Teaching Plant Life Cycle

Our family loves to garden, well my husband and I love it, and what parents love toddlers and young kids love. I have been teaching the plant life cycle in several lessons through out the last few months. I created hands on lesson plans and used a few of our favorite books to teach aspen. Aspen is also learning to read and write and larger numbers, so of course we incorporated these things into our lesson plans.

We started our seeds inside our home back in March, I let aspen pick out some of her favorite vegetables and fruits to plant, and used my favorite book Farm Anatomy to show her the different varieties of each vegetable or fruit. I tried to teach her why we garden, why we choose to use bio degradable starter pots, and what plants need to grow.

I created a checklist on a sheet for my girls, things that had to be done before we could plant our garden:

1.plant all the seeds

2. give them water daily

3. check weather daily to decide when they could go outside for sun and wind (above 60 degrees)

4. number which seeds sprouted first, so we know what vegetables we can save seeds from later this year.

5. give each plant fertilizer, taught the girls what plants need for food.

6. separate the plants into new garden pots when they were ready.

7. spread out compost and fertilizer in the garden, learn what is compost and why do plants need it?

Next weekend we shall be planting our garden.

 

Allergic to the outdoors?

Today as a mother and outdoor enthusiast, a nature homeschooler and a woman who has named her kids after trees, I had some sad news. To give a small back story my youngest daughter has been having some big troubles , vomiting several times a day, lethargic , and other issues. I took her to the doctors and they ran some different tests. They finally found out she has several allergies and has to come back again to get tested for what specific allergies she has. Until then we get to track her diet and where she has been to break down a list of allergies. My husband has had severe allergies to grass, several trees, pollen and animals . When we are on hikes, playing in grass, and at the beach she ends up vomiting and having rashes when we get home. It’s a hard line to play, I don’t believe in much of the pharmaceuticals especially for young kids, but I also believe children must learn and be outside and not be in pain . But I have never seen a kid react this terribly to being outside either .

So we shall be spending time studying eastern healing, all about allergies, and look into several ways of healing or helping my little one. I may not be posting outdoor activities for awhile (for now). But we will still be getting creative indoors.

Glacier National Park

My husband and I visited Glacier National Park when I was pregnant with our first born Aspen, I understand posting this vacation is just a little late but I want to write about my trip in all its glory. I have been to almost all the National Parks out West, and this one in particular has a special place in my heart. Part, because my husband and I experienced a whole new level of vulnerability and I had to except help for the first time (before going through birth) and it was hard but beautiful. The other, well the I can’t truly explain the breathtaking views and untouched wilderness there. I can’t wait to go back for a family vacation in the future.

 

During our trip to Glacier National Park we drove the Going-To-The-Sun road and found exotic backpack trails. If you choose to backpack you get to watch a video on how to handle coming across grizzly bears, so make sure to bring bear spray. The water is turquoise yet you can see the bottom of lakes and rivers, it smells like fresh flowers and pine everywhere you walk, and the exciting amount of backpacking trails will make any nature enthusiast eager to visit. If you don’t like backpacking there are plenty of camping sites, and many lodging accommodations as well.

All in all, this national park is one place I highly suggest anyone visit!

Happy hiking friends!

Summer at Snowbasin Ski Resort

I have been going through photos of my trip back to Utah during Hurricane Florence and the summer before. My favorite ski resort in Utah is Snowbasin, I even worked there just so I could snowboard as much as possible, and hike all summer. The resort itself is beautiful, but the terrain…..is unbelievable. If you are in Utah for winter or summer I recommend going to Snowbasin Ski Resort, you won’t regret it.

In the summer there is a plethora of trails to choose from, you can even take the gondola up and hike down. I have spent my plenty of days doing 6 hour hikes on this mountain, in fact that is how I healed from a bad break up before I met my husband. In September my husband, mom, I took my girls back up there for a little trail love, and even though I have changed the mountain stood strong in radiant beauty. My favorite thing on trails is the sound of nature, at first it feels like silence and soon you notice the small noises of insects, trees leaves, wind, birds, things you never notice.

Learning with Easter Eggs

Learning with the seasons and holidays is fun for kids and parents, it keeps things interesting and anticipation for kids exciting. At the start of April we brought out the Easter Eggs, did some house decorating and I found ways to incorporate decorations into learning. I like to find ways to teach several subjects with only a few learning toys.

I bought a large pack of plastic Easter eggs and inside wrote out numbers, and the alphabet in lower case on the outside. First game was outside to get the girls running around and collecting the eggs, if Aspen could name the letter, the sound, and the number inside (still working on numbers past 16) there were treats inside!

The second part of the day I wrote out simple words, so found the correlating egg letters to create the words, then we used our math cubes for the numbers inside the eggs.

My girls get bored easy and surprisingly the small changes in how we learn with the eggs have kept them interested and happy.

If any homeschoolers have fun full day activities that help with learning to read, be outside, and counting please leave me comments!

Happy Spring!

Nature Tray

Today is a rainy day, and in our homeschool we get outside at noon for outdoor play and learning. Either hikes, playground, beach, or museums. My girls love learning through play and we have so much fun playing in a little dirt.

I recently picked up a magnifying glass and some garden sets for the girls.

When the rain comes I find nature to liven up with colors, smells, and it changes moods. Its fun to explore with the girls during this time, have them see the differences rain makes in several ways, and of course jump in puddles! Both of my girls collected things they thought were beautiful, new, interesting, or funny. At home, we pulled out each item and described similarities , differences, smells, and textures. Each time a bug was spotted on the plants with a magnifying glass Aspen was giddy!

I can’t wait to try this activity at the beach next week!

Happy Spring!

Charelston SC

Since moving to North Carolina everyone has told me to visit two main cities for a true southern experience, Charelston SC and Savannah Georgia. I have checked off Charelston SC and I’m thankful I did! It’s a wonderful place to visit, especially if you’re a foodie or craft beer lover (like myself).

Here are some fun sites if you spend a weekend in Charelston:

Angel Oak Tree

Pineapple fountain

 

Rainbow Row

Plantation Tours

There are some fun Ghost Tours by Carriage Ride in the evening as well, but I didn’t want to frighten the horses so I decided it was best to just silence my phone and enjoy the night.