Field Trip to Camp Chestnut Ridge

Another fun outing with our FIAR group.  I love field trip days and am always so thankful when the weather cooperates for our trips that are outdoors.  We had a gorgeous day for this outing to Camp Chestnut Ridge.  

We split into 3 groups.  The younger kids were doing some classes (more on that one as its the group that I was in.)  The middle group did a low ropes exercise.  I have no pictures from this group as they were not anywhere near us during the day.  This group struggled some with the outing.  I think in the future we'll look to do something different for the middle group of kids.  The oldest group (teens) did something a little different this year - interactive games, archery and canoeing.  This was a big hit!  I liked that we actually got to see some of their activities as I'm rarely with this group.

This is the older group doing an activity out on the field.  I tried to snap a few pictures of them, but didn't get many as I was with Eliana and Daniel in another group in the shelter.  Any of you that have been around Eliana know that she doesn't just sit still if I'm gone.  ;-)

 The younger students first class was one on animals.  They got to see and learn about different animals.  The first was a turtle.  (Can't remember exactly, but I'm thinking it was a box turtle?)

 I liked seeing him eat this tomato.  (Liked seeing this much better than him eating a worm which he did later.)

 The older students were split into 2 groups.  They were working together to build something from various pipes in this activity.  This was the only shot I was able to get, though it was fun to see them!

 More animals.  A snake.

 A hedgehog.  Isn't he the cutest?

 THe kids were quite enthralled with him too.

 Kind of looks like a little toy animal here, doesn't it?

 Another activity for the older students was to try to move a ball from one place to another using lengths of half pipes.

 And when the ball fell out of the pipe, you had to go back to the stating line and begin again.

 They learned from their mistakes and made progress towards the goal.

 Though this team seemed to have one tricky spot where they dropped the ball  several times.  Hmmm ... wonder if this type of activity is where that phrase came from?  Probably not.  I would guess maybe a juggling reference?  ("drop the ball")

 Anyway, back to more interesting animals.  This chicken had a wide ruffle of feathers around its face.  Our instructor said it made it hard for them to see predators so they don't do well in the wild.

 A goat.

 Next we were off on a hayride.  Our ride was nice and a little less adventuresome than last year.  ;-)

 We stopped by a field to see some horses and to learn more about them.

 While we were on our ride, we again ran into the older students - doing archery!  What fun!

 Rebecca (in the blue shirt on the right) is taking aim!

 We visited the farm and saw some more animals.

 Eliana was not as interested in them as I had hoped she might be.  Not sure here if she is trying to get in or out!  LOL

 As we were heading back to the shelter, we once again saw the older students, this time canoeing!  Wish it was a clearer picture, but you can see how beautiful our day was.

Hope your week is going well!

Blessings
Leslie

Today was a beautiful day for ...

picking strawberries!  It was sunny and mild (upper 60s/low 70s).  We went in the afternoon because we just had a sluggish morning after a busy couple of days.  There weren't many people there, but still plenty of berries to pick.

I'm taking a group shot and can get a picture of Eliana looking - and most of the rest of the group not ready for the  picture.

Or a great one of everyone else, but Eliana has turned away.  LOL

What I didn't notice before taking these pictures is that I have a smear on the lens of my camera.  I'm going to blame my trusty little photo assistant who loves to borrow my camera and take pictures.  Some day I'll need to post a day from her point of view.  LOL

Here is Joshua.

Rebecca and Hanna.

Beautiful girls!

Can you guess what held Eliana's attention most of the time we were there?  Yes, the little flag that is used to mark where the rows have been picked.

Daniel was quite careful in the berries that he picked.  He wanted all red and symmetrical.  :-)

You can see in this photo what a beautiful afternoon we enjoyed.  And yes, can you see what she is still carrying?

Contemplating life.

Enjoying yummy strawberries.

Isaiah picked a huge bucket full of berries.

When we got back to the van, the boys just wanted to eat berries.  I love times like this when I don't have to limit anyone to how many they eat.  We had plenty!!!

We picked about 34 pounds of strawberries.  (We picked the front 5 flats.)  I've been washing and getting some ready to freeze.  Going to keep some out just for eating - as much as you want!

If you are local, we picked today at Jean's Berry  Patch.  Lots of good berries still there.

Hope your week-end is filled with delights and that you take time to enjoy them all!

Blessings

Leslie

My sweet girl is HOME!

I'm a little behind in posting this, but my sweet girl is home!  :-)  Several friends have asked about her trip and Rebecca has graciously agreed to write a guest post on my blog about her trip!  Complete with photos!  :-)  I have loved hearing her stories and the things she has learned.  I look forward to having her share some of that here too!

We went out to the airport late and were joined by friends too.  Christopher and two of his friends (hi Justin and Tyler) even made signs for Rebecca.  Isn't that sweet?  

 So very happy to be welcomed home.

 We were all delighted to see her.  I'm so thankful for the opportunity that she had to go and am also just really happy to have her back.

 Just loved this picture.

 One of the things she brought home were these cool  wooden necklaces for her younger brothers.  Great conversation starter, don't you think?

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.  His love endures forever.  Ps 107:1

More soon on her trip!

Blessings
Leslie

Beyond Co-op - Skylark #1

We've started our final book of the year - Skylark.  This is a fun follow-up to the book we read at the beginning of the year, Sarah Plain and Tall.  We have had a slow start (personally) so we are playing catch-up a bit in our home lessons, which is fine with me.  I love that this is a flexible curriculum and that the order of things we are learning is not so much of an issue.  It allows us to take breaks when we need them and use the curriculum as it best suits our family.  I don't want to be a slave to a curriculum, no matter how good it may be.  

One of our first co-op lessons was on the Dust Bowl.  What a difficult period of time for our country.  And one of the challenging aspects is that many people who weren't living in that area really had no idea of how difficult it was for the people there.  The entire country was working through the Depression.  

 Some of the resources used.  We also watched documentary called Surviving the Dust Bowl featuring interviews of people who lived during that time amidst many pictures.  Many told stories that were challenging and some were just very sad!  It is important to understand though and learn from the past so that hopefully we will know how to make better choices for the future as well as gain empathy for those facing challenges that are beyond their control.

 The second part of our day was spent in learning more about art, colors and the color wheel.

 We had lessons on color mixing, analogous colors and complementary colors.  While learning, each of the children made their own color wheel.

  I wondered if the color mixing would prove to be a challenge for my boys, but they both did a great job.  (They both have some degree of color-blindness.)

 They used acrylic paints and took great care to get the colors in the right places.

 Does watching your child paint ever make you want to try it yourself?  I know it does me.  Last week we did more painting and I decided to give it a try too.  It was fun!  Its something we  need to do more often.

 They worked on the warm colors mainly today in terms of mixing to show the shades of a color.

 This was a neat tip in learning to paint shadows.  Use the two main colors to create a shadow that works with those colors.

For example, the shade to the right is the "shadow" color created by mixing yellow and purple.  The children mixed the complementary colors to find the good shadow colors.  

Finished wheel.  Doesn't it look great?!

 Can you guess what we had for a snack?  Bet you can't - even with a picture.  LOL

Bison burgers.  They were delicious too.  Not pictured is a fun ice cream treat that they also had to go along with it.  As always a fun day and a great way to learn!  I'm so thankful to be a part of this group!

Blessings
Leslie