Cogs

We started today's science lesson by looking at cogs in everyday objects (bike, can opener) and then at this nifty mixer that belongs to Mrs. Mom that uses cogs to work:

 Then, we used bottle caps and nails to make a system of cogs:

 We were able to observe, for example, that neighboring cogs go in opposite directions:

 Last, we drew a set of cogs in our science notebook:

Artist Study: Leonardo da Vinci and family banners

We read about some of da Vinci's successes as an apprentice and how he advanced to be journeyman and then a Maestro! We did one final project based on his days as an apprentice—making a family banner with special colors and symbols . Hudson decided to use the color blue and the family dog, Josie, as his symbol:

 Halina chose a pink flower on a blue banner:

 And Jameson chose a green griffin (head of an eagle and body of a lion). Each one was attached to a bamboo pole, and Halina used blocks to hang them in our royal hall (AKA the playroom)

The 100 Years' War

Today we learned about some of the leaders and battles in the long fight between England and France called the 100 Years' War. Then, we illustrated parts of the lesson:

 Here the French messenger bring word to Henry V of England that the French King, Charles VI, will not give his lands to Henry. The Dauphin (the French prince) also sent tennis balls (which the king is holding in this picture) to mock Henry's youth and energy. Henry did not think it was funny and took his troops over the English Channel:

 

 After Henry and his outnumbered troops beat the French at the Battle of Agincourt, he got to marry the French princess Katherine. The had son, Henry VI, who became king when he was 1:

 The Dauphin did not like Henry VI being king of his country; eventually, he allowed Joan of Arc to lead his army into an important battle at Orleans. The French beat the English and the Dauphin took back France and became Charles VI:

Sunday Collage XXI

After church at Good Hope in Benton. The camellias are blooming:

 With compass (prop from children's sermon—our sins are cast as far as the east from the west!):

 With binoculars (other prop from children's sermon—God loves us as far as the heavens are above the earth!):

 Later, we visited the super cute lab puppies. They all have their eyes open and can walk now:

Field Trip: Robert F. Henry Lock & Dam

It was such a BEAUTIFUL afternoon, we took an impromptu field trip to the Lock & Dam near Benton:

All Fall Down!

Today we learned about the BLACK PLAGUE (an unstated rule that you had to yell it in a scary voice every time you said it) and its impact on Europe after 1/3 of the population died. Some historians (and others) believe that the nursery rhyme Ring-around-the-rosie refers to the plague. So we did a few rounds. And, then, as we were already on the floor in a big pile, we wrestled. Ah, learning: 

Pulleys

Last week we looked at our first simple machine—the wheel. Today we looked at the pulley. Here are the materials for our horizontal pulley:

 Here is a close up of one end:

 We pretended that we lived in two high-rise apartments, across the street from each other:

 We like to send presents across the way to our neighbors by using our set of pulleys: