January 31, 2012- Nature Study: Moss

 

Another gorgeous day- high in the mid 60′s & sunny.   That afternoon I took the kids out for a nature study on Moss.   Our neighbors have a very large patch of moss along the road.    As we headed down the driveway, the big kids took off ahead of Lyra and I.   She quickly realized she was being left behind.    The picture below is funny to me- Lyra has just realized that the big kids are leaving her behind so she took up running and hollering “Nay!   Nay!”  (Nathan!)

 

These are my neighbors flowers- not sure what they are.   Our daffodils and crocuses are already up and I saw a Bradford Pear Tree in bud the other day.

 

I brought along my copy of Anna Comstock’s huge “Handbook of Nature Study”, some other nature study books, magnifying glasses, sketchpads and colored pencils.     While they used their magnifying glasses to inspect the moss up close and then sketched it into their books, I read aloud to them the selections on moss in the “Handbook of Nature Study”.

 

The kids were mainly using green, brown and black pencils so Lyra made off with the other colors.

 

Auntie Fran is home!    Auntie Fran & Poppy live two houses down (Mr. Perfect Yard to my local friends!) and the children adore them.   We are so lucky to have wonderful neighbors.    We love each one of the neighbors that live around our cul-de-sac.

I was reading THIS article on “The Worst Reason to Homeschool” and while I will certainly own that some of the fear based reasons are on my list, what I really enjoyed was her list of positive reasons to homeschool.     An excerpt from the above post is below:

 

Here are some of the reasons:

• Belief that individualized education is better than institutionalized education
• Freedom for our children to progress at their own pace, without being labeled as either slow or gifted
• Freedom for our children to pursue their own passions and interests and enjoy “self-directed” learning
• Belief that this is what God wants for our family at this time
• Freedom to bring an international focus to our family’s education
• Belief that thinking independently is of greater value than learning to “perform,” and a more valuable skill to have in the “real world”
• Promotes a strong sense of family relationships, provides enough time for individualized attention for all the children
• As a mother, no one is more committed to my children’s success than I am.

 

Almost every one of these points is on my “Why I Homeschool List”.   I love this list!

 

Field Trip #4: NC ZOO

I know- we’ve gone an ANOTHER field trip!   That’s our 4th in two weeks!    We don’t normally take field trips this often but the weather has been gorgeous- one the warmest, prettiest falls I can remember having.   And there are have been so many fun & free things that have come our way recently- the Beyond the Frame exhibit & the stickworks sculptures were free.   I did have to pay for the Rembrandt exhibit for me & Mary but Nathan was free and the rest of the NC Museum of Art was free as was the NC Museum of History & the NC Museum of Natural Sciences.    And then I discovered that homeschoolers can visit the NC Zoo for free and we had to go- there were several things there that tied in with our recent studies and I think November is the best month to visit the zoo.   April-September is just to beastly hot to go on such a trek (the zoo is BIG- it is nearly impossible to see the entire zoo in one day unless you have much older kids) and it is mostly empty during the week.   So, I packed a picnic lunch & off we went!

Savvy

 

I made a special point of getting over to the aviary for two reasons. We’ve been studying birds for our Nature Study this fall and we’ve been studying John James Audubon’s prints for Picture Study. While we were at the NC Museum of Art last Saturday, they had Audubon’s print of a flamingo on display. We have the same print at home- several years ago I won a Picturing America grant and received 40 museum quality prints of American artwork, one of which was Audubon’s flamingo. It is hanging on the door to our school room right now. So I wanted the kids to see the flamingos so that we could compare the real flamingo with the original Audubon print we saw on Saturday and the copy of the print we have in our school room.

 

We have a vase in our nature table display that we use for displaying feathers we’ve found- while we were walking through the aviary, Nathan found a gorgeous, bright red/pink feather from the Scarlet Ibis on the ground. What a great find- he was thrilled!

Victorian Crowned Pigeon- very interesting looking bird!

Other bird species in the aviary…

 

For Science we have been studying trees- last week we discussed the difference between evergreen and deciduous trees. Nathan spotted these and was excitedly pointing out that this must be a deciduous tree. One of the zoo staff was chatting with us when this happened and said to me “You must be homeschoolers!” haha!

This was several trees that had somehow grown together- we thought it was interesting.

 

Several weeks ago we were learning about some of the early explorers and trappers out West like Jim Bridges, etc. When reports were made about these fantatic animals & places back East, some did not believe they were true! The kids even made a mobile that is hanging in the school room about this topic. So it was neat to see some of these things at the zoo- Grizzly Bears, Bison and gysers.

These gysers are new since the last time we visited the zoo- this was very cool! They were smaller, bubbling gysers but then a large one that shot very high into the air every few minutes.

 

I was surprised by the amount of statues & art work that were at the zoo- we saw many that I didn’t even take pictures of. Here are a few of our favorites.

 

The kids liked this one because when you pedaled the bikes it made the pieces of the statue move. I even got on one of the bikes and pedaled like mad with Nathan to see how fast we could get it going. The kids, of course, thought this was hilarious.

Nathan on left, Mary in the middle, Savvy on the far right.

 

 

We stopped for lunch at this insect-themed playground.

Other Zoo Animals

After the zoo keepers were done feeding the seals, they got out these large toothbrushes and brushed their teeth.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Today I took the oldest two children to spend the day in Raleigh.  Kip stayed home with the little girls- they played with moon dough, baked magic cookie bars and played outside.    Meanwhile, the big kids & I…

-Visited the NC Museum of Art to see the Rembrandt exhibit.   We also revisited the Audubon exhibit & saw another piece of Patrick Doughterty’s stickwork art.

-Visited the NC Museum of Art

-Took a carriage ride around the capital area- saw the Governor’s mansion, the capital building, etc.

-Stumbled on a *fabulous* museum that I didn’t even know was there- the   NC Museum of Natural Sciences .   This was a wonderful museum- I definitely want to go back.   It was gorgeous, 4 floors, interesting exhibits- the kids loved it!

 

Getting ready to go!

 

Heading into the Rembrandt exhibit.   You are not allowed to take pictures inside, unfortunately.    We really enjoyed it- his paintings were so luminous that it almost looked as if a light were aimed at them.   Really wonderful.

 

The NCMA has a kids crafting activity on Saturdays- today they were making shadow puppets.

 

Patrick Dougherty’s stickwork sculpture in the museum’s restaurant.

 

In the middle of this field outside the NCMA, there was  a huge silver sculpture of a tree.    I think they enjoyed playing in the field as much as playing around the tree.

 

NC Museum of Natural Sciences

 

Carriage Ride- I couldn’t believe our good fortune.  This was right out front of the museums.  Mary has always wanted to do this but it’s always been outrageously expensive so we’ve said no- at Colonial Williamsburg I think it was around $80 for our family to have a carriage ride- so, of course we did not do it.    This was only $20 for everyone!   The Museums were all free so I popped for the $20.   Mary was just ecstatic. 

 

NC Museum of History- Mary wanted to have her picture taken by the loom.   She’s fascinated with looms, weaving, etc.

We enjoyed the Natural Science Museum so much that we went back to it after we finished the History Museum.  This rainforest butterfly room was very cool.

 

An exact replica of the Liberty Bell.

10/31/2011-  On Halloween day I took the kids to the Beyond the Frame exhibit in Graham, NC.  It was FABULOUS!!!!    I could hardly believe that such a great exhibit was free and only 30 minutes from our house!   We are studying the 1800′s this year and will spend the spring learning about the Impressionist painters for our fine arts studies.   What great timing!

A description from the website:  “Beyond the Frame: Impressionism Revisited,” three-dimensional representations of 19th century paintings by Monet, Manet, van Gogh and Renior… Seward Johnson’s Impressionist-inspired sculptures arouse attention and interest due to the exacting unexpected three-dimensional interpretation of well known nineteenth-century masterpieces. This series marks a thematic departure from the American sculptor’s well-known celebration of the person on the street; for now he brings – literally – an additional dimension to the Impressionist icons of art history, tapping into our memories of these familiar images and encouraging us to take a closer look.

PBS Video about the Exhibit

To get an idea of how big this sculpture is,  check out the tree behind it- the sculpture is as large as the tree!

Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party

Seward Johnson’s interpretation of Renoir’s painting…

Kids are encouraged to interact with the sculptures, sit on the them, etc.   VERY fun!

Renoir’s Dance in the Country

Renoir’s A Dance at Bougival

Monet’s The Japanese Girl

Busy, Busy Girl.

Sweet picture of Mary & Lyra.  (7 1/2 years old & 19 months old)

And with that, Lyra was clearly DONE and it was time to go home for naps!

 

October 18- Fall Break

This was our 7th week break so I took the kids to the Natural Science Center for a fun day & a picnic lunch.

Nathan & the turtoise eye-to-eye.   Love his funny expression.

 

 

It’s a miracle- a decent picture of all four kids!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CUTE as a BUTTON!

 

In the owls nest…  

I just read The Marva Collins Way and it was such an inspiring book- I feel newly re-inspired & encouraged to work towards excellence in our homeschool.   After finishing the book last night I thought I’d see what others had to say about the book on my favorite homeschooling board.    As I was perusing those threads, I came across this excellent post and thought I’d share it here:

I am my children’s teacher. I teach. I could be working, making beaucoups bucks and relieving some pressure from my dh. Instead, we homeschool. In order to homeschool I have to actually SHOW UP to homeschool. It’s my job. If I had a “real” job I would show up to it. Actually I have a real job and I do show up to it.
I read about education all.the.time. I learn and grow as an educator. Marva Collins and Rafe Esquith, SWB, the Moore’s, Holt, Wilson, et.al all have great things to say about being an excellent educator. There is always more to learn as an educator. You can’t teach effectively what you don’t know. Are you learning and growing as an educator?

I have a clear vision for what I want for my kids. I have a clear pedagogy. It’s not perfect and I’m not perfect and we do have slacker days. One of my biggest regrets with my older dd is that I did not push her harder. I’m not making the same mistake with my other kids. Not becaaue I have some vindictive idea of ruining their childhood -they have great ones imho- but because I KNOW that they can and will do and go so much farther if I mentor them well. I am giving them a gift of my time and talents and we are going to make the most of it. It is a matter of stewardship. I can make the most of this time or fritter it away.  -Lisa

 

I love her admonition to “learn and grow as an educator”.     It is so easy to grow stale in our teaching instead of being enthusiastic and energetic- Marva was a great example of this.

10/12/11- This year we are schooling on a new schedule:  4 days a week with 1 day off and 6 weeks on with a 7th week off, all year long.   This was our “off” day that week.  It was raining that morning so the kids and I spent the morning upstairs in the schoolroom with our little fireplace glowing and the windows open a bit so we could here the rain.  I read and napped on the couch while the kids played around me.    As I was watching them, I was struck by how much learning was going while they were not “doing” school.   We had Vivaldi playing quietly in the background.   One of the kids was playing with our Playmobil Western Fort set and using it to act out the Alamo.    Another had our huge marble run set out and was working on setting up several marble courses- a true exercise in logic.   And we also had magformers out- these are magnetic geometrical shapes that can be used to build all kinds of structures.    I am so lucky that I get to homeschool!

I wanted to collect all the pictures of the Regal Moth/Hickory Horned Devil into one post to make it easier to see it’s transition over time and also easier to find later when I (hopefully) post an update next summer.    The caterpillar is now in its cocoon and will not emerge until late next Spring or early Summer.

Video of Hickory Horned Devil

Wikipedia article on the Regal Moth

 

July 2- Laying Eggs

July 4- Died

End of July??? Eggs hatched, very tiny- about the size of the bb pellet. I wish we had taken more pictures of the young caterpillars. They were very tiny and all black. Over the course of several weeks, most of them died until we only had one left. He gradually changed from black to green & yellow and, of course, grew rapidly.

August 16

August 28

September 1

September 11- I hate this picture is so blurry but it’s the best I have. All of a sudden the caterpillar stopped eating and started to shrink! I was convinced he was going to die.

September 16- He shed all of his skin & horns and started to change colors. Within several hours he went from green to yellow to a rusty brown and eventually all black.

Again with the blurry.