Nature Walk/Ride

On Sunday, we decided to get out of the house and ride up to the nearest little "town" and go for a little walk at a park we drive by all the time but have never stopped at (I guess it's a town-it has a population of 1302).  Half way there, we spotted this guy on the side of the road. 

See, we play this game to pass the long hours in the car.  We try to spot hawks and eagles and get points for finding them based on whether they're flying or perched.  It was much easier to rack up points in winter with bare trees.  Anyway, it helps to pass the time and keeps the siblings from bickering so much.

Dad spotted this guy sitting on a fence post and pulled over so I could get some pictures.  He didn't really like it when I tried to get a little closer.

As I was getting back into the car, we spotted a couple of these little guys in the grass.

We know a lot about backyard birds, but we had no idea what they were.

We got out our trusty bird book when we got home and found out that they are Killdeer.  We also learned that Killdeer have a unique way of distracting predators.  When it feels that its nest is threatened, the adult will pretend to be injured, stumbling along the ground while dragging one of its wings.  When the potential attacker is lured away from the nest, the Killdeer suddenly flies off.  Sorry for the science lesson, I just thought that was really cool.

Soon after we got to the park, we discovered this great, big interesting tree stump.  

I told the kids to climb on top of it so I could take their pictures.  Neither would budge.  They said it has a BIG hole in it that would be a PERFECT home for SOMETHING!

Thinking back, I guess they did have a point.  Dad got a closer look just to be safe.

What he pulled out made my skin shiver.

Reece was thrilled though!

See, he's been a little obsessed with snakes lately.  He has two huge books about snakes and he's read them both cover to cover, several times.  He knows more about snakes than anybody I know.

After Dad checked it out and assured them that whatever was in there is long, gone now, they finally got up on the stump.

It did not surprised me that Ms. fearless was first.

This park has a nice walking trail around a big pond, lots of green grass, tall trees, birds, bugs, and an old, haunted stone building (more about that later).

Here are some of the things we saw:

Reece insisted that I take a picture of this dead tree.  He thought it was interesting and picture worthy.  Who am I to argue?

We have millions of these at home, but this one captured their attention.

Then we came upon the "haunted stone building".

I don't know how he does it, but Dad can always come up with a story, especially scary ones!

He is trying to convince them that we need to come back after dark and go on a spooky hike.  Surprisingly, the kids agree that a scary hike would be lots of fun.

We got closer to the pond again and saw a crazy looking bird/duck?

and some beautiful purple flowers

We were almost back to the car when we heard, "Let's turn around and do it again!"

Ok, one more time.

Back by the spooky house again.

"Let's race up the hill" says the big one.

The sun was just starting to set and everything had a magical glow about it.

We saw the crazy bird/duck again flying over the pond.

I'd never seen a bird like this.  He had a mo-hawk and long legs with webbed feet.

Of course, we looked it up when we got home and discovered that he was a Green Heron.

Just as we were leaving, my little one spotted this guy in the rocks.

This is a Male Northern Prairie Skink.  How do I know, you ask?  The orange glow on his face means that it's mating season.

I won't even get into why his tail is gone.

Quality family time and two hours of science (and they didn't even know it)!  Gotta love that.

Bittersweet Science Fair

Last week, both kids participated in their first ever Science Fair.  Being homeschoolers, we don't have too many opportunities for events like this.  As soon as I asked them if they wanted to do a project, they both got very excited about it and began planning.  Since we had just built our incubator, Reece wanted to use that for his project and incubate his very own eggs.  Peyton, being the animal lover that she is, loved her Daddy's idea of a project highlighting the animals found around our farm.

Reece diligently  took care of his precious eggs every day, checking the temperature and turning them three times a day.  We set them exactly 21 days before the date of the Science fair, hoping that the science fair participants would get to see a live chick hatch.  The day before the fair, two of the eggs hatched!

Reece was thrilled that he could show his babies to everyone at the Science fair.  We still hoped that more eggs would be hatching for the big day.

The next day, we unplugged the incubator and packed everything up and head for the Science fair.

The chicks were a huge hit!  All the children gathered around the incubator, memorized at the tiny chicks inside.  Reece did a fantastic job speaking to the judges, even though he was quite nervous about this portion of the event.  The judges said he was "very articulate" and had a "clear mastery of project goals and process".

Peyton's project was a huge success also!  She had a blast showing everyone all of her animals.  She did great with the judges also, no surprise there though!  Here is one of her judge's comments:

"Peyton is very articulate and confident in her presentation of her project!  She is also very knowledgeable about the different animal species and their interactions.  A truly smart girl with a fantastic future!"

I was so proud of both of them!

Unfortunately, the great day turned tragic when the little black chick lay down and stopped breathing.  We thought she was sleeping, worn out from all the excitement, but she was not.  I still don't know what happened.  Maybe it was genetic, and it would have happened anyway.  Maybe the car trip and the noisy room stressed her out too much.  We just don't know.  All I knew was that I felt terrible for taking them away from their quiet, warm, dark room in my house.  Reece was devastated and wanted to leave and take the other chick home.  So, instead of staying for the judging and awards, we decided we better get the other little one home.

We then learned that Reece had won 1st place in his division.  It was hard to see the happiness in his eyes through the tears.  Overall, they had a great experience in their first ever Science fair.  They had a blast preparing their projects and are already thinking of ideas for next year.  Although, next time we will probably  forgo any live animal projects.

Field Trip!!

Yesterday, we had a lovely day.  We toured Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company in Mansfield, MO.  If you've never heard of this place, you are really missing out.  They offer 1400 heirloom varieties of seeds. They only sell open-pollinated seeds: pure, natural & non-GMO! The company was started in 1998 by Jere Gettle, as a means to preserve heirloom seeds.  You can order from them from anywhere, so if you don't live around here, you should definitely check out their website.  If you do live around here, I totally recommend that you go there.


It wasn't just a seed store.  It was an entire pioneer village, complete with Restaurant, Mercantile, Apothecary, Stone oven, Jail, Blacksmith, etc...

This is the Apothecary:

It smelled so good in there!

I can't wait to go to their Spring Planting Festival when the pioneer village comes alive with living history demonstrators, vendors, music, and historic farm animals & poultry.

The kids had a blast wandering around the village.  They especially liked seeing all the unique varieties of chickens and ducks. 

I wish I would have taken a picture inside the seed store, but I was completely overwhelmed with the walls and walls of seeds.  We had fun picking out a few packs of seeds that we needed.  Last year I ordered their large seed package and got 60 full size packs of seeds, which included 25 different varieties of vegetables, for about $100.  They offer a northern and southern package, so you won't get seeds that won't grow in your climate.  I'm really excited about growing our food with heirloom seeds and learning how to save the seeds for planting next year.  

I think it's tragic that thanks to genetic modification, many seeds you now buy will no longer produce the same plant if you save the seeds.  Some will not produce another plant at all.  Also, in Monsanto's own words "all newer conventional varieties in the seed industry" are patented.  That means farmers can and are being prosecuted for saving seeds for their own use. 

How sad is that?  This country seems to be going backwards sometimes, for the love of money.   

 Sorry for that little rant.  

Let's get back to the topic!  Baker's Creek.

Just go there or order some seeds from them.  You won't be disappointed!! 

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds 

But What About Socialization...

I'm tired of this argument about homeschooling.  Why do some people, when they hear the word homeschooling, immediately think that all homeschooled children are locked away in some compound, shielded from the world, and will be socially impaired forever because they don't learn how to walk down a hallway with twenty-nine other 6-year-olds learning how to keep their fingers over their mouths.  Sorry, about the ranting run-on sentence, but I couldn't stop.  I sometimes wonder if these brilliant people even know what the word means.

Here's one definition:  Socialization:  The process of learning one’s culture and how to live within it; The act of interacting with others, of being social.

It doesn't say how to be obedient and quiet in a classroom with twenty-nine other 6-year-olds.   It says learning how to live within one's culture, which means everyday life.  My homeschooled children are plunged into everyday life, well nearly everyday.  They accompany me to the grocery store, the feed store, the bank, the doctor, traffic court(well, luckily that one doesn't happen too often, but homeschool moms get tickets too) and everywhere else I go.  They have to interact with all ages and all types of people.  They have their little groups of same age children with their scouts and sports and art classes and music classes, and I could go on and on, but you get the point.

My goal is for them to be just as comfortable talking with 90-year-olds as they are with 9-year-olds.

Anyway, I'll shut up about it and just show you my little unsocialized hermits. Oh, and I am in no way putting down those of you who choose a public school education for your children.  I am fortunate enough to be able to stay home and teach my kids or maybe it's crazy enough to, I'm not sure some days. 

Here's Peyton with her little Daisy Scout friends.  That's her "BFF" Audrey on the left.  Clearly she's miserable and lonely, right?

Cutting out Icelandic snowflakes is serious business.  She had a blast at Girl Scout "World Thinking Day".  She was introduced to many different countries and their cultures(and she didn't even have to step foot in a school).

This is some of her Daisy troop with Abbi, our big Girl Scout helper.  Peyton says Abbi is the nicest teenager she's ever met!

Here she is at her troop meeting.  Poor little unsocialized child.  Her mother should be ashamed.

Reece's Cub Scout troop is working on the coolest project.  They are building Soapbox racers.  How cool is that?  I don't remember ever doing such cool stuff when I was a kid.  I need a thesaurus.  What's another word for cool?

He learned how to use a hand saw and drill.  I was thankful that no power tools were involved.  Next week they get to paint them.  I can't wait to see them race!

I even got to log an hour of math.  It's truly amazing how much learning is done in day-to-day life.

I think they'll be just fine.