Check-in week of 2/5/2010

[jamberrymama]

Hello - its been a while...long enough for us to have completed the whole woods habitat. Next week we are on to Polar and it still is so cold here (like under 10 degrees) that it is a perfect time to enjoy the cold (and be done with it .

The woods were good for us living in them. Fertile ground for real life projects and observations. Along with encouraging our wild friends with home made treats, we also went to the local ag extension for a one afternoon class in beekeeping. DS got very inspired and this spring wants to plant some flowers to attract them. He is thinking if we can establish some flowers this year, maybe we will get a couple hives next year. Me you ask? I don't know what i think. I love that he wants to learn and experiment like that. Then i think of (probably me) having to take the honey from the hive....and that is kind of unsettling

So on to polar. That seems less likely to spawn any such ideas, unless of course he decides he wants to train for the iditarod! LOL - have a great week. Jam

[c_and_s]

We're starting on Polar this coming Monday, too. For the moment, I'm skipping whatever is between Rainforests and Polar -- I figured we might as well do the Polar studies while it's cold and wintry out. I'm hoping to use this lapbook from Homeschool Share with the boys:

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/polar...ls_lapbook.php

[teachmejoy]

We have 2 more weeks of polar left. We have loved it!!! We decided to add on an extra week to do an in depth study of the Antarctic and penguins too. It's been great, but I'm ready for Spring to get here!!!

[mamabearx3]

We're in the woods this week, I think our animal is the porcupine-week 20? Does that seem right? Lol, we have been so busy that I am a total scatterbrain. I've been wishing we were doing more of the hands-on projects, but there just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day. Really enjoying the woods since we live smack dab in the middle of them. The kids have had a great time studying animals that we see every day! Really excited about polar animals, and hoping we get through it while its still winter here. I have decided to use the Easy To Create Wildlife Habitat book this spring and summer as an enrichment type tool. We can't do any of it right now, so talking about it seems kind of pointless. Planning a trip to the zoo as soon as the weather is nice.

[True Blue]

We were kind of half-heartedly working on woods...with none here, our interest was waning. But, we expect to leave Key West for VA in 6 weeks or so, so I've quickly made a change so we can do oceans now, and then maybe woods when we move. Resourceful, aren't I? LOL Woods will be much more fun when we can do more hands-on with it...likewise, so will the ocean!!! We will take some fun field trips in the coming weeks like the Dolphin Research Center, Turtle Hospital, Theater of the Sea, our backyard... I'm also planning on the Miami Metro Zoo this week to go check out those Savannah and Rainforest animals in person!!!!!!!

We are really loving Ereth's Birthday though...I know DS gets a real kick out of all his 'swearing'.

mamabear...I'm thinking of doing the same thing with those books when we move!!! They will be fun for spring and summer, and perhaps even for science next year. It was all just too much for us to tackle this year, I had a hard time doing it all with the toddler in tow.

[soddymommy]

We have just finished with the desert and we're starting the artic tundra tomorrow. I've let DS choose which habitat to do next so that makes him more excited. For the desert we added a lapbook from here-http://www.homeschoolshare.com/desert_animals.php. This was the firt lapbooking activity that we've really done and DS liked it. He seems to get more out of this than the animal notebook. I think we'll do more lapbooking than notebooking. He is also trying to grow a cactus, it's growing very slowly but we've finally gotten some sprouts I'm really looking forward to starting the artic tomorrow!

[jamberrymama]

TRUE BLUE ....beam me down there please! We have snow everywhere, blowing/drifting, and snow in the forecast every day from monday night thru next saturday. We are doing polar.....AW and for real!!!!!!! Your plan sounds so fun. Let us know how those trips go. jam