We’re studying botany for science for the next few months.
We read the Parable of the Sower and about the mustard seed in Bible.
We’re learning about seeds and longing for spring.
We’re seeing a few signs of spring, but also more snow and ice. It’s a lovely dichotomy.
We’re using Exploring Creation with Botany by Apologia as our text and the kids each have an Exploring Creation with Botany Notebooking Journal.
Alex loves his first junior notebooking journal! The girls each have their first regular journals.
There are pages to draw or color, writing sections, puzzles, and lapbooking components.
We compared sunflower seeds and bean seeds. We found the hilum and embryo.
Dad helped us to dissect our soaked bean seeds to see the embryo.
We also placed bean seeds in plastic bags with wet paper towels to view the germination.
Since it’s still so cold here, we taped them to the windowsill by the radiator instead of to our sliding glass door which is in the coldest hallway in our house.
We’ve been observing some early signs of spring like my chives and daffodils sprouting.
We have some wildflowers to plant when the ground gets a little warmer. We will observe bees and pollination.
Katie found this little curly seed at the park and proudly brought it home.
We’ll hold onto it to see what kind of leaves it has.
And here are our bean seeds after ONE WEEK!
I think it’s important for kids to learn where food comes from and how much work farming is.
We’ve had nice gardens in the past with fruits and vegetables. They love to plant, weed, water, watch, and harvest the bounty – and cook, can/preserve, and eat it!
We’re excited to start our garden when the ground gets warmer!
Resources:
- Learning About Seeds + Printables
- Science of Spring
- Learning About Seeds from Untrained Housewife
- Tons of Seeds Activities from How Wee Learn
- Tot School: Seeds from Kara Carrero
- Montessori Seeds from Playful Learning
- Scholastic Seeds
- Growing Seeds from Play Dough to Plato
- PreKinders Seeds
- Grow Sprouts
Linking up: Crafty Moms Share, Life of Faith, The Practical Mom, Living Montessori Now, Proverbs 31 Wife, Modest Mom, Curly Crafty Mom, Time Warp Wife, F Dean Hackett, ABC Creative Learning, Simple Life of a Fire Wife, Rich Faith Rising, Crystal and Comp, Raising Homemakers, A Little R&R, Classical Homemaking, Wholehearted Home, Pat and Candy, Play and Learn Every Day, Teaching Mama, Adventures of Mel, Raising Homemakers, A Kreative Whim, I Choose Joy, Peonies and Orange Blossoms, Frog’s Lilypad, Organized 31, Homeschool Preschool, Life with Lorelai, Susan B Mead, xoxo Rebecca, Our 4 Kiddos, A Bountiful Love, Crafty Moms Share, Sunny Day Family
Mother of 3 says
March 7, 2016 at 10:48 pmWonderful lesson; we grew bean seeds in plastic bags on our windows one year. It was amazing to see how quickly they grew!
Renee says
March 9, 2016 at 2:02 pmI love using Apologia. We have not gone through the Botany book yet. I’m also so ready for spring! I’m afraid that in Tennessee we are being teased with warmer weather and buttercups blooming. We will have more cold weather I’m sure. Stopping by from A Wise Woman Builds Her Home Linkup :)
Miranda says
March 9, 2016 at 5:43 pmHow fun! Spring is a great time to learn about seeds, we will be starting seeding and gardening in our homeschool soon, too.
Amanda Nel says
March 10, 2016 at 11:22 amWhat a wonderful way to connect with your children. I am going to try this with my grandchildren – they are a bit small but something might stuck!
Lori @ Frog's Lilypad says
March 10, 2016 at 9:58 pmI loved doing this when my son was younger. I bought flower seeds the other day, so I can start them indoors so they will be ready at the end of May to transplant. I love spring! Thanks for sharing with Thankful Thursdays.
LizZ H. says
March 11, 2016 at 8:41 pmI couldn’t agree more. I am seeing overseas how Kindergardeners have their own little grocery beds and I’m loving and wishing it would come to North America. Kids need to understand where our food comes from..it doesn’t start it’s life in a store.
Are you going to plant the beans?
Jennifer says
March 12, 2016 at 10:19 amYes, we plan to put the beans in the ground outside when the frost is gone. We just had snow the other day! We hope to plant several food items this year. We only had container tomatoes last year. And we always have an herb garden.
angie says
March 11, 2016 at 8:47 pmLooks like lots of great learning going on, these lessons will pay off in years to come and can be cross influenced with so many subjects
Jamie says
March 12, 2016 at 1:37 amWhat great tips!! I’ll need to try and plan to do this, since I’m not able to start planting outside for awhile! :) Thank you for sharing with us at the #HomeMattersParty
Marie says
March 15, 2016 at 9:43 amI love this activity! And that Dad got to join in the fun. Thank you so much for stopping by the Learn & Play Link Up. This post is featured on Christian Montessori Network this week!
Victoria says
March 17, 2016 at 4:00 amSo fun! You just reminded me I need to get the seeds out for my little ones to discover! Thanks for sharing :)
ELAINE SIGMON says
April 27, 2017 at 5:10 pmJennifer, my name is Elaine Sigmon. I love your blog. You seem to have such a beautiful spirit about you that pulls me in and has me wanting to read everything you write. I read where you want stride the Essential Oil Business. I started with Young Living Essential Oils in June of 2016 and so far I am loving it except for the restrictions of the FDA. I am a registered nurse and I find it hard not saying certain things but I do try to get my point across in using the right words. If you get a chance I would love to know what you meant by not being able to do the business. I do know that I have met some wonderful people that are sold out to the Lord. I do agree with you though about the FDA; however, I do feel that young living has top-of-the-line oils and I enjoy using and sharing. Keep up the good work with the blogging. This is definitely your calling. Thank you
Jennifer says
April 30, 2017 at 8:46 pmThank you SO MUCH! I’m so happy you like reading my blog.
I’ve put our oils business on hold since we moved to Germany. There were issues with having a personal business here. I didn’t want to pay German taxes and we can’t use our APO mailbox for a business. I was very frustrated with the FDA and YL for telling me what I can’t say. I was told I had to remove every mention of YL from every single blog post and social media online, but I’ve seen other bloggers still have posts and images with the exact same language I was attacked for using. It’s been very disheartening. YL has a few products I really love and we haven’t wanted to cancel our accounts due to that.
As a nurse, I would think you have more freedom to express the benefits from a medical standpoint.
I pray we all find the right path to share the oils, our faith, and our experiences. Blessings!