[Field Trip] ASNC: Trees and Plants

Austin has so many hidden treasures. We hiked into the Zilker preserve and I was taken with its beauty.






V is one of our budding naturalists. Here she's rescuing a trampled spider. Mark my words, this little one is going to grow up and work with animals, or insects, or something of that nature. :)



We tasted some edible native plants. One tasted like cucumber, broccoli, and a lemon flavored one. I'll have to update with the plant names as I've misplaced my list, but quite tasty I must say. We also were reminded how to recognize poison ivy and stay away.



As the children were leaving, I was reminded how fortunate we all are to have the ASNC and the opportunity to use it with our schooling.

Animals, Animals!

Perspective Drawings Using Pastels

Tadpoles, Thinking Maps, Story Writing, and Habitats

Mystery photo must have been taken by a student while we were looking through our Nature book.



I was excited to bring in Thinking Maps during our project on amphibians. 
A flow map demonstraing the life cycle of a frog.



The double bubble map to compare and contrast between frogs and toads.






This was the week we got the tadpoles. Two little guys went belly up, however, a month later, one remains and is quite big and puffy! :)



































We wrapped up our amphibian focus with frog habitats and reading through Frog and Toad during storytime after outside play, and a homeschooling field trip to the ASNC for their topic on amphibians.

Amazing Amphibians at the ASNC

Over In the Garden

Having the opportunity to start a small garden at the schoolhouse is something that brings me great joy. When I had the preschool in my home, one of our favorite past times was spending time in our garden. The children were so small then, however, it was a part of our program that they enjoyed during our time together, especially harvesting the delicious veggies, being able to enjoy fresh organic lettuce, beautiful japanese eggplant, or eat unusual veggies such as these purple carrots. Munching from the herb garden was also a favorite of some of the children.

Even though our first garden at our schoolhouse is a small one, it's a start, just as my first garden was at my home. Our current expanded home garden is the result of several years of laborious, yet gratifying work, much of which involved our whole family.  It is my hope that the children will be able to enjoy this activity at the schoolhouse just as much as it was enjoyed at my home. Perhaps one day, we can begin to plan a larger phase of gardening, and build a mandala garden as a community.

Potluck and Star Party

On Sunday night we met at the school and for an impromptu family potluck. It was a clear night and the moon rose early so Damon's dad brought his telescope to view the moon, Jupiter and Mars. The kids had a great time being at school at night, and took turns looking through the telescope.