'18/19 Week 2

The kids gathered up all the 'surviving' dinosaur toys for a cookie project Saara and I are planning for this weekend.

      This week's highlight was undoubtedly our taekwondo testing. The kids have been learning, practicing, and perfecting their green belt form for most of the summer. It is a long form with 34 moves, some of which are rather complicated. They were a bit nervous before the test. Andrew confessed that he had a bit of a stage fright and forgot the beginning of his form. He finished strong, however, and was praised for his improved focus. Saara did an excellent job as well, and both kids advanced to the next belt which is purple and the form has 44 moves.

      Yes, I passed my test as well and am a proud owner of a camo belt. 

LA. Brushing up our dictionary skills.

For our devotional time, the kids and I have been reading A Teen's Guide to the 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman. There are a few quizzes and tests the kids have to take. So far, they seem to like the book a lot.

The week's highlight -- testing for the next belt.

Self-defense demonstration.

Sparring to show off what you have learned.

History. Saara  is almost done reading about dinosaurs in Texas. She finished her week with a dino art project.

Science. While Saara was painting away, Andrew was busy building another robot. This one ran on solar power.

Building the wobbling robot.

The wobblebot.

'18/19 Week 1

The kids had a lot of fun at the home shcool swim party. They played with a lot of friends they had not seen all summer long.

     The other day in our taekwondo class, our instructor asked us to skip rope for two minutes. He assured that even if we had not skipped rope for some time it would easily come back to us just like riding a bike. It did, and it was fun!

      It felt about the same way starting our classes up again this week. We had taken an approximately two-month long break, but as soon as I printed out daily schedules and opened up the curriculum everything felt as if we had not been away from our studies at all. It was very good to have a vacation and not to think about school for a while, but it does feel good to be back.

      As usual, our first weeks are there to test our new schedules. We know, that Saara's ballet class time and day have changed, and so has the time of the kids' piano class. Because of that we have to line up our classes in way that is most effective. So far, so good. Both kids even went as far as to tell me they like being back at school. Ha-haa. Hopefully, the feeling will last for the rest of the 35 weeks we still need to cover. 

Volleyball. Saara was very excited to go through the volleyball evaluations this year. She cannot wait for the season to start.

The kids have been doing math for a couple of weeks now. They went through a Refresher Course to recall things they had learned in their previous grades, like the Properties of Addition Saara is demonstrating here.

Science. Andrew started his Science classes this year with studies in robotics. His first task was to build a vibrating art robot or VAR as he named it.

It does not take much to build a robot.

Work in progress.

Welcome Widge the VAR.

Widge in action.

Some art by Widge.

 

I was glad to see Saara use her knowledge of painting she learned in a summer art camp.

Fifth grade math brings on the calculator. 

2018 Field Trip: Sam Houston Memorial Museum

      On a fine Sunday in May, we loaded up and drove to Huntsville to enjoy the General Sam Houston Folk Festival. It promised to be a day full of fun and it was until angry storm clouds rolled over the town and drenched the museum grounds. The festival got cancelled, but the museum was open for the visitors. So, we took refuge in the museum and learned a lot about the first and third president of the Republic of Texas.

Outdoor kitchen

The Woodland House.

The Woodland House.

The Woodland House.

The Woodland House.

The Woodland House.

Some Civil War era toys

From a quilter's booth.

Soap making demonstration.

Lye making machine.

Houston's law office.