Earth Kids at Manatee Springs

The springs are finally clear, though there is still water where it shouldn't be, we could see into the water nicely this time. This was our last trip to the springs, at least for now. The gnats were out, though not too bad, and one child was found with a tick on her. Our next Earth Kids meeting we will be making terrariums, and I want to tube down the Rainbow River one of these meetings. So many fun things to do. We got to see a manatee again, which was nice, because the last time we saw one our whole group was not there so some didn't see it. Manatees can be seen in various zoos here, but it is so nice to see them in their natural habitat. This one was young, and no one was for certain why it was even in the springs this late in the year. Usually they only come in the winter months. Anyway, it was moving really fast, and did not appear to be injured in any way. We were glad it was there. The weather was beautiful, the water was calm and all in all a great nature walk.We did see two deer, and they came close enough that Caitlin almost fed it some grass out of her hand. She was just a little excited, lol! Today we are off to Devil's Mill hopper. I will share that experience tomorrow.

Happy Wednesday!

OK, well Blogger has changed yet again the way in which I upload pictures, grrrrr!!!!!! Anyway now that I have that off my chest, on to the real good stuff. Yesterday, was our first painting class, with my mom, since before the holidays. Neither one of us had the time to do it. Even though Caitlin and I still paint, DJ doesn't do much, so it is nice when we all do it. He doesn't paint, he draws,and for some reason his fish he drew managed to not get in the pictures. He drew a pretty mandarin fish. Everyone got to do their own thing yesterday. My mom painted a huge pickle jar, that she will be putting homemade dog treats in to sell at the Farmer's Market. I have been cleaning and then upcycling old salsa jars into candles. First I clean them, paint them and then add the candle. They make cute gifts and reduce waste. I am hoping they will be popular in my Etsy store. I have done two Easter theme ones. One has a brown bunny, and the other this sable colored bunny. On the opposite side of the jar is a cross with a wreath of flowers. To see all the pictures be sure to visit Melissas Jewelry and Gems. Caitlin painted a picture of her very own bunny.

Then, later in the afternoon, we had our Earth Kids meeting. This was our second nature walk, and this time we went to Manatee Springs. They were supposed to be looking for specific leaves, but unfortunately there are not a ton of them out yet. However, we did see Manatees in the spring inlet, look you will see it. And a ton of deer, which are quite smaller than the deer I am used to in NY. They blend in so well with the drab surroundings, you could easily miss them if they were not moving around. Manatee Springs is one of the more dangerous springs to swim at. There are signs everywhere that say no swimming, and swim at your own risk. Yet, people still do it. There are a lot of snakes and even some gators at this particular spring. Last year, because there are diving caves under the springs, a diver got lost and died. We don't swim there.

All in all a good week so far. And tomorrow, which is Thursday, seems to be my day to relax from here on out. The only day we don't have something planned for the rest of the school year, or at least right now, lol! Kids of course continue with their book and course work, and the third semester ends in just a few weeks. Almost over, already!  Oh the first painting is my very first attempt at an abstract painting.  I kind of like it!

Swim Playdate, Manatee Springs State Park

Well we did get some sunshine yesterday. Got the grass mowed, the pool vacuumed, and we even got to get in it, and swim. I was getting nervous, because tomorrow we are having a swim play date, with our small homeschool group. The water is chillier than I like it, due to little to no sun, but kids do not usually care. It is us wimpy parents, that complain. Today for Science class we are again studying habitats. I am sharing this lovely video from Manatee Springs State Park, which is about 30 minutes from us in Chiefland, FL. I hope you enjoy the natural beauty of it.




Lesson Plans for 5/27/09:

Swim playdate
Math: Estimate products, graphs
Writing: Concepts of a paragraph
Language Arts: Skills review, questions and exclamations
Spelling: Lesson 33- Write each spelling word and circle the vowels
Vocabulary: Lesson 33- Use each vocabulary word in a sentence
Social Studies: Way out West

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