Ian and School

Well, it's been a little while since I've posted anything about Ian's schooling. I think I've mentioned we're studying American History and that's been fun. We've both been learning lots and especially as some of our American holidays come and go (Thanksgiving) it's nice to know the WHOLE story behind the tradition! Ian continues to amaze me with his creativity that goes beyond his actual assignments. Let me give you an example. A couple of weeks ago he had to write a paper as a speech writer for George Washington based on a book he read "Phoebe the Spy" that is about a young black girl who saves George Washington's life by being his housekeeper and keeping her eyes and ears open. Well, he wrote his speech and didn't stop there. He came into the area where we were and opened up his box of scrap paper and started tearing and stapling away. I had NO idea what he was doing. Then, he digs out the hat we bought him while we were at Williamsburg, grabs one of Ellie's bows and Voila!

He is now George Washington ready to give his speech! Notice the paper is curled and the bow is in the back. AND he did this without us ever actually talking about the wigs the men used to wear - he just has seen all the pictures and created it from paper. Wow. I was VERY impressed!

Ian's favorite subject, though, is science because he LOVES all the experiments and hands-on stuff. So far we've been learning about electricity. We've been doing experiments with batteries, foil "ribbons" and light bulbs. He's really good at trying all sorts of different ways to make the bulb light up. We've also learned about magnetism and energy.

This is a picture we took when Ian first figured out how to make the bulb light up without any help! And, yes, the picture was from September shortly after his "hair cut!"

Ian memorized all of Psalm 103 and it was fun to hear him come back from church or Wednesday nights and say, "Mom, we were talking about ____ and they started giving us a verse and I thought, hey, I know that one! It was from Psalm 103." Then some of the other ones he's learned have also been timely - isn't God amazing?!

He also continues to be quite the playmate for Ellie. The other day while I was busy doing something, they were busy in his room and kept telling me not to come in. Then, they came out ready to "jog" with Ellie's jogging stroller! One day this past week they were dressed as a king and a princess. He wouldn't be able to do all of that if he were in school all day and Ellie wouldn't be able to spend all of that time with him, either!