Wild Flowers

 This month we have been studying Wild Flowers. (Check out the "Handbook of Nature Study" blog!)  First of all we have several spring flowers that are small and white, so we took pictures of the blossoms, and of the leaves, so we could learn to tell the difference.  Some of the ones we found were:


Spring Beauty

Wood Anemone

Hepatica

And Strawberry

We also found Yarrow,

Jack-in-the-pulpet

And Speedwell.

This Dame's Rocket we found while we were at campmeeting.

And of course the common Dandelion.  We love Dandelion.  They are a great source of nutrition.  Our favorite spring time dish is Dandelion loaf!

This flower looks similar to the Dandelion.  But it is called Yellow Goat's Beard.  It even makes the white puff ball like the Dandelion, but much larger.  We see lots of them by the side of the road here in Wisconsin.

This one is another small flower called Bluets.

And we found a whole field full of these orange and yellow Hawkweed.

Wildflowers are something that we have always had lots of interest in, so we know a lot of the flowers of our area already. We just had lots of fun looking for flowers and trying to be the first to identify them.

Bugs

A couple of insects Tabbi found at our house in the last couple days...

 A Giant Ichneumon (female)

And a Stonefly

Tadpoles

We have tadpoles in the puddles out in the woods.  We took a walk yesterday and collected several of them so we can watch the transformation.  Some of them already have legs and a couple of them are almost ready to leave the water.

 If you look carefully you can see some of them swimming in the murky water.  The water was just teeming with them, but whenever I tried to get close enough for a picture, they would all swim away.

 Nathanael filled the jar with water for Tabbi and she caught them in a fish net.

 The Black Monster (aka Licorice) follows us whenever we go for a walk.

 A puddle filled with green, but no tadpoles in this one.

 And of course Kermit always comes along.  He likes to cool off in the creek.

 Tabbi found several small snails in the creek and brought back of few of them, too.

I found a couple of frog life cycle worksheets that Tabbi wanted to do.  She ended up combining them into one sheet.

I will be posting this blog entry on the "Handbook of Nature Study" blog carnival.  Check it out.  She has some awesome ideas!

Tabbi's pets...

 A wild baby rabbit that Kermit brought her.  (Kermit is my dog)

 Her cat, Licorice

 A snail she brought home from campmeeting

And Oscar.  She also has a whole slew of tadpoles for the moment... but more about those in the next post!

Campmeeting 2013

Last week we were at Campmeeting.  Becca was there for part of the week with Tabbi.  It was a good time as usual.  Even though we decided to leave a day early, as it was going to be stormy and we went to visit some relatives on the way home.

 Hiding out in Tabbi's bunk.

 Tabbi and Becca after swimming.  Ready for craft time.

 A crane fly that took a liking to our water jug.

 This is what kept Tabbi and Becca busy most of the time they were at the camper.

 And of course the golf cart is always a highlight!

 Singing in the pavilion.

Reed School

June 4, 2013

We took a field trip with several other homeschoolers to a one-room country school.  It's a historical site and they offer a half-day educational program centered on the spring of 1939.  The children were encouraged to come dressed in clothing like that worn by rural students in the 1930s, and pack a 1930s-style lunch.

 Ready for school.

 Ringing the bell

 Learning the history of the school

 Rules for women teachers

 Playing on the Giant Stride.

 The outside of the school

 Lunch time

 First grade reading class

 Braids!

 Fourth-grade reading class

 Time for math

The girls had so much fun!  Too bad it was rainy most of the day, so they didn't get to go out for much of a recess.