Our week was great but very COLD!! We just moved from a tropical island a little over a month ago to the desert. We had no idea it would be getting so cold so fast. One morning we woke up to a temperature of 26 degrees!!! We are not prepared at all for the weather. We had to make a trip to the store to get hats, coats and gloves.
When my husband came home from work we had to drain and shut off the sprinkler system. Inside the access panel we found this little guy all cozied up. Immediatley the kids asked..."Can we keep him?" I convinced them that he looked like he was ready to hibernate for the winter and we should leave him be. Sweet dreams...
On to our school week...Some highlights...
Silly Guy is studying plants in Science. This week he learned about photosynthesis. An experiment he did was to compare the effects of keeping the leaves of a plant in the dark and in the sunlight.
He covered one leaf with a black trash bag. Then after a few days we brought both leaves inside to investigate.
He boiled alcohol and dipped each leaf into it. Then afterward he used iodine to determine which leaf contained starch(product of photosynthesis). Kind of neat! The leaf left in the sunlight turned black which showed that it had contained starch.
He did a research assignment on George Washinton Carver. Now that it is getting colder, I asked him if he wanted to finish studying plants in the spring. He replied,"No mom. I am having fun learning about plants." He decided to purchase his own plant with some of his birthday money -a venus fly trap.
In Math Silly Guy did an invesigation about fractions and percents. He loves the Saxon investigations acutually now that I think back Sweet Girl did too. He has been struggling with math lately. I am not sure if it's just been the move. I am hoping now we are getting settled things will become less frustrating for him. He usually does well in Math so I am going to give it a little more time to adjust.
He is still reading Sign of the Beaver and enjoying this tale.
In History this week we are still learning about the American Revolution. Some things we read about is week: Battle of Bunker and Breed's Hill, the surrender of General Burgoyne, women and children of the revolution, soldier life during the Revolutionary War, the winter of 1777 at Valley Forge and how important that winter was, and The Declaration of Independence. They memorized some of Thomas Jefferson's words from the Declaration:)
I did find a couple of links I wanted to share...
A Revolutionary Webquest - I went under the" lifestyle and culture" icon and we listened to some of the music played during the time period we've been studying.
Art this week we studied Winslow Homer's "October Day".
Here is a link to the Winslow Homer page at the National Gallery of Art for more information about the artist. This is Silly Guy's interpretation of the painting using pastels.
Science for Sweet Girl involved some reading and three experiments. She made these cardboard boats each having a different motor- chewing gum, soap, tissue, and no motor. Which motor would make the boat move?
Soap was the winner, but why? The next two experiments gave her the answer...
The pepper didn't do much with either the chewing gum, tissue, plain tweezers...
but wow look at what happened when she put the soap in the pepper...
After the third experiment(much patience and some help from mom. no pictures)she learned that the soap decreased surface tension causing the boat to move through the water.
Sweet Girl took a Math test this week and got a 93%. She is doing very well with Algebra. She finished up Indian Captive but is still reading The Case of Benedict Arnold.
In writing this week Sweet Girl finished up her assignment-writing a colonial newspaper. Dad and I thought she did a good job.
Little Man had a great week too!
(Coloring and counting in his pumpkin counting book)
He was intrigued by big sis's science experiment. So he joined in too.
On a home improvement/moving note...I am happy to report the last of the carpet has been replaced and the last of the boxes have been unpacked(excluding the garage).
Great week!!
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Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers!!
. We don't have many plants or flowers at our new house. We did find some snapdragons along the fence. Perfect for a little science dissection!
, getting into the American Revolution. The kids and I are captivated by the brave American's who paved the way for our freedom. It is truly inspiring. I am so glad I decided to teach them American History together. It's sparking great discussion. Moments like these I feel so blessed to be homeschooling them:)
by Jean Fritz. He loved this book and the story of Paul Revere. Today he started reading a great book The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George. We are currently reading aloud Johnny Tremain 
by Esther Forbes. When we pulled it off the bookshelf Sweet Girl's eyes lit up(she remembered reading it a few years ago). I have to say I am loving this story as much as Silly Guy:)
by Jean Fritz for her independent History reading. She has also been reading Indian Captive The Story of Mary Jemison 
by Louis Lenski for her Literature study. She is enjoying this book. For her writing assignment she continued working on(week 2 of 3) an 18th century American themed newspaper. The topics included in her newspaper are News, Sports, Entertainment, Editorials, Weather, Obituaries, Cartoons, Advertisments, and Classifieds. The assignment has had her researching the time period a lot in order to stay authentic. My husband is always telling her she is a natural reporter. That is because she keeps us very informed with everything. I mean every little detail, lol. We'll see dad.
. We didn't pack the Science books into the suitcases so I just had her review a bit. Then she started Module 3 How to Analyze and Interpret Experiments. Some pictures of her "A Floating Egg?" experiment. 
