'13/14 Week 21 Day 1

We had a late start and worked all day. It was a lot of fun, though. Both kids had plenty of reading material to chew through, so I found a ton of video material on-line to make things 'come alive'. Anything from the life of prophet Elijah to the explorers like da Gama or Magellan.  That is one and only reason it took us much longer to finish our school day. 

Science. Andrew is faithfully writing down his weather observations.

Hanging Hearts

As the weather was cold outside, we busied ourselves inside making preparations for Valentine's Day next week. The kids and I have made some sort of a Valentine's Day craft every year. This time we cut out a whole lot of hearts, strung them up and hung them in the hallway. The kids also wrote a number of cute messages on the hearts. And one more bonus: they think it so cool to walk through the forest of hearts.

'13/14 Week 20 Day 4

Another cold day. Thankfully, we had lots to do inside. Only once we ventured outside - to measure the weather for Andrew's weather chart. 
The rest of the day was filled with plenty of school work and choir practice. To my surprise, the children are being taught Beethoven's "Ode to Joy". The first practice was wonderful. They all maybe just knee high to grasshopper, but they sure can make their bells sing Beethoven. Amazing!

Bible. Our wicked queen Jezebel.

Elijah sleeping under the juniper tree and having a dream about the angel bringing him food.

Of course, you just can not dangle the good stuff in front of their noses. A quick snack of our 'angel food' before the math class.

LA. We are covering our silent letters. Now it is silent b's turn.

The end of the school day activity.

'13/14 Week 20 Day 3

We had a cold wake-up: it was snowing! Again. This time it was snowing for real. So, I packed up the kids and shoved them outside. With the wind blowing like crazy, it felt like a blizzard. 
We did not last long because it was terribly cold. 

It was, however, a perfect day to start a new science book about weather. Andrew will keep an eye on the weather with his chart. We wrestled ourselves back into our warm clothes and went outside to check the temperature, wind, cloud cover, etc. Andrew found it rather fascinating to see the mercury fall inside the thermometer. We will do it all over again. Hopefully, it will be much warmer.

Saara was terribly disappointed - there was not enough snow to even make a snowball.

A briefing before being sent out to do the field work.

Our simple equipment for a serious science experiment.

The ribbon in Andrew's hand showed the direction of the wind and he was trying to read his compass for the direction.

Saara is way past beginner reader stage and so having her read the "Fun Stories" is just waste of time. Instead, I dictate the stories to her and her brother to practice spelling.

And another treat from our kitchen window. A pair of Texas wood ducks on our pond.

'13/14 Week 20 Day 2

If Tuesday was kind of relaxed with Saara going to her ballet class and then us hauling bags full of books away from the library, then Wednesday was full of work. We did not overdo ourselves, but there was plenty of intense studying that went on. We are still on schedule with everything and even ahead with our reading assignments. So, all's well.

'13/14 Week 20 Day 1

Last Friday went down in history as the Reading Day. The whole morning and early afternoon we read and discussed books and stories. It was a great time, but I did not count it as a full school day. 

Today, Monday, I and Andrew took our time in Math as we focused a lot of our attention to how we measure time from seconds to years. 
Saara is halfway through her math program. She finished her first Math book and is all ready for her second one. Because Andrew has been taking tests, he still has about ten more lessons plus one more test to go before he is half way through. 

By the end of this week, we should be halfway through our entire school year.

Math. Andrew is almost ready to go shopping by himself.

Morning math work.

All done with book 1.

I had all the props out: the calendar, the clock, and the stopwatch. He already knew a few answers, but still had to figure out some, like how many days and weeks are in one year.  I told him to memorize the numbers, otherwise he would have to add the months and count the weeks again.

Music. The other day, Andrew and Saara recognized a Grieg's piece that played on the radio. I was very encouraged. Today, we looked at Tchaikovsky. The kids can easily recognize the best-known pieces from the Nutcracker and they got familiar with the 1812 overture last year. This afternoon we watched/listened the overture again accompanied with a little bit of history into the Napoleonic wars.

Boys! Andrew loved the real cannons at the end of the piece.

And something for Saara (although Andrew watched it too enthusiastically). We started watching the whole ballet of Tchaikovsky's "Sleeping Beauty". I divided the two-hour video recording into smaller sections which we will watch in days to come.

Bracelets

Saturday morning found us busy crafting for a couple of hours. Saara received a bracelet kit she was dying to use. So, I brought out my stash of beads for Andrew as he wanted to make some too as presents. Saara was using Just My Style ABC Beads.

Beading was a great opportunity to teach about pattern sequence and symmetry.

Of course, her baby doll had to get one too.