Weekly Wrap Up- A Bit Chilly

 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...

Valley Forge on Youtube - this a 5 minute slide show about the winter at Valley Forge.

John Adams-Declaration of Independence on Youtube- a 5 minute  scene from the John Adams mini series.

The Road to Independence - this is an online Revolutionary War simulation.  The kids enjoyed!!

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!!
Join in " Weekly Wrap UP" over at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers!!