Fanning Springs, Underwater Pictures, and 4H Project Books

Today, was my Father in Law's last day with us, before he goes back to NY. We decided to take him to Fanning Springs, and as you can see on a Monday we had the place to ourselves. Unfortunately it started to thunder pretty quickly after we arrived, and we only got about an hour to enjoy the springs before we had to leave. DJ and Caitlin did get to use the underwater camera we got for them. I can not wait to see how those pictures come out. I haven't used a disposable camera in at least 20 years, or had to have one developed. Grandpa Ed said his goodbyes about 4. Now we have to get ready for the first 4H meeting of the year. Tonight is election night. DJ will most likely be Vice President by the end of the day. He has decided he wants to take guitar lessons with 4H, this year, but no shooting sports. He loves the shooting sports, but it is not a convenient day or time. I am still waiting to hear about the Marine Ecology and when those classes will be held. Both of them have picked their project books. DJ will be starting with Life in the Sea, and Caitlin with The World Around Us 4H Wildlife Book 1. Because we are outside so much, I decided on books that will just come naturally to how we learn and spend our time. If you are a fan of the Charlotte Mason style of learning, 4H and their project books might be perfect for you.

Still Planning for Fifth Grade and Visit To Our Beautiful Springs

On Friday, both kids had sleepovers with friends. One was for a birthday party. So, my husband and I went out to dinner, with no children. OMG is that different, lol. Then yesterday, I met back up with the kids, at Fanning Springs State Park, for a get together with the kids who did not get to celebrate DJ's birthday with him. It was hot, and the water was beautiful. I am always leery of the springs this time of year. I have visions of crazy teens with loud music, and a lot of not nice language. But, none of that happened. It wasn't even that busy, and everyone had a blast. Our pool has bit the dust. We have had it for 7 years, and it just has worn out. I am not buying another pool. Instead I am going to buy a one year state park pass. Since the kids and I love to walk the trails, and see the wildlife, plus swim this will be perfect for us. Hopefully my husband will join in. I think next year, DJ and Craig are going to get scuba certified, then he will have to go in the springs, lol.


I am still trying to decide for fifth grade, with Caitlin. She wants Time4Learning, I am not that optimistic for it. I will let her do parts of it, like the Language Arts, History and Science. I think I still want to supplement though. She will do the Math games with me, she is doing well, and Life of Fred. So, I continue to look, read, and evaluate. She did really well with the Evan Moor books for History, two years ago. I might go back to them. I like things that were successful in the past.

End of School Get Together and Math Final

Whew DJ got an 81 on his FLVS Math final. You had to pass the final to pass the course. Passing was much lower than 81, but I am very happy after almost three hours, he got a good grade. The Math has been tough for us, but we start segment 2 on Monday. In celebration of the end of school, except for Math, we headed to Fanning Springs on Thursday with some friends from our homeschool group. This spring is about ten min from our home, and it was thundering! We went anyways and thank goodness after about 30 min of storming it cleared out. The kids had a ball. DJ loved swimming with all the fish and the water was so nice and clear. The water is 72 degrees all year, and quite shockingly freezing when you first get in. I mean it was freezing! At any rate after about two hours the next storm moved in and we had to leave. But, still lots of fun! If you would like to learn more about Florida's natural springs, check out the book below. If you ever get to Florida, the springs are an amazing place to visit.
All the pictures we took are on the other computer, so I can't share them at this very minute.

Nature Scavenger Hunt #3

This is our third Earth Kids Scavenger Hunt. We have one more in three weeks, then we will be moving on to other projects. The bugs will be good and ready to bite by then. Since the springs are still flooded, I am sure the mosquitoes are having a field day lying eggs. We didn't see any, but then again I don't know what they look like. It was a beautiful, warm sunny afternoon. We had a good turnout for this meeting, and the kids had a blast. They had quite a long list of items to find. They found most of them, and a few we didn't expect to find. No Pileated Woodpeckers or White Tail Deer. Unlike Manatee Springs, where the deer come right up to the springs basically, Fanning Springs they stay in the more wooded area and trails. I have never actually seen any there the times I have been there. As you can see in the photos the water is dark and murky, so we could not see any manatee either. We did see a lot of baby fish, teeny weeny baby turtles, and a couple of medium sized turtles. The springs, when they are not flooded, are so beautiful and you can see right to the bottom of the water. Maybe for the next one they will be cleared up.  The kids had to get pictures of all the items on their list. 

Fanning Springs Field Trip

Today we took a trip to one of the hundreds of fresh springs, that Florida has. The Springs are not only a natural resource and habitat for the state of Florida, but also a major tourist attraction. Today we went to Fanning Springs for Science class. We are learning about plants, habitats, and natural resources. What better way to learn than hands on. DJ took some awesome photos which he will be sharing on his blog, Friday, for his writing assignment about Fanning Springs. I would love to visit more of the local springs before the weather gets to warm and the critters come out. There are so many fun ways to teach Science, that have nothing to do with books and tests. I wish I could find one for grammar and language arts. If anyone knows of any, I would love to hear them. Tomorrow we are back to our more traditional methods of learning.

Learning About Your Local Community, Playgroup Date

Tomorrow is our second playgroup date, and it is Earth Day, and learn about your community in Social Studies. So if you go here you can learn about one of our local community attractions, Hart Springs. Florida is famous for its natural warm water springs. Here we have three, that are close to where we live. Hart Springs, Manatee Springs, and Fanning Springs. Crystal River, in Homasassa Springs, is about 1 hr from us, and that is where we have seen the manatees in their natural habitat. We visit our local library every two weeks. My kids love to take out books, and they are somewhat of celebrities there. Tomorrow we will be meeting our small playgroup there, for a book exchange. This is our second meeting, and everyone seems to get along well. If anyone that visits my blog lives in the Gilchrist county area, we are still accepting members. So far two of us moms homeschool, the other does not, though she is considering it for her youngest child.

As part of Earth day tomorrow, we will be planting a rose bush, that my husband bought, in rather sad shape, and we have nursed it back to health. It is sprouting new leaves, no buds yet, but soon I hope. This is my fourth rose bush, and they are doing amazingly well. My kids love nature, and especially bugs. Lord knows there are plenty of them here. It seems like every year, they find a bug they did not see last year. Like the very funny looking black grasshopper they found under their slide the other day. What they were doing under there I have no idea. I thought it must be a cricket, because I have never seen a black grasshopper before. So of course I googled black cricket with red stripe, to no avail. When I googled black grasshopper, this lovely creature came up. It seems my kids happened to be rummaging around under the slide at just the right time, because these were very small, young grasshoppers just being born. They climb up out of the dirt from where they were laid, in the fall. They did capture some, and have made them a home, in a jar with food, water, and air. I do not know how long they will live for, but they are excited. My daughter takes them out, and plays with them like they are toys. They are supposedly a pest, but my kids would beg to differ that. If you would like to learn about this very interesting bug you can go here

Lesson Plans for 4/22/09:

Social Studies: Local community
Writing: Write a story about your community
Math: graphs, multiplication, division
Spelling: Lesson 28- write each spelling word and circle the vowels
Vocabulary: Lesson 28- use each vocabulary word in a sentence
Language Arts: Action verbs, visual sequencing