Creek Day

The homeschooling group we are members of is having some "Creek Days" for the kids at area creeks.  Today was the first one.  The water was mucky and the creek was running pretty fast in some areas due to a rain storm we had yesterday, but the kids still had a great time.  They found tons of water bugs, one fish, a crayfish, a frog, and many fossils.  By the time we were through they were all wet, but satisfied.

Madeline, of course, had to wear her tiara, but that did not stop her from jumping right in!

The girls all had boots, but Hailey preferred bare feet.  I'm guessing that by next week it will be cool enough that she will need her boots!

 

We found a shell, which Hailey was quite fond of.  She also was not shy about climbing right into the creek.

There were so many water bugs to catch!  I was really glad that I had stopped to pick up some nets and containers before we headed over to the creek!

All of my girls had to sit on this tree and bounce at one point during the trip.  It was irresistible!

Isabella had no fear of the critters that we caught!  She loved this crayfish!

And this frog!

Madeline also liked the frog, but was reluctant to touch the crayfish.

Hailey also made friends with the frog.  Actually, I think she was most amazed by how it attached itself to the side of the stream, in the dirt and roots, to camouflage itself.  It really did just look like a little rock.

A Search for Snails

Friday we sat down with this book,

which I had more as a resource to help when we found critters in our backyard.  Madeline asked if we could read it, however, so we began with the first chapter, which is on snails and slugs.  I was actually surprised at the depth of what was covered by the chapter.  There was even a diagram of the internal parts of the snail.  After reading, the girls wanted to head outside and see if they could find any snails for themselves.  We did find some shells, which appear to be empty, but I did as the book suggested and dipped them in water and placed them on lettuce leaves in hopes that they would be revived.  We are still waiting.

While looking for snails, we also found a woolly bear caterpillar.  We have placed it in a jar with some grass in hopes of keeping it over the winter and watching it change into an Isabella moth.  The girls were also trying to decide what kind of winter the woolly bear was predicting.  They think it is a snowy one.  I guess we will see!

The book suggested using an old piece of pantyhose secured with a rubber band to cover the jar, which I thought was a great idea, and I can't imagine how I did not think of it!  Here is our jar with pantyhose lid.

I think we will soon be reading other chapters, and may be out in search of more critters.  Actually, I suspect after it rains we may be out looking for more snails!

A Final Farewell

Well, we released the last of our monarchs today.  We had 5 that eclosed over the past 2 days, all males.  The girls were all ready to let them go so that they could begin their journey to Mexico.  Here are some pictures from the release.

Madeline was in charge of removing them from their temporary home and passing them out.

Hailey even explained to the monarch that it was time for it to fly to Mexico.

When we were finished, we noticed this hanging above our dining room window.

We will have to keep an eye on it!

Monarchs: Symbolic Migration

We decided to participate in Journey North's Symbolic Migration.  The girls have worked very hard to create butterflies to send.  Essentially, as I understand the process, we send our paper monarchs to Journey North in Minnesota.  They then send them to children in Mexico who live near the monarch's overwintering sites.  These children then care for the paper monarchs over the winter and send them back to Minnesota in the spring.  Then Journey North will migrate paper butterflies (although not necessarily the ones we sent) back to us.  We can also track the symbolic migration online and see exactly where our monarchs end up.

It sounds like a fabulous project, and the girls are very excited about it.  We have a little bit to finish up.  Our butterflies still need the information that goes on the back, such as our address and a message in Spanish to the child who cares for our monarchs.  We will get them finished up soon to have them out to Journey North by the October 13 deadline.

Here is a picture of the monarch Madeline created.  She used water soluble crayons to create it.

It All Starts at Home

I think it s so important for the girls to realize that they need to be good citizens and take action to change the world.  This is a worthwhile cause.  I hope you will join us!  
Join Habitat for Humanity’s photo petition! Habitat needs our help to remind President Obama that human health and well-being starts with having a simple, decent place to live. Join me in reminding the U.S. government that “It all starts at home.” Visit http://www.habitat.org/gov/take_action/WHD_Photo_Petition.aspx, and follow the instructions to post your photo to Flickr.
If you submit your photo by September 25, 2009, Habitat will deliver your photo to the White House in honor of World Habitat Day 2009.
Madeline designed our sign.  Her original design had houses over time drawn on it on a timeline, but they would have just been too small to see.  It was a great idea, though.

Soccer!

The soccer season started today for us.  Madeline had her first game this morning.  Isabella's first game is Wednesday.

I was surprised at how well 7 and 8 year olds play.  It was quite a long time before any goals were scored.  Both teams did a nice job defending!

  
I was also surprised how early the game was - 8 am.  I guess if we were not homeschooling we would be use to being up that early, but we are not.  It was tough to get everyone up and out for the game!  It was worth it, though.  Madeline said that she thinks soccer is her "thing."  There certainly was a lot of running during the game!

Madeline enjoyed playing goalie as well.

A New Place to Explore

Today we took a trip to a nature area we had not been to before, the Grindstone Nature Area.  We started out with a little hike on the path, and saw several things to investigate.

There were lots of butterflies and dragonflies.  We found deer tracks and paths into the grassy areas.  The flowers were abundant.  We saw many different insects, like the one below, that we were unable to identify.

We will be looking this one up in our field guide soon, along with this spider.

We also took a look at some of the different trees and their seeds/nuts.  We found hickory trees and oak trees, among others.

Hailey was not enjoying much of the walk today, as she was having difficulty with her shoes.

So we decide to go check out the creek.

We found many other things to investigate there, including fish, crayfish, a frog, water bugs, and more dragonflies.

We also found a nice fossil.

The girls also enjoyed playing in the water, of course (especially Hailey).

And Isabella and Madeline tried climbing the limestone.

We will most certainly be returning, not only for more investigating, but also for some biking as the paths are so nicely done and so flat.

I really love it when...

everything comes together just right!  On our weekly trip to the library, one of the girls picked out this book

Madeline was reading through it, showing me the pictures and giving me the highlights.  I recognized one of the pictures as something I had seen on our milkweed leaves when we were gathering them for the monarchs.  So, the girls and I went out to look.  We found several of these

which, it appears, is what is left after a ladybug emerges from its pupal state.  The girls were so excited to be able to identify these.