Feb 8 & 9

Yesterday, Georgia finished a chapter in her math book and took the review test with zero mistakes. Today for math, instead of starting a new section, she was curious as to how many days old she was, so we did that for math today. We used the birth dates of all four of us. She first calculated how many days we were on our last birthday. (Ex. Olivia was 365x3 or 365+365+365) Then she calculated how many days it had been since our last birthdays and added that. Then we accounted for leap years...last one in 2004, so she only had to add one extra day for that to both her and Livy's calculations. She did not use a calculator, but I helped her for us old folks. Turns out we are:

• Olivia is 1238 days old today.


• Georgia is 2339 days old today.


• Mom is 10,717 days old today.


• Dad is 13,919 days old today.

We read about Australia, its flag, history, location, population, cities, government, and some of its animals. So far we have read about the bilby, or rabbit-eared bandicoot, the black swan, the blue-tongued skink, the dingo, the duck-billed platypus, and the echidna, or spiny anteater. Australia really has very different types of wildlife. They have almost all the world's population of marsupials, and some other strange ones. For instance, the blue-tongued skink is a lizard, but it gives birth to live young as opposed to laying eggs. And the echidna and the platypus, both mammals, lay eggs. We also learned that they are both monotremes. We had to look that up and found out it means from a primitive group of mammals, and they are the only two remaining monotremes.

We have already studied the box jellyfish and the Great Barrier Reef when we studied the ocean, but we will probably be discussing these again at some point when we discuss poisonous animals in Australia, which there are many, and when we talk about the impact humans have on the wildlife and land in Australia. We have discussed how the European settlers brought their pets and livestock which reeked havoc on the native species, sending some to extinction. I like these discussions as it gives a good example of cause and effect with major consequences.

We also looked at the globe and map to see Australia's location and distance from other locations. And she could see why it got its nickname as "The Land Down Under". We received two documentaries about Australia from Netflix but we won't watch them until this weekend. Mark has always been interested in Australia, so we want to wait and watch them with him.

Georgia started typing her report today. I first gave her a quick tutorial on using Word. She picked up on it fast. She used the laptop because Olivia was using the desktop computer. The laptop has the little fingerpad instead of a mouse, but she got used to it.

Georgia also played "Crazy Machines" which is a computer game that requires logic. There are different parts to the game. One is where the scientist has a half-built contraption and you need to fiddle with it, and add new parts, to complete a certain goal. Another is a free form lab where you can make a contraption yourself. If you have played the game Mousetrap then you know somewhat of what it is like. Except this game uses all types of different sciences, from simple machines like the lever, inclined plane, pulley, etc, to electricity, magnets, solar power, wind power, and even explosives. It is really fun and educational too. The best pairings!

Olivia has continually improved on her alphabet recognition, both lower and upper cases. She even spelled out her name today with magnet letters. But the second time she tried it she had the correct letters but in the wrong order. She does know what letters are needed but not always in what order they belong. But I'm still really impressed with her!

Olivia also "read" books with me. We took turns. She "reads" me a story, and then I read her a story. I try to remember to point to each word as I am saying them. It is a little awkward for me, but really helps her.

She also worked on her Sesame Street Activity set that her grandmother had given to her. It is a dry eraser set where she can write on them, but they can be wiped off to do again another time. She worked on both letters and numbers today.

Olivia also did some worksheets on matching pairs, finding what belongs and what doesn't, etc. And she practiced tracing lines with a pencil. She did a lot better this time! She is really doing a great job with holding the pencil correctly, and controlling it to where she wants it to go.

We finished our Valentines cards yesterday and got them sent out today. They have received three cards so far. One was from an oil town in Texas, one was from Tennessee and was in the shape of a guitar as it talked about the state's music past and present, and one was from Florida near St. Augustine where it discussed the state's history.

We did have a mishap this evening when the girls were brushing their teeth before bed. I don't know how it happened, or why she decided to this.....but Olivia got her potty seat stuck on her head. I couldn't stop laughing. She is coming to me crying because she can't take it off, and I am in tears trying to stop laughing and help her. I had to tell Mark to grab the camera.

After I removed the potty seat, Livy was not impressed with the picture and the fact that I was still in hysterics. But I told her, "what if Mom comes to you with a toilet seat on her head," and Livy giggled. Then she could look at the picture and see that it was funny.....since the potty seat had been removed. But I told her DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!!! I'm giggling now thinking about it