Feb 13

We watched one of the episodes of Australia the Beautiful on Saturday. It was on the coastal regions and was very interesting. We still have more episodes and another documentary to watch. We will probably get to that today.

It is snowing right now. We have already received six inches and are expected to get a foot. There is a level three in effect right now, which means no one is allowed on the roads except for emergency vehicles. Mark stayed home from work today, and Georgia will not attend her last gymnastics class, unless they have it next week.



Yesterday we received a bunch of Valentines cards. We read them together and learned about different people from all over. Afterwards, we used pins to mark on our US map where the cards came from. Olivia used red pins, Georgia used pink ones. Then we used some string to connect them all to our hometown. We still have a bunch more coming, so we will do this with the ones we will be receiving as well.


Yesterday was Darwin Day. We read in our LIFE ON EARTH: The Story of Evolution book. We discussed Charles Darwin's scientific expedition on the Beagle, and his theory of evolution. We discussed natural selection, variation, mutation, and how new species are created through generations of this. We discussed the finches of the Galapagos Islands and their varied beaks. The finches on different islands have different beak shapes and sizes, and they eat different types of food. One finch may have a short, strong beak for cracking hard seeds, while on another island, the finch will have a curved beak for eating plants and soft fruit. We still have more to read, and will make a time line of the history of life on earth, starting four and a half billion years ago. We also talked about how some people believe other stories on the origin of species. We discussed how this was an issue when Darwin published his work, and how it is still in debate today. Then Georgia worked on her PowerTouch system with the science book on Dinosaurs.

Georgia created a menu for "Wetzel Cafe" with prices. She then made our checks, which we paid with play money, and she had to total the bills and give correct change. She then made a store in her room where she did the same thing. She had to add our totals and give correct change. We had fun shopping for things in the girls' room.

We made a game called "Chuzzle Ball" and played that for a while. And then we played monkeys in the middle. We played that for quite a while and we were all giggling and out of breath by the time we were done!

Right now we are getting ready to watch another episode of Australia the Beautiful, and then probably do some crafts or baking.