Oriental Fire Bellied Toads

We have added a bit of nature to our schoolroom. In addition to our 5 gallon aquarium which houses 5 neon tetras, two African Dwarf frogs, and one catfish, we now have a 10 gallon tank with a little water, a log, and two Oriental Fire Bellied Toads. The toads eat live crickets and the kids enjoy watching this.

There has been quite a bit of observation going on and for Hannah's art lesson she drew her toad.

"Lucky"

Even though they are called toads, because of their bumpy skin, they are semi-aquatic and more like frogs. They like to stay partially in the water most of the time.


Josiah's frog taking a dip



"Brown frog" and "Lucky" hanging out on the log

Josiah hasn't named his yet.

We are still learning about them, but we think both are probably males, because they have both been observed "singing". They make a cute little sound that is soft like the cooing of a dove and a faint chirping sound. They are young, so the brown ones color may turn to green also, according to the Pet Store associate. But for now, it is an easy way to tell them apart.

Summer Lessons - Wednesday

Art is the focus for Wednesday. We've used a book a little, but mostly it has been freestyle, whatever the kids come up with to create. Josiah draws robots and rockets and sometimes flowers which are very nice.
Hannah recently made popsicle stick puppets and has 5 different puppet shows that she does with them. She turned a card table on it's side to use as a theatre.

These are the characters for THE BEAR AND THE BUTTERFLIES.

Here is CINDERELLA with her step mother and step sisters.

Here is CINDERELLA with the Fairy godmother and her new gown.

Notice how she changes with the flick of a wrist.

The following is Hannah's rendition of THE ROBOT AND THE RABBIT. The sound did not come out well, so here's the basic script.

The mighty robot goes to the store and sees a lovely doll that he wants and so he buys it with his robot credit card. He loves the doll and he hugs it and hugs it until it breaks. He runs into the woods and cries. A rabbit hears his cries and comes to see what is going on. The mighty robot tells him that he has broken what he loved the most. The rabbit tells him that he must learn to be gentle. The robot asks how he can be gentle since he is so strong. The wise rabbit tells him that gentleness is strength under control. The robot then asks the rabbit how he can know so much about strength, when he is just a small rabbit. The rabbit replies that at home he has some ants and every Thursday night they watch a movie and eat popcorn together. But the popcorn gets butter all over their toes, so he has to very carefully clean the butter off their little toes. To the ants, he is like a mighty robot. They laugh and they laugh and the robot promises to be gentle. He wants to save his money and get another doll.

Exploring Japan - Haikus and Origami

What a fun two weeks in Japan! Kon nichi wa! Lots of art.

We learned about haikus (which is so fitting, since April is poetry month)

and made our own adding a watercolor picture to go with it.

This is Hannah's.

IRIS

perfect and purple

pretty, sweet, nice, kind, clueless

of yellow's secret

We also learned about origami and Hannah made these swans

and some lily pads, among other things.

This is a challenging art, because the instructions

can be hard to understand.

We enjoyed alot of good books. Many of them by Allen Say

were true stories of his family in Japan.

We also liked the Cuckoo's Haiku.

In case you didn't know, a haiku is only 3 lines.

The first line must have 5 syllables,

the second line 7,

and the third line 5.

One interesting tidbit we learned was that in Japan people will rent a dog for a day or weekend, whereas here most people will pay you to keep their dog for a day or a weekend. Not alot of people own a dog in Japan. We heard of a movie we want to watch sometime, called Hachiko. It is a story of a very faithful dog. He is famous in Japan and there is actually a monument in honor of him.

. . .

We finished our week by going to visit the North American Mission Board, which Josiah lovingly calls the "Mission Station". They showed us a video and talked to us about what they do. We learned about Annie Armstrong and the history of the NAMB. We had a lunch and then they took us on a walk around the pond, then they gave us each a goodie bag.

. . .

But that's not all. For supper, we went to Sho-Gun Japanese restaurant. The kids loved the show, and the food. I loved the atmosphere - the music (instrumental Christian tunes) and the sign at the door from Proverbs. Theron loved the steak and chicken.

Looking forward to Spring

Busy hands flipped through old magazines.

Careful hands cut out chosen pieces.

Creative mind comes up with a plan.

Nimble fingers brush on glue and apply expression.

Hopeful eyes watch for life. . .

to spring forth . . .



from chickpea "eggs"!

It only took a few days to see them start to emerge!

Good little chickies.

Wordless Wednesday - Leaf Man

Hannah's Leaf Woman

Adventures in My Father's World - Last Day!

Yeah! We're done with our 180 days. Hannah is really excited about being able to wake up and just run outside and play or help me in the garden.


Here is her poster of the names of Jesus that we added to throughout the year. JESUS is the LIGHT OF THE WORLD, THE BREAD OF LIFE, THE SOLID ROCK, LIVING WATER, THE WAY, GOD WITH US, THE LAMB OF GOD, THE VINE, THE HEAD OF THE BODY, THE KING OF KINGS, SAVIOUR, GOOD SHEPHERD, THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE, THE WORD, THE ALPHA AND OMEGA.

"If I lived on a farm . . . "

. . . these are the things I would do every day." 1. Get dressed.

2. Feed the chickens. 3. Milk the cow. 4. Gather the eggs. 5. Garden.

6. Feed the horses. 7. Feed the ducks. 8. Feed the rabbits.

9. Milk the goat. 10. Change clothes. 11. Go to bed and actually sleep.

(This was not an assignment. Just the imaginings of a young girl with a desire for country livin'.)