Jul. 23, 2008

Ever See Amityville horror?

And that's only half of one window....

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Jul. 21, 2008

Sunset

We get some beautiful sunsets here.  Tonight, D came running down stairs telling me I "have to see the sunset!"  He has a great view from his bedroom and his bed even is faced right so that he can lay in bed a watch the sunset.  I ran outside to "sunset corner" to get some pictures.

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Jul. 21, 2008

Strange Animal

We saw our first wildlife on our property.  You see it peaking?  My mom was out hanging up the wash, when this thing just wonders out of the trees, past her, and into the hostas.  She started baning on our window to get our attention.  It then wandered out of the hostas and into the back of the property where the overgrowth is.  It had a gimp leg.  Is it a really pathetic looking raccoon?  Or is it something else?  I can't tell.

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Jul. 17, 2008

Tick

Jul. 6, 2008

Baby Bunnies

Look what we found in our garden.  Isn't it adorable?  There were two of them in my garden.  My garden that has chicken wire all around it to keep out the bunnies.

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May. 18, 2008

Green Hour Challenge #12

Green Hour Challenge # 12 Two weeks ago I took the kids outside and we planted some flower seeds.  I had them each (D, N and C) wash out a recycled container to use.  They each chose a different flower seed so we could compare how long it took to grow and how different they look growing.  N chose the marigolds we saved from last year. They sprouted in a week.  And so far, they are the only ones to sprout.  The other seeds we used were pretty old, so they might not sprout.  Or it could be that they need more time being that it is still in the forties at night.    Then I put them to work weeding the garden.  There were an awful lot of weeds to pull, but all the green behind N is actually my strawberry plants.  We have a ton of flowers on them.  Hopefully we will get a ton of strawberries this year.  Last year the slugs kept eating them.  So back to the flowers.... After we went back inside, I gave D and N a blank piece of paper and told them to fold it in fourths (math.. hehe...)  Then I had them write the date and draw a picture of what their plant looked like.  Which was, well, a cottage cheese container.  But, tomorrow I will have N draw an update on his, and if D's starts to grow, I will have him update his as well.  So far, there really aren't any flowers to point out and name to the kids.  They already know tulip and daffodil.  We had our lilac bloom, too, so that makes three flowers.  Yesterday I went to the plant shop and bought some annuals to plant.  So when they get planted that will be a short lesson on a few different types of flowers.

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May. 9, 2008

Bird Excitement

D was taking out the recycling and was startled by this: There was our red-breasted grosbeak just sitting in our driveway.  The poor thing.  But isn't he beautiful?  It isn't everyday one gets to pet a bird.  Hubby did some calling around and the verdict was, he was stunned.  They said he probably ran into a window and is now stunned, and could stay stunned for up to 2 hours!  So we watched him.  Two hours went by, and he was still there.  We found a local wildlife person (I can't remember her official title) and we were going to bring the bird over to her figuring something must be wrong with it.  But when hubby went to pick it up, it flew away a few feet.  But then he let him pick it up.  So we were kinda confused as to what to do.  A few minutes later, hubby went to pick him up again.  This time he flew to the bush by the bird feeder.  So we called the guy who was with the wildlife person (are you following?) and he said if the bird can fly and perch, it's ok.  The bird probably just has a really bad concussion.   The bird sat in the tree for a few more hours before he finally flew away.  While the bird was in the bush, a second male grosbeak came to the feeder.  That was pretty exciting considering we thought we only had one [pair], and we had never even seen a grosbeak before this year.  And even more exciting, I looked out the front window and saw what I believe to be a brown thrasher. That's not my picture.  The bird flew away to fast to get one.  But I am pretty positive this is the bird.  We are seeing so many new birds this year!

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May. 5, 2008

Bird Pages

I recently printed out a bird coloring book.  We have been studying birds for over a year now, but it's something that I just can't stop doing.    It's just too fun.  Even hubby recently started getting a little excited over the birds we see in the yard.  Last year we learned about birds in general - migration, flight, nesting, things like that.  This year we are learning about specific birds that we see around here.  Anyway, the kids each did a page.  There are too many for them to each do the same one.  I don't want them to start hating birds!  Here is the first page that N did: D did a Cardinal.  We are going to put our pages together as a field guide of our backyard birds.  We then read out of Handbook of Nature study about the birds.  Today, they started copying a poem about their birds.  Now, they are not only learning science, they are practicing their handwriting and learning about poems. Here is N writing his poem:

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May. 5, 2008

Nature Box

A while back I bought a bin to turn into a writing bin.  I thought it was an awesome idea.  I never got farther than putting in paper.  Now that it is spring, we all have the Nature Bug and the writing bin is now the nature bin.  The boys already had nature journals (with... umm... two entries.... ), so I decided now was the time to really get into them.  I wanted to make it as self guided as possible.  When the baby comes, I need it to be easy for me to give them something to do.  So I started working on a nature notebook.  In the very front of my notebook I have a sheet of my ideas.  I don't have that many, so I had to search the internet for some.  I came across THIS blog.  She hosts a Green Hour Challenge every week.  I printed out all of the challenges and added them to front of my notebook.  Here are my categories so far:  Drawing paper - Where I keep blank paper N's writing paper - different sheets of paper with big spaces for writing. Some have spots for drawing or pasting items. D's writing paper - different sheets of paper with small spaces for writing.  Some have spots for drawing or pasting items.  Some are nature journal pages with spots to fill in the weather and location. Trees - Guide on how to draw trees, sheets of paper for drawing trees in different seasons, leaf rubbing papers. Birds - Feeder bird coloring book, bird drawing sheets. Flowers - Flower drawing sheets. Masters - All the masters so the kids don't run out of paper and then I can't remember where I found the sheets!  Here are some sites I printed from: http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/notebooking.htm http://www.squidoo.com/cmnaturestudy#module3416732 http://www.birds.cornell.edu/schoolyard/T_Resouces/color_book.html I tend to just follow links around and then not remember where I was. In the nature box I put the nature binder, their nature journals, our animal and insect drawing books, and magnifying glasses.  I would still like to put in a box of colored pencils for quick access when they need them.

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Apr. 16, 2008

Beautiful Day/Science

What a gorgeous day today.  Then why am I crabby?  Oh yeah, I'm pregnant.  I still have over a month to go.  The pain I was experiencing before, went away.  But now, I have new pain.  I had a week or two of normalcy.  I guess the baby dropped because I have so much pressure, it's insane.  Anyway.... This is what the boy's did today for science.  Here they are looking in their square foot area: They didn't find anything too interesting.  D found a couple of "cool" weeds.  But N let them blow away before I could get pictures of them.  N claimed a bird pooped on his paper.  I'm not sure about it, but it is possible.  Here are the little ones in a firetruck that I had as a kid: And my monkey boy: I wish he wouldn't do that....So here I sit, looking at all that has to be done in my yard.  I have a couple of wind tunnels in my yard that are filled with leaves and garbage.  And I can't do anything about it.  At least, not without causing myself pain.  I can watch the birds at the feeder and the bath.  I wish I could get some good pictures of them.  But they are, well, flighty.    I also get to hear the wonderful sounds of school children screaming at the playground.  It's not even that close, and yet, they are so loud!  Wouldn't it be nice if I could move?  Gee, never thought of that.....

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