13/14 Week 16 Day 2

I was beaming brightly this evening. I think, I was actually glowing. The reason was so simple: Andrew gave Dad a class on the Gothic architecture we read about yesterday. I was already pretty pleased with Andrew's memory when I tested him on the subject during our history class, but listening him teach my husband made me grin from ear to ear. Thankful, simply thankful.
Andrew got tested in Math too. Not too bad after taking a two week break from school work. A B+ is what he received. 

Bible. We have read the story of David and Goliath over and over in many books since the kids were little. How do you make a familiar story sound exciting again? Making the puppets out of Play-Doh worked beautifully.

13/14 Week 16 Day 1

After two weeks of tons of activities, visits with friends, good food, and festivities we are finally back to school work. Our first day was intense. We had to cover a lot of material and to make it more fun and colorful, we sat in front of the computer a good portion of the day (on and off) looking at videos or images. Like in Andrew's history class, we studied the Gothic architecture and looked at a lot of cathedrals and gargoyles and flying buttresses, etc. Of course, we could not by-pass "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". Fits perfectly into the Gothic theme.

Calendars. A new thing we started this year - at the beginning of every school week, we 'synchronize' our calendars. We look at the week ahead and see what holidays or birthdays or events will take place in the coming week. We will have a choir practice coming up.

Bible. The anointing of David.

The soaking of David.

Geography. Coloring (naming the countries) the map.

Saara's Science. Lots of  'awws!' and 'yikes!' from both of them as they were watching a video about insects.

"Pottery Barn"

 

 One of the Christmas gifts under the tree this year was a pottery wheel. It did not take Andrew long to fall for this creative pastime. Saara enjoys shaping the clay too, but Andrew could run out of batteries before he is willing to part with the wheel. In the process, we also learned new phrases, like 'wheel throwing'. :)

Baking and Decorating Gingerbread Cookies

Chirstmas is not Christmas without gingerbread cookies.

This was the fun part!

Birdseed Treats for Our Bird Friends

We do enjoy the birds around our house a lot. It was only natural that we tried out a little craft to make them happy when they come to visit. The instructions came from the December issue of Taste of Home.

The idea behind the craft is simple: mix dissolved gelatin with birdseed and press it into cookie cutters. Let is dry for two days ...

... and you will have a cute treat for the birds.

And they came, in all shapes and sizes.

Fuzzy Sticks Snowflakes

We welcomed the beginning of winter with a simple craft. It takes a few fuzzy sticks and beads.

We made a whole bunch to give to our neighbors.

13/14 Week 15 Day 4

Our last day before the winter break. It went as usual, without any fireworks. Andrew is starting to get the idea behind multiplication and he is enjoying writing down dictated stories a lot.

We had good time during breaks between classes. Andrew receive his first issue of Ranger Rick and we were checking out the magazine's website all through out our school day.