Time of Discovery

Though we have taken the last two weeks off from formal schooling that doesn't mean the children have stopped learning.  One of goals in homeschooling is for the children to have a life long love of learning, simply for the sake of learning.  The last two weeks have been full of those opportunities.

On their own they have been pulling all kinds of books off the shelves, devouring and sharing them with each other and us.  When they aren't reading they are creatively building.

In the yard, we have been very busy in the garden.  Harvesting our first crop of Elephant garlic, and planting the remainder of our seeds.  All four helped replant our corn, add pole beans, pumpkin and muskmelon to our "Three Sister" garden.  Jared and Titus planed the peanuts.  Lance and I planted the radishes and carrots.  Titus got so excited about germinating seed that he experimented by planting a cantaloupe seed from one we'd bought from the store.  When it actually germinated, he then decided to try a cherry seed.  If the cherry seed experiment works too, I may have to give over the maintaining the garden to Titus, he's got quite the green thumb.

Maintaining the garden alone is a learning experience and a lot of work; weeding, watering and finding ways to manage our pests.  The number one pest right now is the squirrels (thus the need to replant all our corn).

We've gone on a number of field trips and activities outside our home:

On the 3rd, we attended a lecture about Carnivorous plants with the HS Gardening Club.  We followed up with a trip to the Farmers Market in search of what carnivorous plants they had for purchase.  We think we'll wait and build a habitat/rain garden in the front bed with we have all the run-off.  Besides learning about plants we also learned how narrow people can be in their thinking.  Carnivorous plants grow in bog like conditions, which is also a  perfect breeding ground for mosquito.  The lecturer told us how he used their floating poison donuts to control the mosquitos but he had also told us about a carnivorous plant native to NC that lived in water and ate mosquito larvae, Bladderwort.  I asked him why didn't he just use that (it was the one plant he didn't have a sample to show us) and he looked at me confused.  When we asked the vendors as the market if they had Bladderwort, they thought it was strange too.  Seemed perfectly logical to us.  Thankfully when were ready, it is legal to collect Bladderwort in the wild, so I guess that's just what we'll have too do.  The boys also learned in conversation with one of our FM Peeps how to fish with Crayfish.  I learned form another FM Peep how to repel deer with Cuban Oregano.  We all learned when we brought the Cuban Oregano home to keep the windows open, it is definitely fragrant enough to gas us out.  Hopefully the deer the will find it too much for their sensitive noses as well.

On the 6th Jared learned how to make pizza at CPK and had fun jumping at a trampoline warehouse for his friend Will's birthday.  While he was doing that Chris and Titus road tripped to Durham to look for building supplies for our chicken coop, at the Re-use Warehouse.  This company takes down old buildings and then sells the parts.  They explored every inch of the warehouse, Titus asking and learning about all the different materials they found there.  Titus was amazingly patient as it took them three hours to find and get all we needed in the back of the van, so much so that even the owner complimented him.  In the end it was definitely worth it, they got all the lumber for the chicken house for only 20% of what it would have cost us new at a big box store, a whopping $27.

At a graduation party for our neighbor the next day, the boys brought their fishing poles.  They had spent the morning re-lining them with 50lb line, the 8lb line had broken too much their last outing.  However, they learned that more is not always better.  The 50lb line turned out to be too much for their reels so they couldn't cast.  However, they also learned to make due and just hung their lines off the dock with bobbers to try to encourage a bite. 

On Monday, we had a pool birthday party for a friend and full day after of piano lessons and golf lessons.

On Tuesday, we went on a field trip to the RC Raulston Arboretum.  Our guide was incredibly engaging with kids, even Amber.  Amber was most excited to have her own clipboard to "write on" like the big kids.  They learned about all kinds of plants and habitats (Titus and I want the flower that smells like chocolate).  The children even petted a bumble bee in the perennial garden (I skipped that experience). Afterward the kids played and we mom's exchanged/learned from each other about various things. 

On Wednesday, we took advantage of the "one free game a day" summer deal and went bowling with friends.  Grandpa Harv came along to give the kids tips on how to bowl, as we plan to make this a weekly activity through the summer.  One game of course was not enough so we paid for two more.  The kids had fun, Lance had a turkey, Jared and Double and Titus scored an even 100.  I enjoyed the down time talking to a friend.

Friday, Jared had an Irish Dance workshop across town.  It was quite the workout but his teacher and the guest instructor said he was doing really well.  The workshop lasted 90 minutes and was quite the aerobic workout.  Since we were out though we ran errands on our way home, gathering up supplies at a discount where we could for the chickens.  Jared found a clearance door (only $10).  We got paint at 80% off (mis-colored clearance) and it just happened to be the perfect color for me, green.  As we traveled we kept our eye out for a big group of wild elderberry we had heard about after we spotted that Jared was able to spot many more along the road (they are in bloom right now). Then for dinner we all sat down to eat the same food together, Spaghetti; learning to eat new things is learning too.  That's one day full of learning.

Saturday, Chris was up bright and early to continue working on the chicken coop.  It's coming along well.  Will it be done by Wednesday, when we have to pick up the chickens?  We'll see, but it won't be for lack of effort.

While Chris was building the coop he let/encouraged Amber and Titus to play with the scrap wood.  During this "play" Amber discovered the concept of a lever for launching things.  Chris then encouraged this further by having them take their wood into the shade and see who could launch the small pieces of scrap wood the farthest.

Then a piece got stuck in the maple tree and Titus asked Lance to help get it out.  When lance went to climb up the tree, he found all these strange groups of herding insects.  He took my camera to get a picture and a video.

My budding entomologist then brought the picture inside and we proceeded to identify the insects.  They were called Tree Cattle/Bark Lice.  I was expecting the worst, now something was killing my maple tree (its been that kind of spring), so needless to say I was exuberant when I found out they were actually good for my tree!  Thanks God! I needed something positive, see even I am learning.

But all work and no play wouldn't be very fun so we are working in a fair share of that too like bringing out the slip and slide today.  It's good sometimes to drop the schedule and let learning and life be spontaneous.