Tuesday, February 26, 2008

The Green Hour: Week 2.

What fun we had today. I decided, arbitrarily, to take a walk around the subdivision for Green Hour today. Being as the kids forgot to clean up their mess first, we started out a little later than I had planned… and walked in a rainstorm!!

OK so that was an adventure at first, until the rain decided to absolutely BUCKET down in torrents! Nope… no English rain for us here! The rain did not matter at first, it was soft and slow. It got heavier, very rapidly though, and by the end of the walk, I was soaked through. Yes, I was wearing a raincoat. Apparently it leaks. The kids coats didn’t though!

Not only did it leak, but it DRIPPED all over my jeans. Which were also soaked! Thank goodness the kids ones are of a better quality!

But we did get to see, hear and feel things :)

Unfortunately, there are no photos of the walk, because of the rain!! I did manage to get some of the work they did after though :) Apparently, this was a stimulating walk, because they both produced very good pieces!

Rebel’s (8 y.o.)Words:

One word to describe what I heard: Crackling. (This describes the noise of the rain ;)) Two words to describe what I saw: Brown robin. Three words to describe what I felt: Very, wet rain.

M’Lady’s (4 y.o.) Words:

One word to describe what I heard: Tweet (describing birds ;)) Two words to describe what I saw: Yellow Flowers Three words to describe what I felt: Cold, wet, rain.

And just for fun… my words ;):

One word to describe what I heard: chirruping
Two words to describe what I saw: Torrential rain
Three words to describe what I felt: Soaking, wet clothes!

And now for the journal entries:

Rebel's robin in a tree with a squirrel dray.Sorry, I did not do Rebel’s picture justice… but I just could not get the camera to focus on it! :o

M'Lady's picture of her, Mummy and Rebel, walking in the rain with hoods up and birds all around. Mummy and M’Lady are holding hands.



Enjoy!

Monday, February 18, 2008

The Green Hour


Logo courtesy of Barb at Heart of Harmony... and it is free from her blog :)

So the kids have been out almost all day... Well four hours now. Charlotte Mason would call this ideal. I call it lucky! Considering this is February, our weather is wonderful. It peaked at about 73 degrees earlier.
So you could say our green hour took a little longer ;)

The kids have spoken. Our two topics of study are late winter/early spring weeds, and moss. Apparently these beat out the grackle flocks and hawk sightings :)

Now I need to research our topics for the kids... And I can pretty much guarantee a nature diary entry :)

ETA: On mosses... Rebel discovered three different types of mosses, according to the Handbook of Nature Study... A Broom Moss, Hair Cap Moss, and club moss. We need to get the magnifying glass out to be sure though ;)
A quick look online for them, rousted up these links:

Backyard Nature

World of Mosses

Boreal Forest

And there appear to be many more!!

Sorry... Spring got in the Way!

I am not making excuses after all… my blog, my rules! BUT I did want to say that the kids are outside… where I plan to be in a few minutes, participating in the green hour with Barb at The Heart of Harmony.

We’ll be figuring out what two things we want to study (probably moss… today’s pick, and trees… or birds!) and I’ll BBL to update this post ;) And maybe I'll keep this here rather than on my nature blog ;)

Friday, February 01, 2008

EDM #18: Draw the view from a window of your house, apartment, office, etc.

This is my view today... at the end of the drive. It is raining, and the 'rain fairies' are dancing in the street. The road is slick and wet, reflecting the trees in it. Around the trees and in the drive are piles of leaves and pine needles, nestled in grooves and nooks, and amongst the periwinkle which surrounds the base of our mailbox.


I have messed up with the placement of the light, but then again, I adjusted the view to remove a tree limb and the car from it ;)
I did, however, keep the rain in it. I also realised I could lighten my photos, if they appeared dark. Sometimes some things just don't register... ;)

This weeks 'simple' task, water... keeps slipping by me. I will try to remember... on the other hand, I have been working on my garden plan by reading EVERYTHING I can about gardening :) My 'simple' task for the year is to grow some vegetables. And EAT them!! I have the idea that I will grow a garden to provide for myself and DD, while I grow a square or two of beans for the guys! I know they'll eat those!