Finn's Van Gogh Night and Ashe's Science Fair

Finn, Ashe, Cade, Granny (l to r)

The boys had some big things going on in school for the last couple of months. Both have worked on them for quite some time before the actual presentation of each occurred. For Finn it was a cool thing called Van Gogh Night. His teacher, Ms. Martin, has done this for four years now. She teaches the kids an enormous amount about Vincent Van Gogh -- his life and works. She talks about his mental illness. She talks about him cutting off part of his ear and sending it to a woman. She laughs (but is serious) when she says that she's managed to teach it all these years without mentioning that the woman was a prostitute. It culminates in a presentation to kids' families at Science and Art Night at the school.

Finn's knowledge has impressed me. He knows things all the way from recognizing several of his paintings to his art dealer being his brother to his tragic death and the location of his residence during each of those significant events in his life. I'm so thankful for Ms. Martin's furthering Finn's love of art.

Finn in middle, blue shirt

The video is footage of the amazing recreations the 1^st graders did of Van Gogh’s pieces. Finn is at about 15 seconds giving his Van Gogh quote, which was quite difficult as the teacher acknowledges. :)

Ashe has been working for about six weeks on his science project. He was to design an experiment to test a hypothesis of his choosing. His interest is almost entirely in basketball, so he chose a basketball-related hypothesis: I will shoot more baskets when I am rested than when I have exercised for a half an hour. He proved himself right, but was hesitant to say he came to a conclusion. I thought the results were statistically significant – overall rest won three of the five trials. In addition, in total he made 52 baskets after rest and 46 after exercise. I think I computed that as a 13% difference. Ashe insists this is not statistically significant. :) Photos of Ashe's work below.