Sculpture Study

One day in the spring we went to D. C. look at sculptures. The following are just a few of the ones we visited.

This is actually an extreme close up of an Iris Sculpture near the Federal Triangle metro station.


A close up of one of the horses from the sculpture in front of the Capital.


This is part of the gate to the Capital.


The tulips were in bloom that day.

Easter Choir

At Easter time we sang Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", and Mendelssohn's "Hear My Prayer" with our church choir.

A Normal Day at School

With all of these trips and events you may wonder if we actually spend time studying. The majority of our days are made up of things like the following.

William working on a cursive assignment.


Beth reading a chapter in Social Studies.


Frank, one of our classroom fish.


Grace is one of our classroom kitties. We actually have six cats, but Grace and Riker are the ones most often found in the middle of what we are wanting to get done.


Learning to inline skate.

Christmas Carols

All four of us participated in our church's Christmas program. William and Beth learned to play hand bells for a piece that our church choir was singing. They also played violin, as part of a small string ensemble, with the Christmas carols that were part of the service.

Baltimore Aquarium

Over Christmas vacation we went to the Baltimore Aquarium. The sting ray exhibit was wonderful! We were able to see their feeding time. It was great fun to watch the divers swimming with the rays. We were also able see a diver hand feeding, and petting a small shark. Very cool stuff.

A little fun with music

At one point in music class we were studing about musical instruments. We are fortunate in that we own quite a few instruments in the string and brass families.

One night Daniel taught them how to play a few notes on a trumpet and alto horn.

Visiting The Mall

We had a fun day at the National Mall visiting specific exhibits in the National Gallery, Natural History Museum, and American History Museum.



Fireside Chats

A Capital Day

In December we visited the National Capital.

California Trip

We traveled to California by train in November. Riding Amtrak was an incredible experience. I think that all four of us are strong believers in traveling by rail now.


Beth made a newt out of some Thinking Putty.


We visited the Pacific Ocean and the San Fernando Mission while we were there.

Martin-Greene Wedding

In October we had the privilage of being part of a choir that performed at the wedding of our good friends, Jamie and David Greene. A large number of the choir rehearsals were at our house. William and Beth, being near by, began to pick up the words very quickly. We decided after a couple of rehearsals to let them officially sing with the choir. This meant that they had to memorize all of their music because they were also in the wedding party. We sang songs in English, Latin, and Russian.

Our repertoire consisted of:

Weed Force - Germantown Station

In September we were studying about roots in science class. After pulling a few weeds at home and sorting them by fibrous and tuberous types, we decided to take our investigations on the road. We had noticed earlier that the train station near us was badly in need of some weeding help. Calling ourselves Weed Force, after the BBC America TV show Ground Force, we decended on the quiet unsuspecting station and performed a bit of a makeover.

This is how it looked when we arrived.


One large weed required the effort of both William and Beth.


They were finally victorious!


This is how it looked when were finished. We filled three, large, yard waste bags full to the brim with weeds that morning.

Gettysburg, PA

A visit to the Gettysburg battlefield was a great start to the new school year. The day we went it was very hot. The park ranger said that the conditions were very similar to those during the days of the battle.

This is a picture of the small house that Meade used for his headquarters. It was also used as a field hospital.


This was the high water mark. The Confederate soldiers were not able to get past this point.


A few views of the battlefield.

Chamber Music Weekend

In the summer of 2003 we all participated in the sixth annual Chamber Music Weekend. William and Beth played violin in the beginners' ensemble.

Pictured below are William and his friend Seth performing at the closing concert.

An Introduction

William and Beth have just completed the fifth grade. The next few entries will look back at the 2003-2004 school year. This coming school year, we will try to keep track of things as they happen. So, book mark the page, and visit often! :-)