Fall Nature Study Round-Up {2015}

I did not get our family farm fall nature study pictures posted last month. I like to put them on the blog for reference and comparisons between the years. Since I waited so long I don't have much commentary nor can I tell you when they took place (mid-October/early November) or much details.   ; )


My favorite grass of all time (if you can have such a thing) is broom sedge. I love the glowing coloring.

Can you find the puppy?

Fall pond study . . . . a walk around the pond is always enjoyable.
 

The path on this side of the pond was not mowed. We usually get covered in dried seeds and weeds. Always lots of animal trails. This path did get mowed when we came back before deer season.

Cloudy day during this nature hike. I was admiring the clouds that day. Must have been mid-October since the leaves look mostly green.

Turtle study (three-toed box turtle) . . . . we learned that Lucy can pick up a turtle in her mouth. We had to distract Lucy and take her for a long walk so the turtle could get away. Every time we go back to the lake after that visit she goes to find that turtle!

One mad turtle!

Has anyone seen a turtle around here?

Tyler was too tired for much nature study on one of our fall visits. Good thing napping in nature counts for nature study.  ; )

Caught taking pictures of him napping!

One of my favorite trails to nature hike. This trail gets mowed before fall hunting season (leads to my Dad's hunting spot) and we get to take the long awaited walk.

The cedar trees were gorgeous on this trail.

A dry creek bed is always fun to explore.

A sure sign of fall.

Term 1 Review {2015-2016}

We have wrapped up term 1 of our school year and are a few weeks into term 2. You can find our original school plans here and here.

(Pictures in this post are random pictures I took during term 1.)

It was a good term and we are certainly enjoying Ambleside Online curriculum. Tyler has had the smoothest transition and he is moving right along. It has taken Caleb a little longer to settle into the book list.

We have followed Tyler's original book list almost completely. I can't believe it!  We did drop the Using Language Well book because I just couldn't fit him into the program (he was at different grammar and dictation levels). We also changed his math program, but I will save that for another post.

Tyler said his favorite books are all those on his free reading list and Life of Fred. His least favorite is The Story of Inventions because the chapters are too long. ; )

There were a few changes made to Caleb's original book list. Science took the biggest hit. First Studies in Plant Life and The Amateur Naturalist are the only books from the original plan still being used. We've added in Fabre's Book of Insects and The Book of Trees .

History has stayed on track but I did drop Light to the Nations mostly because there was no time. I added in a shorter church history book to go along with the British history book.


I also dropped How to Read a Book because of time issues and Caleb wasn't really getting it. This book is schedule in AO over a few years so it will be picked back up next year. I was enjoying this book as I read it out loud to Caleb. It is certainly a must read for students!

The only thing that has been a complete failure is Spanish. He has completed fourteen weeks of school (and Spanish) and Caleb knows zero Spanish. I honestly don't know what to do at this point and this is on my list to pondering during Christmas break. 

Caleb said his favorite book has been To the Heights. I got no comment on least favorite. I think he is enjoying most of his books . . . . the IEW writing gives him the most grief. 

As I said earlier, we are loving AO. My only complaint is that there is a large learning curve. The website is loaded with information but it is a struggle to navigate. I know I came across AO in my first year of homeschooling and I couldn't make sense of the website and never took a second look until this past year. I'm extremely thankful that I finally took that second look. After a few months I learned that our placement into AO could have been a little different but overall I don't think it matters much.

Please leave questions or comments in the comments. You can also email me at  tendingpumpkinpatch at gmail dot com.

 

 

First Sunday of Advent Quick Daybook {November 29. 2015}

I'm still here! Sorry it's been so long. Just too much to get done and of course my favorite thing got put at the end of the list. I thought a quick daybook would be helpful to get back into the blogging habit. I have a few post waiting in draft to finish up in December. Pictures feature some of the Advent decorations we put up today (please excuse the quality since it's dark today).

 

Outside my window it is cold and rainy. It looks to be a colder than average week.

I am hearing Advent music! It warms my heart to hear it and it's been a long wait. 

I'm thankful for time with extended family during the Thanksgiving holiday. It's hard to find time for that currently in this season of life. 

It has been slow going around the house. I was able to deep clean Caleb's closet last weekend. He has been doing a good job of keeping it clean (minus the dusting) but I needed to move furniture to dust behind and sweep under. I also need to locate his scout book that went missing . . . . found it! I need to make my list of cleaning projects to do during Advent.

This week we are back to school. Otherwise it's a very light week and I hope to get some extra projects done.

I'm working to complete our Advent plan and hopefully everything will run smoothly during this time of waiting and preparing anticipation. My list includes a reading list, family prayer time, family Advent activities, preparing the home for Christmas, preparing our hearts for Christmas, shopping for Christmas, and how to keep the season low-key (or a plan to keep celebrations to a minimum until Christmas).

In the school room we are in the last three weeks before Christmas break. We will probably take all of the Christmas season off. I'm still fine tuning the school plan for term 2 while we are living it. I have some post coming up that are all school related.

I am struggling with working in a timely fashion. It seems like it takes me at least twice as long to get things done than it should. Is it age? It seems like my mind is a cluttered mess and it takes a long time to settle into a task and then stay focused until completion. It's a daily struggle!

I'm pondering the homily at church this morning. (We didn't have our normal priest today.) Father Greg kept using the word anticipation to describe how to prepare for Christmas during Advent. I really enjoyed all he had to said. Nothing new but it was refreshing and a great message for the first Sunday of Advent. It definetly gave me some ideas for Advent plans. 

I am reading A Child in Winter (Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany with Caryll Houselander) by Thomas Hoffman for daily devotions. Today's reading had a quote from The Reed of God (p38), "In the season of our Advent-waking, working, eating, sleeping, being-each breath is a breathing of Christ into the world." I like that thought.

Early Fall Nature Study {October 2, 2015}

I think fall is here. With that we were able to get out to our favorite place (the family farm) for a nature hike. 

Typically, summer nature hikes don't happen because it's hot, many bothering insects, and the grass/weeds are too tall and release too much pollen. Now most of that is gone. I did get into a nest of the tiniest seed ticks I've ever seen.

The sun was out when we left the house. On the short drive to the farm it had become cloudy and extremely windy. It was cold and I wanted to go back home. But, we bundled up and headed out anyway. 

All of my pictures from the nature hike are dark from all the clouds (and we were in the woods, but the sun would have helped a lot).

We picked a trail that we haven't been on since early spring. But, we went left instead of right this time which led us to a popular trail that brought us to Uncle Kevin's creek. Since the creek was dry we decided to walk the creek until we hit the next trail head. 

It was a wonderful hike! We had never done this before so the dry creek bed held many surprises for us to find. It wasn't the easiest walking but I surprising never fell, on my camera, which was my only worry. We studied much geology on this "trail". This was the perfect walk to go along with the book Rocks, Rivers, and the Changing Earth that Tyler has been reading. Completely unplanned connection on my part but I assume Holy Spirit led.

Even Lucy was interested in all the geology. ; )

We were wondering what sleeps under there. The only water we found and it was loaded with creatures.

We eventually found another trail that would take us back up the hill and to our starting point. By that time the sun was back out and the wind had died down a little. 

I sat by the lake (in my hammock) listening to a podcast while Lucy took a nap and chewed on a stick. The boys went to start a fire for some warmth but mostly for marshmallows.

Scott joined us after work for some fishing. Scott was the only one who caught a fish (which we ate with dinner). Lucy loves fishing too. The boys also roasted marshmallows over the fire they had made.

It turned out to be a beautiful day for some nature study at the family farm.

Tyler, the rock collector, carried this large rock on  most of the nature hike.

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real {October 1, 2015}

I'm linking up with Like Mother Like Daughter today. I've gotten behind on blogging so I thought this would be an easy way to get pictures posted on the blog since they are piling up. Plus, I haven't linked up with {phfr} in a long time.

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

Every Thursday, at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

 

 Pictures from our vacation to Pensacola Beach Florida. Plus some miscellaneous pictures.

Fort Pickins

Tyler before he lost both his sunglasses and goggles in the ocean.

Perhaps if the US military didn't encourage people not to read about history we would have avoided many repeat problems we have today. This poster was at the aviation museum in Pensacola Florida.

First time we have ever seen a ground hog in the yard. Lucy barked at it and scared it into the neighbor's tree.

Tyler is halfway through cross country season. This was from his first meet at Cole County Park.

We had a caterpillar turn to butterfly right at the front door. There was also one on the dead flower by the door.

Hay bale jumping at the family farm. Tyler with Lucy here.

More hay bale jumping with Caleb this time