Our Week: India, Sand Art, and the Zoo

I'm so glad it's Friday! My hubby has been out of town and will return late tonight so we're all excited to see him. He doesn't travel too much and we often go with him when he does so we're not used to him being away. I don't sleep well when he's away so I've been a tired and slightly cranky mom. The kids have been camping out in my room on an air mattress so they're not getting as much sleep as usual either.

Science

We finished the first chapter of our astronomy study by reading more books about Galileo and Copernicus. We also read some more general books about the planets.

The kids have spent a lot of time observing our butterflies this week too. They got to see one of them come out of the chrysalis. They thought it was neat to see them use their proboscis to suck from the flowers.

History & Art

We studied Medieval India. We read about the Gupta dynasty and how the monks in India made caves to live in. We read books about India, Buddha, and Hinduism. We read from Children Just Like Me about some kids who live in India. We also read about the Holi and Diwali festivals in Children Just Like Me: Celebrations. I bought both books years ago when Colin was doing Galloping the Globe and the kids always enjoy them.
Our project was sand art. They drew pictures, covered a section with glue, poured sand on it, and then shook off the excess.



The blue is the Taj Mahal, the green is water, the top yellow is the sun, and the bottom yellow are some people.

 

This man and woman are at a ball. The blue is a disco ball.

 

Trees with a river in the background

According to the SOTW activity guide, sand art pictures are used on doors as a sign of welcome during the Diwali festivities. We hung ours on the door of our school room

The Other Stuff

We took a trip to the zoo Tuesday. I'll have pictures up soon.

Colin had roller hockey on Thursday.

Today we went to park day with our homeschool group. It was beautiful out. The kids had a great time playing with friends, flying kites, climbing trees, having a picnic lunch, and walking along the trail near the lake.