Week 34-35

 We got to go bowling with our aunt and uncle. It was really fun. Max got second highest score on one game and Mali got second highest score on another game. We hadn't gone bowling for quite a while. Our aunt showed us her technique of just throwing the ball directly out in front of you. It works pretty well. We didn't even use bumpers and didn't get very many gutter balls. 

We finished up our history book, volume 2. We learned about how Spain was kind of the ruler of the seas and had the most colonies around the world. They were getting annoyed by the English ships and decided to fight them. England ended up beating the Spanish Armada and it was kind of a turning point and Spain started to diminish in power while England continued to gain more power. 

We finished up North America in our geography studies and learned about the US and Canada. We haven't decided if we will do Europe or Asia next. We did practice quizzes to review the North and Central American countries. 

Max: I finished the 3rd grade math in my program. Now I am working through some of the review practice materials just to make sure I don't have any gaps. I lost the book I was reading and we looked for it for over a week and finally my mom just decided to buy a new copy because we have no idea where it is. So I am back to reading that book and will try and do a better job of putting it back after I finish my daily reading. I have been doing some typing practice too. 

Mali: I finished up the money and patterns section in math. Now I am starting measuring. 

I finished Amber the Orange Fairy and started Sunny the Yellow Fairy

Noni visiting Mali during math

One of Mali's math lessons

Week 33

 In Science this week we learned about the genetics of blood type. Blood type is determined by what antigens are on the blood cells. A person can have A or B antigens or both, or neither A nor B. They can also have an antigen of Rh factor and if they have that they have a + and if they don't have that, they are -. Our dad is O- and our mom is O+ so we know that all of us kids are O something. 

 

Most of the chickens are laying eggs again 

after taking a break in the winter due to moulting or just 

it being winter

We went on a long scooter ride along the river trail and had 

fun doing a little exploring

We got our kinetic sand out to play with. 

Mali's new lego set

Mali staged a photo shoot of her white tiger

We went out for brunch and part of Max's 

meal was this great fruit bowl

Week 32

This week in science we learned about Meiosis. Meiosis is how the chromosomes get mixed around and then split so that an offspring only gets half from each parent instead of doubling by getting a full set from each parent. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes, so 46 total. 

Our bowls got fired so we were able to pick them up from the pottery studio. So fun to see how they turned out!

 

A drawing by Mali

Max's bowls

Mali's bowls

Mali's embroidery project

Silly picture of Mali

Week 31

This week we played a lot of games as part of school and that was really fun. In science this week we learned about what chromosomes are and what genes are. In geography we learned about Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Cuba. 

Mali: I finished reading Ruby the Red Fairy. I like these fairy books. I also did math lessons, music practice, and geography and history. 

Max:  I am still reading my Space Case book. I did math lessons, music practice, geography, and history. 

This is a cool game called Three Sticks. There is lots of math in it. 

Kerplunk!

Blockhead

Week 30

 Mali: In math this week I have been working on division. I did 2, 5, 10 and learned about remainders. I drew a picture of Moana on the ipad. I also was playing around with the symmetry tool to draw ladybugs. I read more of Ruby the Red Fairy. I am almost done and should finish next week. I did my writing practice. This week's nursery rhyme was It's Raining, It's Pouring. 

Max: I did the temperature lessons in my math program this week. The one on celsius was tricky because we don't really use that so I'm not used to those measurements. I read more of my Space Case book. I also did reading in my reader for language arts. I did some language arts lessons too. I started playing the Globle and WorLdle games this week. You have to guess a country in one and it gives you clues about how close you are. The other just shows the shape of a country and you have to guess it. It also gives you clues to help figure it out. It is fun. Because of our geography lessons, I was able to recognize the shape of Zambia right away. 

Both: In science we did the Hereditary quiz show and we got all the questions right. We learned about 2 trait punnet squares. They have 16 squares to fill out. We made banana chocolate chip cookies for our Mix-It club. We learned about the islands of Central America for geography and about Queen Elizabeth of England for history. The people loved her so much and she was such a good queen they called her Good Queen Bess. She was queen for more than 40 years. 

Max and Phoebe

Mali & Phoebe

Making banana chocolate chip cookies

The finished delicious cookies!

Mali's drawing of Moana

We played a version of dominoes with our OuiSi cards.

You look for connections between the pictures. It was fun. 

We decided to be done when we ran out of table. 

Mali was ready for a change--we cut off a lot of hair!

Week 29

 Mali: I designed and built a house in Minecraft this week. I really like how it turned out. Here are some screenshots of it.  I patterned the little pokey out window after a lot of the houses in our neighborhood that have something like that. 

Max: My grandpa's foot has recovered enough from his surgery so he was able to take us to recycle our cans. We had so many this time. We got a bunch from a neighbor who saves their cans for us as well. We got $43 which is more than we've ever gotten before. It was pretty exciting. Usually we get around $20 or maybe in the $20-30 amount. 

Week 28

 This week we went back to Wildflower Pottery Studio to glaze our pieces. We should be able to pick them up next week. It was fun to do. Some of the glazes look like a totally different color after they are fired so you have to look at the little picture on the label to have a good idea of what the finished piece will look like. For Mix It class we made mini fruit tarts. They turned out really good! In science we learned about the rules of mendelian genetics, which are independent assortment, segregation, and dominance. 

Mali: I started doing lessons on division in math. My writing/spelling assignments were based on "Baa Baa Black Sheep." I did music class and music practice. I read more of Ruby the Red Fairy. I like that book. 

Max: I finished up the Capacity section in math. Now I am doing weight. I learned about kilograms and that they are a little more than 2 pounds. I read more in my Space Case book and did lessons in my language arts program. I went to music class and practiced music. I learned a bit more of my Bad Piggies song. 

Our Darwin Day Donuts! We always get donuts to celebrate Darwin's Birthday on February 12. 

Glazing our bowls at Wildflower Pottery Studio.

Finished up Volume and Capacity

Making mini fruit tarts

Doing some Punnet Squares for science class