Symmetry

We talked today about how a lot of buildings are symmetrical.

Not all buildings mind you....

And that got us talking about symmetry in faces. And how people's faces are in fact NOT symmetrical.
Here's E's face. First normal-then one side doubled-and then the other.

And here's A's face. First normal-then one side doubled-then the other.

We started with our blocks.

But that didn't let us build high or interesting enough. So we had to press a few more items into service. The kids were having a blast this day setting up some AngryBrds replicas.

Some mornings while I'm still sleeping E will decide that I 'need' a cuddle....so he brings me a friend. Gotta' love it.

Our seedlings are coming along nicely.

We started out with a clean table, four kids and some playdough. But after a bit they really got into it.

We had a great time at AuntieJnn's on Friday. It's fun when the cousins have a day off during the week. Sweet Andrw spontaneously put on a puppet show for us.

And with the weather so fantastic here last week we had some outside time. Check out A on E's big boy bike!

On Saturday E had his KubKar rally. I have never seen so many kids in one gym at the same time.

I love this picture of E. He's so happy and carefree. I wish we would see this expression more often.

Unfortunately, we see this face a lot. Poor little man. He stresses.

Coin Toss

The boys got in an argument this a.m. and after hearing both versions of the events something seemed fishy. Here I have created my own idea of what might have happened.
Version1-E was sitting on the couch praying for world peace when his brother started to throw guinea pig poops at him. E prayed to God for patience. His brother then started to pick his nose and flick the boogers at him. Suddenly, the voice of G-d came from above and said, "E, kick your brother's butt." And then E said, "Your will be done L-rd."
And that must have been what happened to make him start wrestling with his brother right??
Version2-A was sitting on a chair reading the bible when his brother came downstairs and started biting his toes. A said, "Please brother stop..I'm reading the bible!" But his brother said, "Haha...I don't care", and poked him in the eye. Just then a gust of wind came in the window and blew A's bible open to Exodus 21:24. (an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot) And so A said, "I understand what must be done", and he jumped up and attacked his brother.
And that must have been what happened to make him start wrestling with his brother right??

Our challenge this week...here's E with his cantilever holding a mini-fig.

And then we went on a cantilever field hunt. Here's one.

And another one.

Wow! Good thing E was working the camera while I was driving.

And...more!

This is what it looks like in front of A's dresser. When I check his room I'm never sure if he has just finished getting dressed or if the rapture has happened and I've been left behind.

I had to run upstairs and grab some papers off the printer. When I came back down E was calling out the names of countries and A was trying to find them. I think they got the idea for this 'game' from the Tag World Map we borrowed from AuntJnn.

In history we talked about the Nazca lines and how digging them would have been like drawing pictures with your eyes closed.....so that's what we did!

And we did some science work.

And just for giggles I wanted to see if the kids could identify the continents on a blank world map. E had it done in about 10 seconds. A needed to check his reference map once but then he got it.

And then we grabbed what we needed.

And skidaddled. Off to have some fun in the beautiful weather.

Greener Grass

We are happy in our homeschool world. The decision sits well with all four of us. It affords us a freedom of time and energy that we thoroughly enjoy.
Here the kids are measuring out how big they want their backyard fort to be.

With those measurements in mind, some graphing paper and after a discussion of scale.....they started sketching. They are going to show these to Grndad and get some feedback about possible construction concerns.

We had finished school (math, science, unit work, and history) by noon. The kids got in some computer time while I made personal pizzas for lunch. It's times like these when I wonder what kids at 'regular' school do there for so many hours.

Here they are planting some more seeds in our starter greenhouse. (They had picked up seeds when we stepped for a couple of minutes this afternoon.)

Given that there are so many little squares to keep track of we have a chart for recording what we have planted and where.

You might notice M in the background of this pic. They are working on this while I cook dinner. It's times like this when I wonder how kids at 'regular' school get everything done before 3p.m.

And this little furry fellow represents my nemesis...the backyard garbage bandit. A motley collection of raccoons, squirrels and chipmunks have been raiding our garbage can. And in the case of this little fellow-standing by my kitchen window and chewing on the spoils. (That's why we went out this afternoon...to try and find something more secure) We didn't find anything tonight but tomorrow I will search again and their feast will be over!!

Field Trip

Lucky for us....we know someone who can take us on a field trip for our building/architecture unit.

Grndad took the boys through the steps for building in the city.

Look at all those plans!!

Hmm....wonder what they are working on here??

Here they are working on their challenge this week. Build a 15cm tall structure to hold your weight.

As part of our plant unit we are going to start a small greenhouse. As we come across seeds we are going to add them to our collection. We should have some good seedlings by the time it's planting season.

The kids have started to work on their build challenge for the week. Make a 15cm tall structure that can hold your weight.

Things are thawing....and that means the kids are back out on the street. It's Spring Break for the public schools. Pretty difficult to stay in and do school work when the rest of the kids are out.