Learing Log 26

Our family enjoyed this Valentine's week.  It was full of fun and surprises.  Many of us went ice skating, we passed out valentines, and we even found roaming dogs to take care of for a day.  Peter even went to his first dance and had a fun time.  He was quite the reader this week and finished the book Banner in the Sky, which he really enjoyed.  He also discussed the book Phantom Tollbooth in his Pyramid Project and he read and discussed a couple chapters from the Fallacy detective.  He is learning how to find truth and logic and to recognize the fallacy's we create in our every day conversations.  He also worked on both of his stories, a science fiction one and one about wolves, adding about 100 wordds to each.   Elsie started The Wind in the Willows, reading about 120 pages.  She also wrote a letter to her cousin, wrote in her journal several times, and wrote out some valentines.  She practiced her cursive handwriting as well.  Kimball read 10 pages of How Science Works, and he also read a book called Poisonous Animals to his brother, Adam.  He passed a spelling test and started studying new words, and he did 3 handwriting worksheets.  Anna read a chapter out of her primer book to me about a little girl who found some baby kittens, and then she was disobedient to her mom.  She learned some new sounds and reviewed others.  Anna also practiced her handwriting and did several pages.  She learned how to put a list of words in alphabetical order.
The kids are all working hard on their math.  Elsie finished chapter 29 and took the test.  She started on chapter 30 and learned about Arabic numerals.  She reviewed multidigit multiplication and division.  Peter finished chapter 30, about rational and irrational numbers, and took the test, which is the last test of the book!  He reviewed the metric system as well.  He also took the unit test, and got an 89% on it.  He just has the final test to take and then he is done with Pre-Algebra.  He went to his Pyramid Project class and learned about Pythagoras as a philosopher.  He also learned a lot about the number 2 and how it is the doorway to multiples. Kimball finished chapter 25, which was learning how to multiply multi-digit numbers, and started on chapter 26.  This chapter is on finding the factors of numbers and learning how to find prime numbers.  He also reviewed multiplication and finding the area and perimeter of shapes.  Anna finished chapter 27, where she learned to add 3s, and started on chapter 8, where she is learned to solve for the unknown.  She did some story problems and reviewed the addition facts she already knows.
We did science together as a family this week.  We learned about the Luray caves in Virginia and about The Cleff in Scotland.  We think the Luray caves would be fun to visit sometime!  We studied how stalagmites and stalactites and how they are formed.  We did an experiment where we learned how Fumeral rocks are formed.  First, we learned what a fumeral is, and then we learned how when geysers go off, they leave behind a little bit of mineral every time.  We have experienced this in the past when we felt the water from the Steamboat Geyser go off.  These minerals will build up over time and create a sedimentary rock.  We looked at a rock that was formed this way and studied it.  Then we did an experiment with iron and alcohol, so we could smell the chemical reaction that is formed.  We also saw that rust developed in the alcohol, and we talked about how rust is formed.
For music, the kids are starting to gear up for the Cache Valley Strings festival.  They are all working on their performance pieces for the event on their prospective instruments.  They also are working on their piano pieces as well.  They all practiced a few times and went to both their lessons at Bows and Bridges.
Peter worked on Mindcraft by submitting his map on paper where he had drawn out his community.  He also took that map and created the outlines of the buildings on Mindcraft.  The rest of the kids worked on their business class.  We reviewed the previous week and then we learned about the importance of customers.  We learned that it's important to know the kind of customers that come are buying your product, and the importance of a customer centered business.  We learned to think about the demographics, geographic, psychographic, and behavioral factors of customers.