Wordless Wednesday

Science – Motor

Piper and I made a motor for science.  Electricity runs from the batteries through the posts and makes an electromagnet out of the blue wire which then spins because their is a magnet underneath it.  Of course this did not work right away, so we had to call in our resident expert.  Silly us following the directions, Tim fiddled with it for a while and finally go it working by moving the alligator clips down.  He thinks there was probably too much resistance when they were at the top.  Next week on to generators!

Art Class – Piper’s Frogs

This one is from a few months ago, but there is a lot of detail so it took Piper a while to finish.  Though it looks like she did 3 different frogs, they are all actually the same one sized and placed to her specifications.  The main medium is marker with detail added using colored pencil.

Random Photos

Piper doing schoolwork this morning.  The book had a mistake so she was pretty pleased that rather than filling in a  history outline she just had to do copywork.

Luna sitting next to the couch which gives a you a pretty good idea of how much she’s grown.  This was immediately before she mobbed me and the camera.

Piper’s solution to Luna eating the covers off her headphones.  I’m having a terrible time finding new ones that will fit.  In fact the sales clerk at Target suggested I just buy new ones.  What’s with that?

Wordless Wednesday

Luna and the Chickens

In an effort to make life more exciting this morning, Piper accidentally left the chicken coop open.   I was walking Luna at the time and did what I normally do when I get back; let her out in the back yard.  Not surprisingly, chaos ensued.

Chickens on the fence.

Chickens on the coop.

And of course, chickens in the trees.

Since everyone appeared to be safe, I decided to leave Luna outside figuring that she might possible wear herself out.  It seemed to be working right up to the point Pirate (our handicapped chicken) decided to leave her perch.  Of course, since she does not even try to run away it took about 5 seconds for Luna to catch her.  Since Pirate is a constant source of irritation being the only chicken who won’t run inside when Luna tries to get at them in their run, this must have been the highlight of Luna’s day.  Just to give you an idea of the complete lack of anything resembling sense on Pirate’s part, these were taken minutes after I rescued her from the jaws of death.

Once again assuming that all would be well since of course Pirate was the only chicken brainless enough to jump to the ground while Luna was down below waiting, I went back inside.  Wrong again.  After another mad dash to rescue a chicken, I decided it was time for Luna to come inside.  Theoretically, it was her nap time.  With chickens walking by the patio door in front of her crate, Luna seemed to have other ideas.  Eventually, I took her back out, on her leash this time(Notice what a quick learner I am?), and managed to corral the chickens back into the coop.

Unfortunately, puppies seem to have a lot in common with babies.  Napping when over-stimulated and over-tired – not so much.  Lucky for me, unlike babies, puppies can be put into crates.

Art Class – Piper’s Parrot

Watercolor techniques – control on the parrot and chaos on the background

Back to School

Back to the regular schedule this week though Luna sometimes has other thoughts on that.  Normally if we take her for a walk around 10:00 and Piper takes her out to play after lunch we can get some solid stretches while she sleeps.

Here are a couple of the things that Piper worked on.

We’ve started a brief unit on Massachusetts.  I had her start with a drawing of the state flag which she informed me was quite difficult.

She also did a “Fast Facts” page.  Love how the horse seems to be the primary focus. 

I’ll bind everything up into a book when we’re finished.

In history we are studying WWI this week and next.

Art Class – Tim’s Work and Piper’s Dolphins

Calla Lilies, negative space

Not quite finished, but I thought I’d put it up anyhow.  This one was tailor made for those obsessive tendencies.

Piper’s negative space dolphins

Piper, Luna, and the Sled

It’s been a snowy few days here so of course Piper is in heaven.  The latest project involves tying Luna to the sled with her leash.  There is also a long line so Luna can’t get away.  I think the idea is to get Luna to pull the sled up the hill.  This seems to be only moderately successful, since I notice Piper expending quite a bit of energy running down the hill to get Luna to chase her up it.