Mystery Bird

This little bird has been hanging out at our bird feeder lately, driving us all crazy. We couldn't for the life of us figure out what it was!! It is a bit smaller than a robin, and has similar coloring to a sparrow. The boys have been through every bird book we have and were ready to give up, when I heard a little snip it on the radio about rose breasted grosbeaks (of which we have seen a few males) and their brown, sparrow-colored females!! So there you go - in case you have ever wanted to know what a female rose-breasted grosbeak looks like...(I know, you have all been dying of curiosity!!)

Green Legacy

One of the things that I enjoy most about homeschooling is being able to volunteer with the boys. It is something that has always felt important to me, but the ways I have been involved in the past took a bit of a nose dive as I had kids and found myself with so little free time. Now William and Charlie are old enough to enjoy working with me, and to be able to make a real contribution.

Today we joined a great group of friends at Green Legacy, a local greenhouse who has taken on the important job of reforesting our county. They plant many different kinds of native trees from seed, and rely extensively on volunteers to get all of the work done.


The kids (and parents) all enjoyed seeing this little vacuum machine that drops tiny white spruce seeds into the flats.

They learned all about different types of tree seeds..

Pushed seedlings out of their small cells...

And transplanted them into bigger cells.

Most of all, they got dirty. That's the best part, right?

The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The next best time is now.
~proverb

Critter Cams

This osprey nest is by the side of a road that we drive along a few times each week,and the kids are always interested in seeing what is going on, Even better, they love checking out this live critter cam of another osprey nest.



The eggs should be arriving shortly, and incubate for 4-6 weeks.

The Badlands

One of the things that I appreciate the most about homeschooling is the flexibility. Today the boys woke up, and Charlie declared it the perfect day to visit the bad lands, some spectacular clay hills that we check out every once in a while. We managed to get a bit of 'table time' done, scarfed down some breakfast,and headed out. It was blaring hot, but the kids enjoyed running around and working up a good dusty sweat while Mama relaxed in the shade.

Rockwood

This is one of our favorite places to explore together, and today's trip was simply wonderful. As well as so many beautiful hiking trails, there are the ruins of an old textile mill to explore. The sun was shining, the weather was perfect, the sights were beautiful, and we were all feeling fine. I may not get too much time these days to do things that I want on my own, but if my time with kids includes afternoons like this, I guess that ain't so bad.

Emergency Preparedness Day

Today the boys and I went over to a local community centre for Emergency Preparedness Day. From an adult standpoint, it is a chance to learn a bit more about keeping the family safe and comfortable in case of emergency. For the kids, it was an all-access pass to ambulances, fire trucks, search and rescue boats, police horses, guide dogs, etc.

Up Close

The boys and I were having an interesting conversation on perspective the other day while we wandered through the wood. We chatted about how we can all be looking at the same thing and 'see' it differently, both physical things and issues or ideas. (as an aside, I love these middle childhood ages, if no other reason than that the boys will engage in this type of discussion with their Mama for hours on end!). Anyway, the physical side of this talk was thinking about how different things look from a distance than they do up close. Here are a few photos...