Science outdoors

One of the things I love about home-schooling is having the flexibility to conduct school when we want, where we want.


Today's science lesson: an experiment with air! We're using the Thames & Kosmos Little Labs Stepping Into Science kit. See the cool airplane in Brandon's hand? What a fun way to learn something about how air affects things!

Has spring already sprung in Minnesota??

We have been wearing shorts and t-shirts almost every day for a week—during the second week of March! This simply does not happen in Minnesota!


Having the windows open and letting the fresh scent of spring waft through the house is incredibly refreshing after 4 months of winter. (Although, we had a pretty mild winter too—so no complaints here!)

Whether or not this spring-like weather is here to stay—there is certainly a good chance we could see more cold and snow within the next few weeks—I am simply happy to bask in it. :)

Shorts & t-shirts in March!

This picture is from today... March 14. Notice the boys are wearing shorts and t-shirts? In Minnesota. Mid-march.

Today's high temp was in the low 70s—breaking the record high (which was 64 degrees in 2010)! My boys were more than happy to be outdoors enjoying the warm weather. And this warming trend looks like it's going to stick around for several more days—yahoo!

Veggies

Do you know what these are?


Starting at the top left: a sweet potato (technically it's a yam), turnips, carrots, and parsnips. Did you guess correctly?

We are making strides to eat more vegetables at our house. My naturopath is recommending 5 servings per day. And that's not a combination of fruits and vegetables—that's five servings of just vegetables!

As you can imagine, the ol' green stand-bys (green beans and peas) got old pretty quickly. We do also enjoy Brussels sprouts, steamed broccoli, and asparagus. But that's not a lot of variety when you're eating vegetables so frequently! We also eat cauliflower and carrots, and add big handfuls of fresh spinach to our smoothies. But it's still not enough. (Five a day! Need variety!)

So, on I venture... into the wild frontier of vegetables unknown to man... er, I mean to me. :)

A few weeks ago, we tried roasted beets. Not too bad. A few days ago, we tried roasted root vegetables (see picture above—and note that I omitted the rutabaga from the recipe on this first attempt—ha!). This might take a little more getting used to.

Anybody out there have a delicious recipe for parsnips, turnips, and/or rutabaga?? Also, as if delicious isn't enough of a requirement, it needs to be gluten-free and dairy-free....

Paper Plate Masks

I love that Brandon is at the age (6-1/2) when he asks, "Mom, can we do a craft today?"

Yesterday, Brandon wanted to make an animal mask. After doing a search on Google, I decided on paper plate masks. Brandon chose a lion and Ryan chose a zebra.

We used Crayola washable paint for Brandon's lion, which provided nice coverage. (The time it took for the paint to dry was a REAL test of his patience!) Since Ryan's zebra is white, the only additional color required was the black stripes—which I applied with a black Crayola marker... (I started out with a Sharpie, but quickly realized the fumes might overcome him!)

The masks are tied in back with a piece of yarn.


Not too shabby, eh? The boys LOVED them!


Hooray for a fun Saturday activity!