Art Class

Hannah started taking an art class once a week just after school started last fall.  She has been sketching pictures for a long time and had started to watch "how-to" videos online.  From the first day of the class I was very impressed with what she can do.  The teachers give the kids verbal guidance so the finished product is all produced by the students.

 

The caterpillar was from her very first class.  She started with a reference picture that showed which shapes to use to form the caterpillar.  She has since progressed to no-step which means she has to come up with the shapes to form the picture on her own.  The background and added objects are from her imagination.

 

 

The parakeet was a new concept because she had to figure out how to make the bars look curved.

 

 

Some of these photographs of her work are kind of fuzzy because I took them with my phone instead of my good camera, but I think they still show the progression in her work.  She has a done a couple more in class, but I haven't taken pictures of all of them.



Mom, I Need More Science



Hannah has loved animals her entire life and for several years has talked about being a zoologist when she grows up.  She loves learning about math and science, so I won't be surprised if she chooses a career path that involves both.  She has a way of taking a math problem and turning it inside out in her head and making it look easy in the process. 

One of the things I love about homeschooling is when Hannah wants to know more about a subject, we can take the time to investigate.  Earlier in the week she mentioned to me that she doesn't think she wants to be a zoologist any longer.  She still loves animals, but she said she is becoming more interested in space and thinks we need to learn more about that in science.  She also told me she thinks she would like to work for NASA.  I know she will probably change her mind a thousand times, but allowing her to follow her interests is a great way for her to learn.  Field Trip Friday rolled around and I knew I needed to find something to build on that interest.

The Virginia Air and Space Center was perfect.  It is the visitor's center for NASA Langley Research and Langley Air Force Base. 

 
The very first exhibit is on the Wright Brothers and the exhibits build from there to space exploration. 

 

Not only is there information to read along the way, but many hands on activities which further explain the concepts of flight and space exploration.  Before we had been there five minutes, Hannah told me we would have to come back because she was going to need to reread all of this information.

This is the cockpit of an F/A 22 Raptor.  Hannah wasn't happy to pose for pictures, but I managed to get her in a few.

 

Here she is reading another sign.  That is what she really wanted to do.

 



This was a mini-theatre designed to look like a rocket.  We are fans of the Stargate tv show, so we said we found our own stargate.  Ha!

There was an observation deck on the top of the building.  I was looking across the water admiring these beautiful old brick building when I realized that it was the VA where PK worked.

Hannah and I picked up a membership on the way out, so she will be able to go back and reread her signs over and over.  We received tickets to the IMAX theatre with our membership.  PK, Aaron, Hannah and I took advantage of those yesterday afternoon.

Field Trip Friday

Hannah and I finished our second week of school with our new Field Trip Friday.  Each week we are going to explore or do something fun in our area.  I received an email from our state homeschool group sharing information about a website called Homeschool Movie Club.  They choose a movie and post free curriculum to accompany the movie. 

The latest release, Dolphin Tale 2, coincided with our Field Trip Friday.  I didn't tell Hannah what we were going to do until she was almost finished with her school work.  She was thrilled!  She loves animals and science.  I had printed out a bunch of the information and activities and placed it all in a binder which meant she would have additional work.  I'm never quite sure how she is going to receive that.  Her words were, "This is going to be so much fun because dolphins are my favorite.  They are so smart!"  I showed her the pages she needed to read and the activity she needed to do and she excitedly jumped right in. 

We will not be doing all of the curriculum the website had to offer, but I chose the parts I thought would offer the most for Hannah. 

We will probably plan a few more of our field trips around the movie.  Two trips on my list are a local aquarium we have yet to visit and a dolphin watching tour.  I failed to take a picture today, but we had a wonderful time.

Early Bird Catches the Worm

 As I walked through the living room on my way to the kitchen about 6:00 this morning, I found this on the couch.  Hannah had gotten up early and decided to start on school work and fell back asleep.  A couple days ago she started school work at 5:00 a.m.  I thought maybe she was up to something, but she really just wanted to finish early in order to have more free time later in the day.

 

Homeschool

We just weren't thrilled with Hannah's school so we decided we would homeschool.  We are loving it!!

 

 

We set up a classroom on the enclosed back porch.

 

 

But sometimes we just find a comfortable spot.

 



And we have been doing lots of experiments.

I love that we can work at Hannah's pace and if she asks a question we have the freedom to research the answer or run an experiment.  We are planning to continue with homeschooling until we return to Georgia.