A Poem, A Video, And Some Dairy-Free Cheese!

Math:

We continued our assessments. There are quite a lot! I (Kaylee) took an assessment on roots and exponents, and I (Landen) took an assessment on 2D and 3D shapes. I (Emberly) did some worksheets.

Language Arts:

We read some more of our book, The Vanderbeekers. It is really interesting. I (Emberly) learned about the letter E. I also practiced my handwriting. I (Kaylee) also wrote a pan toum poem. A pan toum poem is really fun to make, because it repeats certain lines. Line 2 and 4 from one stanza become line 1 and 3 of the next stanza. Beware- it's a little sad, because all of my other pan toum poems have been about happy things, so I decided to switch it up with a sad one.

Gone by Kaylee Hurd

Cold, whispy wonders

a sunset icy and grey

the atmosphere bleak and dreary

no fire, spark, or breath of life

a sunset icy and grey

I stare at the landscape

no fire, spark, or breath of life

except mine

I stare at the landscape

no hearts beating, fingers drumming

except mine

and even I have gone cold

No hearts beating, fingers drumming

My home, now a graveyard

and even I have gone cold

as I think of the others,

gone.

It's pretty cool, right? The words "cold, whispy wonders," just came to me, and with each line, I began to understand more fully what kind of poem I was writing. I didn't understand what my poem would be about until I wrote the words "I stare at the landscape, no fire, spark, or breath of life, except mine." When I read it to dad, he rated it 4.9 out of 5 stars. He said the only thing was that my line was originally "a sunset cold and grey," and since the first line uses the word "cold," I should change it. So I changed it to "icy," and it's much better now. Right?

Science:

Spa Chemistry (Kaylee) AND Elementary Science (Landen):

This week we collaborated and made a report on Hot Springs! First we gathered information about Hot Springs, and selected 3 major questions to answer in our report, plus an extra one. Our questions are: 1. Why Are There So Many Minerals In Hot Spring Water And What Are They? 2. How Do The Minerals In Hot Spring Water Help Our Bodies? 3. How Are Hot Spring Pools Cleaned? 4. How Old Are Hot Springs? Then we printed them off, cut them out, and glued them onto our poster.

Oatmeal, Encanto Fun, and Cool Texture!

Math:

We continued our assessments. I (Kaylee) am doing assessments on Algebra, and I (Landen) am doing assessments on equations with money and fractions. I (Emberly) learned about the numbers 13, 14, and 15.

Language Arts:

We took a break from Brave Writer and are reading The Vanderbeekers (book one). The Vanderbeeker family live in a city and are being forced out of their home by their curmudeon (mean and grumpy) landlord, Mr. Beiderman.

Science:

Spa Chemistry (Kaylee):

This week I experimented with my soap and tried to make it look like chocolate chip cookies. I colored the main part brown and melted a smaller part and colored it dark brown. Then I dripped the darker brown soap into the already-hardening light soap to look like chocolate chips. It looked fine before it hardened, but when it hardened fully...

Bathbombs, Bouncy Balls, and Beads!

Math:

This week, I (Kaylee) started my 7th grade assessments (to see how much I knew for 7th grade math). I (Landen) continued my 4th grade assessments. I (Emberly) did more Mathseeds and learned about the numbers 11 and 12.

Language Arts:

This week we read more of our book, Becoming Muhammad Ali. We did our copywork. I (Landen) wrote a story from a prompt from one of Kaylee book, Writing Magic by Gail Carson Levine. I (Kaylee) continued working on some of my stories. I also wrote a story on Scratch called Trust and Hope. I entered my story into a Scratch Writing competition. I am now waiting for the results to come out. I hope I win! I (Emberly) read Green Eggs and Ham to Grandma when she came and visited us.

Science:

Spa Chemistry (Kaylee):

This week I made some more bathbombs!

One of my bath bombs was too soft and crumbled. I turned it into bath salts.

Lego Minifigures, Cookies, and Even More Headbands!

Math:

This week I (Landen) took some more assessments to figure out where I am in my math learning. I (Kaylee) am learning about ranges, mode, medians, and averages. I (Emberly) learned about counting on a number line on Mathseeds.

Language Arts:

This month we are starting a new book: "Becoming Muhammad Ali." It is another book of poems, like "Before the Ever After," and it is about boxing.

Science:

Spa Chemistry (Kaylee):

This week I took a break from making soap and started another project. Mom told us about public school Science Fairs, and we wanted to make one of our own! I brainstormed some ideas for my project board. I can't tell you about it- it's a surprise!

Elementary Science (Landen):

This week I brainstormed some ideas for a Science Fair project. I got lots of ideas! I won't tell you about my ideas or it will ruin the surprise!

Technology:

Digital Photography (Kaylee):

This week I watched another video about propping on Creative Live. I learned about renting props, collecting props, and using strange props to fulfil your challenge. The teacher once got a challenge to photograph some food. His challenger wanted some fancy plates and a stone board to be incorporated into the photo. The teacher searched for days to find a stone board and finally came across a stone pot lid at something like a garage store. He rented that, and the photo looks beautiful.

Digital Art (Landen):

My mom gave me a challenge to make a Lego Valentine. First I found a lego minifigure and a heart picture. Then I traced the minifigure onto a sheet of paper using my tracing pad. Next I carefully traced the heart so that the minifigure is holding it. That was the hardest part to figure out. Finally.. I colored it!

Here are my pictures...

Here is my drawing!

Elective:

Culinary Arts (Kaylee):

This week I made some Dark Chocolate Sea Salt cookies from my Flavor Lab Radish box.

I made the batter and rolled it into balls. Then I baked them in the oven and sprinkled flaky sea salt on the tops.

The other pan of cookies burned and turned black around the edges. I learned that the oven needs to be FULLY preheated before putting the cookies in.

P.E. (Landen):

This week I took some P.E. dice and exercised with Emberly and Owen. We rolled the dice, which had both exercises and time limits on them, and set a timer for however long it said on one dice and did the type of exercise it said on the other. It was really fun!

We did jumping jacks for 90 seconds, 30 crunches, and 20 squats.

Arts and Crafts (Emberly):

This week I finished my Headbands box. Kaylee helped me. I did 2 headbands, and she did the other 2. I made two bows and put one on each headband. Then I glued tiny rhinestones on them. Kaylee glued pom-poms and a mermaid accessory on hers, as well as tiny and big rhinestones.

My headbands!

Kaylee's headbands!