Rock on!

When it comes to anything science, (or history!) we are extremely blessed, because my mom is a natural rock-hound, bird-lover, animal, nature and habitat enthusiast... and she also happens to be a very patient teacher. She is fantastic when it comes to spending time with my kids and exploring the WHY behind everything. That "WHY" has been a driving force her entire life, and I'm starting to believe part of the reason is because God knew that eventually, we'd need that on our homeschool journey. My mom was the one who, when I was little, took me into the world of the anthill, showed me frogs deserved compassion and were interesting, and taught me to question, think and seek the reasons behind so many elements of our world. I feel so appreciative to have her so close and able to gift to my children the same life-long love of learning she gifted me. She excels at taking subjects off the page and into the world with hands-on exploration. Growing up, she never felt satisfied with the answers her school books provided, and while raising my brother and I, as a stay-at-home mom, she supplemented our public education with home and world-schooling. Until I was older, I didn't really realize that ALL parents weren't studying pond life with their kids on the weekends or starting rock collections or learning the names of all the backyard birds at the feeders. Her endless curiosity is contagious, and combined with the endless curiosity of my children, the sky's not even the limit!
So, while my mom has already been collecting, encouraging and exploring the world of rocks and fossils with my kids since they were old enough to hold a bucket, we've begun to "officially" study rocks and fossils in our homeschool. It was easy enough to add some rock and mineral books and activities into the mix. Collect, classify in several ways, based on size, then based on color, then based on texture, etc. From sand to mountains, to the earth itself, rocks are everywhere!

















"The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." -Psalms 24:1

Sunflower project 2010

We started our sunflower project on April 13 and tracked the progress for over 3 months through July while learning about seeds, plants and all things that grow. Bonus learning: Measure your child along with the sunflowers month by month, comparing your child's growth with the growth of the sunflowers. Explain the differences and similarities between how we drink water and use air and how a plant does. Explore WHY things grow, and also the different uses people and animals have for various kinds of plants.


planting the seeds


keeping a notebook




sprouting








growing








planting them outside with grandma






as tall as she is!






July 16... three months after starting the project


taller than she is!

"Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these." -Luke 12:27