Baby daddy long legs EVERYWHERE!!!

Well, perhaps not EVERYWHERE, but they're heading that way. About a week or so ago the babies hatched...it was rather neat to see. They started out as tiny specks, you could barely see their legs. Now they're about the size of a small gum-ball, legs included. From the time they hatched until now they've stayed very still in their web. As I'd watch, I couldn't see them move at all. As of this morning, they're starting to take off and move further away from the web. I've got to capture them and take them outside ASAP! As much as I've enjoyed watching them grow, I'm also ready to see them go and finally get rid of those cob webs!

Here they are in the lid of a pitcher. Their mom jumped out immediately, so I don't have her to contrast their size to, but they're pretty little still.

My Observations of a Daddy-LongLeg

...Or a Mommy Long-Leg as the case may be.
There has been a "Daddy" long-leg in our bathroom for quite some time. We've been meaning to observe it for quite some time, but we haven't gotten it down just yet. Tonight when I went to take my shower, I noticed an egg sac in HER web. She was quite still and having seen Charlotte's Web a billion or so times, I presumed her to be dead. It appeared as if she was simply having a nice siesta after her late-night snack of autumn mosquito fly for when I gently nudged her web, she quickly sprang forth to gather up her egg sac close to her body to protect her unhatched. It was rather sweet...especially for a spider! It'll be fun to watch those little things hatch--yes, even baby SPIDERS are cute, I have to admit. I will however, be containing them to observe this tender moment...as much as I appreciate what they do for me in the way of insect control, I do NOT want hundreds of baby daddy and mommy long-legs running free in my bathroom!

The Honey Bee

In the springtime, joyous spring-
time,
When the birds begin to sing,
And we hear the murmuring brook-
lets,
Then the bees are on the wing.
When the long, cold days are over
Bees are out to sip the dew
And the nectar from the clover,
Buttercups and daisies blue.

Supers placed above the beehive
For the honey bee to find,
Will be filled if showers are given
To the flowers of every kind.
Then the bees are kind and gentle
"Take it hog," they seem to say;
"We will work again the harder
After the next rainy day.

"And we'll fill again the super,
We don't mind with you to share,
Early morn will find us busy
Gathering honey everywhere.
We just gladly gather honey,
And the wax from off our back
We produce, now is'nt it funny,
No material do we lack.

"For our queen cells we have polen,
Any egg a queen may be,
From the proper food and cover,
We produce a queen, you see.
If some drones we wish for mating,
Other food we must supply,
Just the food we give while waiting
For their hatching by and by."

"But when frost on field and hillside,
In the autumn kills the flower,
And in vain we search for honey,
In each glen and leafy bower,
Then in every hive is stationed
Guards to watch our winter's store,
For if you would rudely take it,
We would search in vain for more.

"And we sting with all our fury,
Take our honey if you dare,
For we want to keep from starving
In the winter, so beware."
There's a moral we may gather
From the busy bee for all,
Gather food stuff in the summer,
And protect it in the fall.

--Nettie Squire Sutton.

Trees
by Sara Coleridge

The Oak is called the king of trees,

The Aspen quivers in the breeze,

The Poplar grows up straight and tall,

The Peach tree spreads along the wall,

The Sycamore gives pleasant shade,

The Willow droops in watery glade,

The Fir tree useful timber gives,

The Beech amid the forest lives.

Science Friday, Take 2

Today we had a very fun Science Friday. I invited 2 homeschooling friends of mine and we did some experiments of Chemical Reactions.
First I cut an apple open and let it oxidize just a bit. I told the children that the browning is a result of a chemical reaction between the apple and the oxygen in the air. Then I showed them the good ol' vinegar and baking soda trick. Who doesn't love that one?? Then I showed them dirty pennies and how the brown-ness is caused by oxidation. We did 2 experiments using pennies--one was just letting them sit in lemon juice and seeing how clean they'd get. That was cool because we were able to correlate it with how you use lemon juice to prevent apples from browning since one of the moms had recently been making dried apples with her children. We also did an experiment that was supposed to be electrochemical plating. It didn't work how it was supposed to. Oh well, not all experiments always work!
The last one was by far the favorite. We made what we lovingly refer to as "GOOZLE"

GOOZLE RECIPE

Mix
1c. water
8oz school glue
(food coloring, if desired--we have found that less color makes it LESS MESSY!)
stir well

in separate container mix:
4tsp borax
1 1/3 c. warm water
stir to dissolve

Slowly pour glue mixture into borax mixture. Stir gently. Take out glob and knead until it dries out a bit. WHAT FUN!!

Wasps vs. Hornets

There are many questions we've been pondering lately...it seems to be a general theme that we've been wondering the differences between two different creatures ie: wasps vs hornets, alligators vs crocodiles, cicadas vs. locusts. I'll try to find out as much as I can, although so far all I've found is that hornets are generally larger than wasps and they are both classified as yellow jackets.

Cicada


Locust


Cicadas are very interesting creatures--they actually live underground for 17 years before emerging and climbing a tree to lay their eggs. Fascinating. Apparently they do less damage than locusts, but they're often confused for locusts. Cicadas also shed their skin on the trees they lay their eggs in, so if you ever see a tree covered in bug skins, they're probably from cicadas.

As far as alligators and crocodiles go, I'll have to attack (no pun intended) that one later...one thing I have learned is that South Florida is the only place on earth that alligators and crocodiles both live in their natural habitats. Note to self: do not go on vacation to South Florida.

I love it when things coincide!

The other day Savannah read a section out of the Christian Liberty Nature reader about butterflies. It talked about how they lay their eggs on cabbage leaves, but they'd never eat cabbage. We then read the first story out of Parables From Nature about the exact same thing. The parable was about a butterfly who entrusted her eggs to a lowly caterpillar right before she died. The caterpillar fretted because she had no idea how to care for beautiful winged creatures. She asked the Lark what she should do and the Lark came back telling her that the eggs would turn into caterpillars and better yet, one day soon she'd be a butterfly herself. She wouldn't believe it until one day the eggs hatched and there they were, hundreds of tiny caterpillars. It gave her hope for her future as a beautiful butterfly. It really is a beautiful story and it was so neat that the two stories went together.

We also read about honey bees and looked up pictures on the internet of honey bees with their little pollen sacs full of pollen (hence my current header photo). God is truly amazing with his Creation. The intricate details of honey bees and how they carry pollen from plant to plant while benefiting themselves and their colony. It's nothing shy of awesome!

Our First "Science Friday"

Today we used the book, Rocket Science, and started with experiment #1, Levers. It was a basic introduction to the lever, fulcrum and force. We used a ruler and marker to lift a book, we changed the position of the fulcrum to see how that changed how the force was exerted. We did another experiment using spoons--it didn't go exactly how it was supposed to, but we successfully identified the lever, fulcrum and force--after checking the book that is! We discovered that the force was placed on the round part of the spoon, the fulcrum was the point of the spoon right below the round part that touches the table and the handle was the lever. Once we had that down, we began to have a bit of fun. We set up various levers (the best one being the ruler as the lever and a small can of tomato paste for the fulcrum) and we practiced launching various objects through the house. It was fun!! We lengthened the lever, we shortened the lever and we ended up with quite the mess to clean up (thankfully the tin full of Altoids stayed closed on impact!!). I'm not sure how much information stuck, but the basic principles were introduced...and I'm sure next time Savannah is trying to move a heavy object, she'll consider using a lever!

Formulating a "Schedule"

I've created this blog to keep track of our progress on our homeschooling journey. I've come across so many awesome websites and blogs that have truly inspired me (see list of links to the right). I'd love to be one of those blogs one of these days, but for now, this is just a record of what we're doing...how we're doing it...and what the results are.

We starting homeschooling last year with Savannah (age 5 at the time). We just focused on the basics...reading, writing and arithmetic. Since I had a little one, I didn't want to start off too intense, and kindergarten is supposed to be mellow anyway, right? This year I've got both Savannah and Abby to work with--and while I'm taking it slow with Abby, I'm going to try to implement a lot more of the Charlotte Mason philosophy into her daily "school" routine. We're using Ambleside Online as our guideline and we're slowly working to adapt our routine to fit our family. So today I was working on my schedule for how things are going to transpire...it's amazing how many things I want to implement...and I know if we go along with what Charlotte Mason recommends, we'll be fine...but sometimes I find it all a bit overwhelming. I just keep telling myself, little bits at a time. Lessons are short, fun and hands on. I'm learning with them...and most of all, I'm learning to be more patient, understanding, organized and creative myself. That's the biggest blessing in homeschooling in my opinion. I think I'm homeschooling my children more for my benefit than for theirs. Okay, not really, but almost!
Here is a list of everything I eventually want to implement:

• History (The Story of the World--on CD I also have the activity book, but I'm not sure how much of it we'll use. There definitely looks like there is a lot of fun stuff! -- We're also reading Our Island Story which is a history of Britian)
  
• Geography (We're learning about the Great Lakes through Paddle to the Sea, but I'd also like for the girls, and myself for that matter, to learn the states and their locations, so I'm going to try out Audio Memory to learn the states and capitals)
  
• German
  
• Art (I'd like to focus on water coloring this year, since it's something children naturally enjoy, and I've always been fascinated by it...I'd love to learn some techniques and give the girls some skills to use in their nature journals)
  
• Artist Study
  
• Composer Study
  
• Nature Study
  
• Piano (I'm going to try an at-home program to begin with...and see if we'll go to lessons from there. I'd love to put them straight into lessons, but the cost is somewhat prohibitive)
  

In addition to the above, I'd also like to implement a weekly Tea Time where we have tea, listen to classical music, have a little snack and work on some handicrafts. I'd like to start with some very simple stitchery to give the girls something fun and productive to do with their hands. I'm also going to start a science day. I've got a book called The Backyard Scientist and also one called Rocket Science that my neighbor lent to me that I'd like to take one experiment a week and give it a whirl. This is something I could get the neighborhood kids involved in too. Now that Luke is getting older, I also want to start taking some field trips.

For Math we're using Math U See and Savannah went from disliking math strongly to loving it! HORRAY!!! For reading I'm using The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading, however, Savannah is so ridiculously advanced in reading that I'm having her read out of the Christian Liberty Nature Reader and narrate it to me. Abby struggles a bit with reading, so we'll probably take it very slow with a combination of The Ordinary Parents Guide and BOB books. She'll get it when she's ready. Penmanship is pretty easy for both of them. Abby is working on her uppercase letters and is about to start on lowercase, then I'll have her to simple copywork. Savannah does copywork out of the Bible, and I've decided to give her shorter verses and insist that they're done perfectly.
We're reading a chapter a day out of their children's Bible and then they narrate it to me. Actually, for now, I tend to do the narrations...I want them to hear how a narration should go and I have a hard time letting them narrate when some of the "facts" they come up with are simply not true. If it were from another book, I'd probably let it slide...but from the Bible I'm a stickler for accuracy!! :)

So there you have it. We're going to start full-bore when the children in the neighborhood go back to school...or probably the week following that since they return to school on a Wednesday. As I refine things, I'll add to this...and as I find interesting links, I'll be sure to add them!