Gardening has been a wonderful way to have the boys be involved in leaning about their world. They have watched as we have used our chickens to weed garden beds and eat harmful bugs. The boys have had to use fine motor skills to help gently tease fragile plants out of their containers and then transplant them into bigger containers. They have measured and mixed soil and experimented with what ingredients to add to soil to make it "just right." One of my favorite things about living in the SE is the abundant growing season. I have loads in the ground including, potatoes, garlic, onions, carrots, tomatoes, mustard greens, kale, spinachh, and Swiss chard. I am looking very forward to time this weekend getting a bunch more stuff moved outside.
Homeschooling this week turned out to be very fun. We even made friends with a few other HS families, and one of them has a farm just down the road from us. Yesterday, I even got home early from work due to threatening weather. As a result, I got to teach the boys most of their lessons. I love the time I get to work with them one on one. I just can't imagine trying to cover such foundational skills in a large group setting with kids who need so much guidance. As I worked through math with the boys, (one at a time) I could change the next problem based on how that child did on the current problem. I could push each of them to the next level or work on something they were struggling with.
As far as classes go for next week, well, they will be crazy, but they will be based on real life. Our business is in the height of its season and strawberries are ripe, so we are doing week two of the animal sanctuary plans, and going strawberry picking. Yes, there will be math, spelling and reading lesson throughout the week, but they will be in the context of life. Next week look for a great weeks worth of strawberry lessons:) as we will hopefully have gallons of strawberries to put up for the year. Our swimming pool is also opening up for the year, so the boys will start gearing up for lots of great exercises at the pool and climbing on the facilities rock wall for PE.
Then there is the third part of my life right now. Middle School... I love the spring curriculum as it is all focused on the natural sciences and that is my specialty. Ecology and botany are my last two units of the year, and I have been happily working and reworking my curriculum map to squeeze in lots of wonderful inquiry labs, and modeling of systems labs, and content for the rest of the year.
Here is my latest TpT item for sale. I will be using this lab to kick off my ecology unit and I am looking forward to doing it next week with my kids. I have designed this lab for middle schoolers based on my work experience of doing rain forest ecology survey work in Central America.
Abiotic Variables Effecton Biodiversity Lab $3
Are you searching for an engaging inquiry based lab to hook your students into your ecology unit? I was, so I created this lab to provide my middle school students with the opportunity to do an ecology survey on three locations around our school. Students get to go outside and collect both quantitative and qualitative data. The second day of the lab, students complete their data table by hearing from the other groups in the class. I have also included basic reflection questions, higher level questions and an extra credit opportunity applying what they learned. Feel free to check out my blog at http://backyardlearning.blogspot.com to learn more about my products.
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Abiotic-Variables-Effecton-Biodiversity-Lab
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