Elementary Homeschooling SCIENCE Archives

A Sunday at the Seashore

August 21, 2008 By Laura Leave a Comment

I had planned to blog more about VBS, but honestly, I am pretty much VBS’d out, although the kids aren’t! They are still singing and dancing all of the songs. lol. There are other little recent things, though, that I’m looking forward to blogging about, but still have some highlights we wanted to post from our little vacation!! (I may backtrack to that in the next few posts.) Business is still booming (thankfully), though we work daily to find some balance. So I think we’ll bypass blogging about the rest of VBS. Most of the photos have other friends in them anyway. But suffice it to say, that VBS was very successful and FUN. I was impressed with the collective efforts that made it all possible and run so smoothly. The lessons of service have seemed to stick somewhat.

This past Sunday we were invited for a cookout, and some QT, with some very good friends of ours. These folks are a little just a bit older than us, (but very young at heart and appearance : ) and serve as extra grandparents of sorts to our children. The kids call them ‘Mammy and Papa Dave’. We’re very blessed to have them in our lives, and we love them dearly. Having some real time with them all together was very much overdue, so we were happy to accept their invitation. Their home is right on the shore, and it is simply beautiful, as is the view and atmosphere.

We decided to head straight over right after mass, and decided on the way out the door to change there instead of stopping home first after mass, thus grabbing the 3 top shirts off the laundry basket– the matching of the 3 little ones wasn’t purposeful this time, but what a great color with the blues!! Thought we’d share a some photos of the day. If you do not live near the seashore, hopefully it’ll give you a little virtual experience. The kids were born and raised near the seashore, so they feel pretty at home there. We had a wonderful meal together of grilled cheeseburgers and fresh salad, out on the deck that they have set up so elegantly, overlooking the spectacular ocean scenery. What a great time we had!

{O} and {S} exploring.

A seaweed rock {J} found. Now if you’re thinking ‘Boy, does that boy need a haircut’, that’s exactly what I thought when I saw this photo! So he has had one since, and so has his brother. I am always astonished at how fast their hair grows. I actually like long hair on boys, but it doesn’t suit this boy right — he has LOTS and LOTS of hair like his Daddy. Anyway, he carried this funny rock around for awhile.

{S} shows me a little seashell he found. He knocked, but no one was home inside.

{S} just hanging out in the shade.

I don’t know how long {A} spent exploring and looking for crabs. She has loved doing this since she was 3 years old.

Pretty good at it too!!

{A} brought the bucket up to the deck, and Mammy decided to google how you can tell if a crab is a boy or a girl. She found that you can tell by the design on their bellies; boys have the shape of the Washington Monument, and girls have a shape like a honeycomb, or the Capitol Dome in Washington D.C. ! See? Ocean Science and U.S. History all wrapped in one! lol

Looks like this one is a boy, Mammy!

Summer is flying by, and even though we are looking forward to the coming Autumn season, these are the days we hold onto, in our hearts and memories. And photos, of course.

Our Surprise Little Pumpkin Patch (and a Peek at the Frogs, formerly Tadpoles!)

August 9, 2008 By Laura Leave a Comment

We just realized what we have growing outside our window in the back – it’s a pumpkin patch!! Ok, a very small patch, but it’s a surprise one, so we’ll take it!! We did throw our old and soft pumpkins out there last year, and the squirrels had a feast. But it seems some seeds took root in our very sandy earth.

Granted, it’s a brand new patch. Not sure what we’ll harvest in such a small patch, especially in it’s first year. But wouldn’t it be something to get at least 4 good pumpkins? One for each of the kids. That would just be awesome, as hopeful as it is. We don’t see any pumpkins quite yet though.

They’re probably not growing in the most ideal place either. This is right where the squirrels (and birds) spend their days frolicking about. We have good reason not to trust the squirrels, even with our big hard pumpkins we purchase from local farms. We try to adorn our steps and deck with such Autumn-themed harvest, but the squirrels haven’t much cared about our decorating. We put a pumpkin out on the steps, and they take a bite out of it! So we turn it so it doesn’t show. They take another bite, and we turn it once again. This goes on until there isn’t a good side to show. One year, we came home to find a squirrel sitting INSIDE our big pumpkin, having a feast from the inside-out. I was mad, but he was pretty cute in there, with such an innocent expression on his face. (The same misleading one they always have, and never changes. lol). They made an absolute mess of a corn stalk we ONCE put out there.

So we’ll see what becomes of this surprise pumpkin patch. Perhaps it’ll be surprisingly fruitful! We’ll keep you posted. Which reminds us: remember our 6 tiny potted-plants?? They didn’t make it. Ok – Daddy’s has a few remaining green leafs left, but the rest are as dead as can be. Not sure if it was the transplant, or the quality of the kit. SURELY it could not have been our plant care skills. : )

Had to throw in a shot of {A}s frogs. I actually took it through the observation window. They have their own pond-container now, and the still-changing tadpoles are in their own next it. They’ve all got a pretty nice pad out there. No pun intended. <croak>

Thanks for dropping by!

Ssshhh…Chipmunks in Training!…by Alexis Grace

July 3, 2008 By A 2 Comments

I’ve trained yet another chipmunk!! Meet my new little friend, ‘Chipmouse‘. You may or may not have read my last post about my other chipmunks I have trained. I really love training chipmunks, and this is my third.

My Mama was the first one to spot this new one. At the time, he was such a youngin’ that she said,”What is that!? It looks like a mouse!” Dad and I said at the same time, ” It’s a baby chipmunk!!” He has grown a lot since we first saw him, only 2-3 weeks ago.

This little one was not as skittish as the other two, and caught on quickly to what I wanted him to do. First, I had my hand, full of seeds, on the ground, and slowly lifted it up until he had to jump in to eat. Then he jumped off to go spit out his seeds at his burrow. When he came back, I had my hand higher. He could jump in easily. Finally , I put my hand so high, that he could not jump in, so he crawled on to my legs, and ran up my arm to get to my hand.

It was only a few feedings later, that he let me start playing with his tail and really having fun with him. The last chipmunk, Flash 2 would only come out to eat if it was just me out there. Chipmouse went back and forth from his borrow to me, passing Mama, and letting her get some photos.

Isn’t he so cute!?

We’ve got a frog with a tail!

June 25, 2008 By Laura 1 Comment

Just a quick update on the tadpole observation, from our recent Bullfrog Tadpole Hunting trip .….one isn’t much a tadpole anymore!! Look!! More like a frog with a tail!

You would not believe the eruption of excitement in our house, when {A} discovered this change in one of them. She had gone down to feed them and observe the ones she could, because the habitat container needs fresh pond water once again, and sometimes all of them are hard to see. She came running up from the observation window, screaming “Mama!!! Guess what!! I’ve got a frog with a tail!!!!” She was beside herself with excitement, and the whole family went running down to see. Then her and Daddy went outdoors to the window well, to get our new frog, for a little photo shoot.

Below is the same little amphibian, only 3 weeks ago! What an amazing transformation, huh? It’s making us wonder if this one is a bullfrog, after all, considering that their metamorphosis is said to be a full 14 months. This change we’ve observed seems like a big one in such a short period of time. But all research and comparison of images seem to support it’s a bullfrog.

Below: Here’s one more shot of him now. (or her.) lol

Haven’t had very much time to blog with our busy work season, but had to take the time to post this update, for anyone following our tadpole study! It’s a pretty exciting event we’ve been waiting/hoping for. Thanks for checking in!

Tide Pool Study Field Trip

June 9, 2008 By Laura 4 Comments

The kids recently went on their Tide Pool Study Field Trip, and this one was also a Mass Audubon program, lead by their nature experts as well. We were really looking forward this study, as the ocean and shores are such a big part of our life. The day sure did not disappoint in any way! It was perfect weather wise, it was such an educational experience, and we just had so-much-fun! I could not take enough photos, and believe it our not, what’s in this post are only some of them. Recording my children’s lives, and ultimately memories, in detail, is just what I do. So there are LOTS I am sharing in this post, because I hope you too can enjoy seeing all of the interesting and amazing things we did this day. As if you were there with us! : )

For a good part of the study, the kids broke up into 2 groups: the older kids, and the little ones. They basically did the same things, but it just made the large group more manageable, and the kids could explore and learn more on their levels.

Throughout the day, we saw some really amazing stuff, up close, and got to hear more about what we found or saw, from the experts. They were really so very informative.

One of the first things the kids learned about sand. Sand in New England started out as rocks, boulders, etc., being moved from the mountains, to the ocean in glaciers. As the glacier moves, rocks are being ground into smaller rocks, and smaller pieces. Rocks get here the same way. When the glaciers stopped at as far as the ocean, the climate warmed, they melted, and receded back to the mountains, leaving recessional moraine – which is the sand, stones, rocks and boulders. Now the stones and rocks at the shoreline, are constantly being moved by the waves of the ocean, causing them to bang together and chip. These chips are known as sand. Interesting, huh??

As shown below by {O}, they dug deep into the sand, to explore the difference between top sand and deep sand. The deeper sand is more course and wet, where the top sand is finer and dry.

They also discovered how the two levels smell differently. So yes, that is {A} below, sniffing the sand. lol. The top sand is easily dried by the sun, evaporating the water and leaving the salt, so it has a salty smell. The deeper sand smells more like damp mud. The deeper you dig, the wetter it is.

Here are some other things the kids happened to see at the ocean, and learned more about as they were spotted and observed:

Horseshoe Crabs….

Here are two that are….ummm….very close? Self explanatory.

Here is one of my favorite shots of the day. This is an eggshell we found, that most likely was of a baby Least Tern, or possibly a Piping Plover. Sadly, it looks like a predator, probably a crow, got to the egg of the developing bird. It made us so sad! But isn’t it’s shell just beautiful?

All of the kids, both big and small, spent a lot of time exploring, and as they did and brought their findings to the experts, the experts taught them all about what they found.

Seaweed particles….{O} and {S} just loved collecting these things. They are so interesting, with different patterns and colors. Some almost seem to glow, and are a little translucent. They made me think of Christmas ornaments in royal colors.

Below, {A} shows her little siblings all of the treasures of the sea that she found. Some of it is just junk, but to her, it’s all exciting treasures. Trust me on that.

Shown below is a sea snail one of the leader experts was showing us and telling us all about.

It’s amazes us to think that all of these fascinating things of nature, big and small, were created by God. What a wild and incomprehensible imagination He has, and how it is represented in so many ways throughout His Creation. I know I talk about it on this blog all of the time, but it really is a very powerful realization, when you really stop to think about the details and cycle of it all, and how it all works together in such a perfect way. There is no end to the amazement of what He has done.

Anyway, somehow, our kids managed to get some real one-on-one time with the experts too, as the rest of the group were exploring or doing other things. They just had lots of questions and wanted to see and hear about all they could, and the experts were happy and eager to teach them.

{J} had 2 big rocks in his hands, and when he clunked them together, one of them broke into 3 pieces! The look of surprise on his face was priceless. He was feeling pretty strong that day!

What we then had was a 3 piece rock puzzle, to take home! As you can see below, {J} spent some more time playing with it later. It’s pretty cool, and he’s pretty fascinated in the 3 parts and how they fit together, and still kind of in disbelief that he broke it! This is one of those things that we’ll keep in our sun room. These are the kind of things I love to have around our home. Special momentos that remind us of special times together. Our days of learning, laughter and happiness.

At the end of the exploring and learning, we all gathered together as one big group, and were read a story about a sand piper. It was a really nice way to wind down and close such a great, great day by the sea. We all were smiling in the van all the way home, talking and laughing about all of the fun we had, and the great new things we had learned. Hands full of treasures, of course.

We are so grateful to live by the sea, where we can return for new exploring, new adventures, or just hanging out, anytime we want. (Photo taken by Daddy, who is always just another kid at the sea shore!)

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