed, and determined to finish strong.

Science. Saara's science video taught us to make paper gliders. It was a fun project for all of us.