'15/16 Week 4 Day 3

What a pity! We did not make it to the first Park Day. The school day took about a half an hour longer than usual, and the storm clouds all around us were not helping in anyway either. The decision to stay home was a good one because it did rain in town. Andrew came home from his baseball practice all muddy.

LA. Organizing nouns, pronouns, and verbs into groups.

The kids gathering information about their research subjects.

'15/16 Week 4 Days 1 and 2

Our Labor Day week end was not a break from work, but it was rather full of labor. We were busy in the garden sowing the fall crop, and then, we spent the whole day tearing down our old deck and building new steps. It was a lot of work indeed.

Children sowing the vegetables of their choice. They have been diligently watering their little planting box.

Taking apart the old deck was a lot of work.

We finished Saara's book about the Blue Grotto in Capri. The kids were begging me for a 'Capri cake' just like we had one two years ago for Andrew.

This week has been extremely busy. We have stayed on top of our assignments and some. Every day, including the Labor Day Monday, has taken us to town for 'after school' activities. There're no signs of our life slowing down yet. Full steam ahead!

Tuesday evening practice. 

As Andrew was finishing up watering his vegetable patch, we sat down for a while to watch the hummingbirds come and eat.

ON our way back from Saara's ballet class, we stopped at the library. The kids had to pick up some books for a research paper they are writing in LA this week. Of course, we brought home a ton of other books as well.

'15/16 Week 3 Day 5

Our last day was full of different activities. Saara's recorder arrived, and she was most happy to start practicing on it.
Andrew loved his science experiments today. We continued learning about the flow of electricity in batteries. This time he tested batteries in a series and in opposition. 
As usual, we finished the school week with an art class. We read about Vincent van Gogh and his paintings of sunflowers. The children drew their own pictures of sunflowers using pastels. Saara was not in her best creative mood, and finished her picture somewhat begrudgingly. Andrew, on the other hand, took his time working on his drawing, enjoying the whole process.

Math. A quick solution to "Mom, she is humming. I can not focus." and "Mom, Andrew is too loud," 

Science. Saara's map of where animals live, is getting busier.

Andrew learning about the electric flow through a series of cells.

Art. A sunflower in the making.

A reluctant artist.

'15/16 Week 3 Days 3 and 4

 The days have been moving along smoothly. Thank God. The children have been diligent in their studies. 
On Thursday, Andrew ended up with a lot of 'homework', i.e. extra practice of spelling words, finishing a writing assignment and math problems. He got everything done before dinner, had time to play outside, and was ready in time for his first baseball practice. He was so glad to be back on the field. He loved the practice and getting together with some of his old team mates.

Dropped Andrew off at his first baseball practice this fall.

 Today, we started with LA and spent a considerable amount of time on spelling, dictation, writing, and grammar. We finished studying nouns and pronouns, and I had the kids play a short sorting game where they had to identify three kinds of nouns plus pronouns. I will add more words, and we will keep on playing the game. The more that the kids liked it.

At the end of our school day, we read more about string instruments. We listened to violas and cellos. After that, both kids went to their woodwind instrument, the recorder, and practiced some more "Mary Had a Little Lamb". I think, they will be ready to perform for Dad very soon.

LA. Just a handful of simple cards for a quick noun sorting game. 

Back to the basics. It never hurts to do a little Kindergarten-ish work. Before we tackled our dictation paragraph, I asked the kids to write down the alphabet in capital letters. 

This week, the children had to use their creative powers to write a short story about their imaginary band.

'15/16 Week 3 Days 1 and 2

After a rather quiet first day of week 3, we had quite a lot going on today. 

After school, we drove to town to Saara's first ballet class this year. She was happy to see her teacher and old friends again, and she already made a few new ones.

Andrew finally got his hands, or rather fingers, on his new recorder. He and Saara had their first lesson today. They got to know the instrument, how to hold it and breathe, rather than blow, into it, and they also learned to finger their first notes. Both of them were encouraged. They loved it so much, now I am thinking of getting a recorder as well, for Saara should be receiving hers next week. 

Saara started her ballet classes today.

Making music. Not yet. Just learning the notes.

'15/16 Week 2 Days 4 and 5

Friday. 
In our last grammar class, we ran into a challenge. It was hard for the kids to name adjectives and abstract nouns apart. Like, 'pride, and 'proud', or 'awe' and 'awesome'. Which one is the noun, which one the adjective? So, I put together a little matching game, where they had to find the partners. Once they matched up 'kind' and 'kindness', for instance, they had to explain which was which, and come up with simple sentence to illustrate it. It was a bit long, but it was fun, and it became more enjoyable once the kids started to really understand the difference. It was worth taking the time.

Today, the kids took their first math tests. Andrew got a B and Saara an A+. Not too bad. 

In Science, Andrew continued his experiments with electricity. For a while, he was scratching his head for the tasks in front of him grew a bit complicated. It was easy to figure out how to get the light bulb light up when you had only one wire and one battery. But when a second wire and a second battery were introduced, it was quite a challenge. 
Working through the problems and drawing diagrams helped a lot. By the time he was supposed to guess if a hook-up would light up or not, he was able to give accurate predictions.

Our art class at the end of the day was also rather challenging, although, I think, the kids did not  even notice how many different art questions they answered just by having fun with colors. 
This time, they had to paint another still life. This one, however, had more lines and also a shadow to consider. All the different warm colors made them compare the tones to each other and mix them accordingly. They had to make the basic colors lighter and darker, they had to follow the grading and line of the shadow. Also, the painting had large areas and small areas to cover with paint. They had to choose the right brushes to get the job done well. 
To award their hard work, both kids ate their models. That put a sweet end to our second school week.  

LA. A matching game to learn the difference between adjectives and abstract nouns.

History. Andrew finished his first history book this year. Among other things, we learned a lot about the British Parliament.

Science. Andrew continued his experiments with electricity. He had to find out many different ways to light a bulb.

Things got more complicated when another 'wire' was introduced. Or two batteries. 

Art. Another still life for the kids to try to paint. This time, I added a shadow. We found more lines to draw, and there were more colors to mix.

All the warm red, yellow, and orange hues were different. The children had to pay good attention to what they saw in front of them.

One unexpected and not-so-pleasant surprise was that the paints we bought in spring had somewhat aged over summer. But they still worked for this art project. 

Of course, the cupcakes were there not just for looking at.

Andrew's effort.

'15/16 Week 2 Day 3

I (and, I think, the kids, too) loved our LA lesson today. Besides spelling, phonics, and grammar, we had some fun with putting together simple sentences. I provided the kids with three columns of words - subject, noun; verb; object, noun. The kids chose their words and made up the craziest sentences. We have not laughed this much in a LA class in a long time. 

LA. Practicing cursive and abstract nouns.

Sentence construction. I asked the kids to make up funny sentences, and they had a blast with it.

Science. Saara's map animals is getting busier every day.

Geography. Memorizing the countries of Middle East with the hep of a song.

After school, the kids found a long snake skin. We took a closer look at the scales.

The skin was longer than Andrew. Must be careful.