Mr. Science Not Happy about Worm Farm

Ok, so Mr. Science thinks we have lost our homeschooling mind with the worm farm.  He is not conceptualizing how beneficial it is going to be this spring.  He doesn't see the large fish on the end of the fishing poles and the bountiful tomato plants growing in the backyard.  He just see this....

Worms after being feed worm meal

Worms tucked away in spare bedroom

 

 So, Sunday, after many hours of research to build the above worm bin, we will be moving my lil' friends outside to a new habitat.  Sparkles is sad because she loves showing them to everyone that comes over. 

Tomorrow we head to Ponca City, OK for the Pepsi Bowling Tournament.  Sparkles and Dreamer were invited to participate this year.  Their games are improving so much.  Hope they do well. 

Today we are did a watercolor art lesson we saw on the Art Projects for Kids blog.  Our dear friend the Bee Girl and her Medicine Dad is starting their bee hive this spring and we want to give her some art to encourage her hard work.  Bee Girl and her son, Lil Einstein, are going to bowling with us at the Pepsi Tournament so luck to them as well. 

Cold day in Oklahoma

Well, we missed the BIG storm we were warned we might get.  Thank goodness.  I am not a big fan of snow.  Call me weird.  It is cold and makes my bones ache.  My girls on the other hand were very disappointed that the snow we were getting last night was gone this morning.  Just mud everywhere now.  I understand we need the cold so that our Oklahoma summers will not be so miserable.  We also need the moisture because we are in a drought situation. We also need it to get super cold to kill all the fleas, ticks, Mosquitos, etc. so our animals don't suffer this summer as well.  So, what have we been working on this week.....so much to tell.

First, got notification from Monroe Works that my European Nightcrawlers have been shipped.  You might be wondering what I am  planning to with a pound of (about 300) worms? I am starting my own little worm farm. First, I love to fish and as weather permits, the girls and I will be hitting the lakes with our worms and rods to fish for spring, summer and hopefully enough for winter food.  Also, we plan to use the castings (the worm manure) in the garden this spring and summer to feed our garden organically. The worm castings are supposed to be superb food for tomato plants and boost growth by bounds.  This will be my first go around so we will see about this but I am still excited. Worms are fun and we dabbled a bit in this when we lived at Grand Lake a few years ago.  I had a worm farm unintentionally and it was so super fun and easy. Plus, what an awesome science lesson.

Here is how to make an inexpensive homemade worm bin http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=qlmvJ1t42Q8&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DqlmvJ1t42Q8

Second, I purchasesd a new supplement to our Bob Jones Press History Heritage Studies .  I found a fun add-on called Famous Figures of the American Revolution by Cathy Diez-Luckie.  They are movable paper figures that you cut out and attach brads to for visual aid to your studies.  We are such visual learners this is going to be such a bonus.

Third, through Homeschooler Buyers Co-op  I purchased for 50% off, the The Happy Scientist curriculum.  It is a 24/7/365 available science curriculum for K-8 that looks awesome and just downright fun.  After all, who wants to learn dull stuff.  At the price of only $10 (+$1 fee) how can you not try it.  Use my referral code  and try it for yourself. The Co-op offer end February 28th so you need to act fast.

Ok, well so much to do and so little time.  I am in the process of making homemade chicken noodle soup so I better get back to it.  I was watching the Worst Cooks In America on the Food Network the other night and they had to cut up a whole chicken.  I have to admit that is not my favorite thing to do (#2,573 on my list of faves).  Those poor people were horrible. Well, looks like they weren't the only ones that can mangle a poor defenseless bird.  Thank goodness mine will be de-boned and shredded so the only proof is here on this blog. So sh-h-h.!  Don't spread it around that I can't cut up a chicken. I can make a mean chicken pot pie though but that is for another blog.

Blessings to all!

WE ARE BACK!!!!!

February 21, 2013

Been gone awhile with health issues but we are back and strong as ever....and still HOMESCHOOLING.  Everyday we learn more about what works and what doesn't :-(  However, isn't that just life.  Things we try work and then they don't.  I don't look at it as disappointment or failure but adventure and growing.  What about you?  What did you learn about yourself, your homeschooling, or even your children today?

We are finishing up a fun unit study about Puffer Fish from This Old Schoolhouse's Curiosity Files: Puffer Fish .  This was so fun as we learned about the poison in a Puffer fish - Fuju.  So don't eat that in your sushi.  So many fun facts about puffer fish, it is unreal.  So check it out...it is only $1.  You can't beat that.  Now we are doing a paper mache of a puffer expanded and normal.  Then we will create a science tri-fold project to display.  We visited the Oklahoma Aquarium and saw two puffers in real life.  So much better than we could have expected.  I just wish something had threatened it so we could see it expand and get all fat. 

Started some indoor tomato plants this week using homemade greenhouses made from two liter soda pop bottles.  This was cool.  Check out this website at My American Farm.  The link is to the greenhouse project but the website has tons of agriculture games and facts and information for your children.  We played their games for an hour yesterday.  Educational games I might add. 

I also ordered our worms for our worm farm from EarthWormWorks.com. We are going to start working on the bins this weekend and get their environment ready. We are ready for Spring and ready to fish and maybe make some money on the side selling some worms.