Hart Springs and Westard Ho

We have been to Hart Springs a few times. But, every time we go it is flooded so we can't swim in the springs. It is still a beautiful park with stuff to keep you busy, but swimming is the main thing to do. Yesterday, we headed out with some homeschool friends, and the water was a little high, but the springs were beautiful anyway. Just some slippery walls when getting out, because the algae grows when the water is above the wall. But other than that minor inconvenience, everyone had a ball. It rained before we got there, and right when it was time to go, so that was perfect. We will definitely visit there again, soon.

The other day, when reviewing curriculum for this year, which starts in less than a week. I discovered Caitlin really does not want to do the Middle Ages, and was looking forward to learning about the West. Grr, good thing I am flexible. Anyway, I was over looking some of the websites I saved, and they are OK, but not great. So, I got on my trusty Kindle to see what books I could find. One of them was Westward Ho. I started reading this book, 2 nights ago, and it is awesome! The activities that come with the stories are wonderful, and fairly easy. We will have a lot of fun with this book. It is available for free if you have Kindle Unlimited. You can see it here.

I think we are pretty much set for the new year. DJ is waiting for seats in his 2 virtual school classes. That is not unusual. He starts Marine Ecology group, today, and Guitar Club next week. Busy, busy, busy.

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Field Trip To Hart Springs

Today would be a scheduled play date for us, with our play group. But since some members were still unable to attend, we took a field trip to Hart Springs. DJ took some wonderful pictures of his own, and will share them on his blog on his Friday blog post. The picture with the two of them is actually looking up the Suwannee River, which feeds into Hart Springs. We saw a lot of fish and squirrels, and a few birds, but no turtles or manatees. This particular spring is considered a hot spring with a water temp of 72 degrees all year. The very first picture was actually taken by DJ and shows one part of the Spring where the actual water that feeds the spring comes in. Hart Springs also has underwater caves that you can dive in. You must be a certified diver, and be accompanied by a certified diver familiar with cave diving. It is a quite lovely park and I would recommend anyone visit it if given the chance. You can rent cabins, plus camping and RV campgrounds. Prior to leaving for the springs we did our lessons on Head of the Class. Tomorrow will resume regular lessons and classes.

Hart Springs Gilchrist County

For this weeks Social Saturday I am sharing another one of the beautiful local springs with my readers. Hart Springs is located in Gilchrist County Florida, and boasts camping, swimming, fishing, nature trails or just plain relaxing. You do have to swim at your own risk, and fee is 4 dollars for youth and adults, under 5 free. We have only been to this particular springs once, and I can tell you the water is shockingly clear and beautiful. In the Spring the springs are full of fish that come into breed and lie their eggs. It is stunningly beautiful. We are planning a trip this next coming week, as the weather is supposed to be warm. DJ hopes to get some awesome fish pictures. I noticed on their website that they accept volunteer work. I have been trying to find something appropriate for kids of my age to volunteer at, so I will be inquiring about this. If you live in the Gilchrist County area and are in need of a playgroup or homeschool group, please consider joining our small group. If you are interested you can check out or group homepage at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nfloridaplaygroup/ We are always welcoming new members.

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