'16/17 Week 14

    The weather finally turned chilly enough for us to take a walk in the woods. With warmer temperatures the snakes are a danger and shorter sleeves will not protect us when passing thorny vines and occasional poison ivy. So, colder weather equals walks in the woods. To reward us for hard work at our lessons one day, we put on our jackets and went traipsing the paths we had not seen since last colder weather. Nothing much had changed, but it was fun nevertheless.
    My goal for this week was to get to a nice spot with all the subjects, where we could take a 'natural' break for Thanksgiving. So, we did not start any new subjects in any of the classes. To put a nice period to the 14 weeks behind us, the kids took the sixth test in Math and finished an essay on their favorite animal. 
    This week, we also ushered in the holiday season by going to a tree-lighting ceremony in town. We spent a wonderful evening downtown with lots of smiling townspeople, ran into old friends and met new ones. With all the good-will and wishes and Christmas songs sounding in the air, I believe, we are ready now for all the holidays coming our way.

Things kids find in the forest. We believe, it used to be a squirrel.

At the lighting ceremony in town. The lights are on!

Saara has been enjoying cross-stitching. Here's another of her recent works.

This was the week of the Super Moon. Andrew and Saara joined forces with the neighbors' kids to take a closer look through their telescope.

Saara's last softball game.

Math. Unscrambling letters to sort our shapes.

Geese flying south. It is such a wonderful sight every time.

George Bush Presidential Library and Museum

On Veterans' Day, our family visited the Bush museum in town. We had not been there since the children were little. A few years in age makes a big difference. Both kids were actually paying attention to the exhibits. A lot of the things on display made more sense to them, like Andrew looked in awe at a piece of the Berlin Wall. Saara followed the 'puppy trail' and learned a lot about the Bush family and their time at the White House. At the end of the tour, both kids received 'personal' letters from the President and Mrs. Bush.

Trying out a hands-on advertisement for an exhibition about cars.

It's a plane! It's a car!

Saara on the scavenger hunt for information about the Bush family.

In the UN lounge.

A bunker during Desert Storm.

Watching a video about the Gulf War.

'16/17 Week 13

This was the Veterans' Day week. As Dad is a veteran, we took the last day of the school week off, and spent it with our family. 
Also, it was the election week. For the first time, both kids came with us as we went to the polls. We had been talking about the elections a lot before the day arrived, so it was good for the kids to be with us and see the tangible way we can be involved in making our voices heard.

Rainy days bring on the board games.

Rainy days also bring out the cooks.

LA. The kids have been writing essays under my instruction for a while. It was time to test their ability to write one on their own. 

Rainy days are over!

'16/17 Week 12

This week, we finally had time to do an art project. The weather turned rainy on us, and we had a good excuse to stay indoors and cook up something crafty. I printed out sheets upon sheets of leaf outlines which the kids painted in fall colors using their watercolors. Both children put their math skills to use when they were dividing up the final amount of leaves and were figuring out how many strings to rig up for the installation to hold an equal number of leaves per string. It was very satisfying to see them calculate the numbers in their heads. Made me smile big.

Andrew's nature find - a mega caterpillar.

LA. Saara honing her dictionary skills.

USA. We have covered information about 21 states so far.

Art. It took us two hours to paint the leaves on both sides.

'16/17 Week 11

This week was punctuated by lots of halloweenish activities. We carved the pumpkins, of course. Originally, Saara wanted to carve an image of her favorite Star Wars Rebels character Sabine, but it was impossible to find a stencil or even a picture with Sabine's face that would be suitable for carving. She finally decided to honor the memory of our beloved neighbor's dog by carving a head of a boxer. Andrew got very excited about the Star Wars emblem and happily did all the tracing and carving himself.

We also visited a couple of fall festivals around town. The children loved dressing up in their costumes and had lots of fun with their friends playing games and eating candy.

On a misty morning, we took a walk along our country road. The kids were amazed how different the world looked when it was deeply cloaked in fog.

Our place is not on the monarchs' migration route, but every now and then one detours to our place. 

Andrew got our his sketching note book to draw up the monarch that came to visit our still-alive zinnias.

Doing the cakewalk at one of the festivals.