Field Trip Journal - Shepherd's Cross Pumpkin Patch

We had a practically perfect day at the pumpkin patch as Mary Poppins would say. We said so too, especially since we got to go with our awesome homeschool group and our sweet friends from out of town. We went on a circuit of activities at the farm - games first and pics with the pumpkins.

 Then it was on to the hay maze and finding the pumpkins under the hay.

 Next came the petting zoo with lots of pets from the younger crowd.

Then we watched a short video about a pumpkin and ended with a hay ride.

 Sweet parts.



The weather was gorgeous but the farmer mentioned the drought that has been going on so we're just praying for more rain for our neck of the woods.

School Journal - Fall Themes

For Betty's Pre-K/Kindergarten, we've been delving into the fall themes like most everybody else. In September, we had fun with apples. See links below. We also had a taste testing that all the kids got involved with. There was one of us who shall remain nameless that was quite upset at us using all those apples and then wasting them. Said child threw into a tantrum with sulking and crying because (s)he loved apples so much (s)he just couldn't stand to see any wasted. After a lengthy heart to heart and reassurance from mom that there would be no casualties, the taste testing began. We each sampled a bite from each apple and talked about how the apples looked, smelled, felt and tasted. Then I had them leave the room and I had them guess the mystery apple. The two older kids guessed correctly. The unhappy child that started out the testing was by this time quite happy and asking to do it again. :) Go figure!



Part of our apple supply went to artistic pursuits. Believe it or not this was the first time I had ever done apple prints with any of my kiddos. Look at the delight on this one's face!

This one's delight had much less to do with apples and more to do with mess. ;)

In October, we focused on pumpkins and leaves. Although the leaves in our area are just now hitting their peak color. We may do a few things more leaf things yet. Bo loved transfering candy pumpkins to a pumpkin ice cube tray from Target's $1 aisle.

Betty has really been enjoying her Spin and Graph from 2 Teaching Mommies. (See below.)

Bo has just been enjoying gluing on anything he can find. Which is plenty! Ha!



Apple Link:

http://www.2teachingmommies.com/2011/09/apple-unit-expanded.html

Leaf Link:

http://www.2teachingmommies.com/2011/09/leaves-unit-expanded.html

Pumpkin Link:

http://www.2teachingmommies.com/2011/10/pumpkins-expanded.html

Fall Fun Preschool Pack:

http://www.homeschoolcreations.com/preschoolpacks.html

Field Trip Journal - Zoo Trip

What can I say? The weather was perfect. The last day of our year pass. Daddy's last day of work at his job. The kids have been begging. All good reasons to hit the zoo for a fun field trip.


Our first stop was the Siamang jungle gym where the kids try their hand at being siamangs.

 Then we hit the meerkats basking in the sun.

I guess this lemur just wanted to see more of the action. He was peering over his cage at the people animals outside.

The flamingos are usually outside but I also got the construction of the new sea lion exhibit in the background.

Hyacinth Macaw.

 Komodo Dragon. This one's a baby.

 Some lizard that I can't remember.

 Two monkeys that I can't identify either.

Playground Action.

 Serious motorcycle dude.

We hardly ever get to see the Cheetah up and walking around.

See those two brown things next to the leaves in the center of the pic? Those are the sloth's toes curled over the edge of a wall in the rainforest exhibit.

One of our faves - the tamarins.

Kingly nap.

 The arctic fox.

The baby chimpanzee was hanging from the tree branch swinging over the older ones on the ground.

Giraffe trying for a bit of green on the ground.

Had to run by the zebras for Betty.

Always a hit - the train!

We were exhausted after it was all over, but we had a great time at the zoo. See ya next time!

Field Trip Journal - Oxley Nature Center

Here's some pics from our recent trip to the nature center. I went here as a girl so it was fun to take the kids along and let them experience it for themselves. We hiked for quite a while and Betty and Bo were both wanting me to hold them. And Betty kept saying she was scared, but she says that anytime she's in an unknown situation, so we just pressed on. We found some cool tracks and enjoyed the flowers and the swamp areas. I wish we had time to stop and just listen and maybe sketch something in our nature journal that we found, but maybe next time. It was a perfect day and so gorgeous.