Gymnastics EOY Programs

 The girl attend gymnastics classes twice a week at the Armory.  They love to go run, roll, and jump!  Tonight they performed in the end-of-year program.

They all three preformed their routines for the crowd.  They did a great job!

Simple Machines with K-nex Lab

We finished our Apologia Botany book a few weeks ago.  We could have just "closed the book" on science, but then we would have missed out on a lot of fun!  We launched into a unit on Simple Machines.  We read books on each of the 6 categories--1 a day.  Then the girls found images of that category and added them to wall chart.

 We did fun activities like use the see-saw that Papa made to demonstrate levers, fulcrum, load and effort.  Then the girls busted out the K-nex to build a simple machine to demonstrate!

The girls absolutely loved building with K-Nex.  This came as no surprise because all 3 girls are Lego Builders during every free moment of time!  K-nex really helped us demonstrate how each simple machine worked.  SO. MUCH. FUN.

Lauren was invited to attend a K-Nex Lab with our homeschool group.  They built a tow truck the first session and completed a few experiments with the tow truck.

 During the second lab, the groups built incline planes.  Then they calculated how the incline (which they lowered each time) affected the speed of the ball rolling down.  Lots of math involved this week!

 Lyndsey had never studied simple machines, so this was a great introduction for her.  Lauren had studied simple machines when she was at Eastwood, so the labs enhanced and furthered her learning on simple machines.  I love it when unit studies come together this easy!!!

Airport Tour & A Visit to Jasmine Hill Gardens

May 12th

We met our homeschool group at the Montgomery Regional Airport today to take a tour.  Our guide told us the history behind the Montgomery Airport and showed us around.  We even saw a few corporate jets take-off at the end of the tour.

May 19th

Jasmine Hill Gardens and Outdoor Museum, "Alabama's Little Corner of Greece," features over 20 acres of year-round floral beauty and classical sculpture, including new statuary honoring Olympic heroes.  The Olympian Centre was built with its front facade designed as a recreation the Temple of Hera as it looked int the 7th Century B.C. In 1996 the Olympic Flame originated at Olympia, Greece's ancient Temple of Hera ruins and came to the world's only full scale reproduction at Jasmine Hill's Temple of Hera ruins. The Olympic Flame burned there in the cauldron on its way to the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta.

Jasmine Hill Gardens is just beautiful!  The girls enjoyed looking at all the plants and flowers on the grounds.  The girls were able to look at the flowers and tell me things we have been studying in Apologia Botany all year.  It was a great Botany field trip to complete our study!  The Greek statues were also very fascinating!

I can't forget that we got to feed the ponds of fish.  AND we saw the life cycle of a frog in action--tadpoles, froglets, and big frogs!

State-by-State: Maine

This week the girls have flown over to study Maine.  Somehow this state was left behind and forgot until now!  Or maybe I waited for a reason!

L is for Lobster, a two-clawed crustacean

that lives among rocks in shallow parts of the ocean.

Buoys mark traps where lobsters are caught.

They are red when you eat them, but green in the pot!

from L is for Lobster:  A Maine Alphabet

The girls completed their scrapbook page and lap book during this last week of school.  I found many good books for us to enjoy about the great state of Maine.

Other Books:

One Morning in Maine

The Train to Maine

Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie

I Met a Moose in Maine One Day

Beacons of Light LighthousesThe Lighthouse Activity Book by Elinor De Wire

North American Lighthouses Coloring Book by Dover Coloring Books

Craft:

We made these cute lighthouses with plastic cups.  you can see them sitting between the girls desks.  i guess I never took a good picture of just them.

We kept cooking very simple for the state of Maine!  We went to  Red Lobster!  We ordered a lobster.  The girls tasted it, and Daddy ate it!  They were not crazy about it at all!!! 

WWII

Our 7th and final American history unit of the Time Travelers Series from Homeschool in the Woods was World War II.  We read about and discussed the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Regime, German/Italian/Japanese occupations, conflicts and battles between the Axis and Allies, the American home front, the Holocaust, VE and VJ Days, and the events immediately following the war.

Books we read:

Cornerstones of Freedom Rosie the Riveter

The Lily Cupboard

Friedrich

Number the Stars

Additional Workbook:

When, Women, and Children Saved the World!  World War II by Carole Marsh

This workbook was great.  She MANY American history based learning workbooks.  I wish I would have discovered them 2 years ago!!

Learn Our History Series

     World War II: America Under Attack

     World War II: The Pacific

     World War II: Victory in Europe

     The Cold War

My girls have really enjoyed the whole Learn Our History Series!  My plan is to pull the videos out for review throughout the next year.  

Movies:

Hidden in Silence

The Diary of Anne Frank

Tuskegee Airmen

Walking with the Enemy

The girls completed the mini books and note booking pages to go along with each historical event we studied.  We played many games to understand how rations were handed out and used.  

We of course enjoyed learning about all the women of World War II and how so many kept the home front alive.

Pictures of the girls putting together their lapbooks while I had a meeting!  They have gotten really good at assembling all by themselves!!

AWANAs Ceremony

Were are the Vermillions on Wednesday night?  We busy in the AWANAS program at Gateway Baptist Church!  The girls love AWANA Wednesdays, and I enjoy watching them hide more scripture in their hearts.  AWANAS is an awesome scripture memory program for kids ages 3 to sixth grade at our church.   Colleen was in Cubbies this year.  She loved her teachers, and she hide away many verses for the future.  She completed her 1st cubbies book.  She received a little end-of-year award (cup of candy which she quickly ate before mom could take it away!) at the ceremony!

I worked with Lyndsey's age group, the Sparks.  They are a fun, energetic group of kids!  25+ every week from 6-8pm!!!  Lyndsey rocks at memorizing scripture!  She completed her book and review flip-book by February.  Then, Mrs. Buffy kept her busy TruthScripts.  TruthScripts is also an AWANAS program, but it focuses on memorizing passages of scripture at a time.  She completed 4 TruthScripts this year!

Lauren completed her second year of T&T (Truth& Training).  She received her award trophy tonight. As an extra award for completing a book in T&T, the T&T teachers let the girl prepare a bucket of "stuff" to pour on the T&T teacher of their choice.  Lauren chose to dump her bucket on Mrs. Shannon.  I am so sorry!!!!

The girls came home tonight with quite an accumulation of awards!  I am so proud of their hard work and dragging me to church some Wednesday nights!!!

They really do love each other....sometimes!!!

Piano Recital & Choir Concert

This afternoon was the girls piano recital.  I think this is Lauren's 5th recital, but this was Lyndsey's first!!!  She started taking piano lessons the week after the recital last year!

Lyndsey & Lauren did a great job playing their pieces.  They even played a couple of duets!

Lauren received her trophy for scoring Double "O" at district AMTA.  She competed at State AMTA this past weekend.  She scored an "E" for her first time at state.  Yeah!!!!

Tonight the girls also had their homeschool choir performance.  They sang beautifully!  The teacher is working with each group to learn pitch and read the notes.  It is amazing how the little ones pick up on the color coded techniques!  The girls loved going to homeschool choir each week, and we will definitely be going again next year!!!!