A Hidden Habitat

I haven't written on this blog for a very long time now... almost 5 years now. In fact, I haven't written much at all in the past year. But, I miss it, so I may try keeping up with this blog again, if I can find the time.

Hannah is wrapping up her freshman year at the local high school, which Ben will also attend when he is a freshman next year. Becca is finishing 6th grade, and Kayla will actually be old enough for kindergarten next year!

I have been furthering my own education a bit as well. In the fall, I completed classes to become an Ohio Certified Volunteer Naturalist (OCVN), and this spring, I attended the Environmental Education Council of Ohio (EECO) annual conference. I have loved nature education since I was in college and worked at the Philadelphia Zoo. Though my certification was in Social Studies Secondary Education, I always had a longing to teach about nature and wildlife. Because of this passion, I have been volunteering a lot at our local nature center. I recently helped with a 5-week nature journaling program for 4th graders at an urban elementary school, and I will be assisting with many field trips at the nature center this spring. I love it!

I have also been incorporating even more environmental education into our homeschooling. This week, Ben had to take the state Geometry test on two separate mornings as part of his preparation for entering high school. The beautiful weather inspired me to take the rest of the school day outdoors.

We walked around our property and talked about nature - what we saw and what we wondered about. Becca kept dashing around looking under rocks and logs for red-backed salamanders, which we find all over our property. She did find a few, including this large gray one and one that measured only an inch from head to tail.

As we rounded the "hairpin," as the kids call the sharp bend in the walking path around our property, we glanced at all of the logs in various stages of decay next to the path. "Hey," I told her, "you should see if you can flip one of those really rotting logs and see what you find underneath." The log ended up being so rotten that it pulled apart instead of turning over.

 First, we noticed patches of white fungus spread across the inside of the log.

As we looked closer, we began to see even more signs of life: a tiny mushroom, a spider web and a small brown spider, myriads of tunnels with reddish brown ants scurrying through them, a salamander, a centipede, a beetle, and five or six of these beautifully colored millipedes. An entire miniature ecosystem lay hidden within an old log on the forest floor.

We decided to examine the millipedes a little more closely before returning them safely to their

rotting log. We learned that they are called Euryurus leachii, or Leach's millipede, and they primarily live in decaying hardwoods. Apparently, they even glow under a black light, though we didn't have the opportunity to test that out.

Becca, in particular, seemed to love this investigation. She and I talked about all of the things she had found, as we walked back toward the house. She wanted to find some way to demonstrate what she had learned. At first, she mentioned drawing a picture, but then we discussed other ways she could model the hidden habitat we had discovered. When we got inside, she instantly collected her craft supplies and got to work. I love her final results!

On the outside/front, she used green yarn to create a soft bed of moss with patches of bark showing through. She added a turkey tail fungus to the edge.

The front flips up to reveal the inside of the log, where she drew a millipede, ants and their tunnels, a centipede, a worm, a spider and a web, a mushroom, and streaks of white fungus.

I look forward to doing even more nature exploring with the kids in the future. I am amazed at how much we can learn when we begin to ask questions and look beneath the surface of what we see.  Just as we had to peel back the layers of the log to see the hidden world inside, we can also discover hidden realms of knowledge by just taking the time to stop and dig a little deeper into the world around us.

Toucans and Animal Art

My parents subscribe to Ranger Rick and Your Big Backyard for the kids, and we always look forward to the new magazines each month. Last month, one of the issues included a section about toucans. We read through the article together, learning all about their beaks and how they work. To Hannah's delight, the issue included a page about drawing toucans. Since Ben struggles a bit with drawing and Hannah sometimes struggles with following directions, I went through the page step by step, pointing out how to look at small portion of the image and draw what they see, and not just what they expect to see. Hannah's toucan ended up looking quite nice:

I expressed to Hannah how much I loved her drawing, and she told me that she had learned how to draw a toucan in her "How to Draw Animals" book. She proceeded to draw another picture.

In fact, drawing animals has become one of her new pastimes, and she is becoming better and better with all of her practice. I will share a few of her animal drawings.

An armadillo:

A wombat:

A komodo dragon:

I love watching her artistic ability develop and improve, and I look forward to seeing what she does with it someday - whether it becomes a vocation or simply a hobby she enjoys. Either way, I will always remain her biggest fan!

Autumn at the Zoo

Hannah turned seven on Tuesday, and, as we often do on our kids' birthdays, Josh took the day off, and we took a surprise trip to the zoo. I love visiting the zoo in the fall. First of all, on a weekday, students are in school, and, especially in the afternoons when any school groups have left, we have the zoo nearly to ourselves. The weather was beautiful and sunny, neither too warm nor too cool, and the fall leaves added a splash of lovely color to our day.

On such wonderful, warm autumn days, many of the animals move around more, because they are not uncomfortably hot or cold, and the shier animals often come out instead of hiding from the crowds.

This autumn afternoon did not disappoint us! When we reached the flamingo exhibit, we could hear them squawking loudly at each other. Two of the flamingos in the very back had their feathers all ruffled up as they made their raucous noises.

The penguins enjoyed the lovely weather as well.

Birds in the African aviary seemed less afraid to show themselves as we stood quietly in their exhibit. This bird perched quite close to me for a little while.

And, the East African Crowned Cranes strutted around next to the walkway.

The big African cats, more comfortable in warmer weather, appreciated the chance to lounge in the warm fall sunshine.


As we walked through the Australian section of the zoo, we heard nearly deafening screams and wails coming from the gibbon cage nearby. We hurried over to that area and saw that the zookeepers had confined one gibbon in the caged portion of the exhibit while allowing the rest of the group to roam outdoors. Apparently, these apes did not like being separated and loudly expressed their displeasure to the entire zoo! They whooped and wailed and shrieked back and forth to each other, calling to each other in a clamorous frenzy.

As we watched, we observed the caged gibbon puffing out his throat like a frog before he howled to the others. After a while, we moved on, partly because their loud noises actually hurt the kids' ears. I told them they often sound like that on their rowdier days. They did not seem to appreciate the comparison...

Heading to the orangutan exhibit, we noticed both auburn apes settling down for a nap. The male climbed to the lower platform with an armful of dried grass.

The female rested herself against the glass with a dreamy expression on her face.

She even looked right at me for a photo!

We wrapped up our visit by heading to Hannah's favorite place - the manatee exhibit. Of course, all three kids had to pose on the sculpture for a picture.

Hannah always loves seeing the sting rays.

This one appeared to like seeing people as well. It swam over to the glass and hovered near Hannah as she watched him. It almost looked like it was smiling, and we could clearly see its many teeth.

Because it was Hannah's birthday, Josh took her to the gift shop and allowed her to pick a small present for herself. She chose a tiny stuffed penguin, just like the baby emperor penguins in the movie March of the Penguins. She named him Fluffers and wrote about him in her journal yesterday. I must say that I am impressed at how accurate her drawing has become, at least when she tries to draw exactly what she sees. Her penguin drawing is pretty impressive, I think, though I may be a bit biased, of course!

The other drawing is a giant tortoise, drawn from memory, so not quite as accurate. Still, I am beginning to think that Hannah may very well become an author and illustrator someday, just as she wrote to Mo Willems.

Overall, we enjoyed our autumn trip to the zoo on Tuesday. The animals entertained us, we learned quite a bit, and we also had a lot of fun. Hopefully, we will return to the zoo very soon, perhaps for another fall fun day!

Why I Love Mo Willems

Although Hannah loves to read longer chapter books, she still takes delight in shorter picture books, too. Last year, in kindergarten, she fell in love with the Knuffle Bunny and Pigeon books by Mo Willems. I had never heard of the books, so when we first went to the library, we checked out Knuffle Bunny and Knuffle Bunny, Too. The books are definitely simple enough for young readers, but the illustrations and humor can win over adults and older kids as well. Hannah certainly loves them!

Anyway, I no longer remember what I was trying to find online, but I stumbled across Mo Willems' web site and blog, which included his fan mail address and some of his favorite letters and drawings from young fans. When I told Hannah she could write him a letter, she was thrilled and began working on it at once. I wish I had saved a copy of the letter and drawing she did for him, but she placed it in the sealed envelope, and we mailed it before I thought about it. I do remember that her letter explained that her kindergarten teacher had read her some of his books, and that she writes her own books as well. She told him, "I want to be an author and illustrator just like you," and then she signed her name, adding at the end, "PS... I am 6 years old."

Not very long later (maybe a month?), we received a brown envelope in the mail, addressed to Hannah, with a tiny drawing of Knuffle Bunny next to the address. Inside, she had the following letter:

Well, I don't know who was more excited by the letter - me or Hannah! I do know that Hannah could not stop grinning as she read it over and over again. I love that the letter was completely personalized in response to what she wrote, and not just a form letter. He obviously took a little time with it, drawing a picture for her alongside his name. My favorite part, however, is that he encouraged her to keep writing and drawing, not to be just like him, but to be herself! It immediately inspired her to begin creating another book, and of course, she wants to send a copy to her favorite author - Mo Willems!

Loving the Library

As part of our homeschool routine this year, we visit the library every other Monday morning. That gives us time to read the books we choose, while also allowing us to rotate the books regularly to match our lessons and interests. Usually we pick out a few books to fit with a school theme, while the kids choose other books simply because they look fun or interesting.

Last week, while browsing the non-fiction section, I noticed a nice picture book about John James Audubon. Written as a poem/letter from Audubon to his father, explaining his passion for studying birds and nature, the story interspersed various writings from his journals and his actual paintings of birds alongside the lovely illustrations in the book. As an aspiring author and illustrator, Hannah grew more and more delighted as she learned Audubon's story. As soon as I finished reading her the book, she leaped up from the couch and announced, "I'm doing that! I'm going to draw pictures of birds and bugs and sea creatures when I grow up!"

She asked if she could draw some pictures instead of doing her Sing, Spell, Read and Write that afternoon, and I agreed. First, she brought her pumpkin to the school table and studied it carefully, drawing exactly what she saw, just as Audubon did. Then, she took a second piece of paper and wrote a brief paragraph:

"This is a pumpkin that I drew all by my self! I copied a real pumpkin. We also might make pumpkin pie or bars. I really like my pumpkin."

When she had completed that page, she asked permission to get two apples out of the refrigerator, and she drew those as well. She had one large, green apple with a stem, and one small red apple with no stem, and she again focused on drawing each one as she saw it. She finished by writing another paragraph:

"These are two different kids of apples. They are two different colors. One is red and one is green. They look so yummy that I think I am going to have to eat them for a snack."

I love seeing books inspire my children to learn, and I love having the flexibility to change my schedule as needed to accommodate their excitement for what they are learning. Sometimes their creativity extends my lesson plans beyond what I even expected to teach, and, thanks to a wonderful public library, we have a fresh supply of books to broaden our knowledge and kick off new ideas for studying and exploring the world.

The Wheel on the School

Last week, Hannah and I finished the first chapter book we worked on together - The Wheel on the School by Miendert DeJong. What a lovely book! We both fell in love with it from the very first page. Lina, the main character, is so sweet and thoughtful and full of dreams. She reminds me very much of my Hannah!

At first, the book focuses only on the school children and their teacher, as they are the only "important" characters in the story. But gradually, more and more characters become "important" until the list includes the whole town and even some people in adjacent towns: the oldest man and woman, the young tots, the fathers, the women, the poor tin man, and even the once-outcast legless man with a cherry tree in his back yard. By the end of the book, everyone has come together to make Lina's "impossibly impossible" dream a reality.

Last Friday, Josh surprised Ben by taking him away for the weekend to a Virginia Tech football game with all of the guys on that side of the family. Since I didn't have to plan any school work for Ben that day, I decided to spend the whole day with Hannah working on a project to wrap up our reading of the book. I planned to do three lapbooks - one on the book, one on the Netherlands, and one on storks. In advance, I found a few printables from homeschoolshare.com, and I designed a few booklets myself. Using some non-fiction books from the library about the Netherlands and storks, Hannah and I planned out the rest of the ideas. She did most of the writing, though I wrote the titles on each item and the tiny labels on the timeline. I also filled in the main character list, when her hand became tired. Of course, she helped me by listing characters and describing the main events. Once we finished assembling the lapbooks, Hannah decorated the cover of each one. I am absolutely amazed at how they turned out!

The cover for the book lapbook:

The inside of the book lapbook:

The cover of the Netherlands lapbook:

The inside of the Netherlands lapbook:

The cover of the stork lapbook:

The inside of the stork lapbook:

In addition, during play time yesterday, I noticed that Hannah had used her Legos to build a replica of the village of Shora. The little girl even has on a pair of wooden shoes!

Amazingly, Hannah has nearly finished reading the entire book for a second time on her own! The reading level is fairly challenging, but she loves the story so much that she does not mind. This is one reason why we opted to homeschool this year. Last year, school exhausted her so much that she never wanted to read on her own anymore. She seemed to have lost her love of reading. Obviously, that love returned once we provided a more restful and academically stimulating school environment. I am very excited by how this project turned out, and I am already considering our next one when we finish our new chapter book. I love how much fun learning can be - for my kids and for me!

A Matter of Science...

... or perhaps I should title this "The Science of Matter."

One disadvantage of buying my curriculum online is that I do not always know if it will meet my expectations. For that reason, I debated about this science curriculum for a long time before I finally purchased it. In fact, I think it sat in my Amazon cart for almost 6 months before I finally committed to buying it. However, after a little over a week of school, I can say that I am more than delighted with this book! It has exceeded all of my expectations so far.

The author of this book, Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding, is an environmental scientist who dislikes the random fashion most elementary science curricula use to present topics. He decided to create a book to teach even young children to think about science as a whole and to see how various topics build on each other. Rather than jumping from animals to weather to rocks to plants, this curriculum weaves together different branches of science while guiding students to think as scientists.

Using the book, we began with the idea of organizing things into categories. We practiced grouping items around the room into categories, and I showed them how to complete larger jigsaw puzzles using the same idea. First, we categorized pieces into edges and non-edges. Then, we grouped them by color. A seemingly impossible task quickly became much simpler.

This week, building upon that idea, I introduced the concept of matter and its three states - solid, liquid, and gas. We found various items around the house and organized them into these three categories. I showed them that all of the liquids needed containers to keep them from flowing into the carpet. Josh even explained "viscosity" to them, and they could identify which liquids had higher or lower viscosity. We experimented with ice and butter on the stove and saw how matter could change from one state to another, and we also discussed how living things are a combination of the three states - not just one.

As a final project, I put together a small book, with a label or sentence on each page, and I allowed the kids to write and draw what they learned about matter. I gave them a lot of freedom, though I required that they write at least one thing on each page and I assisted them with spelling if needed. I was so impressed! Their books showed just how much they really learned about the subject:

Ben, age 5 (kindergarten):


Hannah, age 6 (first grade):