Pond Adventures

Amber passed along this super unit study by NaturEd on tadpoles and frogs. I am going to pick out a few of the activities and let the kids enjoy some light hearted learning about frogs. I wanted to post a couple of pictures from our second trip to the pond last week. The kids tromped and romped around the ponds for a few hours collecting turtles, frogs, tadpoles, and all kinds of slimy pond fun. Unfortunately, most of the critters did not survive the weekend, but the 3 turtles that Dante found did. Rich told him he could keep one if he researched what of turtle it was and what was needed to keep it healthy.

Memorial Day

Rich surprised me this Memorial Day by putting together a little presentation on the computer to do with the children. It was so unique. He did a few slides explaining the significance and history of Memorial Day, a video presentation by John Wayne on the reasons to love America, and statistics of all of the war victims. The kids were so into it, just like they are so into daddy. I am blessed to have a husband who cares so deeply about every aspect of his children. It is so great to be able to incorporate "school" into the every day.

Our Nature Studies

What a fabulous time of year to embark on a Nature Study. No more textbooks, but some good ole fashioned, hands-on, nitty, gritty Science. I am sure this is my children's favorite way to "do school." At Dante's request, we took an adventure to the pond behind our local Walmart last week and filled up a huge bucket full of tadpoles. Lots and lots of tadpoles. What a great opportunity to complete a unit study on pond life. We are teaming together with some friends who also have access to pond life and are going to spend the rest of this school year celebrating ponds. Dante and Elijah took some pictures of a few of the different things that have shown up in their aquarium. Many many tadpoles, a dragonfly larvae, and some sort of disgusting slug looking thing that we need to research.
Dante also caught a beautiful butterfly that we will enjoy for a few days and then let go.
We have the kid's pond sitting in the middle of the picnic table outside so that they have access to it whenever they wish. I am looking forward to some fun schooling to end the year.

Green house experiment

We just finished up a study on the rain forest in Brazil and decided to conclude this unit with a greenhouse experiment. We planted birdseed in 2 different cups, watered both, and covered only one with plastic wrap. After about 3 days, the greenhouse cup had sprouted. WOW. Unfortunately, we made the mistake of giving very sensitive Elijah the cup that didn't grow. SOOOO, we started 2 more cups (now Justus needed to participate, too) and wound up with 3 full cups of uuuummm, BIRDSEED. It was quite a great way to show the beneficial effects of the canopy of rain forest trees has on all of the plants growing on the ground.

Justus's name

I love watching my children naturally fall in love with learning. There is this trickle effect that is happening within our home that is lightening my load. They are learning together and from one another. Justus has been very interested in letters and sounds for a few months now. He will say, "Mama, P is puh" and so on.
He is excited about writing his name. He is so close to being able to totally do it on his own. He needs a bit of help with his S and J, but other than that, he has it down.

Moving Along

I really was going to try and finish out our current curriculum, but it is just not happening. I am disappointed that Dante is just really not enjoying it. It seems so forced. He has taken this crazy initiative of digging into the things he is really into and anything else is just not happening...happily, anyway. So for right now, it is lots of books about the Civil War, day long talks about sharks and Japanese balloon bombs, great PBS shows like History Detectives, Nature, and Nova, and as always, the life skills that come along with having 4 young siblings that always need a book read or a game played with them. We are also enjoying a wonderful Creation based Science magazine called Nature's Friend that my mom ordered for the boys and a monthly Geography magazine called God's World News. These are both awesome additions to a learning environment.
We are going to incorporate 5th grade Switched on Schoolhouse Science to our current Math U See and Switched on Schoolhouse Language Arts. Highlights also sells this great Geography map program that takes you on a tour around the country, state by state. You work your way around each state with a map and a magazine that contains games and puzzles. Fun stuff.
The one huge thing homeschooling with lots of little ones is to remain flexible. There is no way for me to get my mind set on doing this one thing no matter what. It is just not a possibility for us right now.

Drinking Straw Flutes

Did you know?
A Brazilian Indian plays an end blown flute, an instrument that is found in every continent, but most particularly in South America and Asia. We are more than happy to demonstrate.