Garden Tenders: Always Learning

This past week we had so much fun. Here are a few highlights.

We explored how wide to make a base to support
the weight of the tower on top.

We really explored the concept of how making a wider base can help things be more stable and used our blocks for several days for counting skills, shape recognition, (This year we still keep getting square mixed up after knowing it since 2 years old! --what happened!); In addition, the blocks which have letters on them we used for letter review. Handwriting became a chore so we took a week off and will start back up in the next week or two. If we cry and say we can't, maybe we really need to just take a break.

I keep forgetting to keep a list of our books we read. I will try very hard during the week to do that.

We made applesauce as well and it was fun discussing how apples get harvested in the fall, the different things we could maybe do with apples, and how we can use all parts of the apples, even if its for composting! Our compost bin was fed a bit of apples this past week, or at least apple cores.

Speaking of apples, Friday we made Carmel Apples with some friends for a club Bear wanted to start, Kids Cooking Club. It was fun and everyone got all sugared up. Everyone did at least two apples each. Since we did this with friends we used store bough Carmel, but I want us to do it closer to thanksgiving as well. I want us to study what kids did in early America for fun and treats and we will try making our own Carmel and then apples again.

We have been discussing how things change and what happens when things get hot or cold and have discovered what happened when corn kernels get hot, ice gets hot, butter gets hot and even what happens when water gets cold, leafy vegetables get very cold, and butter. Our popcorn didn't appear to change its state from frozen to room temperature. We even used our apples and wondered what would they look like if they cooked and then we made sauce. Could we make sauce with them before they cooked? Which was easier to do? Sometimes the answers to questions get really silly! *grin*

A couple weeks ago we went on a Nature Club event with our homeschool group and we finally have things growing. they are growing like, well, WEEDS. *grin* I am a bit apprehensive with what we will end up with.... should I let them get bigger or figure our experiement has run its course? Should we put them outside? What am I growing on my windowsill in the mud rom!? I never actually figured anything would grow this soon.

We wrapped up our week on Saturday with a visit to Ft. Nisqually and had a candlelight tour back in time. It was fun for kids and grown-ups a like. We played time travelers that were unseen by the inhabitants. It was fun to see the kids have excitement looking at historical times and habits. I love it that it brought history alive for them.

How was your week? Please share your adventures with us!

Pictures of the Candlelight Tour