Must Embroider Something

http://www.flickr.com/photos/96156254@N00/sets/845915/

I found this sampler on a blog called chloesplace. I feel I must embroider Christmas gifts for someone. My love for crafting and nature are colliding. Hopefully it all ends well ; )

Sketch Shot

Here's a snap shot of an afternoon. The kids spent over an hour sketching in the backyard. This is their official sketch fort.

Che'ryl I'm trying to'do my part to bring back the apo'stro'phe.

Have a great Hallowe'en everyone!

Qoutey Goodness!

"What we want to see is the child in pursuit of knowledge,
not knowledge in pursuit of the child."
George Bernard Shaw

I went on an internet stroll.

While taking an internet stroll I spot many beautiful crafts. I have been thinking of what Christmas crafts the kids might want to do, and then I stumbled upon a blog called In These Hills. She shows how to make balloon lanterns and wet felted cookie cutter shapes. I now have two new crafts for my list, and a Sunday to spend crafting. What fun we will have.

Kia

My daughter the photographer.

Nature Study

I was told that nature study brings a breath of fresh air to your day (no pun intended). I always thought.... yes, yes when I get done this important stuff I'll get to it. Well I finally got to it, and I don't ever want to give it up.

After covering the different kingdoms and how the major eight taxonomic ranks work. We headed off to the great outdoors. The following pictures are from our first week of nature study. I do not apologize for the amount of photos in this blog, for I have cut many great pictures out. We have gone out twice this week, and each time we discover something new.

This is first Fungi spotted by Evan. He found two types. We have not yet found out what kind of fungi he discovered, but we will next week.

I believe that this is common green shield lichen. Lichen is not a plant. All lichens are a combination of two very different organisms, a fungus and either an alga or a photosynthetic bacterium. Just in case you wanted to know ; )

After much deliberation we discovered that this was a female Downey Woodpecker, at first we thought that it might be a White Breasted Nut Hatch. We did spot the Whited Breasted Nut Hatch yesterday though. Along with the bird below. We think it is a female Dark Eyed Junco.


We saw many galls on the leaves of one tree. Evan looked inside a few to check for bugs. Here he is showing his brother the bug inside.




Here are the kids after the first day out. Back home with their treasures and a treat for the birds.

Words of Wisdom From LaPaz Home Learning's Blog

For a Child

by Fannie Stearns Davis

Your friends shall be the Tall Wind,
The River and the Tree;
The Sun that laughs and marches,
The Swallows and the Sea.

Your prayers shall be the murmur
Of grasses in the rain;
The song of wildwood thrushes
That makes God glad again.

And you shall run and wander,
And you shall dream and sing
Of brave things and bright things
Beyond the swallow’s wings.

And you shall envy no man,
Nor hurt your heart with sighs,
For I will keep you simple
That God may make you wise.

She talks about what that means to her. Not to raise kids in ignorance, or to shelter them from the complexities of life, but to live simply. A life of wholesome food, good books, a slow pace and time in nature. Long periods to think and play(free from distraction).

I am not doing her justice. If you would like to see what she actually wrote go here.

LaPaz Home Learning

Field Trip Gone Wild!

Today's post is about our field trip to the Assiniboine Park Zoo.
Having never driven in Winnipeg before I decided to take a chance. Surely I would find the zoo if I drove in the right direction. Unfortunately I was driving in the wrong direction and drove right out of Winnipeg. After stopping for a map, I decided to take the perimeter till I found the street I needed. Unfortunately I once again driving in the opposite direction on the perimeter highway(heading north instead of south).
It was then that we commenced our site seeing tour of Winnipeg. We drove south on Henderson highway, past the The Manitoba Museum , the Winnipeg Forks, and through St. Boniface. It was in St. Boniface that we discover where we where on the map. After this our site seeing trip ended, and our trip to the zoo began.
We made it to the zoo and here are the pictures to prove it.

We spent a lot of time watching the Prairie Dogs. The kids love how playful they are.

This couple spent most of there time kissing.

This little guys ate, and ate, and ate..........

The kids spent time watching the Bison aswell, they are very striking creatures.

I couldn't resist posting this picture.

Last but not least is this little guy. He was so curious.....................

My nemesis is back and it is all my fault!

I have maintained my weight loss all summer. Then someone (me) had a moment of weakness at the grocery store. Nutella my nemesis is back, she whispers to me through the day,

"I'm made with nuts and milk, I'm good for you."

She is attempting to drag me back to the dark side.



I MUST USE THE FORCE!




Force not working, dark side winning............................



CURSE YOU NUTELLA, AND YOUR CREAMY GOODNESS!

Fall my precious.

I'm back. Did anyone miss me? I have been on a blog reading frenzy, and unfortunately my blog postings have suffered. I am in a weird home school vortex, our lives feel full and mostly content, but when I am asked what we have been up to I draw a blank.

Now that Evan does not need training wheels, we go on extended bike rides.
Aidan's AirHog was fixed (by him) and the kids have been spending much of their free time shooting off rockets.
We have just been busy living.

Kia are adorable kitten, has made herself at home. The kids are delighted to have a pet, and Craig's allergies are not to bad. She is still a little skittish, but considering that she was a stray, she is doing great. Yes, the cute little kitten seen above was a stray. She adopted the engine of our van as her home, and then we adopted her.

New Plan

So we have been homeschooling for a month and it is time for me to adjust our schedule. We have been studying prehistoric times and the animal kingdom making notebooking pages as we go. I do not feel that there is enough of a frame work for them to place this new knowledge in. So as of today we are going back. In history we will be focusing on the prehistoric time periods and what developed in each. Or new information will fit into this framework. In science we will be studying taxonomy and how it is used to classify life. We will then look to the animal, plant and fungi kingdoms and place our new information into that frame work. So today, we will be getting a very long piece of paper to make our prehistoric time chart. I am very excited! Hopefully the kids will love it too.