How Does My Garden Grow?

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May 23, 2022 By Jennifer Lambert 6 Comments

We’ve lived in this house for about five years now, purchased it two years ago after we realized we were staying and my husband retiring from the Air Force here.

I feel like it’s finally starting to feel like home.

The kids love to help me in the garden and enjoy the veggies and herbs we grow. We all love bird watching and seeing the wildlife in our backyard woods.

We’ve always rented and it’s so nice to finally have a place to call home and the kids can start to grow some roots figuratively and literally. We have no family and few friends and always feel like outsiders since we’ve moved around so frequently.

It took me over a year to get the front yard weed-free. We had so much crabgrass from all the years of neglect. Neighbors who have lived on this street for decades have stopped to compliment my hard work, that it’s never looked better.

It’s a stress reliever for me to work in my yard and garden. I love cutting the grass and digging in the dirt, weeding, all of it.

I’ve had the herb garden since our first year here. The oregano, chives, and sage does come back every year. I can’t seem to get hardy rosemary and my thyme didn’t come back this year, so I had to replace it. I buy parsley and basil every year. I keep fighting cilantro which does ok until I harvest some, then it seems to get mad and wilt or go to seed.

I have strawberries, some lettuces, and a rogue green bean! I transplanted my Russian sage and a trumpet vine on the other side of the fence.

I love gnomes, mushrooms, and frogs. I have lots of fun little statues around the garden.

My spiderwort is very happy this year! I also have a huge hellebore. I got some free Heucheras that are doing great. My lavender is coming back from winter. The irises and gladiolas won’t bloom, so I think they need more direct sunshine, so I will have to find another place for them. In early spring, we have lots of daffodils and hyacinths.

I have a small sun-loving garden in front of our wood pile, at the end of the driveway.

I got this lovely forsythia free from a Buy Nothing group. I bought two purple azaleas and transplanted some grape hyacinths from the yard. There’s also some forget-me-nots in there from seed that I hope aren’t choked out! It was so pretty when it bloomed.

I have two rose trees that were just given to me and I really hope they make it, but their roots were chopped pretty bad, so we will see.

I have three kinds of mint in a half barrel pot so it doesn’t take over. I have prolific lemon balm growing, so I may have to put that in another pot or thin it out.

I love, love, love roses and I wish I had a larger space for a magnificent rose garden.

I’ve had roses at every house I’ve lived in and it’s always sad to move and leave them. I hope they’re being loved and cared for by whoever lives in those homes now.

There was one rose already here when we moved in. I have acquired the others from our local Buy Nothing group and I’ve purchased two – a Blue Girl and Elizabeth. I also have lavender, mini irises, and a peony that has been transplanted for the third time and looks like it might finally be happy to bloom!

I also just ordered some allium that I think will look lovely poking up around the roses. They also are supposed to ward off pests.

I just read that white geraniums ward off Japanese beetles, so we will see if these work!

Here’s my first rose bloom this year – Blue Girl!

The backyard is a lot brighter after we had the walnut trees removed. We tilled the soil and fertilized it well. This is our second year with a nice little vegetable garden. We had a truckload of topsoil and compost delivered last month and that really helped!

I love the raised beds my husband made out of pallets. We have carrots, beets, radishes, bok choy, leeks, green onions, sweet onions. We have several kinds of sweet and hot peppers.

We have peas, potatoes, tomatoes, yellow squash, zucchini, eggplant, cucumbers, raspberries.

I plan to get in green beans and sweet potatoes this weekend.

In the far right corner, I am slowly building up a shade garden with more hostas, astilbe, bleeding hearts, lily of the valley, Solomon’s seal, and a little lacy Japanese maple.

The hostas were almost all here when we moved in. I have divided them and acquired more from our local Buy Nothing group.

This is the edge of our backyard fenceline and I love the birdbath from Lowe’s and plan to get a 4×4 to make a more permanent bird feeder.

I have a jungle on my deck. I bring all my houseplants outside for the summer and they love it!

I love annuals in pots that attract hummingbirds and also help to keep mosquitoes and wasps away.

Lots of houseplants were given to me from our Buy Nothing group. I also scout the clearance corners at Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Walmart.

The clearance section also a great way to get very cheap orchids and tropicals!

These two plants were crammed into one container and very unhappy and I think it was only $7 or $8. I separated them and they seem more cheerful alone.

My bathroom windowsill is full of orchids! I can never have too many. Many people don’t want them after the blooms fall off. Maybe they’re not interested in waiting for more blooms or think orchids are difficult to maintain. I don’t know. But I love them!

I’ve always loved geraniums on the front porch. I bring my big geraniums inside for the winter, and they’re happy under the dining room window, so these are about four years old!

So, the landlady replaced the front door and sidelights all of a sudden with no notice while my husband was deployed. She wanted me to paint it, inside and out but I refused. After she berated the poor contractors from Lowe’s who didn’t have the holes drilled for a deadbolt, she painted it herself, white. I didn’t think there was anything wrong with the old door, which was red, like the frame surround. I would have never chosen this plain door with plain windows! Now that we’ve bought the house, I plan to get a beautiful front door and sidelights someday.

We have a magnolia and redbud tree that the kids enjoy when they bloom.

I toy with removing the boxwoods and barberry from the front of the house, but they’re quite large and I worry it would be a huge job and mess up all the other plants. I think it’s odd that the boxwoods do great on one side and always look burnt and yellowed on the other side. I don’t think they get enough sun. I’m not sure what to replace them with, and I can’t afford replacement plants that large, so it would look silly with tiny plants.

We have a hedge of lovely lilacs in front of our garage.

I’m so, so proud of our little pollinator garden.

Coneflowers were already here and I have added hyssop, bee balm, salvia, milkweed, SO MUCH YARROW, dill, fennel, a passion vine, cardinalis, foxglove, black eyed susans.

I love how all the plants are getting established and seem happy.

I enjoy working in my yard and garden and I’m constantly moving and evaluating and adding. I can never just sit and not think about how I could change or update some part of it. I love how it’s growing every year!

How does your garden grow?

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Tending Our Garden

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April 26, 2021 By Jennifer Lambert 11 Comments

We have had so many gardens over the years.

We have moved six times during our marriage. It does put a lot of stress on a family to start over so many times.

We tried to grow at every home where we ever lived. Some gardens were tiny and some were spacious. Some struggled and some thrived.

I like to think of our gardens as symbolic of our family – when we struggled and when we thrived in our relationships with each other.

Like gardens, relationships need the right conditions. There were bad weather and seasons, rocky or sandy soil. When we spent time, effort, and money on the gardens and our lives, we all grew.

My first little house that I bought myself in Georgia, I had begun to grow roses and flowers and some herbs.

I had to go through boxes of photographs since this is before digital cameras. Ah, the memories!

I loved birds even then and had feeders at the window. I was sad to have to sell this house and if I could go back, I would keep it and rent it out.

Our first little herb garden at our first rental home as a small blended family, in San Antonio, after we PCSed the very first time. We later grew some veggies for the first time. It was fun for our first homeschool year.

When we PCSed to Hawaii for three years, we lived on base and were not allowed to have a garden or change the landscape. We still grew and discovered what and who we wanted to be. We were surrounded by lush green and flowers and we enjoyed it all.

Our largest garden at our rental house in Utah where we grew lots of veggies and had a grape vine along the fence.

The whole family really worked hard in Utah on our garden. We enjoyed having fresh food that we grew ourselves. The kids would be so excited to help and harvest. We preserved, canned, and dried since we produced so much. We lived there four years and were just getting comfortable when we had to move again.

We used containers to grow herbs and veggies with our teeny tiny back yard in Germany. Even with the gorgeous food surrounding us in Europe and a fun little market right at our doorstep, we still yearned to grow our own.

Our baby garden when we rented our current house, that we just bought a year ago. We just had peas and lettuces and green beans. The radishes and carrots didn’t quite take. And I always have herbs.

We just celebrated our house-iversary. We bought our home one year ago!

It’s not perfect, but in many ways, it’s the best we’ve ever had and could ever hope for. While I always wanted more than mediocre suburbia for my kids, we have settled here for reasons. Sometimes, we dream of a hobby farm, but it’s just not feasible and I don’t see it ever happening.

The first thing we did after we signed the mortgage papers, was to have all the walnut trees cut down. It opened up our backyard and we don’t have to wear hard hats on the deck or worry about being pummeled by baseball-sized walnuts anymore.

We conditioned the soil and planned a little victory garden. We just planted early veggies – peas, lettuces, onions, potatoes, carrots, radishes, asparagus. We have spots ready to plant tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, squash when it’s warmer. We also planted two raspberry bushes.

While most of these plants will be ready to harvest in a month or so, the asparagus won’t be ready for about three years. It takes patience and planning.

We’ve never been settled in a place long enough to plan that far ahead.

It’s so exciting to finally realize this is all ours and we can update or change anything. I have to take a deep breath and let it all sink in.

I love planning and planting flowers. My herb garden is thriving. I’m a member of a local online gardening group that is just lovely. I just started my rose garden and I can’t wait to see the blooms!

When we had unexpected snow the end of April, it was disappointing, but we came together to cover the tender young plants against freezing. We prayed and hoped they wouldn’t wither or wilt and will be hardier for their shock of the frost. Just as we hope to weather storms and survive to thrive the hard times in our lives and we sure have had our share of tough times.

I’m transplanting bushes that need more sun and pruning and shaping plants that may have never had that done to them before. We’re fertilizing and adding soil and mulch for nutrients and weed cover.

We make amends and do more of what works and less of what doesn’t – in our relationships and with our plants. We’re constantly learning and growing.

Linking up: Create with Joy, Mostly Blogging, April Harris, Anita Ojeda, Eclectic Red Barn, Jeanne Takenaka, InstaEncouragements, Ducks in a Row, OMHG, Grammy’s Grid, Ginger Snap, Fluster Buster, Girlish Whims, Ridge Haven, Soaring with Him, Anchored Abode, Suburbia, Penny’s Passion, Crystal Storms, Slices of Life, Imparting Grace, Debbie Kitterman, Katherine’s Corner, Grandma’s Ideas, LouLou Girls, Our Three Peas, Try it Like it, Wordsmith, Answer is Choco, Momfessionals, Simply Sweet Home, Embracing Unexpected, Lyli Dunbar, CWJ, Random Musings,

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Learning About Seeds

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March 1, 2016 By Jennifer Lambert 13 Comments

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
How to Start Seeds

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Karlsruhe Zoo and Botanical Garden

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November 2, 2015 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

We took the train from Landstuhl to the Karlsruhe Zoo.

The entrance had a lovely sundial.

We like giraffes.

Alex is OBSESSED with foxes.

Kangaroos!

Polar bear was posing for us.

The hippos were delightful!

The otters were our favorite!

Check out my video of the Otters!

They had a fun splashy water feature.

We had a great time at the Karlsruhe Zoo!

Entrance fees:

Adults € 7,50

Students €5,00

Children 6-15: €3,50

Opening Times:

Summer: 08:00 – 18:00

Winter: 09:00 – 16:00, 17:00, or 17:30 (check for closing times during the month you visit)

Getting there:

We took the DB train from Landstuhl and switched lines at Neustadt. It was fun for the kids and easy to not have to drive or find parking. Kids are free during the week! When we exited the station, the zoo was directly across the street. Watch out for all the trolleys! We all got ice cream at the train station before we boarded the train for the trip back. Only €1 for a cone!

By car, it’s about 1 hour from Ramstein and 2.5 hours from Spangdahlem.

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Container Gardening on a Small Patio

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April 10, 2015 By Jennifer Lambert 3 Comments

Our old house had a humongous backyard and deck. We knew when we moved to Germany, we’d be giving that up.

Here’s how we make the best use of gardening space in our small yard and patio.

We have a tiny backyard with a goldfish pond and cute little patio.

Before:

After:

I cleaned it out a bit and added a Japanese maple and some azaleas. I want to get rid of the bamboo border and add bricks or stones and some pretty gravel inside.

And look what I found! Frog eggs. Mama frog peeked her head out of the water at me.

We have this fun grill and oven that I want to try out.

So, we don’t have much space for the kids to romp.

But they have a lovely playground park a block away now. We have to learn to container garden on our patio and maximizing space.

I realize with my small space, I have to get creative. I go vertical instead of horizontal.

Herbs in pots for culinary adventures

I have thyme, rosemary, lavender in pots on my stairs. We just had a cold snap that killed my basil and cilantro.

I have oregano, parsley, two kinds of mint, and sage that went dormant but is perking back up. They’re not pretty. I need to get some rocks and gravel for here too.

Tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers for cooking and canning

We used to have a large vegetable garden and lots of romping space and an arbor with grapes. I will miss having fresh beans and squash but there’s just not enough room. I might consider one of those teepees for beans back by the shed but I don’t think it gets enough sun there.

I don’t really miss cutting the lawn, weeding, or the extensive yard maintenance. It’s a nice break since we don’t have to hire anyone to babysit our plants or worry about a loss of our vegetables if we travel.

Pretty flowers on windowsills and railing

Of course I have to have pretty! The kids loved helping pick out flowers for the railing and hanging plants for our hooks. We have several geraniums still to plant.

Bird Watching

I love these little birds that come to my feeders. They sing so sweetly and drive my cats mad. We also got a bug house and we will see. The bees are a-buzzing and I love the sounds of spring!

I found this lovely bistro set (at the BX!) and we fell in love with Ranunculus when we visited Keukenhof so there they are, in a pot by the table for me to enjoy with my beverages in the mornings and evenings.

A pretty new rug by the door.

I had to have this lantern. It was on clearance and now I have the perfect spot for it on my new bistro table! I need to get a candle for it. But don’t you love it?

I love how it’s coming along so far.

Other Changes to Make

I need to pretty up this shelf.

I got this fun daisy tree and I need a pretty pot for it.

I need to get something tiered since floor space is a premium (I could put the geraniums in a fun plant rack).

I’ve seen some lovely pallet gardens and I think I will look for one to use along the fences and railing.

Our biggest concern are the slugs and snails. I learned last year they don’t care for oregano or rosemary but they devour basil and most flowers. I experimented with coffee grounds around the pots and plants and that helps.

We look forward to caring for a smaller garden for a few years and experimenting with more container gardening.

Inspiration:

Linking up: An Oregon Cottage

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Gartenschau Dino Park

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August 27, 2014 By Jennifer Lambert 1 Comment

We went to the Garden Show in Kaiserslautern as a family on July 4th.

After our visit, we bought a season pass to the Gartenschau/Dino Park. It’s quite lovely and a fun, versatile field trip.

An interesting exhibit this year is Element. This month is water and it’s quite fun with cellophane rain clouds and a unique brass water sculpture.

A river runs through it where the kids can play and there’s a watery playground with pumps, waterfalls, and slides. We didn’t bring swimsuits this time.

My favorite place was the Biblical garden. We found lambs and a shepherd and the girls loved that part on the hill!

Of course, the dinosaurs were super fun. Kate wanted an action shot of fighting the Velociraptor. Totally like in that old TV show, .

We all loved the rose garden and other themed gardens. We had a lovely dinner at the restaurant at the entrance. Alex always wants to eat indoors. We really need to break him of that.

I took the kids back on a sunny day so they could play at the water area. They wore swimsuits and played in the river and pond. It was warm and sunny and they all had a fun time. I sat on a blanket in the sun and watched them.

It was also the last day of school for the German kids, so it was packed when we arrived since they all had their end of the year party that morning. After lunch, they all left and it was much easier to keep track of the kids with fewer patrons running around.

We had to stop at the fountain at the entrance on our way out.

There are fun events almost every day – from concerts to kids activities. The season pass is a great deal and we could go multiple times a week if we wanted and the weather was good enough. It doesn’t take us long at all to get there and it’s only € 2.00 to park all day.

€ 7.00 for adults and € 3.00 for kids 6-16

The park is open from 01 April to 31 October daily.

On weekdays – Monday to Friday from 9 to 19 o’clock

On weekends, during the Rhineland-Palatinate vacation, public holidays and long weekends open 10 to 19 o’clock

Visit their website for more info!

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Nature Study Garden Update

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July 24, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 2 Comments

I noticed this pretty little flower bush growing beside our shed.

Then it started producing berries.

I love yellow and purple together!

My husband said it was nightshade. I Googled and found out that he was right!

I created notebooking pages for the girls and we researched the different varieties of nightshade. We have woody nightshade.

Here’s Tori’s completed page after our research.

Potatoes and tomatoes (among other foods) are in the nightshade family!

Our trumpet vine attracts bees and hummingbirds.

Among the honeybees are black and white bees

and dainty wasps

Our Concord grapes are coming along nicely. Come October, they’ll be purple and ready for juicing and jelly!

Here’s our little garden. Beans are climbing like crazy and I’ve gotten some lovely eggplant and peppers so far. Our sweet peas last month were scrumptious!

Tori is our resident gardener. She loves helping Dad outside and me inside. She picked these peas herself and shelled them – all without being asked!

Since we rent, it’s always fun to see what’s going to pop up in the yard. I don’t remember these yellow flowers last year! I love purple and yellow together (didn’t I say that already?). So cheerful.

We have such a late growing season here. We can’t plant until late May. I want tomatoes and cucumbers from my garden already!

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Tot School Summer

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July 10, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

Alex helps Dad in the garden.

Alex picked me a pepper.

He has a stack of papers by his table. He picks and chooses what he wants to do. Some are from past lessons. We’re on H, but he’s doing the cutting page from E.

Alex loves these dry erase books that I pulled out from the storage closet. I bought him a new set of Crayola crayons and markers for it!

Alex still loves his shapes and matching math cards. Check out our review.

Wooden geometric shapes and here’s a similar clear plastic 3D volume set

Alex has been listening in while we read Charlotte’s Web. I found these fun printables that are perfect for his ability level! He loves it.

He would not follow directions on his letter H All About Reading page. Blue! Not red! Booger!

More dry erase fun! We like The Board Dudes and Priddy Wipe Clean.

Building letters. How to Build an A. He just started liking this activity. The book shows how to use the foam pieces to build letters.

Kate and Alex play with magnets and this awesome printable flag page. Check out other patriotic and US History ideas on my Pinterest board.

Alex was thrilled when I came home with this new desk from the thrift store. I loved his excitement and pride in having a big boy desk!

Alex is really loving school time lately!

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Geranium Nature Study

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July 8, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 1 Comment

When I take Tori to the store, I never know what she’ll ask for. Usually it’s something I just can’t refuse. The girl asks for purple cabbage most of the time!

So, when they had all these lovely geraniums on the front sidewalk, she fell in love and asked for two in each color.

They were a great price and so healthy-looking, so I said ok.

Dad found these great barrel planters and we lined those with plastic and potting soil.

The girls went to work! Love the cooperation.

Proud sweet little gardening sisters.

I love having these gorgeous pots on either side of my front door!

And of course, we have to extend the lesson by learning about geraniums.

We love the challenges on Handbook of Nature Study Blog.

Our favorite notebooking resource (where the geranium page and lots more are):

ProSchool Membership - Productive Homeschooling

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Learning About Life Cycles

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June 27, 2013 By Jennifer Lambert 2 Comments

We reviewed the Moving Beyond the Page science and literature units Lifecycles Age 7-9: Concept 3 – Cycles: Unit 1 and Charlotte’s Web Age 7-9: Concept 3 – Cycles: Unit 2.

I love that everything I need is included. I was surprised when a big box came with all this:

ages 7-9 – unit 3_1 – Science Unit – Lifecycles by Kim A. Howe, M.S.
What Is a Life Cycle? by Bobby Kalman
Who Eats What? by Patricia Lauber, ill. Holly Keller
Green Earth Butterfly Kit
ages 7-9 – unit 3_2 – LA – Charlotte’s Web (/Online) by Kim A. Howe, M.S.
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White, ill. Garth Williams

We were already underway with caterpillars in our butterfly habitat and we already had big sister’s copy of Charlotte’s Web. The girls were thrilled to each have their own copies to read together. I loved it.

We learned plot with this flow chart.

I was impressed with the girls doing so much writing so well!

The girls worked on spelling words. I think vocabulary words would have been more helpful. I made my own list after this wasn’t super successful.

Kate did not really like the spelling sheets.

Tori really loathed the spelling assignments.

They loved this graphic organizer in the spider shape!

They wrote what we learned in our reading on the “legs.”

Tori enjoyed this writing assignment.

Here are the extra reading books we chose at the library. Kate loved this unit. She is an animal lover!

Kate loved reading the books for the unit.

We found three lovely and very different spiders in our front hedge. None like Charlotte though!

Look at this guy’s stripes!

I think this one is the same species as the one above, but a lighter color.

This is a wolf spider because of his eyes.

We even got a fun new pet that we love to watch every day: a leopard frog tadpole! His name is Sméagol. He’s just beginning to grow back legs.

Here are our five chrysalids with one starting to jiggle.

Our first butterfly!

Butterflies produce meconium that looks like blood after they come out of the chrysalids.

They like oranges!

Proud butterfly mama Kate!

This one acted almost drunk on the sugar water nectar! He didn’t want to fly away!

Final shot before the 5th butterfly took off.

In the Life Cycles lesson book, there are 9 lessons and a final project. The first page is a How to Use for Parents with a suggested schedule.

Love the vocabulary list and projects! We discussed living things and life cycles. We compared different animals and insects. And there was even a lesson on plants life cycles.

I had these fun magnets that we used for plants. We had done a garden study and we have a vegetable garden, so we’ve been working on that as a family and it was great hands-on learning! (There are some great notebooking pages in the lesson book though!)

Alex really loved Jack’s Garden. Dad read it to him. I read it to him. The girls read it to him. A favorite!

We’re studying animals in our regular science program and this just ties right in. I love that. We got to create a new species as a project too! It offered conditions, questions, and info on life cycle and food chains to help us with our creations. A rubric is included for parents to evaluate the project. A quiz is also available to assess the unit.

The girls completed a butterfly book about all they learned.

They drew the life cycle of butterflies.

Kate read me the book about butterflies. She loves reading!

I made this bulletin board for our unit

vocabulary page in the Life cycles unit

we discussed senses in a barn

Kate reads her instructions to write about barn sensory experiences. When I asked how they would feel in a barn, Kate said “nervous” and Tori said “happy.” So funny!

The girls write down our discussion and draws the barn from Charlotte’s Web

I love the online component for Charlotte’s Web. I can print the pages needed for our assignments. They offer written and drawing pages and I let the girls choose (was surprised by their choices!). If members have great lesson ideas, we can submit those to the IdeaShare forum!

The headings at the top are Intro, Activities, and Conclusion. It’s a well-organized lesson plan. There are four activities with multiple printable choices depending on the child’s writing abilities. You can click on Table of Contents to download or save printables. There are seven lessons and a final project. Suggested times are included.

We’ve never really used unit studies because I find it difficult to work into our regular schedule, but these are so well-written and fun, I definitely want to make room to do more! Summer is perfect for units!

The Charlotte’s Web online package is $20.92, with novel included. The unit lesson book alone is $12.93.

The Life Cycles package $45.92, including all materials needed. The unit lesson book alone is $16.99.

Click the images below to check out samples in literature, science, and social studies!