Hibernation Craft

 

This week we started our little unit on bears. We read from a book talking about all the different bears around the world.  We talked about the bears in our area and what to do if one came into the yard.  Driving into town this time of year there is a pretty good chance your going to see one. We talked about how  they are filling up their bellies for winter and how their heart beat slows down when they hibernate and will lose half their body weight.

This is Presleys he had a great idea and added baby eyes to his den.

                                

Rachael wanted a night sky.

From the top to left to right we have Jude's Presley's and Rachaels.

Riding

                     Natalie was waiting outside to ride the horses after dinner, I just love her cowboy boots.

 The children got to ride almost every evening this week. The owner of the horses we board has been taking the time to teach the children

Poor Hannie, she was trying so hard to be a good girl and watch out the window.

                                                                          A bath helps.

Little Hands Art Work

                     Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.
                                                                                                               -Pablo Picasso



I love watching little hands express themselve through art. Each one of my children have been so different in this area some have took time and lots of detail where others have rushed to get it done.
One thing we like to do with big rolls of paper is lay them out on our dinning room table for the kids to decorate for dinner.

Can you see that crayon Miss Hannah is throwing across the room?

                                      Rachael and Jude were told to think of fall and all the colors.

HOMEMADE YOGURT

Heat 1-3 gallons of milk to 190 degrees.   Cool to 130 degrees (110-130 is okay.) Add 1 - 1-1/2 c. sugar and 2 Tbsp. flavored gelatin or vanilla per gallon.
Probably best to dissolve your Jell-O in a little water in the microwave before you add it just in case.

While your milk is cooling dissolve some pectin. For 3 gallons of milk I would use a 1/2 of package of pectin. You stir the pectin into 1/2 cup of water, bring to a full boil. Boil for 1 minute. Then stir the pectin into the milk.
When the temp. is 110 degrees for 3 gallons I add 8 oz container of plain yogurt. (I like to use fresh yogurt every time. But you can use your own. It's just that one of the problems with yogurt is getting some strange bacteria started. If a strange bacteria gets in it, you will have slimy yogurt. Still edible but a funny texture.

Now the next trick is to keep it the right temperature and not to leave it too long. If it's too hot your yogurt will separate. If you leave it longer than needed it will taste more sour. I found the temperature made the most difference in it turning out right. If it's too cool it will take so long to set that it will get a sour taste, too hot and it will separate. 6-8 hours will usually do it.

My yogurt came out looking a little like cottage cheese which I am pretty sure has to do with my temp, at one point it got up to 140-ish but it tastes great. The children thought it was so neat, they liked tasting it when it was still warm. Two out of seven kids like it the rest are a little freaked by the texture but like the taste, so into smoothies it will go.

Bat Math

I found some clip art of  bats that I printed off and wrote numbers and dots on them for Rachael to put into order. She put them in order from 0-8 and then put the bats with the matching number of dots beside.  Sadly our bat theme is going to be cut short as our library doesn't carry any of the books I had wanted.  So next week we will start on bears.

Septic Science

     On Monday we had the septic pump man come to pump out our two tanks, the children were very curious with what was going on. The man was super friendly and explained how everything worked. Why certain things shouldn't go into the tank and what can happen if it gets plugged. He explained

Presley and Rachael watching.

that when liquids inside the tank get high enough, they flow out of the tank into the outflow pipe, which connects to the distribution box. The box then  channels the waste into the pipes. The pipes push the waste through the field, where bacteria and other organisms in the ground provide additional waste treatment.
He told a story to them about a older man that dropped his dentures down the toilet and need  the man to pump them out of the tank. Once they were found he rinsed them off and stuck them back in his mouth.  YUCK!

Our Nature Table

 

The children and I put together a nature display for the fall. I have put together little units of different parts of nature to look at over the next couple months.

On our shelve so far we have all our nature books including

• Handbook of Nature Study by  Anna Botsford Comstock
• Christian Liberty Nature Readers 1-5
• Canada Close Up: Canada's Animal books
• Bird of Prey
• Hawks

Lost in the Woods

 

We have mason jars for there findings, binoculars, deer antlers, a birds nest that fell from a tree in our yard this summer, a dried up frog, a bear claw from our neighbor hunting.

 

 

 

 

 

Today we started our unit on bats, I thought this would be a good one to start with as this time of year you see them flying above the tree tops right after dinner.

 

This is a bat house that is right outside our kitchen window.

 

 

This afternoon we read the section out of the handbook of nature study on bats, then we went outside to play a game call Bat Echolocation.

 

 

One child plays the bat and is blindfolded while the rest are the "insects". The game works like Marco Polo. The bats calls out "INSECTS" and they respond with "HERE" and then they continue to catch one. Once the insects are tagged they wait out the rest of the round at the "bat cave" aka playhouse. The last one to be tagged wins.

    Once back in the house and little ones were down for a nap Rachael and Presley watched The Magic School Bus episode "Gone Batty" while the older ones finished up some book work.