Summer Exploration Week 1&2

Week one of summer was Bugs, Frogs and turtles...
After a trip to the "Frog" pond and a "turtle" pond, Oscar and Poppy were well immersed in the animal surroundings...literally!

Oscar in the depths of the reeds

O'man had no problem heading into the depths to explore their habitats...you may be surprised however that Poppy only ventured in about calf-deep. I think her lack of swimming skills kept her cautious.
As we have a resident bee-keeper in our midst, it was no problem for a hands on bee-lesson. Having the second veil has been a great tool for the kids to get a little bit closer to the inside of the hive. OScar curretnly has a couple of drone male bees living in a jar(they are the pretty much useless bees that hang around the hive and can't sting you).
Other activities included tracking the number and kind of bugs/insects on our outings. This was a topic very familiar and yet we still learned some new things about how ants carry their young to the surface for air, and that frogs eat their own skin as they shed it. Pretty cool stuff.
Week Two was the topic of "People" (I should note that the kids picked the topics, I merely facilitate their request). We recently met some great friends who happen to be Korean. Shilla the mom of Patrick and Liah (sp?) lived in Korea until she was ten. She was our guest teacher for the week.
She taught the kids how to wrap egg rolls...
How to make some funny rice disks that turn into these fried rice chips...oh, so cool!
Next, she gave the kids a lesson on the Korean flag and the meanings of the markings. It was so interesting and enlightening. It was all about keeping balance in nature and in life. I was once again reminded that there are just some eternal truths in this world. It dosen't matter what religion or culture you are from, everything has to have a balance...Balance is one truth I can atest to. Without it we find ourselves in the midst of chaos...I was excited to discover the meanings of the markings and I think the kids really soaked it in too.
Thanks Sheilla for the great day on Korea!
We also learned about Portugal, Iceland, Switzerland (the land of my grandparents), Canada, Volcanologists, and we sailed through a few books on a few other cultures/ocupations.
Overall it went really well.
Lastly Hazel took her first swim in the pool...the swim suit was a bit big but the girl loved it. Not as long as the other two kids but she was a great fish for her first time.
Next week the topic is trees and wood...we'll let you know how it goes.