Bridge Building

We started an exciting new science unit this week -- bridges!  I had originally planned to cover this topic with just the boys but due to a delay in resources Lily has been able to join us. Lily completed a unit on electricity at the TLA Surrey campus and as I don't have any specifics planned for her this month she's joining in.  We had so much fun on Monday that we decided to invite Justin, Simon and Sina to join us for the rest of the unit.
Lily reviewed some bridge building basics with everyone while I made playdoh --one of our building materials for today.

Lily and Justin testing the strength of their bridge

John and Sina retired to the living room for a game of chess after building part of a bridge with playdoh.

We learning about "The Amazing Arch" today and built (or began to build) bridges from two different materials.  They first made piers, beams and arches from the playdoh.  These are still drying out in the oven.  Then moved on to building a cofferdam from popsicle sticks (it didn't quite work out).  Then onto building arched bridges with cardboard and comparing the same bridge with and without abutments.

Here is the book that we're using, Bridge! Amazing Structures to Design, Build & Test  Don't be deceived by the childish cover-- it covers the topic in depth!

Gabriel and Math

As we pulled out math today, Gabe started grumbling.  So I decided that it might be a good idea to find out if he just didn't want to do math or if there was some other reason that we could find a solution for.  Turns out that he's bored.  I have been aware that he can pretty much do his math without help and I haven't had to actually teach him a lesson for awhile but I've been reluctant to just jump ahead.  So I found an assessment about 25 lesson ahead of where we are and worked through it with him today.  The examples above are just two of the questions.  We worked out the problems on the white board so that I could see that he actually understood the math.  The only part of the assessment I knew he wouldn't be able to answer from memory were the multiplying by seven equations.  However, I do know that he understands multiplication and he knows how to find the answer.  Those particular facts just haven't been memorized yet.  So, following today's lesson we agreed to jump ahead in his math book (from lesson 35 to lesson 60) but that we'll need to focus on memorizing the times 7 facts.

Water Wheel Experiment

Gabe really likes experiments and crafts so I'm making an effort to do more of both and let him choose an experiment.
This was easy and fun!  Afterwards we watched some videos on how water wheels are used and the development of their technology.

Week of September 24-28

I was a little slower embracing the world in the mornings this week due to a nasty cold but emerged one morning to the wonderful site of Lily doing her math at the kitchen table.  She was soon joined by Gabe and John set himself up at the counter while I made muffins. My homeschooling dream come true - only took 7 years!
Lily has shown a lot of maturity this year and has been much more self motivated than I've seen in the past.  There are several subjects that she can  work through on her own (math, French, editing, reading assignments for history and science) and has really shown initiative this year.  She's finished reading most of the novels, histories and fun science books that I bought for this year. 
Gabe and John are making very good, steady progress at their reading and have launched right back into math and spelling with very little review needed.

They've been going on nearly weekly outings with Grandpa Rene to the beach to both explore and draw their observations.  This has been a wonderful bonding time for them and art lessons to boot!

I don't have to make any concerted efforts to make sure they get physical activity. They spend hours outside every day biking, jumping on the trampoline and tramping through the woods.

Hiking at Lynn Canyon

2 hours round trip hike and then a visit to the ecology center on the way back to the car.

Hovercraft Project

The first step was to gather recycling. I gave them some general ideas and sent them scouring. (Fortunately the recycling truck hadn't come by yet!)

Lots of trial and error finding the way to cut the plastic.

And testing them with a race!

Gabe's didn't get any further than this :(

Afterwards we compared everyone's designs to decide what worked best and they spent some time making modifications trying the blower dryer to move them and even the shop vacuum.

First Day of School

Lily swimming (Brr!) with her new friends

John, enjoying his sandwich between running around and digging in the sand.

Ahh, the beach!

We enjoyed the sun and sand at TLA's annual "Hit the Beach" first day of school.  The weather was gorgeous and my nose got one last sunburn.  No pictures of Gabe because he was too busy running around with new friends.  I was really proud of him.  No clinging to me, no waiting around saying he was bored.  He participated in the games (organized by Richard!) and made friends with no prodding from either of us.  We have worried about his shyness in the past but I think we can put that aside for now.
We started slowly with academic work just easing into math and language arts.  We've done a few day trips that could be considered field trips, including a fun day at Fort Langley which I'll post pictures of.  We started, as is my new tradition, with Who Am I? worksheets from Life as Mom.  It makes a great cover for the school work from the year that I want to save and is so fun to look back on.  Last year John said he wanted to grow up to be a man.  Hilarious.