Well, I'm finally sitting down and enjoying quiet time (as quiet as we can get it right now). It's nice that all my children will agree to have a quiet hour during the day! Today has been the start of our science experiments! We are following the experiments lined out in the HBNS (Handbook of Nature Study) for the study of wildflowers. We will conduct four total experiments. They are all about the basic needs of plants. The experiment we began today is about soil! It is quite fun getting all of this started! We are using good potting soil, dirt from the back yard (AZ dirt doesn't seem to be very good), sand, and (now I thought this one was wierd) sawdust. I'm very curious to see what happens with the sawdust mainly, but the dirt from our back yard intrigues me as well. The other three experiments will include one about sunlight, another about how the leaves turn toward the sun, and the last will be about water.
I looked things up on the internet about the layout of an experiment that children would do for a science fair. We are modifying it and using the same parts of an experiment, putting it into our nature books (or rather, Benjamin Bunny is putting it in his journal). As far as the nature journals go, I'm making an example of things that they will add to their journals and then they will have an idea to get themselves going. For now, I really think that is going to work best for our family. I've done a few things differently, but overall, they are going to be great! I'm really enjoying the journaling. My personal attempts at drawing are slowling getting better and that excites me. Friday, we will be attending a nature study with our local CM group. It's going to be great! With the wildflowers in abundance right now, I know it's going to be wonderful and beautiful!
Over the weekend, we took another family nature walk and we saw another type of bird and we also added to our list of wildflowers! We had recently obtained a new set of binoculars and I was so thankful to have these on hand, otherwise I would never have known we were being blessed by the presence of a Phainopepla! I'm pretty sure we also saw a male House Finch. The new wildflower that caught my eye is the Scorpionweed or Wild Heliotrope. They are beautiful little flowers. I nearly missed them! They were so tiny. I sure do hope that the children learn soon to see even the tiniest of things!
That morning, we had decided to take a trip to a local cultural event. It was fabulous, well, mostly. They seemed slightly unorganized and it was colder than I thought it would be. We had two little girls that were freezing! Honestly, it wasn't that cold, but the breeze made it hard to bare. I hope to have another opportunity to go see the Day of the Spanish Horse again!
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