Gone Batty!

We like bats over here. Batman, bat houses, bats + baseballs, etc. My mom actually makes bat houses, so we talk with the kids quite often about the many benefits of bats. And here is some of our summer fun with bats.
The Library hosted a special bat day with visitors from our state's bat conservatory. The kids got to see live bats from all over the world! Very cool! We ran into a ton of our homeschool friends there. Also this summer we happened across a couple of drowned bats, which we showed off (look, don't touch) to the group of kids we had for a backyard bbq. (Pass the potato salad, oh, and did you see our dead bats?) Ewwww!!! But the kids LOVED it. :)

Some great books on bats. Also, check out this free unit study on Stellaluna from the Homeschool Share! :)

An awesome world = our classroom! Nature Days with our Homeschool Friends: LOVE

One of our co-op moms led an awesome two-day nature adventure for our homeschool group this summer. We started with a nature show and tell, exploring items brought in by students, everything from turtle skeletons to wood duck nests. Followed by a hike to explore various plants, trees and foliage, and some rules of thumb to identifying what you find in nature- and what is safe to eat or not. The kids took notes in nature journals and also colored pictures of how nature made them feel. It was great!
The subsequent day was even better. We headed to Jackson's Landing, a shallow portion of the large river that runs through our town. The kids got to wade in and find all sorts of life- from beetles and water spiders to crayfish and minnows- even down to microscopic creatures- and categorize what they scooped up and discovered. It was a fantastic day of educational fun! What an awesome world we live in, and it's all our classroom for the taking!

DIY Plastic cup binoculars

"Mom, the symbol on the bottom of these cups say they can be recycled, so... I would like to recycle them myself, into binoculars." LOL! Kids! They're holding up better than the usual paper towel roll ones, I can tell you that much. ;)

My friend's Handmade Wool Purses, Helping the earth and others with style and love!

My good friend Beth makes these amazing hand-made wool purses, completely out of material that a carpet manufacturer was going to throw in a dumpster! They are beautiful and super cool! ((HUGS)) to Planet Earth!!! This one is going to be up for silent auction at the Howard Christensen Nature Center this Sunday, May 6 at a benefit for local couple, Kare and Scott Greenup. Read more about the Day of Giving for the Greenups here: Kare Greenup, A soul we treasure, a time of need.

Come out and bid on this and LOADS of other packages, discounts and quality items, and get some good food while you're at it! All for a great cause! Pancake Breakfast 9-11 a.m., Silent Auction 9 a.m.-8 p.m., Spaghetti Dinner 4-8 p.m. at 16190 Red Pine Drive, Kent City, Michigan.

From field trip to our backyard: Maple Syrup Memories

It's our second year enjoying a field trip to Blandford's Sugar Bush Tour with homeschool friends. Our first, you can read about in my post, "Maple Syrup Merriment", and this year, we took the fun even further home when my husband decided to tap our own trees with the kids. They went on a nature explore in the back woods to find more after tapping our giant backyard maple. They put up 3 five gallon buckets, and for how late in the sugaring season we started, they sure are filling fast with sap! It's been quite the adventure! Here are some fun pictures from our field trip and backyard adventures. And, since I couldn't find a worksheet online with the math problems I wanted, I created my own, so here is my homemade Maple Syrup Math worksheet, hope you enjoy! :)







Back at home, over the weekend...





Monday Morning Math with Maple Syrup Measurements :)



One Pint, One Quart, One Gallon... and one crazy monkey. :)

Full Day of Fun Exploration at the Nature Center

I love our Nature Center. Repeat: I LOVE our Nature Center! The Howard Christensen Nature Center, now operated by Lily's Frog Pad, is one of our favorite places on earth, and it's one of the BEST places to enjoy a field trip. The entire staff is friendly and welcoming. Our homeschool group took pleasure in a sublime field trip there this week, with two elementary classes split up of younger students and older ones. Everyone reported they had a splendid time! Our guide, Kare Greenup, was simply wonderful. She is a talented instructor for young kids and teaches with a thought-provoking, lovable character that the kids just soak up as they learn all about God's big, beautiful planet! Here are some photo highlights of our latest adventure!












A true adventure in education!