Autumn has returned to Maine. In just a few days time, we've gone from hot, humid high 80s to cool, comfortable 60s. Trees are starting to show their reds, oranges and yellows. Sweatshirts have been pulled out of the closets. Windows are cranked shut around dinnertime. Soon, flip flops will disappear. Soups are warming in the crockpot and cocoa is back in the cupboard. If only Autumn would last until Spring...
As you may have noticed, I haven't been keeping up with our weekly wrap-ups. We have been chugging along, learning new things, experiencing life, enjoying our time together.
Tom and I are getting in our last days of fishing in our little dingy. Soon, it'll be too chilly to head out for bass and perch. We've had a wonderful time together!
Sam has been discovering "Sun Science" with Apologia Astronomy Lesson 2. We have 2 more projects, modeling a solar eclipse and making a pinhole viewing box, and we'll be moving onto Mercury. But, in the meantime...
He melted (and burned!) chocolate by focusing the sun's rays with a magnifying glass (in the parking lot of the school while Cate was at concert band practice).
And made a solar oven out of a pizza box, tin foil and plastic wrap. He baked a cheese burrito for lunch with chunky Southwestern salsa. It "only" took 45 minutes to melt the cheese on a 65 degree day.
Cate loves Chibi, a form of Japanese manga or anime, and has been printing out and coloring them from a website called Deviant Art. With some encouragement and You Tube videos, she's started to create her own Chibi this week (but isn't ready to share).
Who would have thought that after 4 months our supposed-to-be-indoor cat, Stripe, would return! Tom heard her one early evening yowling outside our garage. (Apparently, she was the culprit getting into the trash the last couple of days...) She dashed across the road into the woods, but came to me when I called her. She's in remarkably good shape with no fleas or ticks, but quite thin.
In the meantime at STEM, Jake had an unexpected day off from school yesterday and today. On Wednesday we were pelted with sheets and sheets of heavy rain, sometimes as much as 3 inches an hour. The school's basement flooded! Clean-up and assessment of damage was done yesterday and today.
As always, special thanks to these bloggers for their weekly homeschool blog link-ups. Click on over to see what other homeschoolers are doing!
I always love reading your weekly wrap-ups. I like the science projects especially. I had to ask my don about chibi. Great week!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know what Chibi were until Cate told me! LOL I don't keep up with anime or manga art, but I guess it's pretty popular right now!
DeleteI'm still so,happy Stripe is back and relatively healthy. Hopefully she says inside this time. I love how the science experiment was done on the go. No time wasting for you!
ReplyDeleteThanks! She's settled right back, gaining weight. I think she's getting out through the utility room into the garage...as we watch the front and back doors closely when we go in and out. But if she gets out again - I'm confident that she'll take care of herself!
DeleteThe science projects look so fun. I am really glad your cat is back.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Dawn
Thanks! We're glad she's back too! We never thought we would see her again after being gone so long. It was quite a surprise! The science projects are fun! We're loving the Apologia Science kits that Rainbow Resource has. They're a little pricey but the convenience of having the majority of our lab supplies gathered and organized has been AWESOME!
DeleteI've always wanted to make a solar oven, although I suspect that our chickens and goats would "help" if we tried it. Looks like a really fun week!
ReplyDeleteIt actually worked fairly well. No piping hot food on at 65 degree day, but enough to melt cheese! (I wouldn't do anything that required a high temperature such as meats.) We placed the oven on the hood of the van. No animal zone! LOL
DeleteIt's been awhile since I've visited. Looks like a lot going on! Love the pictures, especially Cate's art and Sam's solar oven. LOL at making good use of the time by melting and burning chocolate!
ReplyDeleteHappy Autumn!!
Hey Kym! Yeah, we're pretty busy! But it's a fun kind of busy!
DeleteI'm glad Stripe returned safe and sound! She is quite the outdoor adventurer! We made a solar oven last year with our Groovy Lab in a Box kit. We had the same results! It's very understandable that you haven't kept up with weekly reports! You're a newlywed and and outdoors girl!!
ReplyDeleteIf only she could talk! I bet she would have a lot of wild tales to tell us! The solar oven was a hit. He'd like to try something else in it, but gosh it's so cold here now! And yes we're enjoying the last of the non-snowy weather because when snow comes I hibernate! LOL
DeleteAwesome week! My son has been talking about making a solar oven. I'm glad to see it "only" took 45 minutes. Thanks so much for sharing your week. :-)
ReplyDeleteAnd it was 65 degrees that afternoon. I wonder what we could cook if it was 90?
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