Weeks of January 15 & 22

Gabe studied lines of symmetry in math as well as addition, subraction, measuring using inches and his daily pattern and weather chart. He is now charting the weather to the nearest 10 degrees. John listens to Gabe's math lesson and participates in any activity and then does his own worksheet from the grade 1 book.
Lily covered division withe decimals, circumference, dividing by a fraction, missing number problems with fractions and decimals.

We learned about the the Rise of Assyria in history, with readings from Story of the World, Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, and You Wouldn't Want to be an Assyrian Soldier. We completed maps, summaries and began work of an Assyrian chariot.

Science continued with our study of the Solar System with indepth reading about the Sun from Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia, Usborne Encyclopedia of World Geography, and Earth and Sky. Lily completed some diagrams of the distance from the Sun to the Earth, day length and how fast light travels. Gabe made a diagram of the path of light from the Sun to the Earth. We also read a story about a Eskimo boy called Nutik, the Wolf Pup by Jean Craighead George, which tied in very nicely as it depicted the seasons in the Artic.  The iPad apps Solar System and Star Walk have really captured the kid's imaginations and helped them to grasp the immensity of space.

We've gone ice skating a couple times in the past week and Lily and Gabe continue with Judo and Highland. 

Lily has been working on piano duets with one of my piano students and has found new motivation for practicing.

New motivation has also been found in French.  At Thanksgiving they learned that their cousin is in a French Immersion school and they were impressed by how much she'd learned in a couple months (she's the same age as John).  John has even shown an interest and started on the Rosetta Stone.

A few weeks ago we were driving through Canal Flats and John started asking lots of questions about the logs.  So we had a great conversation about logging and wood and the things that are made from logs.