A Visit to Pretend City

I forgot to post pictures of our trip to Pretend City. The kids had a nice time, but I don't think it's a place worth visiting again. I think things are more relevant out in the "real" city. And, frankly, we all have more fun out in the real world. ;-)

Bolsa Chica Wetlands

The kids were learning about wetlands this week. We read about wetland habitats, ecosystems, food chains, conservation, and wildlife. So, on Friday, we took a trip to our local wetlands for some real life learning.

Yes, natural learning is messy!

Homeschooling Days

Some people have asked me how I manage the three different ages when they're homeschooled and doing different activities (Jack is almost 7, Adeline is 4, and Ella is almost 2). I honestly don't think three is all that unmanageable (it's not as though I have ten kids like some homeschool families -- my hats off to them!).

In honor of everyone posting about the "first day of school," I thought I'd share a few shots of our afternoon.

If I'm not able (or in the mood -- lol) to supervise a "messier" activity with a toddler around, then Adeline knows to wait until Ella's nap time before she can do things like paint or glitter. Here Adeline is enoying some peaceful time painting outside while her younger sister snoozes.



Video of Adeline painting and impromptu singing:




Because she's a normal toddler, Ella likes to be involved in whatever a sibling is doing, so I often just put crayons, markers, and paper down for her next to someone.

Ella colors while Jack does some online activities (www.Time4Learning.com/).




Cheese! (I didn't even have to ask for this smile. What a cute ham!)




After this, Jack did some workbook activities, and Ella went with Adeline into her room and they put together some train tracks. We all had reading time today and played outside.

We were also watering the garden and Jack spotted a plump, hairy caterpillar. The kids were asking me all these questions about caterpillars that I didn't have the answers to, so we went inside and searched all about caterpillars on the computer and in our science books. Did you know caterpillars have 4,000 muscles (compared to our 650)? We also watched this fascinating video showing the life cycle of a monarch:

Snapshots of our summer

"There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart."
Celia Thaxter

Rocket Launch

A couple weekends ago, we took the kids to a bottle rocket launch. We made this 2-liter rocket and then had it shot in the air with pressurized air and water. Our parachute never deployed, but now we know better for next time to loosely put the nose cone on the top. We learned about aerodynamics and propulsion. The rocket blasted pretty high, though, and the kids had a fun afternoon.

A video of our launch!

Reading Craft

The kids are fans of the Magic Tree House (and Merlin Missions) books by Mary Pope Osborne. The books tell the adventures of siblings Jack and Annie and how their tree house transports them to different places in time. I saw something online a few weeks ago that gave me an idea for an activity.

I put down a piece of old fabric for each of them. Then they used markers to draw something from one of the stories. They each chose to draw whatever spoke to them from the stories. Jack drew the "sword of light." Adeline drew the "hairy eyeball" (yes, a hairy eyeball...I thought it would have been a cat or dolphin from the stories, but she chose the hairy eyeball -- gotta love her).

Then I sewed them, and we stuffed them to make a pillows.
(Thank you to Adeline for taking the below photo.)


The sword of light from Summer of the Sea Serpent
and the hairy eyeball from Haunted Castle on Hallow's Eve.