School Updates

It's been a busy few weeks of school.  We've been learning about Thomas Jefferson, watching an EFT (Electronic Field Trip) about the Election of 1800 with Colonial Williamsburg characters, reading about the Supreme Court and John Marshall, covering the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition, learning about James Madison and the War of 1812, William Wilberforce, William Blake, muscles and nerves, and on and on.  We LOVE school!  Enjoy our pictures, as much as we enjoyed taking them!

We received this calendar from one of our old homeschool buddies back in Colorado Springs.  When we turned the page for September, the kids instantly said the picture looked like Paradise Falls in "UP!"  So, Sissi decided to color and paste on a "Rainbow House", just like Ellie did in the movie.  We're going to be going into a 3 week mini unit about South America next week....we can now learn about America, only SOUTH! :)

Thank you Clendinen girls for leaving us the Barbie clock and cards.  Gwangi is such a good big brother, he's teaching Sissi how to tell time while I work on writing with Krypto.

Krypto has discovered a love for poetry.  He really enjoyed learning about William Blake and his poetry, and the poems we read that were written in his style or in his honor.  Here he is working on counting stanzas and recognizing rhyming patterns/schemes.

On the back wall you can see one of our silhouette projects and also some of the abstract art we were doing with "Drawing with Children" by Mona Brookes.

Gwangi is working his way through his math text.  He really enjoys math!

Krypto, laying on my bed (no sheets, so it must have been Wednesday morning...the day we change the sheets on the beds.)  He is working on an "organizer" for a paragraph about the War of 1812.

We're a few weeks into rugby.  Here, the boys are working on some drills while their teams aren't playing.

Krypto is on the Yellow Team.  You can see him running in the distance, orange shirt.

Another action shot of his team playing.

Each team has 6 members, this is the Yellow Team.

Some drawings from our new book "Drawing with Children."  We learned about the five elements and then started putting them together to make a recognizable picture.  These are some birds in trees.  Top is Sissi, middle is Krypto, bottom is Gwangi.

This week, the lesson was about graphic art, we studied an embroidery project with a lion on it. Then the kids had to plan a scene around the lion, figure out what else would be in the picture, the size of the lion, etc.  Then, they had to color it.  I was amazed at the total quiet in the room for about 30 minutes while this project was occurring.

This is Gwangi's finished project...a lion with his friends, the monkey, giraffe, and a bird.

Krypto's project - Leo the lion and the Starry Night.

Sissi's project - Leo, my friend, the lion.

The book we've been using the past two weeks.

Working on a World Map puzzle when he had finished up his school work.  I was working with Krypto on some writing, and while he was doing his final draft, I was able to steal away for a moment to take this picture.

My girl, after an impromptu dance recital.