Visit to a local dairy farm

What a field trip!! We had the opportunity to visit a friend's farm today and despite the cool, damp weather we are sure glad we got to go. We've been studying Farmer Boy and if you know anything about the story of Almanzo Wilder's childhood, then you know he grew up on a large farm in northern NY state. Almanzo's chores included milking cows when he came home from school.

We knew there'd be plenty of differences between farms of a long time ago and the dairy farms of today. In Almanzo's time, the farmers actually milked the cows. Almanzo was a good milker according the book and he only milked a few cows at a time. We learned that this farm milks 100 cows a day. It takes 3 to 4 milkings to fill the large tank. The milk truck comes every other day to empty the tank. In the meantime, the milk is kept a specific temperature to make sure it is safe.

This farm uses a pipeline system to milk the cows. There a pictures below. The cows stay put in the barn and the machine is hooked to them and the milk travels through the hoses into the tank. Many farms have milking parlors where cows are brought through and milked and taken back into the barn.

We also saw the calves in a different barn and R and I got to feed the calf with a big bottle. Afterward more brave kids came in to pet the friendly calves. Next to them are the pregnant cows. Our host told us that the mamas are usually out to pasture until a few days before they birth their calf and sometimes they end up having them in the field. They stop being milked about 2 months before they give birth so they can fatten up and rest.

We hiked to the river that runs behind the farm. It was running super high and quite fast due to plenty of rain and quite a snow melt we had last week after Monday when nearly two feet of snow fell.

Another successful homeschool field trip!

The milking hoses that get put on the cows inside the barn.

R is one of only two brave kids to feed the calf. Her brother I did as well, but then lots more joined in for the petting. This little guy seems to like us!

Easter Notebooks

This blog is a work in progress and since I'm refining my knowledge of how to use the templates, I'm moving some stuff around!

Our Easter notebooks are one of the additions to the scrapbook notebook that the kids are keeping. For this one we actually used a product called a Fold and Learn developed and sold by our friends at Five in a Row Publishing. Lapbooks or Fold and Learns are a way of documenting school work by adhering things in a "shutter folded" manila type folder. There are plenty of companies will to sell you the contents of the folder or you can make your own. Fold and Learns are a new addition to the FIAR world and come with information and color photos to arrange. Some have crafts to do and some are cut and past with games.

We tried out the St. Patrick's Day one and the Easter one. I think our next one will be for a book title instead of a holiday. In this one the kids learned about Pysanky eggs from the Ukraine and did a little study of where the Ukraine is and we have pictures of some prominent buildings and the eggs themselves. If we could have been more daring we would have tried some of our own. Of course, the true meaning of Easter is what we were able to focus on while doing our activities.

R- 6.5 yrs old

E- 8.5 yrs old

Field Trip to the Cornell Veterinary School Open House

Yesterday we visited the vet school open house at Cornell University. We'd been once before and it is always a super crowded event. Our first stop had to be the raptors. All the children love seeing the birds of prey. Even J our 22 mos old walked in the room and began saying, "Owl!"

We were able to see this Peregrine Falcon named Diane, a hawk from the southwest US, an Eastern Screech Owl, and a Barred Owl. All of the birds were wonderful to see up close and after our study of Owl Moon and our reading of My Side of the Mountain this really was a bonus trip.

The Vet school always showcases reptiles, fish, cats and dogs, and of course farm animals. You can have a chance to milk a cow, guess a cow's weight, and pet piglets, chicks, goats, Holstein calves, and ponies.

One local farm even brings a llama and a camel named Chewy. The event is so packed that we enjoyed our favorite animals and got out of there, but it is always a fun day to see what veterinarians do close up. They have a special tread mill for horses and you can dress up like a surgeon to help animals. It's a really neat career type of day too with many companies and technical schools showing off their programs. When our 4yo I was just 2.5, we went and he touched every animal in the place. Yesterday he was not so brave, but the pony was a delight for all.

This field trip was a fun time to visit farm animals during our study of Farmer Boy as well. Almanzo takes care of many animals and even begins to train his own calves when he turns nine. E will be nine in September and we've talked about what his chores are compared to Almanzo's. All the kids have decided they have way less to do than either Laura or Almanzo. I like to use this to my advantage now and then!!

It's All about the Game!

You hear it often at our house- the words, "Let's play a game!" Our kids love games! We play all kinds and we brought many new ones into the house at Christmas time. Some new favorite are Blink- a fast paced visual perception card game, Ziggity- a card game by the maker of Cranium, Blokus- sort of a spatial orientation game, Zooreka- a game by Cranium that allows you to build a zoo by using resources gathered on rolls of dice, and finally The Settlers of Catan- pictured above and is a game of building settlements by accumulating resources and being clever.

Our kids will play Settlers as often as they can and it is so funny to see the strategy used by each of them. One will set out to build as much road as he can (this is so fitting for a 4yo boy, don't you think?), one will save and trade up for as many development cards as she can (usually earning the largest army card), and the third and oldest does a little bit of everything. Me? I like to build as many cities as I can and totally conquer the whole island! This is such a great game because the kids really like the challenge and the idea of settling lands and we as parents can stay in the game because it is interesting. Our 8yo son likes to press his advantage every now and then showing his game strategy prowess. The first person with 10 victory points wins.

We spent two solid hours playing this game yesterday afternoon with the 4you staying in for nearly all of that time! Impressive really. Now we are anxious to buy the expansion sets for it- Seafarers of Catan and Knights and Cities of Catan. We could have been doing some other things even other school assignments, but what a fantastic way to spend the afternoon all together playing a game. Got to catch these moments while we can!

Seeing as how we expect a foot of snow or so in the next few days, I'm thinking we'll get some more game time in!

Speaking of Books...

Have you read any good ones with your kids lately? At our house we always have at least one read aloud going if not more. Usually we have one that is either a unit study or a go along with a unit study. We have one that is just for fun and sometimes Dan will decide he wants to read a particular title to the kids. Since November or so we've also been part of a book club with some FIAR families. Each month we receive a new book from a family and we send ours on to the next family. There are 13 books in all so we won't see the book we chose to send for over a year! We get to learn a little about each family and what the kids before us thought of each book. We have certainly been blessed by the FIAR community. It affords us many opportunities through the forums and we have gotten to know a lot of other homeschooling families this way.

Whenever I have the opportunity to share our experiences with a group of moms, I never miss the chance to make the suggestion to read aloud to their kids. Just read Jim Trelease's The Read Aloud Handbook and you will see just how important it is. We have worked hard to create a culture of literacy in our home and I think it is pretty evident. If you were to come to our house you would see the dominance of books in nearly every room. They seem to come from everywhere! We certainly have no shortage of the printed word here. And yet, unless you take the time to enjoy a good book with your children, there is an opportunity lost.

Currently, we are reading Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Our kids thoroughly enjoyed the story of Almanzo Wilder in his boyhood when we read it last spring. Now we are reading it as our new unit study book. One thing we continually laugh about when we read it is how much food Almanzo ate! Even our kids pick up on it and laugh about how he could eat and eat. I'm always struck by how much food his mom and his sisters had to prepare each day at each meal for all those farm kids! I'll be sure to give an update on how our study is progressing, but we've already done a political map of NY state. Conveniently, Farmer Boy takes place in upstate NY and we are taking the time to study NY state and its history at the same time. Our state requires it at some point and now is as good a time as any.

In addition to Farmer Boy, we are reading two others right now. Dan has been reading through the Narnia series with the kids though our 4yo is not impressed yet. They are up to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and I suspect they'll be finished with that one very soon. We tried Junie B. Jones but had it on good authority that Junie is a brat and a lot of adults cannot stand her attitude or her grammar! I recently learned that the publisher of our favorite curriculum will call his 27 year old daughter and her cousin whenever a new Junie B book comes out and reads it aloud to them on the phone! If it is that good, I figured I needed to give her a try. Well, I must say Junie B does have some authority issues and ultimately our kids decided she was not a nice girl. So much for that!

However, I did strike gold as I picked up a Hank the Cowdog book this week. Have you met Hank yet? If you have not, please take the time to get to know him. John Erickson is the author of this series with at least thirty books. Originally written for adults, this series is such a fun one for kids. Hank is a cowdog who is "head of ranch security" and gets into all sorts of trouble. This week we are reading The Case of the Haystack Kitties. You know you have a hit when the kids all shout to you to keep reading- even the 4yo. Everyone is having such a good time that the toddler takes some extra lap time. Literally, I've had the kids rolling with laughter at Hank's antics. We'll pick up next time where we last left off...he's stuck in his pick up which is unmanned and headed for a creek!

Our reading extends well beyond the house. Sometimes it happens outside under a tree, when the weather is nice, which it is not. I always have one in the car. You never know when you'll hit a traffic snag even here. We read it when we wait for Dan at the bus stop. The other day we read it while were in the doctor's exam room waiting for her to arrive. Doctors like to hear about it too. "Whatcha reading today?" They'll ask. The kids are always eager to share their latest adventure. Next time, I'll have to make sure we're reading Hank. He's quite a character and fun to read. I'm pretty sure whoever hears it will want to stay and listen for a bit!

What reading adventures have you been on recently? If you have a good one, tell me about it. Maybe we'd like to join you!

Thomas Edison

Back in the fall, E did a Beyond Five in a Row unit study on a biography of Thomas Edison. He sure had a good time learning about Tom's life. He was especially interested in finding out that Thomas Edison left school to be homeschooled just like he did!

E reports that he enjoyed learning about how a light bulb works and he spent a lot of time playing with his Snap Circuits. This is a wonderful electronic set that you can use to easily build circuits and get all kinds of lights lit or sounds going or fans spinning- you get the idea.

We also spent a bit of time talking about different chemicals and the periodic table of the elements. He was interested to know how different elements behave differently and how they are organized in the chart has everything to do with how they act and what properties they have.

Below are some photos of the lapbook he created along the way. You'll notice that we've been experimenting with different formats of the lapbook/notebook/scrapbook. This was the "I'm all about the lap book" phase of record keeping. We tried constructing a double folder book with TE.

The School Room and Play Space

Well- back in January I took some pictures of our school/play room. At the risk of showing my messy self, I will post some of these pictures. I would retake them or take them on a better day, but let's be real! On any given day this is our mess!

I am working on making this space less cluttered, but I think it is more important to play and do stuff together than it is to keep the space clean all the time. Having said that, it is clean right now because I wanted to vacuum!

Somehow, there is always a project going or something built they don't want to take down. There could be a fort going or an excellent marble run and inevitably I let them leave it up to play with sometime later and that's how it starts! After awhile there are "things" everywhere and nowhere to move. Then it's time to send in reinforcements and start all over with a clean room.

Plus, J the toddler man makes it hard to keep things together too. If we're in the middle of something, I'll grab whatever he shouldn't be holding and "put" it somewhere. Pretty soon nothing is in the proper place!

As soon as I get it more together and the stuff in the clutter has found a home, I will repost some pictures. Until then, know that my supplies and papers are probably looking for a new home along with our pencils and gluesticks (they are always sneaking away)! They are desperately searching for a more organized space, but secretly they know they will never find a home where they are more loved!

Little Nino's Pizzeria

Well the scrapbook craze is on these days and I thought we'd try it out. I think the pages turned out pretty well. The kids are doing this as their notebook for each book instead of a lapbook or other type of notebooking. Maybe it's a phase, but I was thinking of trying out a portfolio of the kid's work anyway and this way they are constructing it as we go. We'll still have work in regular notebooks, but assignments that grab the attention of the viewer or the kids really like or would really be fun to look at in the future will go in these. Plus, it's a place to put pictures of them having fun as well. So far they really enjoy the process and that's what it's all about too.

Good thing our kids love glue!! The best part of LNP? Making and eating pizza of course! We also had fun creating art like that of Matisse and his fauvism. Check our their renditions below!

FIAR- Owl Moon

Right after we finished our prairie study, we moved back into doing a Five in a row title called, Owl Moon.

Once in a while I try out something new and this time I filled a living room table with all kinds of books and other items (even an owl pellet kit) that we'd be visiting throughout the week. I also filled a basket with related books and labeled it the "Preferred Reading Basket". I get a lot of great ideas from the women on the FIAR website. These I had to try.

During Owl Moon the kids and I explored the world of owls and owling (spotting owls at night). We dissected an owl pellet which I can tell you from experience is WAY nicer to do in a classroom rather than in your own home! The dissection we do will be on the porch or back yard!! We were able to see that our owl had eaten several rodents when he pitched up that pellet. We used the kit entitled, Owl Puke which has a great book and even a sorting tray along with the pellet itself. E and R also tried their hand at writing similes and metaphors and I think they are pretty good. We talked about phases of the moon and are currently keeping track of what the moon is doing. We even have a website that can look back in time in case we miss it or there is a rainy night.

We finished up the week by enjoying an Owl Moon themed meal from the FIAR cookbook. On cold winter nights it's fun to have white chili and cornbread. The best part were the homemade rootbeer floats we got to enjoy!

Our Little House Days

Last spring the kids really enjoyed reading the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder aloud together. To feed the fire of passion for these books we decided to do some unit study based on the book series.

So far this year, we have done units on Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Prairie, and we are about to begin Farmer Boy. Our time with the Ingalls family has been so fun! Here is a glimpse of the work we did for Prairie.

We culminated the unit with a Prairie Night and the kids displayed their work, dressed the part, and shared hard tack with guests- mostly Daddy!

Perspective

One of the things I continually tell people about the weather here in central NY is that you cannot take it for granted. If there is a sunny day or even moment, you’d better get out and enjoy it because you don’t know when the next one is coming! I find this frustrating at times because I don’t always want to drop my plans to get outdoors, but we do. Growing up in Maryland, we often had long strings of beautiful, sunny days with a daily storm that would cool things down and life returned to normal for the evening. When rain comes here, it entrenches itself. I often hear people complain about the weather here so I just feel compelled to tell you natives that the sun really does shine in other states!! That said, a good day in central NY is absolutely gorgeous. I just wish they weren’t as rare as they are.

What does our spring weather have to do with life today? It gives a glimpse of perspective or focusing on what matters each day. How many of us get caught up in our ‘to do’ lists or other distractions during the day while our children plead with us to play a game or read a book? Like a good weather day in central NY, we need to take advantage of the time we have with our children now! The clichés are so true that they are only little for a short time and they grow up so fast. It’s easy to read the “busy meter” at my house. If my children are persistent in getting me away from whatever I’m doing, then they need some “mommy” time. My toddler has a loud alarm on his meter. If he needs me and I’m not getting it, then he will push every button he can to get my attention! Does anyone else have a child like this? If I have to say no more than a couple of times to the same thing, then I know it is time to grab up that littlest man and kiss him up and read. He settles right down and I know my attention soothes his little heart.

So, my tip today is to savor the warm, sunny days and gain a little perspective. The dishes, the laundry, even the bathroom can wait. Sometimes our children cannot and they shouldn’t have to. Run around the yard, play catch, jumprope (we will be trying out a three person rope next week!), and see how good you are at a lemon twister (remember those?) and enjoy playing WITH your kids. You won’t regret it. Oh and if the weather is dull and gloomy, try out a Chinese jumprope (I was the reigning champ in fifth grade and I’d be happy to give refresher courses), a hula hoop, or just play some games or best yet read to your kids. That’s my secret weapon…when we all seem to be falling apart, I grab a stack of books and plop on the sofa and gather everyone around to cuddle up. It’s guaranteed to soothe the grumpy beans at your house!

Trying to keep things in perspective,

Heather