Pumpkin Unit Study

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September 28, 2012 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

Pumpkins mean autumn!

We love seeing the pumpkin patches and pumpkin decorations in September and October.

We’re cleaning out the garden. Most of the pumpkins are ripe and ready.

Aaron cut them and the kids carried them to the deck.

Alex is telling me: “It’s HEAVY!”

Katie is super excited it’s fall and October is next week!

Tori always does the most work in the garden.

She’s already picked all the tomatoes and brought a few pumpkins to the deck.

She’s getting tired.

These are only few of our pumpkins. Not sure what to do with them all. They’re not eating pumpkins, but jack o’lanterns. They’re pretty for decorating though!

Pumpkin Unit Resources:

Here’s my autumn Pinterest board with lots of fall fun!
We made some yummy pumpkin streusel muffins
We love these pumpkin scones!
It’s always fun to head to the pumpkin patch and play!
Pumpkin math activities
Pumpkin unit from The Homeschool Scientist
Meet Penny Pumpkin Unit
Living Montessori Now Pumpkin Unit
Pumpkin Study from Enchanted Homeschooling Mom
The Biggest Pumpkin Ever Unit from The Proverbial Homemaker
In All You Pumpkin Printables

ProSchool Membership - Productive Homeschooling

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Adam’s Canyon Hike

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September 25, 2012 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

Our church youth group went on a hike up to a waterfall. I came along too since it was just our pastor, the youth pastor, another man, and a boy. Liz would’ve been the only girl!

Looking at the map of the trails.

It was very steep and sandy and getting hot quick!

at the bridge about 1/3 of the way up

I just look…pink.

Lunch break. These two are currently our youth group.

A fun “cave” to explore.

lovely purple flowers…they’re nightshade.

the rocky surface of the waterfall area

The waterfall just trickles down over the rocks, but it’s still really pretty.

Liz at the base of the waterfall. slippery!

The view from the waterfall grotto.

and I only fell twice coming back down. It was sandy and I skidded. No injuries.

And was I sure sore the next day!

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Grasshopper Nature Study

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September 21, 2012 By Jennifer Lambert 2 Comments

Dad was brave and took this close-up picture of this HUGE grasshopper. I love it.

He was WALKING across our deck ever so slowly. We giggled to watch him.

I love how we can see all his parts. This is a perfect specimen to draw and label.

Isn’t he beautiful?

Here’s another humongous grasshopper.

For some reason, the kids thought he needed a house in my Gladware.

Fingers by him for size perspective.

Alex was ready to BOLT if that sucker came any closer.

He’s still nervous around bugs and this was a rather big guy.

Grasshopper Resources:

Grasshopper notebooking page from Homeschool Share. The girls can color the grasshopper and write a couple facts about him.
Homeschool Helper Online Grasshopper Page
Activity Village Grasshopper Notebooking Page
I nsect notebooking pages from Homeschool Creations

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End of Summer Nature Study

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August 29, 2012 By Jennifer Lambert 2 Comments

We went through the August grid and end of summer lists and did quite a few activities.

Aaron took these shots of our hummingbirds. I love her. We could all just sit and watch hummers for hours.

I love this picture:

Flying insects: We watched the bees on the flowers. We also have humongous dragonflies, but they wouldn’t land for a picture.

My rose garden. This Simply Mauvelous is struggling to survive.

Aaron and the girls got me this lovely yellow one this spring. It struggled for a while, but now it’s flourishing.

My favorite is Blue Girl.

Elizabeth has her rose named for the Queen.

Aaron and the girls also bought me this lovely magenta one this spring. It’s thriving.

Vegetable garden. Not seeds yet, but these will be fennel soon. The bees like it.

Our watermelon is growing like crazy. We’ve had one ripen so far. Yummy!

Do you see our little grasshopper friend in those shadows?

The bell peppers are growing nicely, but they’re a little bitter.

The kids are super excited for the pumpkins that are turning orange! We have more than enough!

My Roma tomato and eggplant

Peaches draping over my fence. That means they’re mine, heehee.

grapes that we shall make into jelly and juice in another month. I can’t wait!

Seedy weed and we counted the flower petals and looked at how they attach to the stem in a spiral fashion. Multi-tasking!

I don’t have to encourage the kids to play with rocks. Maybe I should discourage them to put them in the bird bath though!

They fight to water the plants by our front door. It’s been so hot and dry it hasn’t helped much. Everything is getting crispy.

Gratuitous cute kitty picture

Different leaf shapes

Notebooking pages. I think Katie is rather excited.

Liz helping Tori spell the words correctly

Tori super proud of her hummingbird drawing. Her favorite part of our summer backyard. Liz also drew the hummingbirds and the garden. Katie drew the quail that run across the lawn.

We love the resources in the Handbook of Nature Study Blog:

And we love the ease of notebooking pages.

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Pineview Reservoir Nature Study

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August 8, 2012 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

We got to experience nature up close and personal when we went camping!

Here was our little buddy. He wasn’t shy at all! He wasn’t even bothered when we made a fire in the pit. He sniffed around looking for scraps.

Just a little walk and we found ourselves at this glorious creek. The water was icy cold, but that didn’t stop the kids from playing in it! Several of the older kids caught some brook trout too!

Lovely wildflowers abounded all over the campground and trails.

Just look at that view! There was a great no wake reservoir with trout. I didn’t catch anything though. The kids loved trying to fish. You can also see the lovely storm coming in that drenched us for a few minutes.

I love how lush and green the mountains are. We saw deer too!

Here’s the road that led from the campground to the lake. Christmas trees!

I had great fun examining the thistles on the lakeshore, just buzzing with bees. Did you know there are about 33 different species of bees native to Utah? It is the Beehive State!

There are 3,500 species of bees in the U.S. and 20,000 species in the world.

See the different stripes and shape of the abdomens?

Hi there!

It was exciting to see wild raspberries all over the campground and near the lakeshore!

Here’s the view from the other side of the lake. I love the clouds in this shot reflecting in the water. It was so gorgeous and peaceful here!

We went kayaking too. The girls could really handle their own kayak and now we want our own! We definitely look forward to camping again. It’s like nature study in a bundle. It was so nice to be without electronics. We didn’t even have a cell signal.

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Quail Nature Study

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August 1, 2012 By Jennifer Lambert 1 Comment

Liz found this little guy in our yard waste can. Someone left the lid open.

She rescued him.

So, we called all the kids to come and see!

Katie was so excited and gentle.

Isn’t he cute?

We sure hope he found his family and is safe and sound.

Learn about quails:

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Our First Camping Trip

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July 31, 2012 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

We went on our first family camping trip with our church this past weekend.

Aaron didn’t grow up doing the camping fishing thing. I did. It’s taken me this long to get him to try it!

Our First Camping Trip was a huge success!

Nice clean and cute kiddos when we first arrived at the campground. Minutes later, they were muddy and wet. Super!

Queen of the rock:

The kids found their own rock.

Alex loved being outside all. the. time.

Our tent we rented from Outdoor Rec. on base

First morning:

Aaron went fishing in a boat with some guys at 0630. Liz disappeared from camp before the kids and I got up. Story: She banged on the neighbor’s camper before 0700 and got their kids up (ages 6 and 9) to go look for berries and/or deer. They walked down to the reservoir and “borrowed” a canoe and paddled out on the lake by themselves. At least they put on the 3 life jackets they found in the canoe (convenient!). It was the story of the week. Great.

First camp breakfast:

Dinosaur Eggs oatmeal and fruit punch!

I think Alex was yelling something at me. whoa, was it cold up in the mountains!

Look at that view!

Dad set the girls up fishing at the reservoir.

Katie’s first fishing trip! We didn’t catch anything. Got to get up too early for all that. And we are not early risers.

Tent meeting in our “Tabernacle.” Pastor and his son led us in worship. We also had communion with bread baked in a Dutch oven.

We brought our own chairs and sang songs and listened to Pastor preach.

Camp pot luck dinner. Obviously, we need to get a Dutch oven. Seriously.

We went hiking and playing in the creek. That water is COLD! We borrowed kayaks and went paddling around on the lake. Tori and Katie could even manage the kayaks on their own! I was so proud. I seriously want a kayak now.

Alex was inseparable from Pastor’s granddaughter. She’s 5. He likes older women. And gingers.

Aaron got to have fun retrieving toys that Alex threw in the creek, before they floated away! Alex kinda wanted to see them float downstream, but I was worried that there would be tears if they disappeared in the current.

I love how our church practically rented out the whole campground. I felt the kids were safe running around and everyone helped watch out for all the kids. It was such a great experience for our family. We made some great friends over the weekend. We had no cell phone coverage. We really were isolated!

The kids are already asking if we can go next year. I guess that means they liked it.

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Hummingbird Nature Study

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July 29, 2012 By Jennifer Lambert 1 Comment

Hummingbirds are probably one of my favorite animals. I feel so delighted watching them. They have such personality!

So, we have Mr. King Hummer who sits in our maple tree and guards the feeder. He chases away all other hummers and twitters at them. Sometimes, he’s so feisty he sounds like a hissing cat when he chases those others away!

I like to sit on the deck with my morning coffee and watch him chase the lesser hummers. He often comes to eat and I was so pleased to get a few good shots of him at the feeder!

And we have this lovely trumpet vine that attracts hummers and bees. Do you see her? I think she’s a broad tailed or black chinned.

The girls are more difficult to identify. The rufous chases her and all others away from the feeder, but he leaves them alone at the vine.

I like to sit on the deck most mornings, drinking my coffee and watch the hummingbirds. They come to my feeder that is no more than a couple feet away from me.

They twitter at me and frolic and chase each other. I love it.

My husband captured these shots. They sure are fast!

I got these with my iPhone.

I’m pretty sure these are black chinned hummingbirds.

Check out this Outdoor Hour Challenge at Handbook of Nature Study blog

I only had ruby throated hummers in Georgia and Texas. I missed hummers in Hawaii (they’re not allowed there due to ruining the pineapple crops) and we have thoroughly enjoyed all the varieties the last couple summers here in Utah.

The kids are as excited as I am about hummers.

We completed hummingbird notebooking pages.

I printed some pics from the Internet and they wrote out their names.

Tori likes to draw.

Alex likes sitting with me and watching the “baby birds.” They sound like they’re laughing when they chase each other.

Resources:

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Adam’s Canyon Waterfall

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July 21, 2012 By Jennifer Lambert Leave a Comment

A great day for Adam’s Canyon Hike

Well, we took all seven younguns on a 4 mile hike to Adam’s Canyon on Thursday morning. It says on the website that it’s about 2-3 hours. It took us from 8ish to about 1:30. ugh

But we did see some amazing plant life and some awesome waterfalls. It smelled good and piney and fresh.

There were lots of little scrub oaks with these guys on them. I think they’re gall wasps?

hey y’all!

Stair steps: Liz@11, Reygan@almost9, Ben@7, Tori@6, Katie@5, Ty@4, Alex@2.

And then there were these hard little orangey pink galls on the oak leaves: gallflies.

ants. You’d think the kids never saw them before.

pretty yellow wildflower

black chinned hummingbird…see him? right in the middle on the end of the dead branch?

cactus

view of the mountains down southeast and a pretty look at town on the first leg of the hike

Fun in the creek

crossing the creek…see how Alex won that battle?

my son, the rock climber

a pretty little waterfall

yellow columbines

wild raspberries!

The jackpot: 40 foot waterfall at the end of the trail!

snack time! (on trail mix, not the raspberries…)

of course, I had to go into the waterfall, not all the way, but almost

that water was COLD

Alex thought this was the greatest thing in the world! (so did I…)

It was rough heading back. There was lots of whining and we were so. very. tired. Thank God we had four adults, but it was barely enough. Aaron carried Alex almost the whole way back. Katie is crazy and she wanted to hop on rocks and she stepped off the trail a couple times, almost toppling off the mountain. Special thanks to my sister-in-law, Krista, for saving her life.

I do love hiking and all that, but it is stressful with little kids. I think I’ll stick to the nature center and parks and our backyard until they’re a bit older. I’m still sore!