School? What School?

I think it has been quite awhile since I have posted anything school related. The boys do school work....book work. They get up in the morning do their math, read for 30 minutes and do some writing. If Annika's in a good mood we read some history. But that is about it.

But I think my brain might have finally made it back from maternity leave. I spent a couple hours Saturday night writing out a unit on Light and Color....I plan to do sound, but didn't get that far. I also made a pretty good dent in my outline for next year.

And today we did science! A first in many months.

We talked about what energy and light are. We talked about how we see light in 2 way- luminous light and reflected light and we sorted items accordingly.

We also did a short experiment on how light travels using cards with holes in them and a flashlight. Then they drew in their notebooks about it. I have a feeling most pictures I will share will be of the notebooks since a lot of our experiments take place in the dark.

Our little co-op is holding a science fair at the end of April and the boys picked their topics last week and we finally gathered most of the supplies and got set up today.

Rylan is studying which medium pineapples grow best in. And 9 fresh pineapples are in my home n0w. Well, 6 actually. We at one for dinner and 2 more are now residing in the pineapple upside down cake in my oven.


Cale is testing which type of light is best for growing seeds. Cohen chose to test substances to see which melt ice (as in icy roads) the best. And as we were setting up tonight Lakin decided he wanted to participate too. And he wanted cups of soil like Rylan and Cale. And zucchini seeds. So here's his set up:

Pulled out of my head last minute based on his chosen supplies: how different liquids effect seed germination. He chose to water them with water, coffee, vinegar and milk.

Spring!

Springy clothes


Tulip magnolias flowering


Trips to the zoo

Seas of daffodils wherever you look

Tulips in bloom

Pansies facing the sun

And a little girl

turning 3 months old

A Hike to Grotto Falls

Lately Rylan and Cale have been pouring over our Tennessee Waterfall book deciding which falls they want to go see. So since the weather is warming up we decided to head up to the mountains and hike up to one of the falls.

Of course the day of our planned hike turned out NOT to be warm, 45 at the trailhead. But Annika was bundled up and the boys all had layers on so we headed on up the mountain to see Grotto Falls.


My dad (aka Grampy) came with us. And everything is more exciting with Grampy. It was nice having the extra hands and feet, since Cale and Rylan are much faster than Cohen and Lakin.

It's about 1.4 miles up to the falls. Lakin made it about half way before Paul had to carry him on his shoulders. 4 creeks to cross. Muddy trails.

Here they are walking behind the falls. Rylan wanted to continue on to Le Conte, but that will have to wait until everyone is able to walk the entire way on their own.


It got significantly cooler right by the water so I didn't take Annika too close, but she woke up in time to see and hear the water.

After a rest and a snack we were ready to head back down. Lakin was freezing about this time and Paul was tired of carrying him so he got my jacket and got pepped up by sloshing through every bit of mud he could find.

Then Cohen got cold and they swapped the jacket when Lakin got tired of it.

Back at the car ready to get warm and cleaned up. Cale's pants were wet and muddy about half way up his legs!

On our way through the motor trail we stopped to see the Place of 1000 Drips before heading on our way home

They are already paging through the book to see which one they want to go see next. It's been a long time since Paul and I have been to Frozen Head or Big South Fork, so maybe we'll go there next.