The Alamo

To celebrate the end of the school year and to keep an appointment in town, we spent a whole weekend in San Antonio. The first place we visited was the Alamo. Saara and Andrew had heard the story of Alamo a few times before, we touched on it in our American history class, we saw exhibits about it in the museums in Washington-on-Brazos and Austin, and we even watched some snippets of the movie "Alamo" on Youtube. The knew what Alamo was and its importance in the history of Texas. We walked around the compound, the sanctuary, watched a movie about the mission throughout centuries, marveled at the personal items of Bowie, Crockett, and Travis displayed. Both kids became obsessed with Crockett. They were looking for his name in every possible place. I am pretty sure, I know who they will write a paper about next year when Andrew will learn about the history of Texas.

We are in San Antonio

The Alamo monument

On a Spanish cannon

The six flags over Texas

The mission's well.

A hospital ward.

Looking for Crockett everywhere.

'15/16 Week 38

The last and final week! It was not really a full week, we needed only three days to finish off the year. And even though we are done with the curriculum, we have still a few more weeks left to complete our math and science programs. Also, reading and writing will go on throughout the summer. We made such a progress in spelling and story writing this year, it would be a shame to lose or let the skill grow dull over the summer. So, we will continue our adventures.

LA We finished our spelling program last week. This week, the kids played some online spelling games.

Art. One afternoon, we did a little vegetable art. We used the end of a celery to stamp roses.

'15/16 Week 37

This was one of the most dramatic weeks this school year. The beginning of the week was fine and fun. Both kids had games and Andrew even had an awesome practice on Wednesday. But then things took a turn. It started raining hard on Thursday. We did not think much of it as it has poured down hard and long many times before. It was when I noticed the floodwaters and heard about the tornado warning that all things school took a backseat. 
We did not cover everything I had planned for Thursday. Instead, when the rain slackened, I ventured outside to check on the creek. By late afternoon, it broke over its banks at several places and flooded two large fields on our property. The waters were so high, they rushed over the bridge which was closed until evening.
The before dark, the worst of the flooding was over, and the water level was falling. Our house, and us in the house, was safe the whole time. In town, a tornado made touchdown and damaged over a hundred houses. The damage caused by floodwaters and high winds was so bad in many counties that a number of school districts cancelled classes on Friday. 
We did not cancel anything, as we were safe and sound at home. Even on Friday, when more rain fell, we continued our studies right where we had left off the day before. Now, only three more days remain, and we are done with our school year.

The floodwaters at their highest.

LA. We finished this book.

Saara's home made rain gauge still works. This is how much rain fell in 24 hours.

Science. Last week, Andrew made a telegraph machine. This week, he built a buzzer.

On Staruday, the sun came out, and on our walk we noticed a lizard who was in the process of shedding its skin.

Our back meadow on Thursday and on Saturday.

'15/16 Week 36

This was the week that rained a lot. Out of six games the kids got to play only one. It was disappointing, but at the same time, our school days were relaxed, and I was able to have the kids do or read things in addition to their regular lessons. 
We finished up couple of more books, like the poetry book we have been reading since August. The end of the school year is drawing closer and closer.

Math. Homemade cards to practice multiplication work very well.

Magic School Bus helped Saara learn more about different rocks.

Our rock collection has a lot of sedimentary rocks.

LA. Writing a story and learning about the beginning, middle, and ending of a story.

Geography. Saara has memorized the names and locations of most of the states so far. 

A fun little puzzle to help with the states.

Science. Andrew and I were very excited about this science project - we were going to build our own telegraph!

This thing actually worked.

'15/16 Week 35

The choir concert on Monday was fabulous. All the children had been practicing hard and it showed. I had been helping out with the choir, so I knew what the songs were, but I had not seen either kid of mine play the bells or chimes this semester. I was in for a beautiful surprise. Saara and another boy were the lead bells and they put their heart into it. Andrew's roll in his group was not as important, but he had to read the measures and notes instead of relying on colored notes. It is more demanding, and I am thankful that he is learning a lot. But we are done with the choir for this semester.

Science. Andrew learning the basics of how the electric motor works.

Our simple model of the electric motor.

After reading about the life and work of Marie Curie, we watched an old classic about the same things we read in the book.

Greer Garson as Marie Curie in "Madame Curie"

We finished the choir for this semester, we also finished reading and listening to this book and CD. Now only practicing the recorder remains.

Science. Saara answering questions about Marie Curie's work.

A chapter about electrical power.

Friday night at the ball field.

Andrew struck out once, but ran home twice.