Grow A Flower Game

While shopping for Jack's birthday presents I couldn't resist purchasing this oh-so-fitting game for our germination study. The Grow A Flower Game is intended for 5th grade and up, but Grace and Jack were able to keep up with the jist of the game. It did a wonderful job of reinforcing where the various parts of the flower are located, while providing a large amount of facts on the purpose of each flower part. The game is a bit like Monopoly in that it would take forever for someone to acquire all 13 parts of the flower to win, so we set a time limit.

Look Closely In Your Backyard

It is amazing what you can find in your own backyard. A couple of days ago, the kids and I went for a backyard nature walk. There is an untouched piece of wooded property behind our property line that we sneaked around in. This was where the real gems were...purple mushrooms, fallen logs covered in moss, every square inch swarming with little lives.


The children and I were on a hunt to specifically find things to decorate a riker mount with for a fall theme. The bright red seeds, holly berries, and red leaves set off the Golden Rod Grace spied. My favorite find - those purple mushrooms. Jack's favorite find was a real surprise - two surviving morning glory seeds the children had planted a couple of months back, with the first flower in bloom. We left the flower on the vine.

And voila, the finished project.

Cloudy With A Chance Of Worms

The children are having a royal Charlotte Mason day. Throughout the morning and afternoon, their excitement has been building upon itself. First it was the discovery of one black and orange caterpillar. Shortly later, they came back with a bug box of three more. And then, with ever increasing fanfare they were announcing that they had eleven, and that they were everywhere.


Upon this announcement, it was time to look up just what exactly was taking over our front yard. The answer - worms. To be more specific, the Oakworm. They really look like a full blown caterpillar, but a beautiful butterfly body is not in their future. Instead, after feeding on our White Oak tree in the front yard they are dropping off by the tens and crawling all over the driveway and ground to look for a cozy spot to burrow over the winter. It literally looks like and sounds like the sky is falling as they Kamakazie off the tree down to the ground.

I'm in a bit of a pickle myself. Rather than a lovely caterpillar fest, I've got a worm fest eating my tree and burrowing in the ground to do it again next year. But you can't get more in the field! We found a beautiful patch of eggs on a leaf, a worm in the process of shedding it's skin, and of course the migration from host to burrow. Pretty cool...except the whole eating my tree and squishing under my toes part.

Montessori Tray: Vertebrates & Invertebrates

It has been quite awhile since I listed any Montessori-ish activities, but this one counts. The children spent part of the morning today learning about the difference between Vertebrates and Invertebrates. Once they had a general idea, we used this sorting tray to sort out each animal properly. Easy enough, and lots of hands on fun for the children.

Ehem...I myself need to go back to Biology 101 and learn how to spell. It wasn't until after I printed and laminated the cards last week, perfomed the lesson today and THEN took the photo this afternoon that I realized my errors. My head is hanging in shame, but the stubborn streak in me refuses to reprint and laminate again.

The Art Of Germination Science

If the seed germination experiment doesn't work, at least we could say it made for a colorful presentation. Grace and Jack really enjoyed putting the germination study together this morning. Now my only concern is...Will it survive the 7-14 days of man-handling? If naming petri dishes names like "Lovey" is a sign of good care to come, then we should make it.

We Survived The Week - A Recap

I'm really proud of that. Despite being ill, all of us were able to pull it off and stay on schedule. The kids were very patient with my barely audible voice as we tackled the readings for the day. And just as important, they were pleasant and positive. Here is a look back:

Now in his second week, Jack has an even stronger desire to read after creating Starfall books from a free Starfall workbook we obtained. They are actually the same early reader books you find on their site, but I chose to go with a hands on approach for him as it tackled two things: fine motor skills using his scissors to cut and create the book, and he's able to pull out his handmade readers any time for practice. By the end of this week he was wanting to tackle the harder words that had "tricks" to them. So I introduced the first book with the rules for the silent E. Now when Grace sits down to read to herself, he feels less frustrated in that he can pull out one of his readers and read with confidence alongside her.

Grace is really enjoying the addition of music lessons two to three times a week. We've learned how to hold and strum the guitar, we've learned notes A and B on the recorder, and she's been making up her own songs on the keyboard. I just received the piano book so we'll begin that this week. I've found that I have the best one on one time with her when Ken takes Jack to Tae-kwon-do on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So those 50 minutes are spent helping me prepare dinner (which she loves) and then we do a Monet activity, Puccini activity, or a music lesson together.

I've mentioned it before, but I can't say enough how much Grace's reading has blown my expectations out of the water. The words she can figure out, have me second guessing if she has somehow read the material before. I am glad that we are using the poetry of La Mare for her reading at the beginning of this term as it is enough to challenge her. As an exercise I will have her look over two of the assigned poems and go over it on her own. She is to circle any words that she doesn't know, we review them first, and then she reads the poem. This has given me some time to work with Jack while she reads, and it makes her reading go quicker once she has gone through it silently herself.

The children are taking to our rodent studies well. Despite the bad name rodents get in the adult world, they are pretty irresistable to the children. I've had little trouble keeping their interest during our introduction and time spent on squirrels these first two weeks.

So despite a bumpy beginning, we are off to a great positive start. And I'm happy to see that the pretend play has still been wonderful since starting school back up. Despite the messy playroom...this is a good season.

What Happens When The Teacher Gets Sick?

Today I was less then capable of being an effective teacher. The teacher has managed to get sick and lose her voice the first week back in school. With the heavy Charlotte Mason emphasis on reading and living books, it is especially difficult to carry out my duties. But it was fun for the kids since they got to swarm around Dad as he read the material for Friday, and Grace was able to show off her narration skills she's developed so well.

I tried my best to rearrange our school day schedule and get the kids to enjoy a little of the good weather in the morning before the storms rolled in by noon. It was short lived, but I was pretty impressed with their scavenger skills. Laid up on the couch, I told them to go outside and bring me back 5 interesting things. Apparently that was too broad, as they were back in 30 seconds, saying they couldn't find anything interesting. So, putting on my CM hat and keeping our current rodent nature study in mind, I asked them to find the remainder of a nutshell that had been eaten by a squirrel. They bolted out the door all excited, and I actually scolded myself for giving them such a hard task (fully thinking they wouldn't find anything). To my astonishment, Grace and Jack were back in 5 minutes with their find: two acorn caps still held together by a small twig - both caps showing clear evidence of being broken on one side by the teeth of a squirrel who extracted the acorn. Unbelievable...they actually found it.

The second request was for a stick that had something interesting. They came back in another five minutes and said they had found a tree that was brown on one side and had green on the other side, but that they couldn't bring that in.

The third (and last) request was cruel. I told them to find a coccoon. I was tired and was trying to have them get a little more air time then 5 minutes here and there. That didn't happen.

So the children huddled up in the green room with me and we watched a Netflix movie called Winged Migration - a full hour of footage with little narration about the migration of various bird species. When the rain hit in the afternoon we cracked open the books.

A Longing for Summer Again?

I'm not sure what triggered the reversion, but the children have suddenly taken up their butterfly studies again. They have been playing The Butterfly Game that we purchased from The North American Butterfly Association for the last three days. And for two days, Jack had the entire Butterfly Fandex (taken apart for better viewing) strewn all over his bedroom. I came in yesterday to find that there was a long trail of butterflies laid out and what appeared to be a pile of discarded butterflies off to the side. When I inquired about the line up, Jack said, those were the butterflies that were beautiful to him.

Unfortunately, the line up was situated right in the pathway between his door and his bed, so the "beautiful" butterflies were starting to look trampled. This evening we took 12 of his beautiful butterfly nominees and placed them on a corkboard, so he could have them displayed for his viewing pleasure in his room. Grace also selected 12 of her favs and we squeezed them between one of those cheap plastic large frames you can purchase for posters. In the midst of the organizing, I caught Grace and Jack laughing that they weren't going to pick the stinky butterfly. When I asked which one was stinky, Grace and Jack immediately identified it as the Common Mormon caterpillar. I couldn't believe they recalled that small tidbit of information, from our Butterfly of the Day moments. These little ones are such giant sponges.

Ink Blots...But With Leaves

Today at the park Jack came to me with a small white oak leaf. Showing me the fallen leaf, he said, "Look ma, the leaf looks like one of those sting fish."

That morning we had just watched together as a family our 3rd Blue Planet CD about the ocean. Included in this CD was a clip about an extremely large manta ray combing the deep ocean for food. I looked at the leaf, and Jack was right. It did look very close to a manta ray in form.

The children love the Blue Planet DVDs. They have been so much more educational than a half hour of "Miffy" or "Dora" before breakfast in the morning. Watching their cartoon choice in the morning, the kids become lumps, but with the Blue Planet DVDs they are on the edge of the couch asking 101 questions.

A Glimpse Beyond Imagination

Tonight was a very special night for the children. I had asked Ken to order from Netflix a number of documentaries on tidepool and sea life. So this evening they were treated with an all lights off viewing of The Blue Planet's: Sea's of Life: Seasonal Seas. I think I might have heard a few complete sentences of the narration. The entire viewing was filled with questions and excited exclamations.

Jack watched as the kelp below swayed under a storm above, and he asked if there was wind in the ocean. How do you show that in a book? Other than reading Pagoo, and the usual army of library books, I realized that the kids are really in the dark about the movement of the ocean. And the sounds of the ocean under water. It is amazing how an under water camera can open up and capture a whole new world even on a flat TV screen. Some of the scenes are absolutely surreal. We all sat in awe as the camera panned over hundreds and hundreds of jellyfish.

I'm glad we did a majority of our reading first before turning on the TV. Grace was able to recognize many of the animals mentioned in Pagoo. But it was the TV that placed those pictures on the pages in motion.

New Wall Art For The Room

A bit late in the game, I ordered a sea shell identification poster from Dover. I had debated earlier on purchasing it, but realized it would be quite helpful to the children as we moved further into our study.

The children have an amazing gravitation to posters. I usually have to keep them in a cheap plastic protector and keep on the on the ground for weeks as they "ooo" and "ahh" over whatever is displayed. Today's arrival was no different. They hit the ground with me as I was inserting it into the cover; one tackling and pointing out the seashells they knew, the other inquiring about new kinds of shells.

It was a bit of a test incognito, and fun to watch. Grace started getting out a few shells she knew and laying them over the top of the poster specimens. So, mama feels good that I went ahead and made the purchase.

Neck Deep in Sea Shell Identification

Do you realize how difficult it is to identify seashells? You'd think it would be an easy task. I walked into our Nature Study this term thinking we'd have a blast memorizing and identifying shell types, but what I have discovered is that before I can tell my children what they are, I have to be sure that I have correctly identified them myself! And for some reason, this has been difficult, despite having a condensed Peterson guide next to me.

So last night and for a couple of hours this morning, I laid out all of our purchased shells, personal shells, and a few new ones I purchased yesterday from Hobby Lobby and set to work. Ken even sat down and helped me out for an hour. Grace was ecstatic to be part of the action, and liked to help solve our pile of "mystery" shells.

By noon today, I had two clear plastic craft boxes, full of sorted and labeled gastropods and univalves. And I'm confident that I have everything 95% correct. It wasn't until almost everything was sorted that I discovered a great web site for shell identification (and I've been looking hard ever since this study started). I highly recommend visiting: SeashellWorld.com

It was a big part in solving some of my mystery shells, and correcting my misidentification. Just in case you are losing sleep over it, a Trapezium Whelk Shell is the same as a Horse Conch Shell. If you haven't a clue as to what I am saying - you'll thank me later.

Montessori Tray: Seashell Sorting

Items Needed: Large Grab Bag of Seashells, Sectioned Box, Bowl

We have a wooden box from Hobby Lobby that is sectioned into eight squares. In each square I place a specific type of shell. The child then has a bowl of shells that contain 5-10 matches to eight various types of seashells (example: scallop, cockle, murex, snail, horn, etc) that have been placed in their respective slots. The bowl the child has before them may contain about 50 shells to match. The task for the child is to focus their attention on the shape and style of a seashell, while ignoring variations in color or size, matching the shells from the bowl into the correct bins.

It may be necessary to stress that the child is only to look at the shape of the shell, and not sort on color or size.

This exercise has been performed throughout our Fish and Crustacean study and it is one that my children never tire from performing.

The Autumn Joy Is Blooming

Autumn always makes viewing bug behavior way too easy at our house. We have three incredibly large Autumn Joy plants (really bushes) that attract every type of insect you can imagine, and they are just beginning to open their large heads full of tiny blooms. Right now, there are constantly butterflies in the yard, but the Autumn Joy is attracting some new ones. Our main blog picture above, is a butterfly Grace spotted while doing the Slip n' Slide today. She remarked that it was new to the yard, and the light was just perfect for a photo.

I really like the name of this butterfly, "American Lady".

The Rock Samples Arrived

The last of our homeschooling materials arrived today: 50 samples (2 of each) of igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. I also ordered white streak plates. Grace was asleep at the time I opened the package and sorted out all of the packets. When she awoke she came down to the office and immediately inquired about the rocks on my desk, asking if she could have a closer look in the bags.

Grace and Jack are two kids that will go under the deck and "collect" freezer bags full of smooth white stones that we laid down for landscaping. So, I knew multicolored and shaped rocks would peak Grace's interest. You got to love the ease of homeschooling when it is the children that ask you for a lesson.

Grace and I sat down together and I showed her the names of the rocks on the bags, and also demonstrated that some rocks made a streak on the streak plate, while others didn't. This instantly became and invitation to go through half of the rocks and discover which rocks made streaks. She noticed that Gypsum and Talc where "soft" and streaked the plate. She also picked up on the name of the rock "Magnetite" (no cues from me) asking if she could see if would stick on the fridge.

The "plan" was to just do sedimentary rocks, of which there are about 8 samples. This would tie in well with our freshwater fish study. However, Grace has been so interested in volcanos and magma over the last couple of weeks that it may end up we do an overview of all the rocks.

Microscope 101: Ponds, Webs & Microbes

Grace found the new microscope and prepared slides a week ago, so I promised her that since we didn't have any "school" on the weekend, we could break out the microscope. Today, Grace and I sat down and reviewed some prepared slides to start: insect legs, earthworm cross-section, etc. And then we sought out our fish pond water and some other items to prepare a few slides. This was a blast!

Our first pond water sample was a little weak on life, with only a few paramecium and suckers whizzing by way too fast to identify. Our second sample of pond water had a water mite swimming around that we were able to catch and place on a slide. Here he is:


Next we took a sample of a spider web over the pond, and we discovered that there is much more to a web than first meets the eye. It looks like a strand of pearls with sticky globules that help the prey stick to the web. We also discovered that our web sample had a tiny leg still stuck to it from a previous meal (not pictured):


Our last water pond sample was the ultimate find. There was life and activity everywhere, of which mom is scrambling to identify. I'm still not positive on the identification of the larvae, but my best guess after some research is this is a mosquito larvae. Below are two pictures: the head and a portion of the body. The body was teaming with paramecium and other microbes. We were also able to record video. (I love this scope!) Below are two pictures:

The Discovery Of Mosquito Larvae

Yesterday evening, while the children and I were outside, we noticed that a tarp we have had sitting outside in a ruffled heap had movement in some water puddles that had settled. Upon closer examination, it was clear that the small pools of water had "wrigglers" and other water bugs present. The wrigglers were clearly mosquito larvae, so hopefully, Saturday, can be another "Microscope Day".

Fly! Be Free!

Today marked the official release date of our two praying mantis and the grasshopper. The mantis were happy to be released on a large patch of Black-eyed Susans. Later, we went back to check on them and counted three...so it must have been a popular location. The grasshopper was released into a patch of Lamb's Ear. Below is a picture of Grace freeing the grasshopper.


The release date did include a bit of drama. I originally had placed the first mantis on the daylily leaves seen in the picture. He just had this look...like he wanted to jump. (Note to self: listen to your intuition). I told Grace to watch the first mantis, while I went back into the house for the second. As I was catching the second in the house, I was interrupted by blood curdling screams, sobs, and feet pounding up on the deck. The mantis had decided to jump on her leg while I was away, and the feeling was a bit too unfamiliar for her. Ken had been brought out to the deck as well by the screams, and the looks exchanged between the two of us were almost too much to hide the laughter. (BTW, the mantis was located and found unharmed).

The Season Must Be Ripe For Skippers

Today was a day to just sit by the verbena and watch what came passing by for a drink. We grabbed our butterfly identification book and thumbed through, as this and that butterfly stopped by. Everything we saw was a skipper...but we saw such a large variety. Everything from the large Silver Streaked Skipper to the little Fiery Skipper.

The Skippers are interesting in that they seem pretty fast in flight, but at the same time they'll let you practically touch them when they are on a flower.

Identify This Seashell

The children kicked off their aquatic studies this term with a shell identification tray. The goal being that they find a shell and then try to locate a shell similar in the Peterson guide. Below is Grace deep in thought (not really).

We marked pages in the guide with a small sticky that we felt best represented the shell. Later, as the kids become more familiar with the names of shell families will move on to more difficult games. But for at least the first month, they really seem to be enjoying the individualities of the shells themselves.