Field trips of Feb 2010

My best friend decided to put together pictures of all of the field trips by months. I thought it was a wonderful idea and so shamelessly stole it.

Was there ever such a thing as "homeschooling via field trips"? Cuz we would be those people. ;)

There were at least two trips I didn't take pictures... The Audubon Society and the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium. And it's Feb. LOL!

ill tempered sea bass

We have been on lots of field trips these last two weeks. The latest being a trip to the Seattle Aquarium... Before we went, I had an interesting conversation with my toddler:

Me: "Hey hon, you ready?"
Toddler: "Where we going?"
Me: "To a fish place to see fishes!" with enthusiasm.
Toddler: "Oh! With guns on them?"

Oh yes, I have birthed Dr Evil.



A slide show of our awesome trip! (Make sure you turn on the captions. It is much better that way. :) )

The Little Prince

The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery is an amazing book. . I hadn't read this book in about 15 years. All I remembered was that it was sad. As a 'grown up' I was able to see so much more. The ideas that were common place to me as a child are now extraordinary and deep. Which is the exact phenomenon that he speaks of in the book. About 'grown ups'.

A friend of mine has a tattoo of the Boa Constrictor from the inside and outside. One on each of her forearms. I found this out only last week as I had never seen her in short sleeves before. The next day, I was enjoying a morning of happy thrifting and saw this book on the second hand book shelf. I sat on the floor and read it until I was finished right there in the thrift store. Then I bought it, brought it home, and read it again. It has been in my head for the last two days... I don't feel that I can explain the story very well... it is just a book that everyone should read. Especially if you have not read it in a very long while.

It looks like a children's book. Don't be fooled. This book is not really for children, but for the grown ups that children have grown into.

Daddy Daughter Dance

Daddy Daughter Dance history.

It has been an annual event for the past four years. I missed taking pictures of the one from 2008, but these pictures are amazing to me! Not just because my daughter is turning to a beautiful young woman before my very eyes, but because my photography and camera skills have gotten SO much better! lol!

2007:

2009:

2010:

It is a tradition that will not be broken any time soon. Cyan asks when it is for months beforehand. She has had this dress picked out since Summer. She had her hairdo picked out for the last month. She looks forward to it and I have to admit, these putting this post together got me a bit teary, seeing my love with our beautiful girl, as she turns to a little woman.

Off for an evening with the boys. Let the shooting and rowdy movies begin!

Valentine's Party

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY from Cultivate Homeschool!

The Toymaker

Archiving Emails I came across one I hadn't really looked at before... And WOW! I love this site! My older kids will have a lot of fun with these paper toys. :)

The Toymaker

Haha... a funny for your Sunday

Ms Stinerite

Late winter nature table

This nature table is such a reflection of what is going on in our yard right now. Once again, it is blank... even more blank than the winter nature table. In the yard we have been pruning, cleaning, raking, and carefully replanting. Our trees are coming this next week and we have to find a place to put them all. I have given The Man the task of getting the garbage and yard waste from the carpet pulling and the ivy cutting to it's rightful place... so far that has been an epic fail. The kids and I have been making a dent in it though... as much as a single yard waste bin every two weeks can do. ;)

Back to the nature table though. I added these sweet little paper roses for the celebration of Valentine's day (I know, no roses would usually be blooming right now, but this is the only place in the house they will be safe). I made Mother Nature a beautiful valour cape with a red silk ribbon and she is holding a red glass heart (I love red glass!).

Here is one of our candles from our Imbolc candle making.

Perfect for the celebration of the new light!

If you look really closely, you can see our little teasel hedgehog under the story 'The Hat' by Jan Brett. :) So cute!

Creation day #3

We started the rest of the work for our creation books today. The kids have really enjoyed the project so far and we have learned a lot about wet on wet painting. Cyan, being my artist, wasn't sure about the medium at first. She really isn't a fan of having colors go in directions that you don't plan. She is getting used to it though, and she is making some beautiful paintings!

Her painting from the third day.

And God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

Alex's

Mine

Mother Goose Finger Plays book for free

A friend shared this on one of the Waldorf groups I am part of and I think that Logan is going to LOVE some of these finger plays. This collection is a treasure for babies and toddlers alike. :)

Enjoy!

Old Mother Goose Finger Plays

Swallows and Amazons

Swallows and Amazons is a book about a group of siblings that go sailing to an abandoned island to camp for the last bit of the summer. The four children (ages 14 to 7) have amazing imaginations and they enjoy pretending that they are on a island in the middle of the ocean, protecting their ship from 'natives'. The book has an amazing way of showing the children's vivid imaginations by transferring their ideas to the stories that are being read. For example, for an entire chapter in the book the author refers to their mother as "Queen Elizabeth". "Queen Elizabeth said 'Is the ship sound captain?'" and Captain John replied "Yes my Queen." In another chapter, their mother and the man who has rowed her out to the island to drop of supplies for the children are referred to as "natives" for the entire trip.

We are about halfway through this wonderful book and I cannot stop singing it's praises. It is adorable! The only drawback to reading this delightful story is my lack of knowledge of proper nautical terms. It took me quite a while of reading to figure out what 'tacking' was (the way to go against the wind when in a sailing vessel) or what 'duffers' were (untidy and unruly sailors, apparently). But with a short unit study of ships and their equipment, the kids and I fell head over heals in love with this story and can't wait to read the rest of this series.

Day two of Creation

Wet on wet painting is going well. My paper got too wet today and so it looks like the ocean is rising into the mist of the sky, but I kinda like it. Like God hasn't decided exactly where the barrier will be yet.

We read the creation section from The Storyteller's Bible today. I am not completely happy with how short the selections are in that book and am looking forward to having something a bit more in depth but not dry like an adults bible would be. I am waiting to get my copy of Stories from the Bible by Walter De la Mare, but for now, this one will do.

And God said "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and let it separate the waters from the waters." And God made the firmament and separated the waters which were under the firmament from the waters that were above the firmament. And it was so.

Alex's

Cyan's

Mine

Firsts...

Today was a day of firsts. It was our first day with our new curriculum (Live Education!), and it was our very first wet on wet painting expeirence. I had done it once before... but this time it was with the kids, and we had a lot of fun painting the first day of creation.

And God said "let there be light" and there was light. And God saw that the light was good, and God seperated the light from the darkness.

Alex's

Cyan's

Mine