Weekly Wrap up 1/20/17 School and Birthday

This weekend my oldest turns 15 years old!!!  I can't believe how fast the times flies by.  We are talking to her about colleges, driving and lots of other adult things these days.  GULP! I am not ready and still have so much to teach her before she is ready to fly away on her own in just 3-4 short years.
My mother is flying in today to spend the weekend with us and help celebrated Firedrakes birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  You are amazing and we love you so very much.  We can't wait to see where your dreams take you!  Kisses from us all:)

This past week we had a horrible ice storm hit our area.  So we were house bound for several days.  My daughter discovered a poor squirrel stuck to our bird feeder pole.  Probably the same one who keeps stealing the bird food.

Poor this had somehow caught its foot between the hooks and was unable to escape.  I was able to help it escape by using a broom to lift up the squirrel's body and as I did it was able to free its leg. My husband wanted to shoot it and while I am not a fan of the darn squirrel eating my bird food, I refused to allow my husband to kill it.  SO the squirrel has been freed to rob from me (and the birds) again:)

 This week in our simple machines unit we have been learning about screws.  Since my husband was unable to go to work this day (due to the ice storm)  I had him do the experiment with MarioFan.

They were comparing a nail versus a screw and looking at which was easier to use and why you would use one over the other for certain tasks.

Then they used a drill and looked at the mechanics of the drill

Next MarioFan built a screw using our Knex kit

 We are continuing our book club looking at the book Wizard of OZ.  The boys are doing great at answering the questions and remembering the facts of the book as we fill the map and the worksheets.
This week we had the boys do a few crafts --building the main characters from the books using different materials.

They had about 2 hours to build 4 different character and showed lots of creativity which was the whole exercise!  

Their finished creations.  We are hoping the boys can use their creations to perform a short skit on their own next week.

 I don't often document my daughters school these days as she is doing so much on her own now that she is in high school.  However this week I was able to volunteer in her Coop Literature class and witness the the class in action.  It was a lot of fun!

The kids were putting the case of Anne Hutchinson on trail.  The Coop teacher was the judge and the class was split into two side -- defense and prosecution.  They kids had to either defend the verdict of Anne or explain why the verdict was unjust.  Each kid had a role to play.  The kids have been researching and preparing for this case for several weeks.  I was there along with four other adults to act as a jury and judge based on the facts the kids presented decided whether trial was just or unjust.  

Firedrake being sworn in for her testimony.  Her part  in the trial was to act as a legal expert against Anne.

There were lawyers and she had to answer questions based on her knowledge of the case. 

I was so impressed with the level of knowledge these kids had on this case!  The lawyers and the cross examinations were impressive and at times very funny.  Some kids really delved deep into their roles as witness.  IT was a wonderful experience for the kids and for me to be able to take part in:)!