Tag: pond

Let’s Go to the Pond

there’s really no place better, let’s go to the pond…. (If you don’t know the song then before you read the article you have got to visit here. We sing this song EVERY time we go to the pond–at least I do–the kids groan along and repeatedly request that I stop singing.)

Issac walking around the pond.

On Thursday I realized that my son’s only pair of still intact jeans had a giant hole in the knee, were slightly too tight and definitely too short. (“I can button them if I hold in my tummy like this, Mom.”) So Buddy and I headed to Kmart (the closest non-thrift shop that might possibly have his size–7 Slim) so he could try on some pants and I could figure out what size he really is wearing. Turns out they had them on sale AND in his size. Which was good–because my boy is picky and all the other pants they had were about 3 inches too big in the waist.

Girls in the woods.

Upon returning home from shopping for pants (he was less than thrilled that I not only made him go along but TRY THEM ON), we discovered that my dad had borrowed the girls. I should explain that earlier in the day the girls had decided to build a tree house in the rather tall tree out back. When I realized that they had used 1 inch nails to nail an old piece of pressed wood from hubby’s old desk to the tree–sticking out like a shelf, and that they believed that this shelf would actually hold one of them, 8 feet up, I told them to call Pappap before they did anything else. They did and he said he would come look later. Not only did he do that but he whisked them off to the pond to look for a better tree for tree house building, volunteering my brother as a helper for building.

Rachel

Issac and I immediately turned around and followed them to the pond where we found them taking a walk in the woods while they waited for Uncle James to get home.

Skipping stones

While waiting the kids relearned skipping stones.

Skipping stones
James leaving the big yellow bus.

And when Uncle James got there they attacked him–at my dad’s prompting.
How would you like to be attacked by this mob immediately after school.
My poor, poor baby brother. 🙂

To be continued…

Chase

A week in the life

It has been a while since I have shared the learning going on around here so here you go. 🙂

Obviously with Thanksgiving we talked about the Pilgrims.Three Young Pilgrimsis our favorite read on the subject and we intended to read that.  And we would have if we had been able to find it.  Instead we read a poem from an old patriotic American book I have  called An American treasury and then we discussed what we knew about that time and the Pilgrims. Last month I read several books that opened my eyes to what was going on in Great Britain and Europe around the time of the Pilgrims . Someone had given me a copy of Lord Minimus: The Extraordinary Life of Britain’s Smallest Man which in a round about way gave me a much better glimpse at what was going on politically than I had ever had or understood (good for teens if they are interested but not good for younger kids–it is a biography and a bit much at times.)  Because he lived around the time of the Pilgrims and was in court for much of the time his story gives a good picture of the politics going on in Great Britain and in Holland. I was able to enthusiastically explain WHY the Pilgrims left much better than the traditional “they wanted freedom of religion.”  The kids already had a decent understanding because they have watched movies and read about William Bradford so this was an interesting, and long, conversation.

I Love Egg

Rachel spent some time making hard boiled eggs one morning and in a moment of inspiration decided she not only needed to watch I Love Egg but that she would make her eggs look like the eggs in the animation.
Strawberry Egg

Yesterday we went to the pond to see an injured swan my dad has been feeding in the hopes that he will get better and be able to finish his flight top the ocean. We talked about what sort of swan he was and why he was staying here while the rest of the birds made their way south (the kids think he has an injured leg).

The kids then spent over an hour (brr, it was COLD) trying to break the ice with shale they collected, which led to discussions of sedimentary rocks and why the bubbles were forming under the ice and moving towards the outside, and how thick ice gets. They also tried breaking the ice with sticks.

Lots more stuff going on around here, like decorating for Christmas and family visits and some sort of illness that is jutst bad enough to make the kids whiney but not bad enough for them all to be stuck in bed.

Saturday Photohunt: Support

The dock and ladder provide excellent support for getting out of the pond without having to walk through the slime–especially when you are practicing all sorts of ways to jump in.

Even the big kids use it. 🙂

Of course there is also the support of the floaty bathing suits, which keep the kids safe in the deep water.

And sometimes you need the extra support a kick board will give.

More “Support” pictures can be found over at Tnchick‘s.

Unschooling Photo Journal 9

I should probably mention that the last few days we have spent all afternoon at the pond, and I have been taking LOTS of pictures, mostly  trying to capture the perfect “jumping in” shot, so, you will be seeing a lot of those.  Especially now that Issac has learned to jump in without fear and the girls are perfecting their various jumps and dives AND i discovered that out on the paddle boat is the best place for action shots.