homeschooling is cool: the pumpkin patch

our nature group went to the real deal pumpkin patch last week. i say real deal because that's what it was. there were no rides, no face painting, no games. just a field of pumpkins most still on their vines and a few farm animals. my kiddo's loved it. we have actually visited this pumpkin patch for the last few years. the pumpkins are usually nice in size and are plentiful, but this year they lost their first crop (too much rain). they planted a second crop which we got to choose from, but most of the pumpkins were small or were not ready to be picked. however, my kiddo's had no problem finding a pumpkin or having fun. take a look...

pretty much first thing my girl found her pumpkin

(see tiny, but manageable for little kiddo's)

a pumpkin flower and the start of a new pumpkin

did you know that these beetles are pumpkin pollinators? we read it in a book about pumpkin farms. i always thought that beetles were bad, apparently not in this case.

the beautiful yellow pumpkin flower is all dried up, but there is now a beautiful orange pumpkin.

my little fella found a pumpkin just his size too

i found my girl gathering these seeds (from weeds), she wanted to take them home to plant them. i didn't have the heart to tell her we don't want to plant seeds from weeds. i suppose it could have been a good learning opportunity, but she was just too excited about them. i couldn't do it. so, while she gathered seeds i decided to explore a little too and take some photos.

i found wheel barrows

and clay pots.

then, i stumbled onto these two

and we saw a real farm tractor drive by

it was awesome!

when it was time to go i even found the best pumpkin in the patch. i'll take that one in the yellow shirt!

homeschooling is cool: let's bowl

what do you do when your home school nature day gets rained out? you go bowling where it's nice and dry. that's right, we took our 20 some kids to the cal bowl and had a great time. take a look...

watching the big leagues and getting pumped for their session

my little fella was raring to go. he's in love with bowling. he was first introduced to it on my sisters iphone and he's been hooked ever since.

the famous pose

my girl has got her bowling shoes on and she's ready to go

this is probably one of the random balls that garebear through down the lane when it wasn't his turn. taking turns was part of our lesson on this day. let's just say we're still working on that. he's 2, what do you expect?

checkout my girl's form and style

bowling balls are so photogenic

this little fella wasn't lacking form or style

actually, all of our home school friends had great form and style. they had good sportsmanship and with the exception of my little one they were all great at waiting for and taking turns. it was the perfect rainy day schedule. i almost want it to rain again.

on becoming a bird nerd

i haven't always been a bird nerd. it's actually been a recent transformation. within the last year or so i would say. it all started with homeschooling. i like birds, i always have. some birds that is. cool ones like hawks and pelicans or cute ones like hummingbirds. i'm not into trash birds like seagulls and pigeons they kinda gross me out. but, recently my liking of birds has escalated. i am what some would call a bird nerd. this is how it happened...

it started with these. field guides. we purchased a bird field guide for our nature days with our homeschooling group. we go to a lot of neat places with lots of birds and other fun nature things. we (i) wanted to be able to identify some of the new birds we were seeing. one of our goals for this year was that avery could identify by sight and song 6 different birds. and she can identify at least 6 birds by sight. we are still working on the song and that's were this comes in handy.

but, look at all this wealth of bird knowledge and this is only one side. the other side is covered with water birds, which comes in handy when we are at the beach or wetlands. that's the thing. see, we (i'm) not just using these guides on nature days, but in everyday experiences. just the other day i was at my sisters house, sitting on the lawn watching the kiddo's play (fight) and i saw a bird that i hadn't seen before. i was wondering what it was and remembered i had our (my) field guides in the car. i ran and got them really quick and was able to identify that the bird was a mockingbird. and my sister had been wondering what kind of bird it was too. (she should get a field guide. i'm telling you).

so, it doesn't just stop with birds. i am also becoming a wild flower nerd too. i found a local wildflower guide at our local garden store and quickly took it to the register so it could be mine (ours). within the first few days of owning it we (i) were able to identify this flower. myself and some of the other mamas in our home school group were admiring this beauty on one of our nature days. none of us were sure about what it was until i remembered that i had my field guide. "it's a mexican flannel bush", i said proudly to the group. then we all turned around to get back to our kiddo's and saw a sign below the bush that read "mexican flannel bush". but, what if there wasn't a sign there? we would have never known without my field guide.

when we are not out in the "field" we spend lots of time looking through these books at home. my kiddo's love them. especially the backyard birdsong guide. the little miss received this a birthday gift and she (we) love it. it list the bird, a little bit of knowledge about the bird and then it has a number that you press to hear that particular birds song. (see i told you we were working on it) and it entertains the little fella long enough for me to get through the dishes.

finally to prove to you that i am a true bird nerd i bought these little guys to hang in my bathroom as towel hooks. i will spray paint them yellow and they will make me happy. and i will forever be a bird nerd!

for all you who aren't afraid of being a bird nerd you should watch this it will make you laugh.

if you want to read more about being a bird nerd go here and take a look at her at blogs if you like them vote for her here.