Getting Their Hands Dirty

The kids had a field trip to a greenhouse planned through their preschool today. Despite the rain, we bundled up in sweatshirts and raincoats and made the long drive to the nursery.

When everyone first arrived, the kids were in constant motion and anxious to get started. Joyce, the wonderful woman who led the group, heard a bird whistling nearby and gestured to the class to calm down a bit. Then, she explained to the children that if they could be still and quiet they could go see a bird nesting in the rocks a short distance away. As the kids nodded, she led them across the parking lot to a place where a killdeer had a tiny nest among the rocks.

The small eggs, nestled in the rocks next to the white water pipe, are light gray with black speckles and blend in so well that most of the kids could not even see them! When the male and female both began squawking at us, we quickly moved the kids over to the greenhouse to begin the tour.

After admiring many beautiful plants and flowers, the kids had the opportunity to plant their own flowers. They each picked a lovely, decorative pastel flower pot and lined up at the planting table to wait for instructions.

Next, they filled their pots with soil.

After making a hole in the soil, they placed a pretty, red begonia into the pot, filled the remaining space with more soil, and patted it down.

The whole class had a great time and learned a bit about plants, too. I think we'll be making a return trip in a couple weeks once we put in our garden, so we can purchase some vegetables as well. I hope the kids will be just as excited to help me with our new garden. Maybe they'll even like weeding...

A "Toad-ally" Tiring Day

We had to attend a six-hour class at church today, and the kids had a very long day in the child care program. They had a lot of fun, but were very tired by the time we went home. In light of this, we tried to make the evening fun for them as a reward for behaving so well all day.

Right after a short nap, we proclaimed "backwards night," which means that we have dinner for dessert and dessert for dinner. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner of cookies-and-cream ice cream/chocolate animal cracker sundaes, with macaroni and cheese for dessert, and then we took the kids outside to blow bubbles in the yard. After running and yelling and chasing bubbles for an hour, we finally dragged our exhausted family back inside.

Well, everyone came in except for Hannah and Josh, so I went back out to see what was taking them so long. Hannah immediately greeted me, squealing and jumping all around me. "Look what we found! Look what we found!" Josh held out his hands and handed me a lovely reddish-brown toad, all covered with grass. I put it in a large tupperware bowl and let the kids examine it for a little while before releasing him back into the yard.

Hannah drew a picture of him on Ben's magna-doodle. It actually was pretty good for a hastily drawn sketch! It's a side view, and I labeled the parts to make it more recognizable. It doesn't show up as well in a small photo.

We trudged upstairs for baths and bed, but the kids amazingly were not quite worn out yet. After Bible time, we started singing the song "Undignified," because we had been talking about David. Hannah and Ben yelled, "Again!" so Josh pulled out my guitar and we sang the song while the kids had their own version of a mosh pit in the middle of the room. After mandating a safer form of dancing, we proceeded to sing "Holy is the Lord," which is one of the kids' favorite songs. Hannah kept running over to me and saying things like, "I just thanked God for everything He made!" and "The earth really is full of His glory!" She was just so excited, it made my heart glad. We sang two more songs and then tucked three exhausted kids into their beds.

It was a "toad-ally" tiring day! Pardon the pun...

A Knack for Numbers

On Thursday, I worked with Hannah on learning to tell time. She and Ben already know how to read the time on a digital clock, but neither could read a traditional clock. In her math lessons, Hannah has mastered counting by fives and writing tally marks, so understanding the minutes on a clock came fairly easily to her. Ben, however, began begging me to do some math with him.

When we began this math book, Hannah knew her numbers and shapes, so we did a few practice pages and then skipped ahead to learning about place value. This proved to be quite difficult for her, though. The curriculum we use explains it very clearly, with hands-on activities, and she eventually understood, though not without a few tears along the way.

Anyway, because she skipped so many lessons, I could use those to work a bit with Ben. Just like Hannah, Ben knew all of the introductory lessons. Unlike her, though, he already knows numbers up to 99. I did not teach these to him. He somehow just picked them up from our daily conversations.

We got to the place value chapter and I hesitated. Did I really want to attempt such a frustrating lesson with Ben yet? "Please, mom!" he begged, so I pulled out the "Decimal Street" poster and the ten, units, and hundreds blocks from the kit. I showed him how the numbers worked and how to identify place value. And, it clicked for him... just like that! In about five to ten minutes, he figured out place value and now can read any number up to 999. Crazy, huh?

I am realizing that Ben just seems to have a knack for numbers. Like his dad, he also enjoys taking things apart and figuring out how things work. We are fortunate that he does not have access to any real tools quite yet. One of his favorite presents was a rocket we launched (and promptly lost) in a park near our house.

The kids are so different and uniquely gifted. While Hannah seems very interested in science, she enjoys life science and nature more than Ben. On the other hand, Ben seems more interested in mechanical and engineering science. I cannot wait to see how their interests blossom as they grow older!

Does Ben have "The Knack"?

Zoo Fun

Last Friday, for Ben's birthday, we took a fun family field trip to the Columbus Zoo. The day was perfect - bright and sunny and unseasonably warm!

When we arrived, we raced through the parking lot to get in line to see the new baby elephant, born at the end of March. We waited for about 40 minutes, which was a bit rough for the kids, but members of the zoo's education department stood at various points in the line with animals for the kids to see and touch - an armadillo, a tortoise, and even a flamingo! When we finally reached the viewing area, the wait was definitely worth it! It was the tiniest elephant I have ever seen!

We swung through the Asian exhibits before heading across the zoo for a late lunch. The tiger, who frequently hides out of sight, must have been enjoying the warmer temperature as well. He walked across the hill, jumped down to the lower area, and then walked around roaring for a while. The kids loved it! They had never heard a tiger roar before.

We ate in the African section of the zoo, claiming one of the only empty tables, next to a window. While we were eating, we watched a few grackles and a mallard duck wander past the window. Then, suddenly, Hannah screamed, "Look! It's a chinchilla!" Raising my eyebrows a bit, I looked out the window and saw a tiny brown mouse scurrying back and forth in the dirt. I explained that it was just a mouse, but the kids sat with their faces pressed against the glass for quite a while just watching the mouse.

When I asked Hannah at the end of the day which animal was her favorite, she replied, "The baby elephant... and the mouse!"

After lunch, we visited the African animals.

Gorillas, one of which sat and made this face the whole time we were there:

Bonobos, which are related to chimpanzees, I believe:

And okapis, strange animals that look like a cross between a giraffe, a donkey, and a zebra:

We headed to the aquarium next, where a stingray instantly swam over to us and began following Hannah's finger on the glass. He almost looked like he enjoyed visitors.

The manatees are amazing creatures as well:

Finally, we ended the day by swinging through the reptile house so Becca could see a snake. When we told her we were going to the zoo that day, she exclaimed that she wanted to see dinosaurs. We had to explain that she could not see those, so she settled on snakes as the next best thing. She's a girl after her mama's heart!

Springtime Science

Last summer, we raised and released butterflies. This year, with Ben's birthday coming up, I began browsing through an Insect Lore catalog that came in the mail and stumbled across the perfect present. It arrived yesterday.

I quickly removed it from the box and told Ben that it was an early birthday present. "What is it?" Ben asked. Becca excitedly yelled, "Yuck! It's a poop!"

"No," I laughed. "It's a praying mantis egg case." I explained that in a few weeks, one or two hundred tiny praying mantises would emerge from the egg and we would release them in our yard. We already find quite a few in our bushes each spring, so I know this is a good habitat for them, and maybe they will keep pests out of the vegetable garden I am planning.

After the kids oohhhed and ahhhed for a while, they lost interest in the odd-looking brown object, and it currently sits on our mantle waiting for signs of life...

Additionally, as I shopped, I discovered another wonderful project that I remembered fondly from my days as a zoo educator. The catalog sold owl pellet dissection kits, which were somewhat pricey, but it also listed individual owl pellets. Because of my experience with these in the past, I knew I could just buy the pellets and use tweezers and magnifying glasses we already had at home. I ordered two pellets.

My parents recently lent us an old book called Character Sketches, which uses Scripture and animals to teach character qualities. Though it is designed for older children and some of the ideas are a little outdated, it provides a helpful resource for encouraging character in my kids. The first animal in the book happened to be the Great Horned Owl.

When the pellets arrived, I began by reading a bit of the information on owls from the book, and we talked a little about putting others needs ahead of our own convenience, which the owl's nesting habits demonstrate. Then, I told the kids how owls swallow their prey mostly whole but cannot digest the bones and fur. An owl's body creates a lump of bones and fur as it digests the mouse or other animal, and then it spits out the pellet onto the ground. I showed them the small (dried and disinfected) pellets I had purchased. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that removing the tiny bones from the dried pellets was very delicate and tedious work. They watched for a while, and then I finished the job while they played, coming over at various points to look at the different bones I found.

We found a lot of bones in the two pellets, likely from one tiny and two larger rodents.


We found quite a few ribs and vertebrae:


Some leg bones:


And a couple of nice skulls with the teeth:


I had one full skull, but I accidentally stepped on it when I was taking pictures on the porch and Ben kept slamming the door...

Finally, the kids were very excited yesterday because the flowers they planted at the cabin are beginning to sprout. They can't wait until they are big enough to plant outside.


So I guess yesterday was spring science day! We covered insects and their life cycles, owls and their eating habits, and plants and seeds. The kids thought yesterday was just a lot of fun!

A Real Bear?

My dad sent the kids this photoshopped picture from their bear hunt at the cabin:

When I showed them, their eyes widened. Ben said, "I didn't even know there was a real bear there!"

"Yeah," I said, "Good thing it wasn't hungry..."

March Comes in Like a Lion But Goes Out Like...

A couple years ago, my parents purchased a beautiful cabin in the woods, about halfway between Philadelphia and Ohio. We love to meet them there for weekends and enjoy spending time outdoors. Last weekend, now that the threat of surprise snowstorms and dangerous driving has passed, we made the trek for the first time this spring.

The kids love being outside and exploring, but our urban backyard near a busy street limits their freedom quite a bit here at home.

They poked sticks in the pond...

collected pine cones and floated them in the stream...

and ran around to their hearts' content!

We even caught a small newt near the pond. After everyone examined it, we returned him to the water where he would be safe from little fingers. Becca still affectionately talks about the "nude" we found!

On Saturday evening, despite the slight, misty drizzle, my dad suggested going on a "bear hunt" referencing one of the kids' favorite books. The kids jumped up and down excitedly, as I snapped raincoats and my dad passed out flashlights.

We walked back past the pond and into the woods, which largely consist of widely spaced evergreen trees and acres of rhododendrons. The kids ran ahead, shining their flashlights behind trees and under bushes, looking for bears.

The closest they got to a bear was a "scary" old rusty pipe that they thought was a bear until they ran up and touched it. Good thing we didn't expect to find any real bears!

The next morning, my mom pulled out two kits for planting sunflower seeds. We filled the pots with dirt, and the kids put seeds in the little holes we made and then soaked the soil with water. Even Becca joined in the fun. My parents and I each took a pot home to sprout, and then we will plant the sunflowers in our yards once they are big enough.

We always hate leaving, but we had a beautiful drive home. The clouds looked spectacular, and at one rest stop, the sun peeked through the clouds in the middle of a brief rainstorm and created the most beautiful rainbow. Ben yelled, excitedly, "A rainbow tells us about God's love!" I am glad to know that he is learning from our family Bible time and from Sunday School... and that he gets the important ideas and not just the stories.

About an hour from home the snow started... perhaps spring has not quite arrived after all!