New School Year!

I haven't updated this blog in just over a year. Oops! 😯 Since my last post our family has grown by two little feet! We are all so in love with our little Pookie!

I think we've finally found our groove with homeschooling this year. It's taken us a bit but I am hoping our newly laid plans work out.

Here are a few pics of our last almost two months!

Math lessons

Spanish tests

Welcome back to dance team, 2017!

We've been to several library events, from cooking to tween advisory groups.

 We went on a farm tour and picked lots of apples.

 This little lady and I made an apple crisp with our freshly picked apples.

 We also went to a corn maze. For some reason I don't have a lot of pics of this.

Jayden joined robotics club.

We've joined in several of the Halloween festivities! We went to our dojo's annual Halloween party, trick or treating (minus the sick baby), Cait went to her dance team Halloween party, and we went on a spooky "haunted" walk.

Phew! That's just a quick peek into our lives since September!

Karate Belt Test

Both kids took their belt test (a nearly 3 hour physical exam!!) over the weekend and both kids earned their new belts!

Both kids got to spar. (Caitlin had no gear because she wasn't supposed to spar but they threw her in at her request-- they both did great!)

Both kids are now part of Junior Black Belt Club. They head to their first meeting at the end of this month.

"This program is for children 6 to 12 years old. The student will move through ten belt levels (White to Black Belt). Each student receives three stripes per belt. The student must have parent approval in order to receive a stripe. This program is broken into three phases so that students are always challenged and motivated to learn new skills. The student will learn 30 character development and life skills,  65 karate techniques, 45 self-defense maneuvers, 9 kata’s (traditional forms), and a full study of the art of goal setting. This program is full of flexibility skills, endurance drills, and most of all fun! The ultimate goal is 1st degree junior Black Belt in Shotokan Karate."

Halloween Party

Annual karate school party!

Science

Last week in Science, Professor VonSchwartz (aka dad) gave the science lesson. He is the new science teacher and he has an annoying heavy accent. He also named me Professor VonKillJoy. Whatever!

Anyway, last week's lesson covered moving atoms.

Using hot water, cold water, and room temp water, the kids added blue food coloring, learning that when things are mixed without being stirred, it is called diffusion. They also learned that temperature affects how fast atoms and molecules mix with each other.

As the blue dye and water diffuse, we are seeing molecules and atoms in motion. 

After studying the cups the kids learned that atoms and molecules not only move, they move fastest in hotter water. We also noted the condensation and slight evaporation of the hot water.

Jayden is doing amazing in his online science class! He had an oral exam with his professor last week and got 100%. He is now working on the second unit of the class, which involves energy transformation. He is learning about all different types of energy: kinetic, potential, chemical, mechanical, electrical, thermal. radiant, nuclear, and sound.