Canterbury Academy News

Butterfly Day

2009-09-13T02:05:00.004-04:00

This month Olivia joined Georgia in her Park Pals class about Migrating Monarchs. They learned interesting facts about local Lepidoptera, watched a tag and release of Monarchs, played games, and had a great time.

Today was Butterfly Day at the nature center, and the girls had a chance to share with us what they learned. They both were identifying the butterflies, and Georgia explained how to tell a Viceroy from a Monarch.

Here are some photos of our day...

Grasshopper Love

2009-09-13T01:52:00.002-04:00

The girls have had a lot of fun catching grasshoppers this summer, and watching them change and grow. The last ones they caught they decided to draw before letting them go. They each had names, of course...

Olivia drew a picture of Grassy, Cutie, and Sand. (named for the sandy color on his back.) She added hearts to show her love for them...

Georgia drew a picture of Biggy...

I love her detail!

Girls and Goats

2009-08-28T13:44:00.002-04:00

These goats (below) were watching the dogshow next door. I thought it was cute.

Park experience today

2009-08-26T22:59:00.000-04:00

Today we wanted to stop by the park to take some photos of the girls. After only a couple photos taken, Olivia heard rustling in the bushes...and found a bunny. Along came Tyler and Brian to scoop it up and show it to the girls. Here's a slideshow of the encounter...

Here are the photos of the girls we managed to take...

After the park we had planned to stop by the library to return a few things...guess what books they wanted to borrow this time?? Yup, rabbits! (among other topics...)

Enjoying the fair this week

2009-08-26T22:43:00.002-04:00

Games, rides, harness racing, barrel racing, pony rides, agriculture, and bad food....oh yeah!

Summer Concerts in the Park

2009-08-26T21:50:00.007-04:00

We've been to a few concerts in the park this summer.

The girls were able to go up on stage and help sing and act out a few numbers at one of them.

Life in the Undergrowth

2009-08-10T13:47:00.004-04:00

Two recent documentaries we have watched recently are Life in the Undergrowth with David Attenborough, (just disc one so far) and Microcosmos. Microcosmos is now one of Olivia's favorite movies, and she says we definitely need to buy both of them. She is so fascinated by bugs, and I must say, these documentaries do make them seem less intimidating and much more interesting and beautiful.

They still like to catch grasshoppers and keep them for the day, letting them go in the evening. They have talked about the differences in the types they find, and they have been able to watch them grow from nymphs at the beginning of summer, to the adults with wings they are catching now.

Fireflies in the Skies

2009-08-05T23:01:00.001-04:00

It's firefly catching time! Today we got a book from the library about fireflies and read it as we waited for the sun to go down. Then we headed outside with our bug nets and bug barns. The girls only caught a couple each before the the mosquitoes started bothering us. We had fun looking at the blinking bunch before setting them free and hanging up our nets until next time.

Here are some sites on fireflies we want to check out tomorrow.

http://www.firefly.org/
http://iris.biosci.ohio-state.edu/projects/FFiles/
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/bugs/firefly.html
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/insects/beetles/Fireflyprintout.shtml
http://www.backyardnature.net/lightbug.htm
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20060614/Feature1.asp

The Boston Museum of Science is asking for volunteers to sign up for Firefly Watch. You can learn more about this citizen scientist opportunity here. They also have a lot of information about fireflies and help in identifying them.

Garden Fresh

2009-08-05T22:52:00.000-04:00

We have been busy making goodies from the garden fresh produce given to us by family and friends, or from what we find at the farmers' markets. Today we made salsa and blueberry jam.

We used Vidalia onions, a peach, and some chili peppers in the salsa. Something is missing...I think I'm going to try adding some more of the peppers tomorrow. But it's not bad.

The girls loved making the jam, and the taste test was great, too!

The extra will go in the freezer...but they may not stay there long!

Musical Auditions

2009-08-04T19:56:00.002-04:00

Georgia tried out for the musical, but unfortunately she wasn't cast this time around. She had a lot of fun, though, and definitely wants to try out for more. I am so very proud of her. She is such a confident and resilient girl, so outgoing and willing to try new things. In the picture above, Georgia is singing in front of a bunch of people. (there were 79 kids that tried out) We are all looking forward to going to see the show on Saturday.

Snozzcumbers, Frobscottle, Whizzpoppers, oh my!

2009-07-26T23:05:00.004-04:00

We have been reading some Roald Dahl books aloud in the evenings together.

Our first book, The Twits, is now one of Olivia's favorites. She loved hearing of the tricks and pranks that were being played. When she stands on her head she says she is Mugglewump...and I tell her she better be careful she doesn't get the shrinks!!

The book we are reading now is The BFG. We've read past the Whizpzoppers chapter...boy, the girls loved that one!!!

Creative Summer

2009-07-26T21:55:00.004-04:00

The girls have been going to the drama workshop each week. They have a lot of fun at them and it really is a great program to help kids build confidence and break out of their shell. I managed to take a couple pictures just before the class was ending. Coincidently it was when they were playing a game called family photo. The kids were to pretend they were getting their picture taken and had to act out what emotion or action was suggested. The first photo was when the kids were to make a funny face photo. The second picture shows the kids pretending to sneeze for the picture. Other ones I heard them do were angry and bored.

The girls also went to the last Creative Kids Club meeting at the library. They made guitars out of shoe boxes, paint stirrers, popscicle sticks, glue, tape, and buttons. Oh yeah...rubber bands, too. After they made their's, the girls got up on the stage and put on a concert for the rest of the kids and their parents. They're not shy. There was singing involved, too!

Olivia went to the Build & Grow workshop at Lowe's while Georgia was at a nature class about creek studies. Unfortunately for Georgia, it rained most of the time and her class was only able to be outside for a short while. No wading in the creek that class...they learned about creek life from inside the nature center.

The Build & Grow project that week was building a treasure chest. It has a lock on the outside and a false bottom in the inside, too. Olivia made hers at Lowe's and we were able to bring a kit home for Georgia to do after her class. It was the hardest one we had to do so far. A lot of the kids were putting the wrong parts on, even with adult helpers. Georgia did not want any help...she wanted to figure it out herself. And she did great!

Yesterday we went to another Build & Grow but they did not have the kits for the kids! They passed out a seed planting kit instead. Instead of just leaving, the girls and I decided to walk around the store a while. We had fun looking at everything.

They have had the clay out a few times. Georgia has been making a bunch of animals. I only have a picture of her penguin. I'll have to take some pictures of the other ones she's made.

Creative Kids Club

2009-07-09T16:16:00.002-04:00

Today the girls went to another Creative Kids Club meeting at the library. This time they made some sculptures using plastic wrap and clear packing tape. They both decided to use a decorative pumpkin as a model. They wrapped it with plastic wrap, covered it with the tape, and carefully removed the shell they made.

Yesterday they both attended a drama workshop. They had a blast. They'll have it once a week for the month of July. In August, Georgia wants to try out for a play at the local art center.

In the Backyard

2009-07-09T16:00:00.003-04:00

The girls have been caring for the tomatoes...

and snacking on ones that are ready.

They've been having fun with water guns, cooling each other down or shooting at targets they drew with chalk.

They played soccer with some neighborhood kids, baseball, lacrosse, and tossed a boomerang.

They've watched the daring jumping spider they caught a couple weeks ago make a nest. And we saw lots of little spider babies emerge. They caught another of the same spider type of spider and put the two together to see what would happen. They second spider made a nest on the opposite side of the jar...which makes it tricky to open and feed. The two grown spiders have pretty much left each other alone except for a few sparring matches we witnessed when we put some food in for them.

You can see the nest on the left. The adult spider will hide in there occasionally. You can also see the little spider babies...the little black dots. The second adult spider is under the lid. It has been very fascinating.

Another creature they caught is the black field cricket. We are thinking he may be too big for our spider friends to eat.

Other things this month...

2009-06-30T23:07:00.007-04:00

Uploading pictures off my camera for the month and have some more I'll share...

Earlier this month the girls took out the shells they collected from the creek in May, as well as shells they collected from Virginia Beach, VA and York Beach and Wells Beach in Maine. They were grouping them, touching them, drawing them, smelling them, listening to them, learning about them.

Georgia, feeling inspired by the movie Imagine That, wanted to know what scones were. We looked up some recipes and realized we had ingredients to make cranberry scones.

Olivia wanted to know who the Queen of England was...also inspired by Imagine That. (same scene as scones...the girls love that scene!)

Georgia went to the Creative Kids Club at the library where they made a tambourine out of paper, paper clips, and bottle caps.

Olivia had her first visit with the dentist.

And added some pictures to her alphabet book. She loves cutting out pictures, words, and letters from magazines and uses them in her alphabet book, or in collages.

Pan starts with a P.

The girls are also participating in the summer reading program at the library, have played soccer, captured bugs, fed the daring jumping spider they captured, watched it make a nest and later found lots of itty bitty spider babies.

Bee Feeding

2009-06-30T22:18:00.004-04:00

The girls noticed a bee collecting nectar in a clover patch in the backyard. They really enjoyed watching her...and even held out some clover for her to sip.

Girls talked about how cool bees are...how they make honey, how they pollinate flowers and help in growing food, how our bee was a worker bee which meant she was female, and how they can travel a few miles in search of good nectar...and how they are declining in number.

Our bee was a bumblebee, a gentle kind of bee. The girls were very calm and moved slowly around her. We visit the honeybees at the nature center and have practiced walking calmly and slowly by them, so they knew how they should act. We talked about how it would sting if it felt threatened, and unlike a honeybee, the bumblebee's stinger was not barbed so it did not die after stinging.

They were so fascinated...I loved watching their excitement and wonder.

Ten Ways We Misunderstand Children

2009-06-30T21:29:00.002-04:00

Ten Ways We Misunderstand Children
By Jan Hunt, M.Sc.
from The Natural Child Project

1. We expect children to be able to do things before they are ready.
We ask an infant to keep quiet. We ask a 2-year-old to sit still. We ask a 4-year-old to clean his room. In all of these situations, we are being unrealistic. We are setting ourselves up for disappointment and setting up the child for repeated failures to please us. Yet many parents ask their young children to do things that even an older child would find difficult. In short, we ask children to stop acting their age.

2. We become angry when a child fails to meet our needs.
A child can only do what he can do. If a child cannot do something we ask, it is unfair and unrealistic to expect or demand more, and anger only makes things worse. A 2-year-old can only act like a 2-year-old, a 5-year-old cannot act like a 10-year-old, and a 10-year-old cannot act like an adult. To expect more is unrealistic and unhelpful. There are limits to what a child can manage, and if we don't accept those limits, it can only result in frustration on both sides.

3. We mistrust the child's motives.
If a child cannot meet our needs, we assume that he is being defiant, instead of looking closely at the situation from the child's point of view, so we can determine the truth of the matter. In reality, a "defiant" child may be ill, tired, hungry, in pain, responding to an emotional or physical hurt, or struggling with a hidden cause such as food allergy. Yet we seem to overlook these possibilities in favor of thinking the worst about the child's "personality".

4. We don't allow children to be children.
We somehow forget what it was like to be a child ourselves, and expect the child to act like an adult instead of acting his age. A healthy child will be rambunctious, noisy, emotionally expressive, and will have a short attention span. All of these "problems" are not problems at all, but are in fact normal qualities of a normal child. Rather, it is our society and our society's expectations of perfect behavior that are abnormal.

5. We get it backwards.
We expect, and demand, that the child meet our needs - for quiet, for uninterrupted sleep, for obedience to our wishes, and so on. Instead of accepting our parental role to meet the child's needs, we expect the child to care for ours. We can become so focussed on our own unmet needs and frustrations that we forget this is a child, who has needs of his own.

6. We blame and criticize when a child makes a mistake.
Yet children have had very little experience in life, and they will inevitably make mistakes. Mistakes are a natural part of learning at any age. Instead of understanding and helping the child, we blame him, as though he should be able to learn everything perfectly the first time. To err is human; to err in childhood is human and unavoidable. Yet we react to each mistake, infraction of a rule, or misbehavior with surprise and disappointment. It makes no sense to understand that a child will make mistakes, and then to react as though we think the child should behave perfectly at all times.

7. We forget how deeply blame and criticism can hurt a child.
Many parents are coming to understand that physically hurting a child is wrong and harmful, yet many of us forget how painful angry words, insults, and blame can be to a child who can only believe that he is at fault.

8. We forget how healing loving actions can be.
We fall into vicious cycles of blame and misbehavior, instead of stopping to give the child love, reassurance, self-esteem, and security with hugs and kind words.

9. We forget that our behavior provides the most potent lessons to the child.
It is truly "not what we say but what we do" that the child takes to heart. A parent who hits a child for hitting, telling him that hitting is wrong, is in fact teaching that hitting is right, at least for those in power. It is the parent who responds to problems with peaceful solutions who is teaching his child how to be a peaceful adult. So-called problems present our best opportunity for teaching values, because children learn best when they are learning about real things in real life.

10. We see only the outward behavior, not the love and good intentions inside the child.
When a child's behavior disappoints us, we should, more than anything else we do, "assume the best". We should assume that the child means well and is only behaving as well as possible considering all the circumstances (both obvious and hidden from us), together with his level of experience in life. If we always assume the best about our child, the child will be free to do his best. If we give only love, love is all we will receive.

Painting in June

2009-06-30T20:42:00.005-04:00

Girls did some painting this month. We watched some painting shows on PBS Create and Georgia was particularly inspired by Donna Dewberry's Garden Party episode. She wanted to try the new techniques she learned and create the painting Donna showed us. It is a white picket fence with flowers and a hummingbird.

And Olivia painted some more abstracts...

Georgia made one as well...

Needless to say, our home is full of beautiful and one-of-a-kind art pieces!

Learn to Fly Day

2009-06-29T11:51:00.004-04:00

Earlier this month the girls went to the Learn to Fly Day sponsored by the local model aeronautics club.

Mark's Father's Day

2009-06-28T13:39:00.004-04:00

Georgia and Olivia made Mark a t-shirt for Father's Day.

And we went hiking in a new spot.

Happy Father's Day, Mark!!!

Winner of the Best Dad of the Year for the ninth straight year!!!

We are lucky girls!

Celery Fun

2009-06-28T13:32:00.003-04:00

The girls wanted to put a celery stalk with leaves in colored water again. This time Olivia chose blue and Georgia chose red.

Day One

Day Seven

(wilting from the summer heat!)

I told them we need to find some white flowers next time

Lowe's Build & Grow

2009-06-28T13:14:00.004-04:00

We've discovered the Build and Grow Clinics at Lowe's this month. Twice a month they offer a free wooden project for children to build.

The first one we went to they built a putting green

And yesterday they built pirate ships!

The next project will be a treasure chest!

Bird Treats

2009-06-28T12:55:00.003-04:00

If you have bread that is going stale, why not make some bird treats with it! A fun activity for the kids, and the birds love it. We cut the bread into different shapes using cookie cutters, make a hole for string using a straw, smear with peanutbutter and coat with seeds. This way the birds can eat the seeds, peanutbutter, bread, and use the string for nest building. Just don't put the peanutbutter next to Olivia!

Another bread treat idea we had was to do the same with a whole piece of bread and put it in a suet feeder for the warmer months instead of serving rancid suet.

Our past bird treat projects:

Pinecone covered in peanutbutter and dipped in seeds
Apple rings
popcorn cranberry garland
No-Suet Suet

Woodland Survival Camp (updated)

2009-06-24T14:32:00.007-04:00

This week Georgia is attending the Woodland Survival camp at our local nature center. She is loving it! They have built shelters, fires, collected water, cooked with a fire, demonstrated first aid, practiced using compasses, and had a blast! On Friday they will have a special demonstation for the parents and we will be able to tour their woodland survival camp. I'll be sure to bring the camera and take some photos to share.

UPDATE: Georgia ate a roasted mealworm! And then they ground the rest up to bake in cookies!! She said the mealworm tasted like peanutbutter. Hmmm, mealworm and jelly sandwich anyone?

Georgia also practiced using a bow and arrow, shooting it at targets.

The camp staff made a disk of pictures they took througout the week to give to the parents, but we were near the end of the line and they ended up running out of disks. Some folks at the front were taking more than one. So we will recieve pictures taken throughout camp in a couple weeks, when we go back to pick up some tincture she made. They used jewelweed to make an herbal tincture for topical application which can be used to relieve mosquito bites, bee and wasp stings, warts, bruises, fungal skin infections, nettle stings, minor burns, cuts, eczema, acne, sores, and poison ivy rash.

So, if you are ever to be stranded in a remote and deserted area...take Georgia with you!!

Here are some pictures of Georgia showing us the shelters on Friday...

Georgia's Team's Shelter

The other team's shelter

The girls with the Long Hunter at his camp

May Nature Classes

2009-05-24T13:29:00.000-04:00

Woodland Survival: Spring Feast

Georgia's class was joined by the 1790's era Long Hunter who showed the kids how our ancestors lived off the land in springtime. After they learned about local foraging and hunting they did some gathering of tasty edibles. The kids all helped make a meal, giving new meaning to the term "spring mix salad". I even got to try a Spring Beauty "potato". I would never have guessed that the flower's root bulb was edible. It reminded me of beets, very earthy tasting. They also gathered dandelion leaves and flowers, violet flowers, wild onion, garlic mustard leaves, and red buds to add to the salad. The Long Hunter provided venison in three different ways: with maple syrup and ginger, plain, and as bacon, which Georgia said was really salty.

Frogs, Frogs, Frogs!

Olivia's class learned all about frogs! After reading a story on their life cycle, the kids headed out in search of the little guys. The preserve was abundant with vernal pools! The kids each had a net, and what they found they put in a large bucket so that everyone had a chance to see what was found. They didn't find any tadpoles, but they found lots of other interesting critters, including side swimmers, snails, and various water bugs!

Fun Fun! They also had their last homeschool nature club meeting of the year at a neighboring nature center. It was about Insects! They talked about the body parts, classes of insects, identification, and then went out to the creek in search of local bugs. They found mayfly larva that "looked like worms with three tails that looked like sticks with pointy ends," says Georgia. "There were lots of them under rocks in the creek." They also found water striders that she said looked like spiders. "They have bubbles under their feet and when the water pushed them down the creek, they used their feet like oars with the bubbles. They went real fast so it was hard to catch them." They also found a crayfish and everyone got a chance to touch it's shell.

Creek Exploration

2009-05-24T02:38:00.005-04:00

Yesterday we walked down to the creek to do some exploring. The girls searched the creek bed for shells, rocks, fish, and other creek life. They even found an old animal bone in there. They followed a set of tracks along the creek as far as they could. Checking the track finder book, it appears that they were that of the mink. The temperature reached 86*F and they had a nice time splashing and cooling off. Eventually the mosquitoes found us and sent us away.

Today, the girls spent some time cleaning the shells they found and sorting them into piles. We found a site called Freshwater Mussels of the Midwest and have had fun looking around on there. It also helped us come up with an idea...we want to make a booklet about the creek. It will be like a field guide or a brochure of the things that can be found in and around the creek.

Our New Moves

2009-05-22T21:31:00.002-04:00

Me and the girls have been working on some new dance moves. What do you think....

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

More Photos to Share

2009-05-19T00:56:00.003-04:00

Last month the girls picked out some flowers to plant in the pots they decorated last year. Georgia, of course, picked pansies. They are one of her favorites. Olivia chose violas. They also planted some ivy on the sides. With all the rain we've been getting, as well as sunny days, and the girls' diligent care, the flowers have grown beautifully lush.

They have also been studying the soil and finding all kinds of interesting organisms.

And it is always a "treat" to find their bug jars full...you never know what you'll find. Even scarier is that the covers are magnifying glasses so the little buggers always look much larger than they are!

They've had more bubble blowing days. It's especially nice on breezy days because the bubbles practically blow themselves. This just leaves the chasing and popping!

Georgia made jewelry out of dandelions. Here she shows her dandelion ring.

And our seasonal job of cleaning the fans becomes a fun project. Taking the fans apart, figuring out how they work, and putting them back together again. We tested them when they were through and they all worked!

Wildflower Walk

2009-05-18T04:03:00.003-04:00

We went for a walk to see what new wildflowers have emerged and bloomed since our last visit. We brought along our wildflower ID book, Mark brought his binoculars and bird book, and the girls brought along their stick ponies to go trail riding. Beautiful spring!

My Mother's Day

2009-05-18T03:36:00.009-04:00

On Mother's Day, Mark and the girls brought me to the Columbus Zoo. Mark purchased tickets to attend a special Mother's Day elephant talk. Phoebe the Asian elephant had recently given birth. The name of the new baby was to be announced on Mother's Day. The man who works with Phoebe and the new baby gave a special presentation, and Papa John's donated pizza for the event. Money raised from the tickets went towards elephant conservation programs. It was a very interesting presentation where we learned a lot about elephants, and we were shown some exclusive video of the new little one taking it's first steps, learning to swim, playing with mama, it was beautiful to see the two interact.

Afterwards we explored the zoo and had such a fun time. I had a wonderful Mother's Day!

Here are some photos of our day...

And the name of the baby elephant is..........

BECO!!!!

Beco, pronounced BEE-co, is part of the mom's and dad's names put together.

Phoebe + Coco = Beco.

Collage Workshop

2009-05-18T03:06:00.008-04:00

Saturday, the girls and I went to a workshop sponsored by the local art guild. We learned some new techniques and met some new people.

The girls painted a background for their collage before adding items, and finally covering it with a layer of modge podge.

Look at her concentration!

The background is done.

Olivia working on her background...

and the finished pieces

Let's Get Cookin'

2009-05-17T17:04:00.006-04:00

Some of the creations we have made the past couple weeks...

Hot Dog Spaghetti

We got the idea for this from here, which we heard about from some fellow unschoolers. The girls quartered some hot dogs and inserted dried spaghetti into them. They got pretty creative with this and we ended up with some alien-octopus-human results.

After the spaghetti and hot dogs were boiled, this is what they looked like.

Next time, we'll break the spaghetti in half as it will probably be easier to cook and eat!

Marshmallow Connectors

Olivia used mini colored marshmallows and toothpicks to build some 3-D shapes, buildings, and creatures. (she ate them afterwards, too!)

Juice Popsicles

The girls can't get enough popsicles! And with them running around outside, and with the temperatures rising, I encourage it since it helps keep them hydrated. But we got to thinking about how many popsicles they go through, and all the packaging that is thrown away with each individually wrapped popsicle, as well as the box they come in, not to mention the costs of transportation involved in delivering the pops to the store. We decided we could make them ourselves. This would reduce energy costs, as well as give us more control in what we put into the popsicles as far as nutrition is concerned. So we have been experimenting. We have made popsicles from juice and pudding (fudgcicles). We want to try layering different flavors creating our own type of "bomb pop" some time.

What we found works good for us are the small bathroom cups, and our own collection of popsicle sticks that we saved. We put the cups on an old baking sheet and fill them 3/4 full. After about an hour in the freezer we insert the popsicle sticks. After another hour or so we put all the frozen cups in a gallon freezer bag. Everything can be washed and used again.

KitchenAid Visit

We visited Gramma at KichenAid and checked out the posters with the girls' pictures on them. They were used as a part of a Mother's Day promotion at the store.

Georgia in front of her poster, it is a picture of her making her famous pancakes...

Olivia in front of hers, and a close-up of her poster. Olivia is making zucchini bread in the picture.

And Dad tries to steal the pie that is on another poster...

Rainy Day Cupcakes

On one of the rainy days we've had recently, the girls wanted to make some cupcakes. They both measured and mixed to create the batter. Olivia likes to crack the eggs, and Georgia likes to read the directions and mix it all together.

They frosted and decorated....and then taste-tested!

Dancing in the Rain with Worms and Bubbles

2009-05-08T02:08:00.004-04:00

The girls have been playing outside quite a bit lately, enjoying the nice weather we've been having. But yesterday it rained quite a bit. They still got to play outside though. We went out for a bit while it was coming down pretty good. They loved it. We were all dancing in the rain and having a great time!

Later that evening, after the rain had stopped, we went back out to do some exploring. We were first greeted by a bunny hopping through the yard. The girls thought it was neat how the bunny just stood real still, like trying to become invisible so we wouldn't see it. But he eventually hopped away when the girls tried getting closer. He went to the bird feeder and found some treats that the birds had knocked to the ground.

But something else caught the girls' eyes...WORMS! They were crawling out of the rain-soaked grass. The girls couldn't scoop them up fast enough, they just kept coming! It was really interesting to see how they moved, scrunching and stretching their muscles, getting short and fat, then long and thin. They were moving pretty fast.

After studying them for a while, the girls set them free and headed in for a bath. They brought their bubble solution and bubble wands in with them and had fun blowing bubbles and catching them. Olivia thought it was pretty cool that she could catch the bubbles in the bath, but not outside; they would always pop on her hand outside. She decided to try an "experiment". She dried her hands, blew a bubble, and tried to let it land on her hand. Each one she tried popped. She wet her hand and tried again. This time the bubbles didn't pop. Interesting! Georgia thought it was neat that she could put her finger inside the bubble without it popping. Olivia tried it, too.

Here's a slideshow of some of our pictures from the day...

Olivia likes having the worms crawl on her skin. She says it feels weird and neat. She likes feeling different textures. I catch her doing what I do while out shopping, I always need to feel something that looks like it would be interesting to touch, mostly clothing. Last week when she was helping me make banana bread she told me she loves measuring the flour because it was so soft and she loved touching it. She wanted to put her hands inside the flour container. Instead, I put a cup or two of flour into an empty bucket and she went to town with it! I saved it so she can do it again when she feels the need.

Today we searched the internet for some fun worm games and sites. I'll have to post them tomorrow. There are some really good ones. This evening the girls were back outside digging up worms and playing with them. They made a see saw for the worms with popsicle sticks, and a merry-go-round from a spinning bowl. Georgia even had a worm race. Olivia was telling Daddy what worms need to live, what they eat, what environment they like, and what they don't like. Georgia was telling us all about their anatomy. She was telling me how they really need to use their muscles in their esophagus to move the food through their digestive system...because it needs to move sideways and doesn't have gravity helping like we do. I never thought of that before. That was pretty interesting. I also overheard Georgia telling Olivia how to tell which end was the head by finding the citellum, and that worms are both boys and girls.

Later Olivia comes up to me and points to my chest/neck area and tells me she can see all my nipples. What???!!! I look down and say, "What?" She says, "See, the brown dots." I said, "Olivia, you mean my FRECKLES?" Phew!!! I laughed quite a bit on that one!

Ancient Discoveries, the Clepsydra

2009-05-05T10:46:00.001-04:00

After watching an Ancient Discoveries episode about ancient technology, Georgia wanted to try to make her own simple water timer like the clepsydras she saw in the show. Clepsydras, like sundials, were probably one of the first time-keeping devices in history. They were used all over the ancient world throughout history, but the name clepsydra comes from the Greeks who used them to time orations made in court so that each side had equal time to state their case. In Greek, Clepsydra means "water thief" or "steal water".

Georgia got out some disposable bowls and straws and went right to work. She used an old cell phone to time how long it took the water to empty into the other bowl.

You can almost see the water dripping out...

We found a site from the History Channel called The Ancient Hobbyist which shows how to recreate and build some ancient inventions. Here's a video that shows how to make a clepsydra as a clock.

And you can download a PDF of step by step instructions on building a clepsydra here.

There are some other interesting projects on the Ancient Hobbyist site that we'll have to try sometime...like a bamboo flute, or a trebuchet!!

Strange Matter

2009-04-20T22:29:00.006-04:00

We visited the science exhibit called Strange Matter at Boonshoft earlier this month. We had fun exploring the world of materials science. Here's a lil video we took while there...

Strange Matter is a traveling exhibit that just might be coming to a science center near you. Here's their website where you can check out the schedule. They also have a lot of fun stuff on their site. Here you can find activities to do at home, like make your own magnetic liquid, bake ice cream without it melting, or learn about the history of sword making. Who knew materials science could be so facinating?!

The exhibit is only at Boonshoft until May 3rd, so we definitely want to make it back before it moves on.

Earth Day: Earth Mosaic

2009-04-20T20:42:00.004-04:00

In this week's Photojojo newsletter, I read about an Earth Day photography project that is asking for participants! From the newsletter...

Got big plans for Earth Day?

Gonna build a windmill out of recycled soda cans? Or modify your
car to run on potato peelings and hope?

Yeah, sure you are. How about something that’s simple enough to
actually DO?

Something like taking a day-in-the-life portrait of the whole entire
planet!

You can read the rest of the article here.

Basically, Earth Mosaic is asking people to go out and take pictures on Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22, 2009. Choose your best one and email it to them! You can read more about it by clicking on their logo below.

We are having rainy days here, but we plan on going out and taking pictures, and the girls will be able to pick out which is their favorite photo they took to send in for the Earth Mosaic project.

What about you?

Dyeing Eggs, Latvian-Style

2009-04-20T16:16:00.009-04:00

We attended a workshop on how to dye eggs using the Latvian method of using onion skins and other natural objects to decorate and dye the eggs.

Click here to read our post from two years ago when we attended this same event.

The first thing we did was to take a square piece of fabric and put a small pile of dried onion skins on top. We used yellow onion skins. The next step was to decorate the eggs using flowers, leaves, herbs, anything we wanted. We wet the egg to make the items stay in place.

Next we put some more onion skins on top of the egg and gathered the material to enclose the egg. We then tied string around it several times to keep everything closed up and in place.

Mark used a fine netting fabric for his. He did not surround it with onion skins, but instead, the egg would pick up the color from other eggs while they boiled.

After the eggs boiled in their cloth and onion blankets, they were cooled in ice water, unwrapped, rinsed, dried...and voila!

The girls also made and decorated some paper baskets.

Chef Livy

2009-04-07T00:38:00.004-04:00

If you need something chopped, go to Livy! She's been honing her knife wielding skills.

She made a delicious pasta salad for us!

Wacky Mac

Kidney Beans

Tomatoes

Cucumbers

Green Pepper

Carrots

Broccoli

Zesty Italian Salad Dressing

Spring Park Days

2009-04-07T00:28:00.003-04:00

We've had warm days, and not so warm days. Typical spring weather.

Olivia will now tackle the rock climb by herself...with me far far away. She used to have me right behind her to make her feel safe. Not anymore!

Another park day, and another park...beautiful sunny day, fun playground equipment available...but the girls instead played with the bugs. They said they were saving them. The bugs were on the slide and they didn't want anyone squishing them. What thoughtful girls!

Salamander Search

2009-04-06T23:52:00.004-04:00

We signed up for a Salamander Search class at the end of March. Unfortunately, our nature center canceled the event due to a naturalist being sick, but we decided to head out anyway and try our luck finding the little critters. Before leaving we looked through our Amphibians of Ohio book and read up about them. We learned about the endangered ones, the lungless, the mole salamanders, and the mudpuppies and waterdogs. We also visited the Ohio Salamander Web, part of OhioAmphibians.com, and looked at photos and read more on where to look for the little buggers.

Unforunately we weren't finding any vernal pools. We'd have to wait until it rained a bit more. But we looked around anyway. The girls had fun looking under logs and found some other things lurking around in the damp darkness. They found millipedes, centipedes, fungi, and worms. We also heard and saw woodpeckers, cardinals, chickadees, and coopers hawks soaring above.

Georgia is showing Olivia a worm she found.

and I thought this was pretty, found under a log.

Now that it's the beginning of April we have been getting a lot of rain. We'll have to go searching the vernal pools that are sure to be full of life about now.

Earth Hour is TODAY!!

2009-03-28T16:00:00.001-04:00

Today is Earth Hour 2009!

For more information you can visit the Earth Hour website.

They also have a site for kids here.

Here's a pdf document for Ten Fun Ideas to do during Earth Hour.

And here's what they say on their website...

VOTE EARTH

YOUR LIGHT SWITCH IS YOUR VOTE

This year, Earth Hour has been transformed into the world’s first global election, between Earth and global warming.

For the first time in history, people of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote – Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global warming. WWF are urging the world to VOTE EARTH and reach the target of 1 billion votes, which will be presented to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009.

This meeting will determine official government policies to take action against global warming, which will replace the Kyoto Protocol. It is the chance for the people of the world to make their voice heard.

Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007, when 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour. In 2008 the message had grown into a global sustainability movement, with 50 million people switching off their lights. Global landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rome’s Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square all stood in darkness.

In 2009, Earth Hour is being taken to the next level, with the goal of 1 billion people switching off their lights as part of a global vote. Unlike any election in history, it is not about what country you’re from, but instead, what planet you’re from. VOTE EARTH is a global call to action for every individual, every business, and every community. A call to stand up and take control over the future of our planet. Over 74 countries and territories have pledged their support to VOTE EARTH during Earth Hour 2009, and this number is growing everyday.

We all have a vote, and every single vote counts. Together we can take control of the future of our planet, for future generations.

VOTE EARTH by simply switching off your lights for one hour, and join the world for Earth Hour.

Edited to Add: We turned off everything and played Clue by candlelight. Earth Hour went by and we still played happily, enjoying the fun late into the night. I think it was Mark who won!

Boxes for Bluebirds: Georgia's Nature Class

2009-03-28T15:51:00.004-04:00

This month's nature class for Park P.A.L.S was all about the Eastern Bluebird. Georgia learned all about this bird through slideshow presentation and naturalist discussions. Afterwards they went outside to look at the bluebird nest boxes around the nature center. They cleaned out last year's nests and learned how to take care of the nest boxes. Then they went back inside and made their own to take home. One naturalist noted that the kids were so good with their hammer and nails that they should all come help him build a barn :-)

She now has two bluebird boxes. We cannot put them up yet, though, but hopefully when we move we'll have the space and proper environment.

Maple Syrup Festival

2009-03-28T13:27:00.004-04:00

We went to the Maple Syrup Festival again this year. We learned about syrup making through history and different cultures. We also learned about modern practices, and watched sap boil in the evaporator. We sampled syrup made in our own county...and bought some to take home, too. It was DELICIOUS!!! The girls sampled some maple candy.

Georgia demonstrated the yoke for the group.

Listening to a colonial-era interpreter about syrup making in his day, you can see the sugar shack in the background.

After our tour, we decided to go for a walk down to the beavers' pond. It was such a beautiful day for the first weekend in March!

We saw a lot of turtles out sunning themselves on such a lovely day.

And some Canada Geese as well...

We had a nice walk, definitely a nice break from winter weather.

The next day, Georgia made us some yummy pancakes! She made banana, blueberry, raspberry, and plain whole-wheat pancakes. We had a feast! And we used the local maple syrup purchased at the festival! Mmmmm.

Tracks & Traces: Olivia's Nature Class

2009-03-28T13:09:00.003-04:00

Olivia's class this month was about finding signs of animals. They began by making playdough impressions from animal track casts. They read a story and completed an activity about the animal signs in the story. They used their magnifying glasses to examine various objects from animals, including a nest, hive, feather, fur, and antlers.

Next, the kids went on a hike in search of signs of animals. In the picture below the kids are looking at a hollow log which could be an animal's home. They also saw tracks, feathers, scratches on trees, holes in trees, and some scat! They rolled over some logs to find millipedes and centipedes, too.

Back in the classroom, the kids used animal track stamps to see the differences in tracks, and to create a beautiful picture!

Morphed

2009-02-15T16:19:00.002-05:00

In honor of the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth, National Geographic aired three episodes of Morphed. It is a show that shows the evolutionary progression of animals. The three shows Georgia watched were "From Dinosaur to Turkey", "When Whales Had Legs", and "Before They Were Bears". She also visited the show's website and checked out the interactive section.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-15T15:25:00.004-05:00

We made heart-shaped pizzas. Georgia had the idea a few weeks ago after reading about it in her Feb 2009 issue of National Geographic Kids magazine.

Olivia made hers with turkey pepperoni, Georgia made a cheese pizza with three turkey pepperonis in the shape of a heart in the center, Mark's was turkey pepperoni and jalapenos, and mine was shrimp and pineapple. YUM!

Of course we had leftover pizza for lunch the next day!

Winter Tracking

2009-02-15T15:11:00.004-05:00

Last Sunday we went for a winter tracking hike. The ground was covered in snow and there were tracks everywhere. We saw some animal "highways" going through the woods. We found some leading up to burrows and hollowed out logs. We brought along our animal tracks identification guide and looked up the tracks we saw. There were a lot of white-tailed deer, rabbits, raccoons... We brought the camera but when I went to take a picture I realized that the batteries needed replaced...and I didn't pack a charged set with us! Too bad, because we made the cutest little snowman on the side of the trail. We used natural items we found lying around for decorations. He had berry eyes, and stubby twig nose, mouth of a curled bumpy twig, hair made out of dried curly vines, and a spray of berries for a hair decoration. Oh yeah, and a long dried leaf for a scarf. The snow is all melted now!

Yesterday Georgia had her nature class and it was called "Winter Tracking". They learned more about tracking animals, including how to identify scat. They learned how to tell a story about the animal they tracked, and what it was doing or where it was going. She recieved a mammals of Ohio field guide to keep.

Yesterday we also went for a winter hike. No snow this time. We did find a lot of trash to pick up. We had a lot of strong winds recently, which is probably where most of the big trash came from. We also heard a lot of birds as we walked through the woods. It was a cold and overcast day, so we didn't stay out too long.

woodpecker drumming away

Ohio's Winter Wildlife from ODNR.

Completed Mummy

2009-02-15T15:07:00.003-05:00

Georgia finished painting her papier-mâché mummy. The mummy wears an Ankh necklace like the one Georgia made for herself.

Mummy

2009-02-07T23:50:00.004-05:00

Last week Georgia started making a paper-mâché mummy! We found the idea in one of our library books, Make History: Ancient Egypt by Nancy Fister and Charlene Olexiewicz.

She started by making a cone shape out of newspaper. We cut it to measure about 8 inches tall. She told me that for measuring horses they use hands, and the adult hand is roughly 4 inches wide, so she used my hand and cut the top at 2 hands. We taped the cone and filled it with the newspaper we cut off. Then she crumpled newspaper into a ball and taped it on top to be the mummy's head. She also folded the point of the cone and taped it to look like the feet.

Next she made the flour and water glue mixture, using 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 cup water.

And she wrapped her mummy using white paper strips dipped in the glue.

Here she sits drying. Georgia said it'll be a girl mummy.

We let the mummy dry overnight. The next day she drew a design and started painting. She still has more painting to do before her mummy is complete. I'll post pictures when it's finished.

Livy's nature class...

2009-02-07T23:46:00.002-05:00

Olivia had her nature class on Thursday. A naturalist from a neighboring nature center visited and brought some birds with her. She taught the kids what physical features are found on birds, adaptations, behavior, etc. This class was a little shorter than usual. Her regular naturalist just had a baby and is off being a mom for the first time!

Janus, Februa, Mars...

2009-02-07T23:13:00.003-05:00

On Groundhogs Day we watched this year's celebration as Punxsutawny Phil predicted six more weeks of winter. We were not impressed. I don't understand this "holiday". Weird I tell ya... We did learn that it is the exact middle of winter here in the northern hemisphere. That's interesting I guess.

That did, however, spark an interest in the origin of calendar names, which then sparked even more interest in the history of time keeping traditions. Here are some of the sites we visited:

Announcing the Sky Calendars through the Ages, astronomical origins, year, week, calendar name origins.

Walk Through Time From the National Institute of Standards and Technology, The evolution of time measurement through the ages.

Official US Time just click a time zone.

Calendar Origins "answers to many questions about calendars"

Current Moon Phase for the northern hemisphere. will be a full moon in a couple days.

Calendars: Counting the Days from the World Book Encyclopedia.

Physics Phun!

2009-02-07T23:04:00.004-05:00

The girls have had fun playing the online physics puzzle game Fantastic Contraption. You have to build a contraption to move a pink circle into the goal. Each level is more challenging. It sparks some creative thinking. Click on the picture below to try it out!

Volcanoes!

2009-02-02T19:32:00.003-05:00

After reading the news about Alaska's Redoubt Volcano on the brink of eruption, we did some further explorations on volcanoes.

We played with a virtual volcano, changing variables and seeing the effect it has on the eruption.

Learned more about volcanoes from FEMA...

and at National Geographic Kids.

And we watched the BrainPop video on volcanoes.

After that, the girls had fun playing with the variables of an avalanche and seeing the results on National Geographic's Unleash an Avalanche.

Snooker

2009-02-02T19:29:00.001-05:00

The girls played with their mini foosball game.

Georgia wanted to learn how to play snooker, so we looked it up on the Internet. We also watched some videos of snooker championships. Then her and Olivia tried it out, making some new rules for their game.

More Snow Fun

2009-02-02T19:23:00.002-05:00

Olivia tried making a snowman. It kept falling over!

She had a lot of fun making snowballs and throwing them at me and Dad.

She helped Georgia work on another snow shelter.

Archaeology of Ohio

2009-02-02T18:28:00.004-05:00

On Saturday, Mark and Georgia attended a lecture called Archaeology of Ohio. Author and editor Robert N. Converse shared his knowledge on the prehistoric cultures of Ohio, with a focus on artifacts and prehistory of our county. After the presentation, he offered to inspect any artifacts that we may have found, letting us know more about the pieces.

Georgia brought in her arrowhead that was found at her great grandmother's house.

She was told that her arrowhead was from the Archaic Period, and probably came from the Glacial Kame or Red Ocher cultures. He said it is about 5000 years old!!!

After returning home she told me all about the lecture. We searched the Internet to learn more about the Glacial Kame and Red Ocher cultures, the Archaic Period and looked at a virtual gallery on the First Ohioans.

She also watched some videos on making a stone age weapon, flintknapping stone age tools, and making a knife by flintknapping.

She also bought a dinosaur excavation activity from the gift shop. She needs to dig for the bones and then put the skeleton together. They are supposed to glow in the dark, too. She's found most of the bones, but still needs to put it together when she finds the rest.

Olivia worked on crystal mining.

We are still chipping away at the crystal mining block. It gets taken out from time to time. When all the rocks are free they can add them to their rock collections.

Shelters!

2009-01-31T12:56:00.003-05:00

Inspired by Survivorman and Man v Wild, the girls think of different ways to build shelters in the house.

There's the bunkbed shelter...

The long and low shelter...

the video shelter, where they can watch Survivorman and Man v Wild

and most recently the snow shelter...

I lured them back inside with some hot chocolate...

In the Paper

2009-01-26T06:25:00.002-05:00

Phew! We don't look like goobers! :-)

Homeschool Nature Club

2009-01-24T15:47:00.005-05:00

Georgia went to her second meeting of the homeschool nature club. They meet at a nature center, so while we waited, Olivia and I had fun exploring. We first checked out the bird vista and looked in the bird books to identify what we saw. She found a ladybug crawling around in there, too.

Right after I took those pictures a photographer from the local paper came in. He is doing a story on the bird vista and wanted to know if we would like to get our picture taken and be in the paper on Sunday. So we did. We'll check the paper tomorrow to see if we made it. Olivia said, "I hope we didn't look like goobers, that would be embarassing." Ha ha...I agree.

We also went for a winter hike. We saw a lot of animal tracks, and heard a lot of birds.

The first club meeting Georgia attended was about rocks and fossils. She learned all about the rocks and fossils that can be found locally. She also made a rock collection container with an old egg carton. She received garnet and a fossil to start off her collection. However, she has loads of rocks in her collection at home. So when she got home she went to work organizing her rock and fossil collection some more. She used white-out to make a white spot on each sample and once dried she wrote a number to correspond with an egg compartment. On the lid she listed the number and name of each specimen.

This meeting was about Winter Adaptations. She said they played Animal Tracks Twister until everyone arrived. They talked about what animals do in winter and the different signs of wildlife to look for. They were introduced to an eyeless owl. He was found and brought to the rehabilitation center where he now lives. They also met a cornsnake, which Georgia held! The kids took a hike through the woods to look for the signs of wildlife they discussed. They found tracks, scat, yellow snow!, a bird's nest, evidence of digging, insect tracks on logs, and scratches on trees.

Olivia is now signed up for the nature club. There was a confusion about age requirement and space. The club is for kids over six, but Olivia is five. Also, I think Olivia is the last one to be added, unless someone else cancels there is no room for new members. Phew! Glad we made it! The homeschool nature club will meet once a month from September through May.

Cities

2009-01-24T15:32:00.005-05:00

The next Think! challenge the kids participated in was building a city from cards.

Here's what they came up with...

and her final city...

Olivia's turn...

Olivia had trouble getting the cards to stay where she wanted them to be...they kept falling down. So she focused on practicing her card stacking skills.

Another fun challenge from Think!.

Afterwards, we were directed to a gallery of photos from Cardstacker Bryan Berg.

Ancient Egyptians

2009-01-23T13:51:00.006-05:00

Georgia has been reading about the Ancient Egyptians. In the book Spend the Day in Ancient Egypt: Projects and Activities That Bring the Past to Life by Linda Honan she learned how to make an Ankh necklace. She made one out of Sculpey.

She watched some videos at HowStuffWorks.com on the Ancient Egyptians, the Nile, the Pyramids, Egyptian mythology, Ancient Egyptian farmers, Heiroglyphs, and Papyrus.

She made a pyramid from construction paper using a template at Crayola.com.

She learned more about mummies from the BBC's Mummy Maker, and from the book Mummies!.

She learned more about the Pyramids, mythology, and the geography of ancient Egypt from the BBC's Pyramid Builder Challenge.

At BrainPop.com she watched videos on Egyptian Pharoahs, Mummies, and the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

We read the Secret Name of Ra by Anne Rowe, Temple Cat by Andrew Clements, Ancient Egyptian Art by Susie Hodge, and I Wonder Why Pyramids Were Built and Other Questions About Ancient Egypt by Philip Steele.

We still have more library books and websites to check out, and more projects to do.

Think! Challenge: Scales

2009-01-23T13:22:00.008-05:00

In week twenty of the Think! challenge, the kids were asked to:

Use some or all of the following materials to build a scale. Then see if you can balance it with 5 pennies on each side.

2 pencils
an eraser
a cup
4 straws
4 paperclips
2 pieces of paper
1 item of your choice
4 inches of string
4 inches of tape

You may use scissors in construction but not the solution.

Georgia chose an empty tissue box for the item of her choice. She cut it up to make two small rectangles for the pennies to sit on. She used the two pencils and a straw to make a tripod, and used some string, tape, and paperclips to make it stand. The crossbar was made from a straw, and she used strips of paper to hang the cardboard holders.

But when she tried putting the pennies on they wouldn't stay.

So she took off the cardboard rectangles and added rolled up paper and paperclips to hold them in place. She also used the eraser to stop the straw from sliding. Now the pennies would stay!

And that was her solution that we submitted to the Think! site. But she wasn't done with her scale. She decided to weigh some other items. She measured 1 tablespoon of flour and 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar into bags.

But when she went to weigh them the straw leg of the tripod bent.

After swapping the straw for another pencil, she weighed the bags and found that sugar weighed more than flour, even though they were the same amount. So we talked about density.

Georgia went on to weigh some of her horse figurines and other small toys. She loved this challenge.

Arts & Crafts

2009-01-21T18:40:00.004-05:00

The cold days of winter are perfect for staying indoors and getting creative! The girls have been busy with their projects.

Georgia started and finished a paint by number.

just getting started

finished

She also made some magnets with Sculpey. She shaped and baked them, painted them, and then glued magnets to the back.

a horse and an apple

Georgia tried latchhook for the first time. She loves it. This pattern is for a snowman.

just starting

Olivia has done a lot of painting and drawing.

She painted horses

and candles

Owls of Ohio

2009-01-21T18:18:00.006-05:00

Olivia's January nature class was about owls of Ohio. The kids listened to a slideshow presentation about owls and their adaptations. They also got to see, or hear, the difference between the owls feathers in flight compared to those of a wild turkey. The owls wings flapped silently, whereas the turkey's were noisy. They also listened to some owl calls on cd.

The kids played a game where they had to collect mice in a field in the dark! They started in a hula hoop on the floor, and when the lights were turned out they ran to the other end of the room and collected as many laminated pictures of mice as they could. Sounds quite dangerous! But there was enough light coming in from the doors that there weren't any collisions this time! When the lights were switched back on, the kids ran back to their starting positions.

Olivia got to dissect an owl pellet like Georgia did in her owl class last year. She found two small rodent skeletons in there. She matched up the bones to a sheet of paper, figuring out what each bone was.

Georgia's January nature class was canceled due to weather.

Winter Woodland Survival

2009-01-20T12:35:00.008-05:00

Georgia's December nature class was called Winter Woodland Survival. The local Long Hunter (1790-era interpreter) Chris Supinger taught the kids basic survival skills used in the 1790's. They learned how to find landmarks to navigate through the woods. Mr. Supinger had a fire going and cooked up some tasty snacks for the kids, which included dried apples, beef jerky, and dried corn. He also taught the kids how to build a basic shelter. They split into two teams and worked together to build their shelter. Of course, Georgia LOVED that! Her and Olivia are always building shelters around the house after watching Survivorman or Man vs. Wild on the Discovery Channel. (Survivorman is her favorite.)

Chris Supinger, Long Hunter
(this was taken at the Maple Syrup Festival in March 2008)

After a week of strong winds and rain, we took a walk through the woods to find the shelters the kids built. I didn't think that they would still be standing...but to my surprise, they looked like they were just built! They did a great job constructing them.

This class is the first of a new quarterly series for Park Pals on surviving and living off the land. We think this is excellent! Soon, Olivia will be joining Georgia in her Park Pals class. She can't wait.

Shelter # 1 Georgia's Team

Shelter # 2 The other team

For the Birds

2008-12-30T18:28:00.000-05:00

Olivia's nature class for December was about making treats for wildlife. The class read a story by Eve Bunting called The Night Tree.

Afterward, the kids made some decorations like the ones in the story. Olivia made a peanut buttered pinecone dipped in seeds, and she strung some apple rings on yarn. The class went outside and picked out a tree that was accessible from all sides, and was close to a wooded area so the animals could feel safer. Then they decorated the tree with their creations, and some popcorn and cranberry garland as well.

Party for Wildlife

2008-12-30T17:39:00.000-05:00

In mid-December we attended a Party for Wildlife at Brukner Nature Center. Everyone that attended brought donations for the animals. We brought various types of food items, such as seeds and vegetables.

We visited with some animals and learned more about them. The nature center is also a rehabilitation center, so the animals they have are ones that were rescued.

The girls learned about an owl, opossum, snake, and a very large and long-lived toad, which they got to touch.

Livy is touching the toad.

checking out "Hoot"

Olivia calls any owl "Hoot" after watching the movie.

The girls each made a treat for the birds to take home.

Olivia is putting peanut butter on a pinecone.

Georgia is, too.

Then they put it in a bag of seeds and shook it.

We also explored the nature center and visited with other animals downstairs.

Olivia can look up and see the turtles from underneath.

This is one of her favorite spots at this nature center.

Georgia and Olivia touching the turtles.

The girls measuring themselves against a very long snake skin.

Georgia is checking out Ohio's Endangered Species...

...and a geologic timeline.

Georgia is playing with a food chain activity

Producers, Primary Consumers, Secondary Consumers, Decomposers, and back to Producers.

We also visited the animals outside.

visiting the bald eagle
and a fox.

We started to take a hike but the rain came and we headed home instead.

December

2008-12-30T13:24:00.002-05:00

This month the girls learned about the history and customs of winter holidays around the world, as well as the seasonal changes in the natural world. We read some library books and visited websites to learn more. Here are some of the places we visited...

Toured a Tree Farm
Learned the History of Hanukkah
Learned about the Dreidel
Made a Dreidel
Read "Latkes, Latkes, Good to Eat"
Learned about Kwanzaa
And Christmas
And Saturnalia
And Yule
Watched a Brainpop video on Winter Holidays
Reviewed Christmas Carols, Music, & Lyrics
Learned how they make candy canes
Made a Christmas Tree countdown calendar
Baked lots of cookies!
Listened to Christmas Greetings in different languages
Played Christmas Games
Did Gingerbread Man Math
Read the History of Gingerbread
Made some Gingerbread Cookies
Learned to Make Paper Snowflakes
Watched Brainpop video on Snowflakes
Learned Science of Snowflakes and Snow Crystals
Clouds
Avalanches
Migration
Metabolism
Hibernation
New Year's
Read Animals in Winter by Catherine de Sairigné
Animals that Hibernate by Larry Dane Brimner
Ice Bear by Nicola Davies
New Year's Celebrations by WorldBook
The Penguin Quartet by Peter Arrhenius
Penguins, Penguins, Everywhere by Bob Barner
Polar Bears by Mary King Hoff
Where Do They Go?: Insects In Winter by Millicent Ellis Selsam
Winter by Janet McDonnell
Winter: December, January, and February by Cath Senker
The World of Penguins by David Saintsing
Took a tour of Daddy's work

Gingerbread Horses

Gingerbread Men

Christmas Cookies

Decorating the tree

Making Trees and Ornaments for a Countdown Poster

They added one of their ornaments each day until Christmas.

The end result...

Touring Daddy's work

Gymnastics

2008-12-03T14:30:00.002-05:00

Georgia on the bars

The girls are still taking gymnastics. They love it and have fun with it.

Making a Compass

2008-12-03T14:25:00.002-05:00

We made a compass with a pin, magnet, lettuce leaf, and a bowl of water.

Georgia also experimented with her magnets and figured out which ones were stronger, and which were weaker. She used paper clips, magnets of various shapes and sizes, and a pen and paper to make a chart and take notes.

The Art of Rock Balancing

2008-12-03T14:02:00.003-05:00

We recently discovered a blog called Think! "A Program Designed to Encourage Kids to Think Outside of the Box." Our first challenge was to have the kids gather seven rocks, and then stack them as high as they can. Here's what the girls came up with...

The Think! site also shared a link to some beautiful photos of rock balancing.

http://www.coolic.com/2008/09/art-of-stone-balancing.html

The girls submitted some of their photos which have now been posted to the Think! site.

http://kidswhothink.blogspot.com/2008/12/week-fourteen-radical-rock-solutions.html

We have had so much fun trying to balance rocks in different ways. It has a zen quality to it, very relaxing and requires much patience, and very fun to do! We can't wait to see what the next challenge will be!

Fall Hike

2008-12-03T13:30:00.003-05:00

We read more about the monkey brains here. We also found a picture at that site of what one looks like when it's sliced open.

Let's Say Thanks

2008-12-03T12:52:00.003-05:00

I found this site that allows us to send a note of thanks to our troops serving overseas. It is free. You choose a card design, enter your personal message, then Xerox prints them and gives them to Give2TheTroops to be distributed along with their care packages. Just thought I'd share for anyone interested.

http://www.letssaythanks.com

http://www.give2thetroops.org/

Wilderness Survival and the Compass

2008-11-20T14:37:00.004-05:00

I just love how creative the girls are. They are inspired by so many things in their play. Yesterday the girls played the Expedition Game from National Geographic. Afterwards they packed up some backpacks, made a passport like in the game, drew some maps, thought up some missions, and went on an expedition. They even created a cave using a blanket.

Today they watched the movie Bear With Me, one they've watched before and loved. Right now they packed up their backpacks again. They wrote a list of wilderness survival needs. They packed some bandages for first aid, a snack, compasses, etc. We talked about the compass and different ways to use it. We have one packed in our hiking backpack, but we use the GPS receiver instead. We'll have to use our compass now and then I think, so that we can be prepared. It's a surveyor's compass and I'm not sure how to use the extra parts. Something I think we'll be learning soon! We also talked about how to make our own compass if needed. We're going to try this later. Compasses also led us to a discussion about magnetic north versus true north.

Now I'm off to do some research....

Thanksgiving Studies

2008-11-18T13:54:00.002-05:00

We read some books from the library:

Thanksgiving Poems by Myra Cohn Livingston
Thanksgiving by Natalie M. Rosinsky
The Wampanoag Indians by Bill Lund
Massasoit, Friend of the Pilgrims by Virginia Voight (This is a biography that we started but have not yet finished.)

We still have some more to read another day.

We visited Scholastic's site on The First Thanksgiving. This is a great site!

At National Geographic, Georgia made a Thanksgiving themed Mad Lib, read about the first Thanksgiving, and of Thanksgiving traditions, and had fun with the Cartoon Factory Fill-In.

We also watched a neat video of an "exploding pumpkin." Not exactly Thanksgiving, but fun anyway!

And we played some Thanksgiving themed games at Funschool.com, such as Turkey Flibriks, and Thanksgiving Feast.

We still have lots more sites to check out another day!

Geography Awareness Week Day One

2008-11-18T13:04:00.006-05:00

November 16-22, 2008 is Geography Awareness Week, as promoted by My Wonderful World.

Monday's topic is Human Geography and Culture.

Here's what we did:

We listened to music from around the world. We listened to traditional Irish, Arabic, Chinese, Aboriginal, Mexican, Moroccan, Egyptian, and Mongolian.

We even choreographed some dances with the help of Grover from Sesame Street. In the activity Global Grover Grooves we saw him dance on stilts as in Carnival from Trinidad, do a chinese acrobatic routine, perform the Mongolian Bowl Dance, and a Russian Cossack kick-dance.

We learned some folk games from around the world.

We learned some greetings from around the world. We used the site Say Hello to the World, as well as a library book titled Greetings of the World by Dwayne E. Pickels.

We learned about foods and ethnic cuisine from around the world. The girls played the game Mix & Mash at Disney's Pass the Plate site.

This weekend...

2008-11-16T16:45:00.005-05:00

We are all trying to rest up and feel better. This weekend we stayed home as much as we could. We were excited to see snow! But it melted as it hit the ground and eventually switched back to rain.

Georgia and I played a few games of Scrabble this weekend. She used her American Heritage Student Dictionary to look up the words I used that she didn't know.

Olivia looked in her insect book to learn more about her little insect toys.

And she played Boggle Jr a few times. She challenged herself this time. She spelled the word on the card with the cubes, then took the cubes off, covered the word and spelled it on her own.

And she baked some oatmeal raisin cookies with Dad. They were yummy!

Olivia is cracking the eggs.

Georgia watched some episodes on the Discovery Channel about the Iditarod. She is excited to watch some of next years' race, only 110 more days. She can keep updated here. She also watched the Survivorman show a few times. She loves that show.

Olivia played on Starfall. This site is great for young kids learning to read!

Georgia pretended to have her own horse stables. We printed out some pretend checks here. She learned about the parts of a check, and how to fill out a check ledger for keeping a balance. She wants to fill in deposits from her "paycheck", and debits from her "bills" as she manages her horse stables.

Livy's Nature Class ~Bears~

2008-11-16T15:57:00.003-05:00

Thursday Olivia went to her nature class and learned about bears. Each child was asked ahead of time to bring in their favorite teddybear. Olivia brought in her polar bear named Snowflake. The naturalist was excited that she brought it in because it was the most realistic looking bear. She asked Olivia to come up and talk about it.

The kids learned about different types of bears, but mostly about the black bear since that is what is found in our state. They got to feel real fur and look at a skull from a black bear. They looked at hind and front pawprints on cards and measured them to their own feet and hands.

The kids went outside to play a bear game. They were each handed a basket to hold which would be the bear's stomach. And they stood in hula hoops which acted as their dens.

When the naturalist said "go" the kids ran to collect as much food in their baskets as they could before they heard "Snow!" Then they all had to run back to their dens. They did this a few times. The kids really enjoyed it.

Next, they went back inside to do an activity to learn about how a bear's fat layer keeps them warm. They each were given a bag of fat. (shortening) They put a bare hand in ice water, and then a hand wrapped with the fat. They could feel the difference in temperature.

Lastly, the kids fingerpainted a picture of a bear.

Olivia had a great time!

BrainPop Day

2008-11-13T15:16:00.005-05:00

Georgia has been sniffley and icky feeling. She wanted to learn about sick "bugs". That's how it started off. She watched a BrainPop video about viruses, then she kept on going, watching more and more.

Here's a list of all the videos she watched yesterday.

Immune System
Bacteria
Viruses
Boogers
West Nile Virus
Lyme's Disease
Puberty
Period
Fetal Development
Aging
Acne
Growth
Infancy
Adolescence
Anthrax
AIDS
Allergies
ADHD
Alzheimers Disease
Alcohol
Addiction
Blood
Blood Types
Invertabrates
Cnidarians
Vertebrates
Heat
Binary
Internet
Internet Search
Printers
Computer History
Computer Mouse
Data Storage Devices
CDs
Cameras
Film Making
Traditional Animation
Digital Animation
Graphic Design
Drawing
Sketching
Cubism
Impressionism
Surrealism
Light
Color
Electromagnetic Spectrum
Electricity
Current Electricity
Batteries
Energy Sources

that's what we managed to write down anyway....

Ancient Civilizations

2008-11-13T15:02:00.004-05:00

Georgia has been reading about ancient civilizations. She read the book Lugalbanda, an ancient Sumarian legend that predates Gilgamesh.

She saw her monogram in cuneiform here. http://www.upennmuseum.com/cuneiform.cgi

And she checked out some ancient inventions. http://www.smith.edu/hsc/museum/ancient_inventions/hsclist.htm

She also checked out what might possibly be the world's first city at the Mysteries of Çatalhöyük children's site. http://www.smm.org/catal/

Pottery Painting

2008-11-11T18:49:00.005-05:00

The pottery pieces the girls made a month ago have now been dried and fired in the kiln. They were able to apply some under glaze to their pieces.

The pieces will need fired and glazed and then they will be able to pick them up!

Veterans Day

2008-11-11T17:20:00.007-05:00

Today we talked about Veterans Day, its history, meaning, and how its celebrated.

The girls watched a PBS children's show about Veterans Day.

We also read the book Veterans Day by Mir Tamim Ansary.

Georgia then spelled some related words, such as veteran, holiday, celebrate, and salute, in Spelling Bee style.

And we talked about the veterans in our family.

Thank YOU!!

In Flanders Fields

By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918) Canadian Army

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

Last week...

2008-11-10T18:51:00.007-05:00

Last week we enjoyed some nice days at the park, enjoying the beautiful colors of autumn.

Georgia discovered a horse game called Howrse.

They each worked in some workbooks.

Georgia captured two spiders. She watched one make a web in the jar, and watched the other eat a bug that she put in the jar.

The girls went to gymnastics class on Tuesday.

They enjoyed a few games of Monopoly and Monopoly Jr. Olivia was the banker a few times, and she used addition to find money totals.

We went to the library and borrowed books on Veterans' Day, Thanksgiving, Pilgrims, The Wampanoag, ancient civilizations, ancient medicine, persian mythology, Gilgamesh, Lugalbanda, and some story books, as well.

Saturday, Georgia went to her nature class where they went on a fall hike and learned about seasonal changes, and learned some new organisms, such as "monkey brain" (or horse apple).

She also went to a pool party Saturday night and said she had a great time playing pool games with her friends.

Sunday we went to see the new movie "Madagascar Return 2 Africa" and loved it!

And here's a slideshow from our Boonshoft visit...

Balloon Fun

2008-11-10T18:25:00.003-05:00

The recent trip to Chemfest has inspired us to play with balloons! The girls have been blowing them up and letting them fly around, or using them to make funny noises by stretching the opening while letting the air out.

They also taped balloons to matchbox cars, blew up the balloons, and let them go. The air from the balloons pushed the car. They loved it.

We also used the chemical reaction of vinegar and baking soda to blow up a balloon. We poured some vinegar in an empty bottle. Then we put baking soda inside the balloon with a funnel.

Then we stretched the balloon over the opening of the bottle with the vinegar.

Then we tipped the balloon up to let the baking soda fall into the bottle.

Then we had a balloon filled with carbon dioxide.

Here's another one we want to try: http://www.weatherwizkids.com/balloon2.htm

and another: http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/sci/balloonblastoff.html

and some found at the Science is Fun Home Experiments site.

Chemfest

2008-11-10T18:00:00.003-05:00

November 1 we went to Chemfest at Boonshoft Museum of Discovery. The girls participated in activities and experiments in honor of National Chemistry Week.

Here's what they did:

Learned about UV beads and how they change color in the sun. Discussed the importance of using sunblock when outdoors. Made bead bracelets with some UV beads to help remember to use sunblock.

Figured out how to find the calorie count in food, and what it stands for. They figured out the calorie count in a cheese puff.

Figuring how many calories are burned during various activities. The girls used math the figure out how many calories they burn during their gymnastics classes.

The effect of temperature on bouncy balls. They measured the bounce height of a ball that was soaked in hot water, room temperature, and ice cold water. They made their predictions first, then conducted the experiment, and discussed the conclusion.

Experimented with water evaporation and temperature. They put equal amounts of water on identical cloths and placed the cloths on top of bags of water, one hot and one room temperature. They got to see how the hot water evaporated the water from the cloth faster.

The girls learned about surface tension with needles and water.

The girls made some filters using sand, pebbles, and cotton, and tried cleaning dirty water by using their filters.

The girls learned about density with oil, water, and corn syrup.

They made their own bouncy balls using glue, a borax solution, and corn starch.

They learned about lung capacity, and measured the size of a bubble made with one breath of air, and using a math formula, figured out how much air their lungs held. Then they learned some simple stretches they can use to strengthen their lungs and improve breathing.

They learned about electrolytes and tested samples of various liquids to see which ones contained electrolytes.

I think that was all of them. At the end they received this years copy of the chemistry week newspaper, you can read it here. They also received a balloon and a list of activities and experiments that they could do at home.

Here's a slideshow of our visit.

Haunted Woods

2008-11-01T14:14:00.004-04:00

On Friday, Halloween, we attended a Haunted Woods event at Brukner Nature Center. It was our first visit to this nature center and we really liked it. The girls had fun checking out the exhibits, playing games, getting their face painted, and then we went for the Haunted Woods walk. We stopped at six stations along the path in the woods. The first stop was a pirate talking about the American Crow. The second stop was a mad scientist talking about making a creature by mixing DNA from other creatures...she made an opossum. The third stop was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle talking about turtles. The fourth stop was a vampire talking about bats. The fifth stop was a witch making snake stew, talking about snakes. And the sixth and final stop was Meredith Vieira with a new game show, "Who Wants to Be a Naturalist". She asked the kids questions about the animals they learned about on the walk. There was an owl at this stop. Each stop had a live animal, and the presenters were really good at imitating the character they were being. After the walk we had a snack and sat at the bonfire listening to some scary stories!

The girls also had a chance to look at Jupiter through a telescope.

We all had a lot of fun, and now that we know how to get to the other nature center we plan on visiting again.

Here's a slideshow of our trip...

Election Studies

2008-11-01T13:19:00.004-04:00

With the upcoming election here in the US (in three days) Georgia has been learning more about the process and history of voting in the United States.

She watched about ten videos from Brainpop.com about the election, presidential powers, branches of government, political parties, etc. She also took the quizzes at the end of the videos. Not sure how many are free for non-members but HERE is the link.

She also enjoyed looking around at:

Ben's Guide to the Government

White House for Kids

Time for Kids

PBS's Democracy Project

Scholastic News She especially like playing the You Be the Candidate Game and played it several times.

And PBS Zoom election page.

We also talked about local and state issues and candidate positions.

Archaeology Activity

2008-10-30T16:19:00.005-04:00

Georgia decorated a flower pot with markers.

Then she put the pot in an old sock.

And she smashed it with a hammer.

Next she put together the pieces best she could with tape.

And then she tried the smallest pieces.

We talked about how it could be more challenging, and realistic, to have someone else decorate the pot so that she did not know what it was suppose to look like. Also, we talked about taking some pieces away and trying to put it together without the missing pieces. We said it was like puting together a jigsaw puzzle without all the pieces, and without seeing the picture on the box. A neat idea to try sometime....

Horse Racing

2008-10-30T16:13:00.003-04:00

The girls watched some horse races at Gramma and Grampa's house last weekend. When they got home they wanted to make some tracks so they could race their horses.

And they're off......

the photo finish...

Georgia named her track the "Golden Arena", and Olivia named her's "The Spirit Herd".

Halloween Fun

2008-10-30T15:58:00.005-04:00

Due to a back injury earlier this month, I have been behind on a lot of things. But I am finally getting around to updating our blog!

I put together a slide show of Halloween events the girls attended. The first part of the slide show shows the girls on the Great Pumpkin Hunt. They had to figure out clues to find hidden treats in the woods and places around the Nature Center. The last clue led them to some hidden pumpkins, where they got to choose one to decorate.

Next are some pictures from the Halloween parade downtown. I didn't taken any photos of the parade, but of us waiting for it to start, and of the crowd of trick-or-treaters collecting goodies from the shops.

The last few photos are of the girls trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. This year Georgia chose to be a Native American, a Lakota girl. She made her own costume with an oversized t-shirt and some beads. Her shoes were made with some faux fur material glued on some old sandals. Olivia decided to be a cowgirl again this year. So we had a Western theme going on.

Here's the slide show.....

Fire Department Open House

2008-10-05T14:57:00.002-04:00

The girls attended the fire department's open house and had a lot of fun. They learned fire safety tips, house hazards to watch out for, learned about equipment used to fight a fire, how to use a hose, and much more!

They each recieved a fire chief hat, water bottle, Junior Fire Fighter patch, and activity books about fire safety.

Here's some pictures....

Park Pals Picnic

2008-10-05T14:54:00.002-04:00

Saturday, Georgia's nature class had their annual family picnic. Everyone brought a dish to share, and they provided hot dogs for roasting. They played games, and enjoyed a hayride. Here are some pictures...

Cooking Pancakes

2008-10-05T14:52:00.002-04:00

Georgia cooked supper for us on Sunday. She made pancakes from scratch. She read the recipe, measured the ingredients, and followed the directions. She also used the stove by herself...I didn't need to do a thing!

And they were yummy!!!!

Thanks Georgia!!

Make Believe Play

2008-10-05T14:48:00.002-04:00

This week the girls had fun dressing up and pretending to be different people from history. Georgia was a bowman, or archer.

and a cowgirl sheriff...

Livy was a cowgirl...

And what she called a scout...she has a sword, don't mess with her!

Prairie Days

2008-09-30T19:17:00.002-04:00

Sunday we went to Prairie Days at the Nature Center. First we went inside the Nature Center and the girls had fun looking around and showing Dad some things. Olivia looked at the creek insects under a microscope. Then we browsed the art gallery that the local art guild was hosting. The girls wanted pictures with their favorites. We all got to vote on which one we liked best. Next the girls made a craft, a bead and feather necklace. After that we went outside and went on a horse and wagon ride. We saw the blacksmith working, toured the log house and sampled some onion pie, we saw a Native American camp, hunter camp, woodwork station, and enjoyed a hay ride. The girls made a corn husk doll, made some pottery, dipped candles, and made apple cider.

Some things we missed were the face painting, honey extraction, corn grinding, making a tussy mussy, quilting, old-fashioned games, the melodramas...and probably others that we didn't even know we missed. We are thinking that next year we will have to go both days instead of just the one!

Here are some pictures of our trip. (I had to put them into two slideshows, as the free account only allows 50 photos at a time.)

This Week...

2008-09-27T21:22:00.005-04:00

This week Georgia worked on some math, phonics, her cursive, and re-read a lot of her favorite chapter books. She received her Ranger Rick magazine and has read that cover to cover. She also had her gymnastics class on Tuesday, and went swimming on Thursday. Wednesday she came up with an idea for art. She thought of finding a picture of a horse and covering it with ripped pieces of paper. Here's what the girls came up with....(they both wanted to make a horse like Spirit)

Georgia added a bald eagle and some trees. She told me she made some trees smaller so they would look farther away.

Olivia had gymnastics on Saturday. She went swimming on Thursday, too, and I was really impressed with how much she has improved. She is a lot less timid about playing around in the water. The shallow end is 3 feet, which is still too deep for her to stand in. The water would go to the middle of her face. But she used a noodle (long foam that she puts accross her chest and under each arm) and she even put her head under water a couple times! She does need to remember to keep her mouth closed, though! She smiles so big when she is having fun, but then a wave will go up her chin!

Olivia is also improving her reading! She is picking up more and more words everytime we read together! She also likes to just take a book and look through it, studying the words. She's used some of Georgia's chapter books that do not have pictures. Today she layed down on the couch with the rather large American Heritage Student Thesaurus and quietly looked it over, studying the words. She was so engrossed in her word searching that a good thirty minutes passed! She still likes to do her copy work where she'll take a notebook and copy down words she sees different places. Her writing is improving, too. The copy work and perusing books is something that she came up with on her own, I don't tell her to do it. If I do try to help her sound something out or ask her what sound a letter makes she gets irritated and does not want to hear it. She is truly an independent learner! When I read to her I usually point to the word I say with my finger so she can follow along if she wants to. Sometimes she tells me to stop, but sometimes when I don't do it she asks me to do it. That is how Georgia learned to read.

Tomorrow we plan on attending Prairie Days. Should be lots of fun! We were just talking about life without electricity, and Olivia picked out a Little House on the Prairie book that I was reading to her. Should be neat to see it all reenacted for us. Mark is excited to see the cider making, and the girls are looking forward to the horse & wagon rides. I'm interested in seeing the honey extraction, blacksmith, spinning, quilting, pottery....okay....all of it!

Livy's Gymnastics

2008-09-27T20:22:00.004-04:00

Today Olivia had her gymnastics class. They worked on the bars. The girls learned and practiced the different grips and swings.

Sunday's Picnic at the Park

2008-09-26T21:12:00.002-04:00

Last Sunday, Gramma treated everyone to some KFC for a picnic in the park. She even made the girls a brownie cake! Here's a slide show of it....

They've already filled and hung up the bird feeder they received.

They haven't started on the puzzle yet, though.

Georgia's Nature Class....Raptors!

2008-09-22T19:26:00.003-04:00

Georgia had her nature class on Saturday. This month's topic was Raptors. Here's Georgia to tell about the class.....

In the Raptor family there are owl, eagles, vultures, and hawks. But they did not talk about the owls because we had an owl class before.

The Slide-Show Presentation

When the class started, Rhonda had a book about eagles and hawks. Then they turned off the lights and they had a screen and the laptop was on something that made it go on the screen to make a slide show presentation. First they did hawks and they said that Buteos were the hawks that like to soar more. And the Accipiters were fast flying forest birds. They hunted the tinier birds, like sparrows and finches. And then they showed Falcons. The Peregrine Falcon they showed had some special nest boxes on sky scrapers but they were just flat. They have them up high so they can dive fast and put their feet in front and then punch pigeons with their feet to knock them out completely. They were almost extinct and then they discovered that they liked the nest boxes on sky scrapers. And then they showed vultures. They showed only the Turkey Vulture. And they asked why they had bald heads and I said, "So they wouldn't get germs from their meat because it was hard to wash off." Rob said it was right. And then it was Eagle time. It showed the Osprey had poles with a four square foot platform on top so they could make their nests on top of it. And then they said that the Osprey was a bird that hunted fish by swooping down and had their feet with their talons and grabbed the fish out of the water...and then ate it.

The Game

And then we all went to the binocular box and grabbed some binoculars. We went to sit down and focused it right. We went outside and played a game before we walked, though. The game was where someone was the Hawk. They had a picture of a hawk with yarn attached for a necklace. The person that was the Hawk wore the Hawk necklace. And there were two people who were bunnies with the bunny necklaces. And three people were plants with flower necklaces. I was a plant. Then Rob got little poker chips, white and red. White chips were the nutrients, and red ones were the pesticides. And everyone took a cup and we had to pretend it was our stomachs. The plants had to collect the chips, as much as they could, in 30 seconds. And then the bunnies came out for 30 seconds. They ate the plants by tagging people. If a plant was tagged then they had to dump all their chips into the bunny's cup. And then the Hawk was released for 30 seconds. The Hawk caught the bunnies by tagging them. Then the bunnies had to dump their chips into the hawk's cup if they were tagged. But when the hawks were released, the plants stood still then. Any bunny that bumped into a plant had to dump their chips into the hawks cup anyway because they fell down and the hawks found something to scavenge. This game was called Food Chain and showed the transfer of nutrients, energy, and even pesticides along the chain. We played the game twice, two rounds.

The Walk

Next we went on a walk up the hill and looked for raptors. A few people found some. They didn't identify them because they couldn't tell. Then it got too hot, so we moved into the shade of the Buckeye Tree and a bunch of people noticed the buckeyes. Everyone wanted to collect them so everyone was allowed to bring one home. But one person cheated and got two. We saw a bunch of migrating birds and there was a hawk that they were chasing it because it was bothering them. We saw it through the telescope and then we didn't find anything else.

The Ending

And then we went in the bathroom to wash our hands for snack time. We put our binoculars away and then we went outside to the picnic tables. We had fruit snacks that were shaped like fruits and some juice. Rob gave us each a paper on raptors to take home, and an invitation for a party. He also told us about a show on PBS about Raptors. Then mom came to pick me up and we went to the gift shop in the Nature Center where I used some of my birthday money to buy an Audubon American Goldfinch plush doll that makes the song of the bird when squeezed. (an actual recording) and a Killdeer on, too. I also got a desert rose rock.

On Sunday we watched the show. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/raptor-force/introduction/1109/

Livy's 5th Birthday

2008-09-22T19:06:00.000-04:00