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.

Gymnastics Performance

The girls had the opportunity to help their provide entertainment at the "Mature Living Festival" at the Expo Center here through gymnastics.  They seemed to enjoy themselves.  It was a nice opportunity for them.

Swimming!

I have been meaning to get some pictures of the girls swimming since they were taking lessons months ago. I finally got around to it.

Hailey spends most of her time in the shallow water. She has gotten braver as the summer has progressed, but she is still unwilling to put more than her mouth in the water.

Madeline loves jumping in these days.

She has even gone off the diving board more than a few times this year.

She can swim the length of the pool and back, but really prefers the doggie paddle.

Isabella is a great back floater, which I really envy because I have always hated to float on my back.

She has figured out how to swim a good distance, but tires easily, and I don't let her swim too far from me because of that. She has actually gone off of the diving board this year a couple of times, but is not really a strong enough swimmer to be doing that. A few more lessons and I'm sure she will be ready to do it without scaring me.

The water slide was by far Hailey's favorite part of the pool this year.

Isabella (and Madeline) enjoyed it too. Isabella always wanted to be caught by the life guard, but unlike the diving board, she was able to swim from the slide to the ladder with little difficulty (not quite as far).

Now I just have to decide what we are going to do this year to keep their swimming skills up. I know that Madeline and Isabella really want to be on the swim team next summer, so I want to be sure that they are ready!

"The Economist" on Homeschooling

The Economist recently published an article on homeschooling. It was exciting to see homeschooling get some publicity at this level, as the article was mostly positive. It focused on a homeschooling family where "every chance to learn something new is eagerly seized." It described the growth of homeschooling and a brief history of it.

I was surprised, however, to see such a narrow view of homeschooling depicted. The piece seemed focused on the premise that the Presidency of Barack Obama may lead more families to homeschool because they would want to avoid the influences the Obama administration may have on education. The homeschools the author chooses to describe in depth in the article are clearly not a representative sample of homeschoolers in America. It seems that although mentioned, reasons for homeschooling beyond religion or "shielding... children from what they see as bad influences" are really just glossed over. The final sentence of the article states "And Mr Obama is far too liberal for most of America’s home-schoolers." I must say, not only do I personally not feel that way, but I happen to know many other homeschoolers who do not feel that way.

The author seized an opportunity to use a portion of the homeschooling community to prove a point, but I think really missed other important components of homeschooling. I think it is just not as simple as the author would have the reader believe.

Additionally, I suppose, given the author's premise, if the Obama administration does make substantial changes to the American education system, then some homeschoolers may return to the public or private schools. If there were changes to to NCLB, a decreased focus on standardized testing, an increased focus on the arts, smaller class sizes, would some homeschoolers return to school?

First Day of Dance

Well, the "fall" has clearly arrived as all of the new activities are starting up. We had our first busy day of art class and 3 dance classes yesterday. We went to the library in between. I was not sure how that would work, but it went surprisingly well. We were all really exhausted by the time we got home though. Oh, and we made a stop at the pool after the dance classes too.

Isabella started her class first. She is in a class that includes instruction in both tap and ballet. I did not get many good pictures. It seemed she either had her back to me or there was too much glare on the window when I got to an angle where I could get a good picture. Here is the best picture I took.

Hailey started her first class, which is "movement," but she insists that she is taking "ballet."

We thought she was holding her breath here, until she told us no, she was being a balloon.

Madeline has moved into the beginning level classes, and has chosen to take ballet this year. She was very excited for class, but when she was done with the first class she said she never wanted to go back. I did momentarily consider trying to change her to tap or jazz, but decided to have her stick it out. When she and I talked about it we determined that she was just not happy that there was no fooling around in the class. Ballet is very structured and the teacher has high expectations. I have no doubt that she can rise to the occasion, but it may be a struggle at the beginning. At the end of our conversation I told her she could choose a different type of dance next year, or no dance at all, and she said, "well, I could still choose ballet again, right?" I think ultimately she does really want to learn ballet. I did not get any pictures of her in class because the only window is in the classroom door, and there were about 10 mothers hovering around the door yesterday trying to get a peek. I will try to get some pictures next week.