Friday, November 14, 2008

The Nature Center

Of all the subjects on the list, science definitely gets the short end of the stick around here. I actually like science and my husband is a biologist, for Pete's sake! It is so fun to teach to little kids. You can spend two weeks learning the intricacies of the owl, if that's what they are in to. Any way, because of my slacking, I was so excited when our little group suggested a trip to the Nature Center. It is only minutes away, and a whole afternoon full of hands-on, outdoor science lessons.
Toot was instructed to find a "living thing" with his magnifying glass. He made the very exciting discovery of a rollie pollie.
Toot's not so sure about the talons!

We met two other families and headed outside for a walk around the grounds. The children learned about many animals and habitats. We bought two new science books in the gift shop. I mainly made these purchases to support the Nature Center, but also in hopes of some inspiration. And then we ended the day with a nice picnic. For $50 our entire family can have a yearly pass, along with discounts to many homeschool classes, hikes and celebrations. Sounds like a good Christmas present to me!

Jaybird models owl eyes

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Science get the short end of my stick, too. Jack and I DID manage to set up a nature table the other day - but we never went anywhere to collect much of interest other than pretty leaves, rocks, stuff like that. We do have a nature trail through our neighborhood - maybe on the next pretty day I should take them for a long hike. I should have done that earlier - the trees are glorious!

By the way, thanks so much for your encouraging words on Claire's ballet post. I've been mulling them over, considering whether we ought to maybe take it up a notch... if she's up for it, I ought to be, too. :)

Still thinking.