Homeschool Nature Class

The Thursday before Earth Day, at Homeschool Nature class, we did a shoreline cleanup and explored a part of our local park that we had never visited before. South Beach was a beautiful spot. One of the kids found a 200 year old blown glass bottle, which was turned over to the local archeology group.









We headed back to the Nature Center, where we were amazed by an up close view of a red tailed hawk preying upon rodents at the feeder area. He was completely unpreturbed by the flock of camera toting homeschoolers following his every move. What an incredible sight!

Happy Birthday, Mikro!

Mikro had a "Bugs & Birds" themed party for his 6th Birthday at the Nature Center. Park naturalist Scott taught a mini-class, took the kids on a bird watching hike, let them feed the birds, and then took them off on a bug hunting expedition. We had ladybug cupcakes (the ones I was up decorating till past 430 am), and a ton of food, and even more fun.

Reading With...

Our homeschool group kicked off a new book club with a reading of Eric Carle's Very Hungry Caterpillar by the awesome 8 year old Z. The idea is for the older kids who are reading to gain confidence and inspire the littler ones by reading aloud to them. It was a great event. After Z's reading, his mom and T, our group's cool and creative leader, had several fun activities planned for us. There were caterpillars and butterflies to make and to color, origami, butterfly pins for the kids, and even milkweed seeds to plant to attract monarchs.

We had a wonderful time! Mikro is really excited about book group and wants to do a reading sometime soon.

















And afterwards, the library where we meet had a special event, at which the kids got to hear a reading of the book on which the PBS Kids series "Martha Speaks" is based, watch an episode, meet a real therapy dog, and do crafts.

Easter & Early Birthday Fun

We went out to my mom & dad's on Good Friday for egg dying and an early celebration of Mikro's birthday. We had lots of fun, made some art, and enjoyed being with family, who absolutely dote on the boy. And he totally impressed them by reading a story to his gramma & grampa.





















At home on Easter, he enjoyed his eclectic collection of gfcf and dinosaur themed goodies, went for a walk, and helped his dad put together his trampoline!