I know Christmas was over 3.5 months ago but I just have to rave about one of the gifts Fudge received. She is my nature lover. She is the first to notice any hint of growth from plants in the spring. She talks to flowers, watches for bugs, and just enjoys being outside whenever she […]
The Rock Tumbler
In the comments of the last post about our polished rocks many were asking what rock tumbler we used. We purchased this, Model A-R1 Special Kit Rock Tumbler for Fudge. It is the perfect introductory model for the hobby of rock tumbling. The drum holds 3lbs of rocks. We put in about two cups of […]
Our Homeschool Journey: Teaching Science
The beauty and wonder of this earth, the expanse of stars in the heavens, the laws by which it is all governed, there is so much to learn and discover! How? What? Why? Science is one of the funnest subjects to teach and do with my children. This is also where I give them free […]
Solar Eclipse May 20, 2012
Sunday evening we were able to witness a good portion of the solar eclipse. We were a couple hours too far north to see a full “ring of fire” but still got a good view.We used welding helmets and lenses to look directly at the sun. The lenses make the sun green!The shadows of the […]
Nature Stones and Homemade Snowflakes
Ah….pinterest! What did I ever do without you? Lost all my ideas and “wanna-do’s” in my bookmarks on three different computers, that’s what. This week for school we did some fun science activities that I pinned. I’d like to share them with you. First we made homemade snowflakes using the instructions at Heart of the […]
Coin Face on Ice
I couldn’t figure out what to name this post so I went with the obvious. Truffle wanted to try this experiment as part of our science lesson on ice and water. Fill a water bottle completely full with water. Place a quarter face down on top. Stand it carefully in the freezer so it doesn’t […]
Outdoor Hour #16 – Planting Sunflowers
I’ve been lax in posting about our Outdoor Hour activities (formerly known as Green Hour, read here for why it changed). Our busy season for farming is now upon us and we are just trying to survive by getting enough sleep! We skipped #14 and #15 because we still don’t have many flowers to press […]
Nature Studies
Marrying a husband who makes his living from working the land has helped me appreciate Mother Nature from her vast weather cycles to the small creatures that live in the soil our grass grows in. There is so much to learn from studying any part of the natural world. How does a caterpillar change into […]
Green Hour Activity #13 – Flower Parts
The Green Hour Challenge this week was particularly fun: picking wildflowers, studying them up close, learning all their parts, cutting them open.We stopped at the top of our mountain pass to pick the only wildflowers blooming right now – Bush Sunflowers. They smell wonderful, sort of a mix between sagebrush and savory. The girls all […]
Green Hour Activity #12 – Focus on Garden Flowers
We had great success in planting a flower garden from seed last year. So we were excited to do last week’s Green Hour Challenge to plant some flowers from seed. While we were busy preparing the bed, tilling the soil, weeding, etc. this toad hopped onto Bon Bon’s leg and scared her half to death. […]
Green Hour Activity #11 – Year Long Tree Study
I’m a little behind in posting this. We completed this activity two weeks ago. For this Green Hour Challenge the girls each choose a tree to “adopt” for the year, observing its changes throughout each season. The three younger girls all chose the same tree. This is their “swinging” tree. Notice all the blue twine […]
Green Hour Activity #8 & #9 – Up Close and Personal
I know we skipped the Green Hour Activities #2 – #7. We’ve actually done some of them without even knowing it. Last week we combined Activities #8 and #9. Each girl marked off their own square foot of ground to observe. It’s amazing how much life there is down there amongst the grass, weeds, and […]