The Republic of Texas 181

Texas declared its independence from Mexico 181 years ago. We took a day trip to Washington-on-the-Brazos where the declaration of independence and the constitution of Texas were written in March 1836. 
The place was a beehive of activity - blacksmiths, potters, weavers, and other artisans were giving demonstrations of their crafts There were booths giving information about people and events surrounding the birth of Texas. And as a cherry on the top, we watched a play portraying the debates, arguments, discussions that went on between the delegates of the convention who signed the declaration and wrote the constitution. 

Inside the Independence Hall

An ox in training from the neighboring Barrington Living History Farm.

A scavenger hunt for answers inside the Star of Republic museum.

The children have seen the museum's exhibition a couple of times already, but there are always new things to discover or things we had missed before. 

Live music.

We learned how bonnets were made and used.

The inn had a welcoming fire burning.

I loved that the audience was included in the play as the 'delegates' and we got to say our Yays and Nays.

Sam Houston reading one of Travis's letters.

The last missive from Travis from Alamo. 

'16/17 Weeks 25 and 26

Spring is finally here! Days are much warmer, in fact, they are downright hot sometimes. We are outdoors as much as we can enjoying the weather. It seems, most of our activities, both school related and not school related, these past two weeks have had to do with nature. We have sown seeds, watched them grow, enjoyed the first fruits, observed animals, and also celebrated some awesome holidays. 

We sowed a whole bagful of wildflower seeds in front of our house. It is a hard ground, but we hope some flowers will still appear if we take good care of the area.

A tub full of lettuce. I simple winter gardening project we started weeks ago has started to produce, and we have been able to enjoy some delicious lettuce.

The leftover sprouts from Saara's TOPS project found their way to our garden and they are growing well. She has even harvested a few radishes already.

Signs of spring are everywhere.

We celebrated an awesome Valentine's Day.

Science. Part of Saara's corn and beans project is to record how much her sprouts have grown. She does it by weighing them with her homemade scales.

Andrew is reading a book about survival skills in the wild. He (with a little help from Saara) constructed a leaf hut following the instructions in the book. 

The hut is so well built, it withstood a major thunderstorm with terrifying wind speeds.

Signs of spring. The reptiles are out.

Estonia's independence day was celebrated with the 'kringel'  - a cinnamon braided bread which is a must at special gatherings in Estonia.

Saara and I went hunting for leaves of monocot and dicot plants. We made pencil rubbings of all of them and saved the the pictures in her plant journal.

'16/17 Weeks 23 and 24

These past two weeks have been very exciting ones for Saara. She loved doing her TOPS radishes experiments in January. This month, she started learning about beans and corn. We took one week to build and prepare all our equipment. The next week, we sprouted the seeds and started our observations about the sprouts. Saara has to do a lot of writing in her plant journal, but her favorite activity is weighing the bean and corn seeds with the homemade scales. 
She was also super excited to taste her first radishes from her radishes experiments. All the leftover radish sprouts we planted in the garden are doing wonderfully. 

Doing homework.

Lots of birds in our yard one morning.

'16/17 Week 22

In a way, it was an ordinary week - school work, ballet, choir, typing practice, reading, play date. On the other hand, it was a great week of hard work, finding a good attitude in challenging tasks, realizing a math test is a no-brainer, enjoying reading and listening to books, completing writing assignments on their own, etc. I could just keep on typing about all the big and small things we did. Once again, I am thankful for homeschooling and that I get to spend every hour of the day with my kids.

History. All week long, Saara has been learning about the Constitution of the US. Charlie Brown animation about it is a gem.

Science. This week was the last one of our TOPS radishes experiments. We continued learning about plants and next week we will start tackling TOPS corn and beans projects.

Beautiful winter red in our yard. 

'16/17 Week 21

   This week ended up being a short one as 'the teacher' had to have two doctor's appointments. Teachers need a sick leave too. The four school days we had, were filled with plenty of activities. 
   I started a new Read Aloud book about the life of Mother Teresa. I have always admired her, but have never taken the time to learn more about her life. What a wonderful opportunity it is to do it now and to do it together with my kids. 
  

Math. Making shapes.

Science. Saara continues her TOPS experiments with radish seeds.

It took them a couple of hours, but they dug out a broken fence post. They had so much fun doing it.

Those who work hard get rewarded with a lot. Probably the biggest stack of pancakes we have ever had.

'16/17 Weeks 19 and 20

   Two weeks have flown past fast. Because I had an injured hand, I have not been able to type, but that has not stopped me from helping my kids with their studies and discoveries and adventures. 
And we did have an adventure. Our area was hit by a spell of freezing temperatures. We went to the forest to find out what the cold had done in there. And we were not disappointed. The ice, the ice flowers and ribbons, frost everywhere, red cheeks and numb fingers and toes were all new and interesting experiences.
   Saara finally started her much anticipated TOPS science program. I remember having lots of fun with Andrew two years ago and eating all the good stuff we grew. It is Saara's turn now and she is enjoying every minute of it. 
   Both kids finished their first math books and started on the second ones. One more milestone to remind us that we are half way through our school year. 
   Ballet and choir have started up again. Andrew is so proud to be singing with the 'big' choir now. He really loved his 1.5 hour practice, and is looking forward to the next one. 

Science. Starting the long-waited-for TOPS program.

Radish seeds all ready to sprout.

Andrew read the story of Sadako Sasaki. It was a sad book, but at the end of it, we made our own paper cranes. The kids loved it and asked for more origami projects.

A frozen world after a hard freeze in our area.

The amazing ice ribbons.

We undertook a fun little project - building a dog house.

Done!

A clear difference between sprouts that enjoyed light and the ones that sprouted in the darkness.

Finishing up the building project.

Andrew's pride and joy - his 'big' choir choir book.

'16/17 Week 18

The way Christmas and New Year fell this year, gave us a whole week to do school. It went by fast. It feels like the whole year has gone by too fast. But here comes 2017 with 18 more weeks to go.

Science. Saara took some nature pictures of things that caught her eye. Later she wrote a paragraph about each photo.

One of Andrew's science lessons was about the roll of medicine  in our lives. We took a stock of our medicine cabinet.

A fun winter project. The kids and I went to the forest one day to gather supplies for a terrarium.

We collected some rocks and a few plants.

And the new year came with lots of sparkle and fun time with friends.