Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Congaree National Park
Congaree National Park
Our homeschool nature club took a field trip here today and had an awesome time! We canoed or kayaked down the river, got out and ate lunch, then canoed/kayaked back up again. It was beautiful. So peaceful and serene! The trees there are gorgeous! The snake we saw swimming in the water wasn't bad looking himself, although I have to admit we might have found him a little bit more attractive if he hadn't been swimming rapidly straight toward our canoe!
Congaree National Park is located in South Carolina. It is home to many Bald Cypress Trees and Water Tupelo trees. Spanish Moss hangs from many of the branches. Snakes hang from some of the branches too!
Visitors to the site can look for wildlife while taking a walk along a boardwalk or while canoeing or kayaking up and down the river. There's also a very nice visitor's center with several nature exhibits inside.
Here are a few pictures of Congaree National Park, as well as some information about the park, for those who are interested.
Guided Canoe Tours
Bald Cypress Tree
A Bunch Of Beautiful Photos of Congaree National Park
Congaree National Park - Home Page
Monday, April 27, 2009
Easy Vegetarian Sweet And Savory Crepes
Cinnamon Apple Crepes
I enjoy making crepes and coming up with new recipes. Although people often have the idea that crepes are difficult to make, they're actually very easy. Making crepes can be as easy as mixing up the batter, pouring it onto the pan while turning the pan to spread the batter, flipping the crepe over, adding fresh fruit or some other topping, rolling it up or folding it in half, and enjoying it! I guess the most difficult part is flipping the crepe over, but don't worry because if it tears, there are some easy remedies you can use to fix it.
Here are a few of my favorite crepes, (all of which are vegetarian, and some of which are also vegan if you use a vegan batter) along with links to their recipes.
Quesadilla Crepes
Quesadilla crepes are my favorite lunch or dinner crepe! They are sooo easy and quick to make! Although the taste is similar to a regular quesadilla, they are much lighter because of using a fresh, delicate crepe rather than a store-bought tortilla.
Chocolate Banana Dessert Crepes
Chocolate Banana crepes, whether you make them rolled or folded or even double decker style (see the website for directions!), are another one of my favorites! I use dark chocolate chips to make these, and they are soooo very good!
Chocolate Crepes
To make chocolate crepes, I add cocoa powder to the crepe batter. They can be filled with many different things, such as fresh strawberries, bananas, ice cream, yogurt, nuts, etc. (I've included several suggestions for fillings along with the chocolate crepe recipe.)
Broccoli Cheese Crepes
For more recipes, visit: Easy And Delicious Sweet And Savory Crepes
If you've never made crepes before, or it's been a while, perhaps you'd like to check out my crepe making and storing tips!
Hope you enjoy the crepe recipes!!
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Middle School Hands-On Science
While surfing the net today, I ran across a blog entitled Queen Bee's Homeschool. The author of the blog, Angela, has listed some hands-on science curriculums for middle schoolers and they all sound interesting to me! I'm going to check them out further!
The programs she mentions include:
Science MaTe
Teaching Physics with Toys
Hands On Physcial Science Activities
Principles of Alchemy
Thames and Kosmos Power House
I should mention that she has not actually used these yet. She's not reviewing them. She's just debating on what she wants to use next year. Check out her blog for more information!
If anyone reading this has actually tried one or more of these programs, I'd love to hear what you have to say about them!
The programs she mentions include:
Science MaTe
Teaching Physics with Toys
Hands On Physcial Science Activities
Principles of Alchemy
Thames and Kosmos Power House
I should mention that she has not actually used these yet. She's not reviewing them. She's just debating on what she wants to use next year. Check out her blog for more information!
If anyone reading this has actually tried one or more of these programs, I'd love to hear what you have to say about them!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Hands-On Homeschool Science Curriculums: A Review
Although there are many hands-on homeschooling science curriculums out there, I wanted to mention a few that I have particularly enjoyed using over the years.
Stratton House Homeschool Science Kits
This is a series of kits on various topics, including microscopes, astronomy, magnetism, insects, light, and birds. Each kit comes with a unit on one of these (although you can purchase groups of units as well). Inside the kit are about 15 different lessons that all pertain to that one topic. Each lesson includes some factual information (but not so much as to bore the child) and one or more hands-on activities. Students can also record their discoveries, draw pictures of what they saw or did, etc, within the pages too, if they'd like. Best of all, each kit comes with almost everything you need!!! (In fact, they do come with everything you need, with only a very few excepts, such as a piece of bread, or some pond water.) Science was by far our favorite subject the year we did the Stratton House Homeschool Science Kits! I have since recommended this program to several other homeschooling families.
Real Science 4 Kids
This is the program that our entire homeschool group, from first graders up to middle schoolers, is using this year. Don't think that just because a couple of first graders are using it though that's it's too watered down, as there are more than one level of textbook available. The program is broken up into three main topics, chemistry, physics, and biology. Each one has it's own thin textbook with full color photos on each page and is accompanied by a student workbook. The workbooks are really way more than just a "workbook" though, as each lesson in the workbook is an experiment or hands-on activity (with the exception of only one or two chapters) that goes along with the chapter in the text book. The children in our homeschool co-op (and many of the parents as well!) have really enjoyed doing the hands-on activities! Examples of these include raising painted lady butterflies, making models of molecules with marshmallows, various plant experiments, making an electromagnet, experiments with marbles, etc. In all honesty, we did notice a mistake in the biology text. It said caterpillars turn into cocoons before becoming butterflies (they actually become chrysalises instead of cocoons. The larva of moths become cocoons.), and some of the chemistry text was a bit difficult for some of the kids (and parents?) to follow, but overall we've enjoyed this program. The science experiments we did together will make memories for years to come!
Tops Learning Systems
Tops Learning Systems makes some hands-on science books we've enjoyed in other years. Each book is related to one topic, such as: Pendulums, Floating and Sinking, Light, Green Thumbs: Corn and Beans, animal survival, etc. The books come on various grade ranges, such as grades 3 to 10, grades 7 to 12, grades K - 12, etc. We've only done a few of these, but have thoroughly enjoyed the ones we've done. Just like the other two programs I've mentioned in this post, Tops Learning Systems activities are very hands-on. I'm considering recommending that we do more of these books with our homeschool co-op middle schoolers next year!
Stratton House Homeschool Science Kits
This is a series of kits on various topics, including microscopes, astronomy, magnetism, insects, light, and birds. Each kit comes with a unit on one of these (although you can purchase groups of units as well). Inside the kit are about 15 different lessons that all pertain to that one topic. Each lesson includes some factual information (but not so much as to bore the child) and one or more hands-on activities. Students can also record their discoveries, draw pictures of what they saw or did, etc, within the pages too, if they'd like. Best of all, each kit comes with almost everything you need!!! (In fact, they do come with everything you need, with only a very few excepts, such as a piece of bread, or some pond water.) Science was by far our favorite subject the year we did the Stratton House Homeschool Science Kits! I have since recommended this program to several other homeschooling families.
Real Science 4 Kids
This is the program that our entire homeschool group, from first graders up to middle schoolers, is using this year. Don't think that just because a couple of first graders are using it though that's it's too watered down, as there are more than one level of textbook available. The program is broken up into three main topics, chemistry, physics, and biology. Each one has it's own thin textbook with full color photos on each page and is accompanied by a student workbook. The workbooks are really way more than just a "workbook" though, as each lesson in the workbook is an experiment or hands-on activity (with the exception of only one or two chapters) that goes along with the chapter in the text book. The children in our homeschool co-op (and many of the parents as well!) have really enjoyed doing the hands-on activities! Examples of these include raising painted lady butterflies, making models of molecules with marshmallows, various plant experiments, making an electromagnet, experiments with marbles, etc. In all honesty, we did notice a mistake in the biology text. It said caterpillars turn into cocoons before becoming butterflies (they actually become chrysalises instead of cocoons. The larva of moths become cocoons.), and some of the chemistry text was a bit difficult for some of the kids (and parents?) to follow, but overall we've enjoyed this program. The science experiments we did together will make memories for years to come!
Tops Learning Systems
Tops Learning Systems makes some hands-on science books we've enjoyed in other years. Each book is related to one topic, such as: Pendulums, Floating and Sinking, Light, Green Thumbs: Corn and Beans, animal survival, etc. The books come on various grade ranges, such as grades 3 to 10, grades 7 to 12, grades K - 12, etc. We've only done a few of these, but have thoroughly enjoyed the ones we've done. Just like the other two programs I've mentioned in this post, Tops Learning Systems activities are very hands-on. I'm considering recommending that we do more of these books with our homeschool co-op middle schoolers next year!
Friday, April 24, 2009
Painted Lady Butterflies
A few weeks ago, my son brought home two Painted Lady Caterpillars from his homeschool co-op. Someone in our co-op had purchased the caterpillars for the kids so that we could all watch the miracle of metamorphosis unfold before our eyes. It truly was an amazing experience!
Our Painted Lady Caterpillars each came in a little cup with all the food they would need for their time as caterpillars. After a few days, they both crawled to the top of their cups and attached themselves in a J shape, hanging upside down from their tails, from the lid of the cup. Caterpillars are the larva stage of a butterfly or moth. The next stage differs though. A moth becomes a cocoon and a butterfly becomes a chrysalis. Our Painted Lady caterpillars were well on their way to becoming chrysalises!
A few hours after hanging upside down, they molted one last time, and the new skin underneath hardened into a chrysalis shell. They stayed like that for 9 days. On that ninth day, right before our eyes, the shell of the chrysalis opened and out came a Painted Lady Butterfly. It wasn't a lengthy process at all! In fact, it happened within just a minute or two!
My son and I learned a great deal about Painted Lady Butterflies while raising and releasing our two. For example, did you know butterflies are solar powered, and need a little direct sunlight warming their wings in order to fly?
I've created a web page that tells all about our experiences with the butterflies, and also goes more into depth regarding the life cycle of the Painted Lady Butterfly. It also includes several photos that we took of our Painted Lady Butterflies!
Painted Lady Butterflies
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