Sunday, May 15, 2011

...it's warmer and the kids are antsy.

So we're taking our first beach day. It's not quite warm enough to go swimming yet, where we live the Atlantic has not warmed up enough, but we can pull into our homeschooling science curriculum and see what sorts of things we can learn about sea life and our local ecosystem at the shore.

Our local aquarium has Beluga whales, penguins, Seals, Hognosed Rays, Sharks and Jelly Fish – and these are just in the large tanks. We also have smaller tanks with other regions represented as well as a touch tank with horse shoe crabs and star fish, and other things that you might find in a tidal pool. For an unexpectedly hot day this is a fantastic break away, and can help reinforce much of what is taught at in homeschooling, whether in a home or co-op setting.

Then off to the beach, to see what else might be found that we saw at the Aquarium. Depending on where you are in our region, you might get to see a whale rise out in the ocean, or a seal sunning itself on the rocks, but there's no saying that if you are further inland that you can't do some studies on local wildlife as well.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

MAYDAY, I SAID MAYDAY!

Horay Horay for the First of May! So it's finally consistently nice out. We've been doing short trips out to nature preserves of late and are looking to the weather being even warmer for our trips that are farther afield.

The saying goes “April Showers bring May Flowers” and it's not off at all. We have lovely flowers everywhere here these days, and it's given us a chance to work on more horticulture and agriculture based lessons in and amongst the 'reading, writing, and arithmetic lessons.

Of course in and amongst all this is the fact we can now make trips to out door living history museum and festivals again, and we're gearing up for the Textiles.

The CT Sheep and Wool festival is at the end of April each year and allows us to get out and stretch out legs, learning about various animals related to the textile fiber industry. The kids love that they get to pet the Alpaca, to see the various breeds of sheep that produce different kinds of wool, from the really scratchy kind to the almost smooth as silk, and even the Angora Bunnies, and silk worms. We only get to see the fiber ready to spin from the silk worms, as they grow fast and are hard to transport for the person raising them, and of course the fact that they are little eating machines so keeping up with being a vendor and caring for all the little silk worms is a little tough.

Coming up soon will be the Home School day at a local living history museum as well, with their own textile days so we hope to attend that as we have in the past.

What can these kind of festivals teach your kiddo? Animal Husbandry, Training – sheepdogs in action are amazing to watch, the math of weaving – it's all open and so much to choose from.