TwoCowgirls: Farm Class, Lil' Biologist Class, and the First Day of Spring

The best part of this season, is that our weeks are filled with nature study. I may teach a little, but there are classes aplenty that are taught by others, which is fabulous because I can't answer many of the kids questions: "What kind of fungus is this?" "What bird is making that sound?", for example. Oy.

Here's what we did this week:

Monday:

The girls had farm class again. It was a cool and windy day, and I wasn't prepared for it, so I ended up sitting in the car for 3 hours (THREE HOURS!). If I had been prepared, and brought a coat, I could have walked around the farm, but I didn't, so I got 3 hours of 2015-16 planning done. At least the time wasn't wasted! It was actually pretty fabulous. Anywhooo, back to the kids and their farm class ;) Millie's group drew blood from rams, testing for OPP (sheep pneumonia). Each kid in her group got to pick out a pregnant ewe to observe and monitor throughout the rest of her pregnancy. Millie is going to bring her stethoscope next week so she can listen to see if she can hear the lamb's heart beat. They made sour apples, which Millie did not like. Elise's class learned about and took care of the chickens, and made maple syrup popcorn. I'm guessing she did more than that, but she can't remember. Ha!

Tuesday:

Today was music and play group day. Millie had a great piano lesson, and continued to work on her recital pieces. Here's a little snip from her lesson:

After lunch, we met up with friends at Silverwood. The moms sat inside and drank coffee and chit chatted, which is always so SO fun. The girls played outside with their friends (doing what? I don't know. I hear there were dogs involved).

Wednesday:

In the morning, Millie had her Lil' Biologist class at the Wildlife Refuge. Elise and I went home, since the house we're staying at is only 10 minutes away from class. It was nice to have that alone time with Elise. :) At class, Millie learned all about raptors, and went on a raptor walk. She got to see a barred owl in the wild (her first wild owl ever!). After class, one of the teachers walked a couple of us down so we could see the owl, too. It was so cool, and so much bigger than I expected! In the afternoon, we did our regular school routine (math, reading, etc). The neighborhood kids started spring break today, so the kids spent much of the afternoon running around, playing.

Thursday:

Fun with congruent shapes

Today was a full, stay at home, focus on school work day. It was SO nice to stay home and not drive anywhere! The girls got through their work quickly so they could play with friends in the afternoon. In the evening, I had school (earth science). I love that class!

Friday:

Happy 1st day of spring!! We started our day with a walk in the woods. We didn't get very deep into the woods because the kids were distracted by a tree with woodpecker holes, several varieties of fungus, fallen trees, and pretty mossy logs. It was a magical morning. When we got home, we did a little nature study about buds and tree growth. We all learned a little something this morning. We spent the rest of the late morning/early afternoon working on school work before the kids left for an afternoon of fun in the neighborhood with the neighbor kids.