Cookie Excavation

Last week, we focused on archaeology and fossils.  One of our activities (based on lots of versions of this project that I found on the web) was excavating chocolate chips from cookies.  I baked one pan of cookies until they were quite crisp (verging on burnt) since crisp cookies better simulate excavating from rock.  After [...]

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The Joy of Books in the Mail

I love the excitement a big package of books causes at our house! Here’s what came in our recent box from Amazon: One Small Square: Seashore by Donald M. Silver – We love this whole series.  I wrote more about this title here. Take A Walk: Beach by – I just discovered this series when [...]

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Non-Fiction Monday: Fossils and Archaeology

We focused on archaeology and fossils in our prehistory study this week.  These are the books we used: Fossils Tell of Long Ago by Aliki – In simple language, Aliki describes how fossils are formed including how animals or plants can be frozen or preserved in amber.  Readers also learn lots of things that fossils [...]

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What We’re Reading This Week, April 23

M and I just finished a re-read of Canadian Summer, the second book in the Mitchells triology by Hilda Van Stockum.  Now, we’re reading The Thirteenth Princess by Diane Zahler. M and her dad finished Tentacles by Roland Smith earlier this week. Now they are reading The Sea of Monsters, the second book in the [...]

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Books and Videos for Earth Day

Here are some of our favorite books and videos to inspire you for Earth Day. Fiction The Lorax by Dr. Seuss – classic story showing how decimating the loss of one species can be On Meadowview Street by Henry Cole – a girl decides to create a meadow in her front yard and inspires her [...]

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Non-Fiction Monday: Wildflowers

We’ve been learning about wildflowers for the last few weeks.  We’ve studied the parts of flowers, gone on wildflower walks, planted wildflower seeds to make a meadow in a corner of the front yard (inspired by On Meadowview Street by Henry Cole), and poured over lots of wildflower guides.  Three that we particularly enjoy are [...]

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Prehistory and Evolution Booklist, Part 3

These are the books we’ve used in the last few weeks of our prehistory study.  During those weeks we covered prehistoric mammals and early humans. I’ve added links for those I’ve written about for Non-Fiction Monday. How Whales Walked Into the Sea by Faith McNulty Wild and Woolly Mammoths by Aliki Sabertooth by Patrick O’Brien [...]

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Our Spring Break Excursion

Last week we visited my parents. and we stayed so active I felt like I hardly sat down. We had an egg hunt. We went walking on my uncle’s land looking for wildflowers and wildlife. We visited the zoo. We spent lots of time playing outside. M practiced her bike riding skills, and the girls [...]

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Top 100 Children’s Novels

Elizabeth Bird of A Fuse #8 Production has finished her poll of the Top 100 Children’s Novels. If you haven’t been following along, I urge you to go check out the extensive posts on each book. Via Mother Reader, I saw Teacherninja’s post asking for readers to reveal which books they have read. I’ve read [...]

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Farm Tour

I’d been wanting to tour Imladris Farm for a long time and since the families in our art group had talked about doing some field trips together, I set up a tour for all of us. We had a great time seeing the goats, rabbits, chickens, and berry bushes, and learning about the farm which [...]

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