Weather Week

Well this week was an adventure in weather. And boy did our weather here in Everett cooperate. We had rain, snow, hail and sun...not to mention some pretty raging winds.

We borrowed all sorts of weather books from the library and talked especially about the cycle of water. Jonas, Ronan and I talked about how water falls from the clouds in the form of rain, or snow (or...) and runs into rivers, lakes and the ocean where it begins to rise again in the form of water vapor. Then the water vapor attaches to dust particles in the atmosphere to create clouds. When the water vapor comes together with other water vapor particles they begin to form water droplets and when those water droplets start to get bigger and bigger, their weight makes them fall again toward the earth.

Jonas and I went over this cycle several times throughout the week. Sometimes he would throw in other words such as "barnacle" instead of "particle" but mostly I think he got the idea. And I rather enjoyed the fact that he envisions the water vapor attaching to dust barnacles in the atmosphere. Hehehe. My imagination boy!

Also throughout the week we talked about different kinds of weather. We talked a little bit about extreme weather conditions such as tornadoes, hurricanes, and snowstorms. We even visited the snow up on Snoqualmie pass briefly on St Patrick's Day.

Unfortunately I've been terrible at taking pictures this week so words only this time. Speaking of words: Jonas is getting better at word recognition and sounds of letters. Ronan now recognizes some letters...especially R's (for Ronan!) and O's.

This week we are off to Hawaii. So perhaps we will study Hawaii!!

Crocodiles, Sea Turtles and the Human Body

So I guess I have some catching up to do. My goal is to post once a week to talk about what we've accomplished in a certain subject. However, I've missed several lately!

We continued with reptiles...talking about what it means to be cold-blooded and discussing the different ways that different reptiles eat and live. We moved on to sea turtles and talked about their life cycle and even explored the different shapes their bodies have. Jonas painted some beautiful turtles, telling me which kind of turtle each one was. He even painted a picture of the elusive (and imaginary) blue sea turtle for grandma. In addition to painting turtles the boys both covered their own framed canvas with some beautiful paintings for their bedroom wall.



In studying the human body I realized that my boys already know so much! We talked about the body's need for exercise and good nutrition. The boys also made poster board diagrams (originally intended as board games) which included their body's blood, bones, brain, heart, and much more. Jonas even included specific boy parts on his diagram. Hehehe.

In addition to specific subject studies the boys have continued with other lessons. This past week they began horseback riding lessons, Jonas still continues with violin lessons and loves it!, and swimming lessons continue as well. They also attend a weekly PE class and biweekly soccer.

Jonas' writing and word/letter recognition is improving as well. When he does art projects I like to have him describe them to me and then we pick a few descriptive words for him to write (either on the picture itself or on a separate sheet of paper).

Overall I enjoy our progress!