Wordless Wednesday

Just another day in paradise.....

Feeding a turtle at the Shell Factory in Fort Myers.

There is no shortage of nature preserves in this area of the country. We have seen so much in our few days here. It's interesting when we come upon a raccoon or oppossum, the kids skip over them and usually say something like "We have those in Pennsylvania." The alligators are especially interesting to us. Today we had an opportunity to feed alligators.



Enjoying Florida oranges and orange ice cream.


This is our last day here and tonight we are hoping to get one more chance to see a sunset on the Gulf of Mexico.

Beach Day!

Here are some random pictures of us at the beach today. Just for fun.


Learning how to use a boogie board.

A little alcove on the beach with picnic tables where we set up and had lunch.

Too cool for words.

Aaaaah! She's turned into a mermaid!

Visiting Florida

Just another reason to love homeschooling. We are visiting family and have the opportunity to see, touch, taste, smell and hear what life is like in Florida.

We got to touch alligators.







My aunt has citrus trees growing in her yard. (This is a lime tree)




She also has tiny lizards running around her yard. Can you see the one in this picture?


We saw the sun set on the Gulf of Mexico last night. Unfortunately, the batteries in my camera were dead last night and this was the best picture I could get tonight.


We are here for a few more days. The kids can't wait to see what we will experience tomorrow. This is homeschooling at its finest. Once again, they are learning so much - where Florida is on the map, what the state capital is, and how the flora and fauna are different from what we have at home in Pennsylvania. I could have handed them a book on Florida and asked them to learn the contents, instead this is a learning experience they will remember for many years to come. I realize not everyone has the resources to have experiences like this for their kids. However, I encourage anyone who is presented with an experience opportunity to embrace it and enjoy witnessing the learning that happens.

Encouragement

What brought you to homeschooling? I love asking this question. The answers are as diverse as the families I meet. There was a time when families homeschooled for religious reasons only. Today, that's not true.

The reason I educate my children at home is multifaceted. It began with my experiences as a public school teacher. There are many reasons based on that experience alone that I homeschool. I can honestly say that I am guilty of some of the wrongs that happen in a classroom, but I was able to escape the system and use those experiences to encourage others on their home educating paths.

So what are your reasons for choosing to educate your children at home? Do you realize that when you answer this question, you are encouraging others? When you ask others, you are opening dialog for encouragement that we home educating mamas desperately need.

If you have a minute, leave a comment for me and let me know what led you to home educate your children.

Egg Dying and Trail Walk

To find Strawberry Hill click here

We are getting our share of nature study lately. On Sunday, there was a Nature Center nearby that hosted an egg dying and egg hunt event. They had egg dying the "modern" way using fizzy tablets and vinegar and the "natural" way using cherries, tumeric, onion skins and blueberries. After dying eggs, we received a clue to find an egg on the nature trail. Each egg had another clue to the next egg. The clues took you on the entire trail for a very nice walk. Although, dying eggs the modern way was quicker, my kids all chose to color using natural means and the eggs turned out beautifully.

I found this website that explains just how we dyed the eggs at the nature center. This is a very worthwhile project.




"Modern" Egg Dying






Wrapping her egg in an onion peel



Finding plastic eggs with clues in them made for a very nice nature hike. Can you see the beautiful shelf-mushroom over this hidden egg?




The clue to find this egg included the fact that a root of a tree split this rock. It's amazing to see nature in action. This picture doesn't do it justice.

C is for Collage

This was a "project" for my 4 year old son. I gave him a Sports Illustrated magazine that I bought from the library for a quarter and told him he could cut out all the Steelers he could find. He then glued them all on a sheet of yellow construction paper to make his first collage.

Here are the rules… be sure to post them when you join!

1. Post a photo for each letter of the alphabet of anything that starts with that letter.
2. Write a few short explanatory, quirky, or witty sentences about each photo you post.
3. Only post one photo at a time (the meme can take as long as you want - a month, three months, whatever… you aren’t being graded). You can link them later in a blog post so they are listed in order if you are the list-making type.
4. If you want to join the meme, sign the Mr. Linky and use the “A B See Photo-Meme” graphic in your sidebar. Link your graphic to this post and announce that you will be joining us.
5. When you post a photo, come by and add it to the weekly A B See linky that we’ll be posting on Foto Fridays for those who have some alphabetical photo to share. You can sign it each week as many times as you have posted photos - one time for each photo linked post. Make sure you link back to the HSBA on your posts, too - so others can come and join the linky.