When we aren't working on phonics and math we've been focusing heavily on nature and science again this week. The children and I have enjoyed revisiting my own childhood with Bill Nye the Science Guy on Netflix during the steamiest parts of the day. This week the days have started out steamy and progressed to an oven once the sun is high in the sky. Today we watched Episode 3, Digestion. After that we got to work on some bread making for the remaining days of the week as well as a few chores. While we were folding clothes we heard a ruckus outside and went to check on the chickens. Before we could get to the chickens we were quickly distracted by a beautiful Luna Moth resting on the front door. Singer quickly grabbed her Butterfly and Moth Field Guide so she could look up the beautiful species.
My favorite guides for this age are Smithsonian Handbooks, we have a hefty collection of subjects the children are interested in and continue to grow our shelf on new subjects. The guides are perfectly constructed and sized for small hands, the photographs are eye catching and effortlessly strike interests in even the tiniest of minds.
These guides sit next to the children's beds and they grab them during each book or quiet time. They never seem to tire of their pages. The best part is when, like today, they grab them to reference a species that is actually in front of them. Also of note, Flight of the Butterflies is streaming on Netflix.
Our butterfly and moth collection we have been saving to pin in a shadow box once we collect enough.
After that we took it to the yard and finally found our chickens' eggs after about 5 days of zero luck. Maybe John Henry was making all that ruckus to finally alert us to the location of their eggs. As the Golden Chicken we'd like to think that's exactly what she was trying to do. Each day we look for eggs, we thoroughly check under the black berry bushes morning and night with no return. But the eggs were there the whole time, we simply needed to change our perspective. We couldn't see them from the front of the bush, we needed to look from behind near the beehive.
Speaking of perspective: This morning during coffee I read a beautiful passage about homeschooling our children. Many of the sentiments sum up my feelings on allowing the children to learn here in their favorite environment. No doubt, I am still a champion of public schools and we will reevaluate our decision for each child during the summer proceeding each coming year. However, I am so thankful that I can teach them and spend their days with them at home and exploring what the world has to offer, for at least the time being.