'17/18 Week 16

      It ended up being a short week. As we started school on Monday, we had no clue Friday would end up being a snow day. A Snow Day! We caught the first snow flurries on our way home from taekwondo. At home the children went outside right away and started catching what little flakes were whirling around. After sundown, however, the clouds started dumping great amounts of snow everywhere. None of us stayed indoors. Although it was cold, we were outside building snowmen and making snow angels. The most wonderful thing of all - the snow stayed until around 10 the next morning. I did not have the heart to keep them inside, so we declared a snow day and went outside to enjoy the snow as long as we could before it all melted away in the December Texas sun. What a memory made!

Morning at our house. Saara double checking her assignments.

Sometimes morning is a good time to practice piano.

And it is always a good time to read.

Science. Looking for oxygen in hydrogen peroxide solution. Raw meat makes it visible in bubbles.

Science. The abundance of oxygen should have relighted the blown match, but our peroxide was old and had lost most of it oxygen already. The match did stay glowing much longer than normal.

The glorious snow. There was enough to make snowballs and to build over a half a dozen snowmen.

Next morning resembles winter wonderland.

Saara had her birthday party last week end as well. It was the most educational one we have ever had.

The local science museum we had the party at had a very fun and fact filled presentation about the marine life among all the fun games and activities. 

A relay game saving sea turtle 'eggs'.

A museum wide scavenger hunt.

'17/18 Week 15

Math. One is never too old for manipulatives.

      This was a quiet week. Over the Thanksgiving holiday and the following weekend we were fighting off a nasty virus that left us all rather weak. On Monday, we started to slowly ease ourselves back into the schoolwork and by the end of the week we were back to our normal selves. The kids did not manage to do their science experiments, but that is the beauty of homeschooling - we never miss anything. Everything and some gets done in its own good time. 

Taekwondo. By the end of the week, the children were over their sickness and ready for some serious exercise again.

We ended our week with going to watch our town's Christmas parade. 

'17/18 Week 14

      We were very motivated this week to get our work done and done well because a whole week of no school, turkey, pumpkin pie, Christmas decorating awaited us on the other end.

      For the kids the highlight of the week was finally getting their orange belts on. They continue working hard toward the next color. 

      Andrew had a fun science class once again. This time he explored the chemistry of a flame - the components needed to have one and the components produced by burning. No, we were not playing with fire, although the kitchen smelled of smoke after we had blown out the candle a few times. 

Science. Proving that oxygen is needed to have a flame. Little did we know that the missing oxygen will draw up the water level in the jar. Andrew could not believe his eyes.

The pull to fill up the missing oxygen was so strong that even the melted wax coned up.

One of the experiments to prove that carbon dioxide is released by burning. The match went out. 

This experiment explained soot or carbon as in carbon dioxide.

'17/18 Week 13

      I normally like reading challenges. Every year, I try to join one, but unfortunately fall off the bandwagon because the books I am reading aloud to the kids are more interesting than the books I am supposed to read in the challenge. 
      This week, I was faced with a different kind of reading challenge. I had to find ways to stop (yes, stop) kids reading. I found them reading everywhere. Andrew, my most reluctant reader hauled his books with him outside, spread himself out on the trampoline and read. He read at the table while having lunch, at his sister's volleyball game, and - here's the challenge part - while he was supposed to do his homework. It made me smile, I can understand the difficulty in putting down a page-turner. There truly was not much to do but to let the boy read, then regroup and march on. No damage done.

Science. Another experiment with crystals. Making a supersaturated solution of Epsom salts.

The Epsom salt crystals sparkled like snow.

Snow geese on their way south.

LA. The kids are picking up speed finding words in the dictionary. 

Taekwondo. Target practice.

Volleyball. Saara's last game.

Meanwhile ...

The week culminated with an awesome event - Saara's baptism. It was a great time of celebration.

'17/18 Week 12

      Fall is finally showing its colors. A short-lived cold spell started turning some trees yellow and orange and red. But now the air conditioning is running again and so are kids in short sleeves and flip-flops. 
      The week started off with us carving pumpkins. Next, we found ourselves at the doctor's office where Andrew got his vaccination shots. Poor thing could not lift his arms for a whole day, they were so sore. After that, we visited a local animal shelter. A sweet pup showed up on our porch, and we took him in. Actually, we wanted to adopt him, but the shelter found his owner, and we were more than happy to reunite the the owner and the pup. Finally, the kids had a taste of the early polyphonic music we have been learning about at a concert they enjoyed very much.
      Quite a week.

Girls finishing up the carving while boys play. Typical.

Science. Andrew's crystallization experiment is working. Water is producing sugar.

Yes, the humidifier is out again. The fluctuating weather which can not make up its mind took its toll on the kids.

Volleyball. One but last game.

On our way to take Pudding back to his owner.

A wonderful singing by a group from Estonia.

'17/18 Week 11

The orange belt training has begun.

      One of the reasons why I love homeschooling is because I learn right alongside with my kids. Most of the time the things I learn, are just facts and stories I have forgotten over time. Often, I am thankful that I have been given a second chance to visit the long-ago lessons because now I understand them better and, what seemed so boring back then has turned out to be very interesting now.
      But there have been a handful of times I've stare at the lesson plan with a blank expression, and the more I stared the more convinced I'd become that thirty some years ago they did not teach that stuff at school. Like this week, I tried to recall the time when they covered Scientific Notation or Binary Charts at my middle school. I failed to remember. So, one evening, I spent the better part of my math preparation improving my choppy knowledge on both subjects.  
       I was a little weary about if Andrew, who had to learn these things, would actually understand them. I should not have been worried. He grasped both subjects easily. In fact, we talked about binary system before dinner while we were waiting for our food to cool a little. By the time we started eating, he was easily converting decimal numbers into binary and vice versa. Truly, numbers can make a very lively dinner conversation.

Science. Saara's at it again - mapping, drawing, and building circuits.

Only two more games left.

At a fall fest in town Andrew's favorite was the foot race area.

Science. We were trying out yet another crystallization experiment. This time, the book promised we could eat it the end result.

Supersaturated sugar water.