Picking Berries

We went to pick hawthorn berries. The boys had fun being in the mountains. The men did the harder work of shaking the bushes, which look more like trees because they tower over you. We also picked a lot by hand.

The boys were introduced to elderberries and loved them. They are a little sour, but I thought they tasted great. I think the boys were mainly excited that they could find berries outside and eat them.

Cedrik and Freddie stayed by the adults and found ways to entertain themselves in the dirt. I love when they figure out how to play by themselves peacefully.

They passed out on the way home because it was so late and they had run around so much.

Julia and I made some hawthorn berry syrup which took way longer to make than we expected. We thought it would be a couple hours and it turned into a 4 hour production. Now we know for next year.

Land and Water

This week was slow. We only did two days of school. We talked about land formations and different water bodies.

By far, the favorite land formation is a canyon. I found an awesome video set to some fun music (Cedrik loved the music) that were different shots of the Grand Canyon.

The next day we went to find dirt and make mud. The boys had to figure out how much dirt and water needed to be added to make mud that we could mold. We first made a canyon, which also had a cliff. We also made mountains, hills and a valley.

It was an easy school week and making mud is still fun, even as an adult. :)

Baby wrap

This is the new cool thing in town, have you heard?

Minerals Week

During our minerals week we discovered that all of the minerals we tested sank in our super scientific sink/float test.... Except for one. Can you guess which mineral floated? ICE! Ice is a mineral (which we now know thanks to a very knowledgeable geologist on YouTube. We also learned that glass is not a mineral and we got to watch him break some glass-cool).

We tested all of the minerals with magnets and examined them under magnifying glasses as well as doing a scratch test and seeing if they were harder or softer than a nail. Cedrik loved this. Freddie just liked putting his hand in the water and making the magnets sick together.

For our last week of Michelangelo, we studied a few more of his sculptures which are gorgeous.

Opa visited and he came over for dinner one night. The boys love him and they had to show off their bike skills and they read him Little Blue Truck. He seems to really enjoy the kids.

Forgotten Rocks

I forgot to include a few other pictures and things we did during our rock week.

We used rocks to spell and Cedrik practiced the letter "r."

We also made a few "rocks" out of crayon shavings (the best part for them was trying to use the pencil sharpener) and hot water. You put the shavings in aluminum foil, float it on top and allow it to melt slightly, then remove and press the aluminum together. Sedimentary rock.

Then, put it back on the water, allow it to melt longer, and mix it together, preferably not making the mistake i did by letting a 2.5 year old mix it with a toothpick and punch a hole in the foil. It started filling with water. I smashed it between the aluminum and put it in the freezer which hardened it quickly. Metamorphic rock.  They loved it.