13/14 Week 22 Day 3

Saara reviewing her months and learning to recognize them by numbers.

Yet another quiet but steady day. More of multiplication, Michelangelo, brainstorming and idea webs, countries in Asia, world religions, etc.

Andrew did reenter the realm of fractions today. The review went well and he accomplished his exercises fast and faultless. Let's see what the book offers  tomorrow fractions wise. 

Right now, we are all heading out of doors. The weather is gorgeous.

13/14 Week 22 Day 2

Our belated Presidents Day was lots of fun. After Saara's ballet class the kids played at a park until they were all out of breath and were so ready to go home. The kids met up with some other homeschooled children who had come to the playground during their lunch break. That was neat.

A little snack before they headed off to the swings.

I am thankful that neither Andrew nor Saara are shy when making new friends.

Our school day today was mainly reviewing of a lot of the materials we have been covering recently. We did read on some and kept up with our curriculum, but no new major topics were tackled. Like in history we are still learning about Michelangelo and will do so for a few more days. In LA, Andrew is practicing more brainstorming and drawing up idea webs for writing purposes. Saara is still listening to missionary stories from the Asia region. In his reading practice, Andrew started a second book about Abraham Lincoln's life. And so on, and so on. A steady day.

So. Book 1 is done. Onto Book 2.

This is what Saara does while Andrew is finishing up his class. 750 piece Disney Kinkade puzzle. Single handed.

"Mom, what do you think of this?" I could not stop laughing. A very visual 'lightbulb moment'. At the time Andrew was writing his very own first book about snakes.

13/14 Week 22 Day 1

While most of the schools today enjoyed a day off, we still held our classes. All of them. 
As soon as we were done, we took off to town and a playground there. Both Andrew and Saara got their week's worth of exercises done this afternoon. Poor Andrew was sweating an ocean and drinking one bottle of water after another. They enjoyed it. Me too. 

Tomorrow, however, we will take a day off (kind of belated Presidents Day).

Over the weekend we watched an old 1948 movie "Joan of Arc" with Ingrid Bergman. It gave me a chance to go over the Hundred Years War with Andrew again. And, yes, they were busy crocheting while watching.

LA Andrew started to learn the basic principles of story writing. Steps One and Two: brainstorm for ideas, choose a topic, and make an idea web.

February 17. A hot day in the park.

Andrew befriended a couple of boys at the court and shot hoops with them for over an hour.

It was good to see so many kids and adults out exercising.  The playgrounds and park were busy.

'13/14 Week 21 Day 5

Valentine's Day! We have not had a proper holiday since New Year's and it was getting a bit boring. Now, then, cupcakes with breakfast and a shorter school day. 
It did not mean, we relaxed much in our classes. Andrew completed his eight test in math and did very well. He also got drilled in history about the great explorers. Also in history, we continued reading and learning about the Renaissance period. At the end of the class, I asked the kids to choose one coloring sheet either from Raphael, da Vinci, or Michelangelo. Both kids chose Mona Lisa and colored (by number) their own modern version of the classic.

Valentine's Day cupcakes after breakfast. Truth be told, this was their second helping. We ate the first cupcakes  with Dad before he headed off to work.

Andrew's and Saara's versions of the Mona Lisa.

'13/14 Week 21 Day 4

I loved Andrew's history lesson today. We have moved from the Medieval times to the Renaissance and the whole lesson was about the great artists of the day: Michelangelo, Raphael, and da Vinci. Last night, when I was downloading pictures of their works, Andrew walked by and casually mentioned, "Oh, that's Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa." Well, didn't you just make my life easier! So, today, we did read about da Vinci and some of his paintings, but our main focus was on the other two big artists as this was the first time Andrew ever met them. 

Bible. Out came the near-forgotten puppets to give us a rendering of prophet Elisha's ministry.

The story of the kind Shunammite woman.

After-party. And the tradition was revived: going crazy with the puppets after the play.

13/14 Week 21 Day 3

The kids woke up with sore throats, but it did not keep us from our school work. It may have got done on a slower pace, but we all worked hard at our tasks. 
Just an ordinary school day. A good one.

We were not the only ones have breakfast in the morning.

Bible. Today we concluded our readings about Elijah and sent him away in a fiery chariot.

'13/14 Week 21 Day 2

The ballet day. Terribly cold out there. Once we were back and continued with our school day, we opted to postpone Saara's science activities. All of them required us to be outdoors. 
Andrew and I did venture out just once to record the weather conditions. 

The biggest news of the day: we are half way through our school year! 90 more days - here we come!