Art Show

At the IAHE Homeschool Convention this past weekend, both boys entered an art project.  Neither won, but wanted to share the artwork.  They chose to paint a sunset using watercolors.

Alex's

Nicolas's:

Berlioz the Bear

We did a fun book this week by Jan Brett, "Berlioz the Bear".  It's a story of an orchestra of bears trying to get to their concert in town, when their bandwagon's wheel becomes stuck in a hole.  Several animals try to help pull them out, but only a bee sting on the mule's hindside is successful.  The boys had a good time with this one because it involved music and they are so musical! 

We did a beginner's "reading music" class, learning how many beats are in a whole, half and quarter notes.  We clapped a song in 4/4 time, holding out the half and whole notes.  Nicolas then used his drums while Alex played his guitar.

We learned a little about the different instruments in an orchestra - brass, woodwinds, strings and percussion.

Then for geography, we learned a little about Germany and learned to count to 10 in German.

For art, the boys each tried to draw Berlioz the Bear from Jan Brett's website.  I think they did a pretty good job.

Alex's lapbook above, Nicolas's below.

CONVENTION- HERE WE COME!

Italy

We went to Italy this week. (You can go anywhere in stories, can't you?)  We read Little Nino's Pizzaria at co-op this week.  Learned some italian words and about 3 different artists - Matisse, Michelangelo and da Vinci.  We made a small lapbook again this week, only about Italy.  Not anything I feel the need to post pictures of.  Basically, just the flag, color Italy on a map, our Italian language book and some pictures of Italy - canals in Venice, the leaning tower of Pisa, etc. 

For our field trip, we went to Papa John's and they let each child make their own pizza.  The kids (and moms) had a lot of fun!

We then went to the park to eat our pizzas, although the kids waited until we got home to eat, they had to use up some energy!

Minnesota field trip

The boys great-grandmother died this past week, so we made a quick trip to Minnesota for the funeral.  It was a long drive there and back, but they did well.  We took reading and math with us so we wouldn't be as far behind.

I call this a field trip because the boys got some family history while we were there, and met distant cousins.  We drove by the farm where their grandmother grew up, the church where their grandma and grandpa were married (also their great-grandma and grandpa were married), the old schoolhouse where their great-grandmother went to school, also the farm where their great-grandmother was born and grew up.  They heard stories at the funeral about what kind of woman their great-grandma was.  They saw pictures of her growing up at the viewing and saw pictures of quilts she made.

It was good to get away and see family again, but it was good to get back home!

Spring Break!

We took Spring Break this week, although it hasn't been all that fun.  Alex came down with a fever on Sunday and kept it through Wednesday.  It seems to be gone now, but a cough remains.  I have tried my best to avoid the doctor's office because I didn't want the rest of us to get anything.  I was able to do some cleaning out of closets and kitchen cabinets this week, starting on my spring cleaning list.  There are still several things on the list I want to get accomplished.  The carpets were shampooed yesterday, so the living room looks great - for a couple of days :)

I always feel better when my house is clean.  Why is that?

My grandmother in Minnesota is not doing well, so it looks like we may have to make a trip up there.  We're not sure how long we have - days, weeks, months.  She has outlived 2 husbands and has survived many "episodes" in the last few years, so, who knows, she could fight through this one too.

 

Japan

The setting in Grandfather's Journey is California and Japan.  So, this week we studied Japan some.  We made a small lapbook, nothing outrageous, so I will pass on posting pictures.  It consisted of a Continent book, the flag of Japan, a little Japanese culture and 4 generation books.  It was fun to watch the boys try to remember the first names of their grandparents and great-grandparents.  We also learned how to write a Haiku poem.  Scholastic is having a contest for 2-6 graders' Haiku poems.  Even though Nicolas could not enter, he wrote his own Haiku.  A Haiku poem consists of 3 non-rhyming lines - the first line 5 syllables, the second 7 and the last line 5.  Here are their poems.

Alex's
Extinct animals
That would be so sad to me
I want to save them

Nicolas's
Learning is so fun
I want to learn more in school
I want to be smart.

 

Grandfather's Journey co-op

Our co-op today was on the story Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say.  It's about a boy's grandfather who lived in Japan and moved to California.  He missed Japan and moved back to Japan, then moved back to California.  The boy, when he grew up, also had lived in both places and understood how his grandfather felt, while in one country, he missed the other.  The grandfather kept song birds, so for one of our lessons, a lady from a local pet store visited the co-op and brought several birds with her.  Almost all of them the children could touch and hold.  Here are some pictures of my boys.

Holding a cockatiel.

Some kind of chicken.

Holding a baby duck - reminded us of The Story of Ping.

Maccaw Parrot.

Another kind of parrot who wasn't being cooperative.  He liked to stay on one person and wouldn't go to the kids hands.

The songbirds that cannot be held.

After handling the birds, we made an origami bird mobile.  Since we've been home this afternoon, the boys have made their own origami birds and even paper cages to keep them in.  They really want a bird, but I think it's just a phase at this point because they had so much fun with them today.  We are NOT getting a bird.  We already have a zoo here!