'14/15 Week 22 Day 2

We surprised ourselves today by finishing our school day early. The kids flew through all the subjects. Andrew has been very focused on his lessons recently, and it has boosted his self-esteem, and he has visibly enjoyed school work more than ever. 

Andrew and I started reading a children's book about the US constitution. I am glad, the curriculum is dedicating a few days on the study of the document and the birth of the central government. It gives us an opportunity to tie in a little civics studies on the US government, as well.

The rest of the day, we spent outdoors, of course. Fishing, again.

'14/15 Week 22 Day 1

What a glorious weather we have been having! The whole lot of us were outside all week end long. We worked some and played some. The kids were over the moon when they got to go fishing. Andrew was able try out his new tackle box.

Andrew's science experiments with radishes are almost over. Today, we dissembled his greenhouse and a few foil pots. It was sad to throw away a good number of healthy seedlings, so we planted them in the ground. Hopefully, they will survive, and we will get to eat Andrew science project again. Nutritious knowledge.

Science. At the end of Andrew's science experiments with radishes, we planted the seedlings outside.

'14/15 Week 21 Day 4

The weather has turned gorgeous, and it is so hard to stay indoors. Today, we managed to do all our lessons well and then headed outside. Andrew had his head spinning with all the information about the birth of the US constitution. After the introduction we read today, we will start reading a book about constitution written for children. I hope, this will help him make sense of the document.

Science. Saara building her mini-model of our skin. She used Andrew's model we built a couple of years ago as an example.

'14/15 Week 21 Day 3

Yesterday was another dentist appointment followed almost immediately by Saara's ballet class and a visit to the library. So, no school, but we did do some science, though.

Today was a normal school day. Saara and I finished reading a book of missionary stories. Andrew did his last radish experiment. All we have to do now is to finish up measuring some seedlings and draw graphs. 

Science. Using the centimeter ruler, Andrew has been writing down the  growing progress of his seedlings.

Andrew learning about the primary, secondary, and tertiary veins.

'14/15 Week 21 Day 2

This day started out with a math test which both kids did very well at. They were so happy and pleased and proud of their work. The rest of the morning was taken up by science classes. Saara learned about things that mix well with water and things that do not. She had lots of fun experimenting with different foods from our pantry. Andrew added two more tropisms to his vocabulary - geotropism and hydrotropism. We prepared two more jars with radish seedling to illustrate these new concepts.

A morning swim.

Andrew birdwatching.

For two days in a row, children have been watching a road repair crew work on our road. They recognized and named a few machines they had learned about in the book.

Science. Saara mxing things to see if they mix with water of not.

 

Andrew learned about geotropism. Here we will see what the upside down seedling does in 24 hours.

'14/15 Week 21 Day 1

These last weeks, we have been very focused on Andrew's science. Sprouting the radish seeds has been and continues to be a magnificent undertaking. However, I have to make more time for history for both Saara and Andrew. They have been learning the events and facts well, but somehow they are not retaining much. Andrew's chapter in the American history introduced  him to the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the government. That was a lot of information to process. I feel, I need to take some time to let that 'germinate' before I move on to the next chapter. Thankful we are not rushed and can do that.

Farmer Andrew

'14/15 Week 20 Day 5

It was a typical Friday with hard work and choir practice. I would like to blame the cold front pushing in for the slow pace. We did not manage to do our science. It was not a big deal because the radish sprouts we needed for the experiment had not sprouted yet. Another 24 hours brought them peeking through the soil, and we did a full scale examination.

Science. Watching what happens to seeds when we put them in three different environments.

Will they sprout in the salt, VINEAR, or water?