Weekly Report... Reading, Redwoods & Flat Stanley...

Another week has gone by so quickly. A few highlights from this week:

The Girl's reading practice is going amazingly well. We're keeping it simple these days, just using Reading Pathways. The pyramid structure of the stories works really well for her, since it is simple, repetitive, and quite straightforward. We review a story and read a new one every day (and I mean every day). She's turned a corner of some sort - she no longer whines when I pull the book out, and she approaches each lesson cheerfully, willing to work. I am keeping my fingers crossed that we're really getting somewhere! We finish up each lesson with me reading her a story of her choice - this week it has been a selection of classic fairy tales she chose at the library. I must say, the girl has an eye for good illustrations! Check out this version of Rapunzel to see what I mean!



The Boy is vastly enjoying The Strange Case of Origami Yoda, alongside a rereading of the 2012 Guiness Book of World Records.

We also wrapped up Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and started Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great. We're still enjoying Smoky House at bedtime as well - a few more chapters to go, and I'll have to choose something new!

We also headed out to the redwoods - Armstrong Grove State Park to be specific -  for a lovely and peaceful afternoon...

Inside the tree you see them entering above

Some crazy burls... I swear I see Popeye's face!

Taking a well earned snack break

Determined to touch a leaf on the tree overhanging the path

Nature makes numbers!

 Doesn't my husband look tiny in this picture, next to those trees?

The afternoon hike was just what we all needed. We are a family that used to hike a lot, quite regularly. Somehow, over the past couple of years, we have drifted away from that. This little trip made us determined to get back into the habit!

What Else We Did...

Water play out back in our little pool

Playing with the chickens - they like to be pet, and fed veggie scraps

I finally decided on The Girl's math for the fall!

Watched the classic version of Treasure Island. Next we'll watch the newer version. Which reminds me, we really should get back to reading the book!

Art projects galore

Lots of zucchini based foods... muffins, breads, chocolate chip cookies, and so forth.

Oh, and we're participating in a Flat Stanley exchange at last! We've had one family visit us, from North Carolina - they went with us to the Bodega Marine Lab. Our travelers have been to Virginia, and are now in Kentucky! Here are some pictures from their travels so far (Virginia pics)...

It was a good week overall... I just wish life would slow down a little! Hope you all had a good week too!

Almost forgot.... this week's Green Hour...

A pretty little wildflower

This week we explored our backyard a little more. It was, when we moved in last September, completely dried out, and nearly all dead, with the exception of the apple tree and the tiny pear tree. Slowly, it is coming back to life, and we are gradually making the changes we want.

Yesterday we spent some time exploring our new compost pile, and we did a lot of digging. The kids also spent quite a while just exploring the yard. We saw worms, dicussed composting, planted a limequat tree, and just enjoyed the windy weather.

The new compost pile

Composting in action

We looked up worms in our encyclopedia and online, because the kids wanted to know why they're good for the garden. I found this page, all about worm castings, bacteria, etc. We then looked at the bottom layer of the compost pile, so that the kids could see how yard waste turns into good rich dirt.

Green Hour Challenge #1...

The Green Hour Challenge (No Child Left Inside) looks great, and so I decided to use our trip to the beach as a jumping off point. We spent the entire day (well, about 5 hours) exploring a familiar stretch of coast made unfamilar by the very low tide. We saw hermit crabs, a variety of starfish, a few sea slugs, several varieties of seaweed and sea grass, and more!

Elf's two focuses for the week:

Hermit crabs - Why do they live in different types of shells?
Most species of hermit crabs have long soft abdomens which are protected from predators by the adaptation of carrying around an salvaged empty seashell, which the whole crab's body can retract into. Most frequently hermit crabs utilize the shells of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks. The tip of the hermit crab's abdomen is adapted to clasp strongly onto the columella of the snail shell. As the hermit crab grows in size it has to find a larger shell and abandon the previous one.

Or, as I explained it to Elf, the hermit crabs have unprotected bellies, so they use empty shells of other sea creatures to protect themselves from birds and other animals that might hurt or eat them. As the hermit crab gets bigger, it outgrows the shell just like we outgrow our clothes, so it searches around until it finds a new one that fits better, and then it suctions itself into it.

How do starfish move?
Starfish do not rely on a jointed, movable skeleton for support and locomotion (although they are protected by their skeleton), but instead possess a hydraulic water vascular system that aids in locomotion. The water vascular system has many projections called tube feet on the ventral face of the starfish's arms which function in locomotion and aid with feeding.

My explanation to Elf: Starfish have little tubes, called tube feet, on the underside of their bodies. They can squirt water from these tube feet and move around by essentially jetting themselves everywhere.