Slow and Steady

We have had several "friends" stop in for pit stops...

We have enjoyed their presence and then, quickly cleaned up their slime trails.

My littlest has added a dimension to the Ponderosa that has NEVER existed before. I have always had my thoughts about people who had ten million animals in their home. Friends, please remind me of these thoughts periodically.

"Inger" may win in the end.

Did You Know?

that small water spiders eat tadpoles that are 3 times their size?

Neither did we.

Foot over foot, the girls climbed the fence to the retention pond next to our home last night. They made the jump; ran helter-skelter in the tall grass and brought back a bucket of tadpoles. With no water. Once more, with "Little Joe's" help they scrambled back over to get water that would house these little creatures until they are adult frogs. We kept two tadpoles.

We woke up this morning and found one of the tadpoles in the jaws of a water spider that we happened to house as well. He must have come on over in the water.

Science happens.

My coffee table in the home school room is now home to a mason jar with an ant farm and a small pond with two tadpoles in it.

Science happens.

I am thankful for these moments.

The freedom to teach my precious children at home.

The Life Cycle...Through the Eyes of a 5 Year Old

Yesterday, the last day of summer before school started, my girls and I were having our daily "book fix".

They each bring a pile of library books to my bed and we enjoy reading together. As their heads rest on my shoulders, I pause to muse that this will not last forever.

There is usually a vast difference in the subject matter of the books.

Insects, bugs, anything animalia. ("Inger's choice)

OR

Books with beautiful pictures whether true or fiction. ("Marie's" choice)

My little "Inger" is my animal lover. As we stopped to read a book about vesperids (snakes with poison and pits) we found out they eat frogs. "Inger" stopped me and informed me that is good because frogs eat butterflies. And we DON'T want butterflies eaten. Little did she know she was reporting on the life cycle of the insect world.

"Marie" endures and waits eagerly for her next pick.

Beautiful Handiwork

This year I am using Saxon Math for "Inger's" kindergarten cirriculum. They use a variety of manipulatives, one being pattern blocks. If you look real close, you can see the dragonfly sipping nectar from a flower.

(Notice the bug theme....again! I wouldn't be suprised if our little beauty grows up to be an entomologist)