Artsy Smartsy - Shrunken heads

Today we learned how to make shrunken heads from apples. You peel the apple and then create a "face" by cutting away the portions of the apple that are not part of the face leaving behind the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and any other features you want the face to have. So, you kind of have to think opposite of what you want to create. I believe the technique is called "relief."

After the head is done, you decorate it with cloves and then roll it in lemon juice. The cloves and lemon juice act to preserve the apples. Over time, they dry out and shrink and give the "shrunken head" look. We saw some made the previous year and they looked great!

Sadly, a couple of our heads attracted some fruit flies over the next few days and before we knew it, itty bitty maggots were eating the heads. So, what did we do? Bagged up those apples and put them on display to watch those maggots turn into flies, of course! The wonders of homeschooling...an art project one moment, a biology lesson the next.

Artsy Smartsy - First Day

We are participating in a wonderful group called Artsy Smartsy. This group meets two days a week for a few hours. Each day there will be a new art project where the children learn a new technique. For the kids who do not want to participate, there is another room with toys and chairs for parents to hang out. Lots of opportunity for socialization for both children and parents.

Little puff balls were provided to decorate sea shells. Anika decided to decorate herself.

We went to a nearby park for lunch.

Sam rarely enjoys art, but he's participating here...

Anika, using the puff balls on the sea shells...

We had a great time and met some wonderful families!

Moving the Pigs

Part of our homeschool involves the small family farm we have at our home. We raise chickens, pigs, and rabbits along with having a large vegetable garden. As often as possible, we try to involve the children in all the farm work so they can learn how to care for the animals as well as all the other lessons nature provides. 

Today was "move the pigs" day. We believe for animals to be healthy, they need to be raised on fresh pasture. This means that every few weeks, we move the pigs to a new spot and allow the old spot to revert back to lawn. The chickens help to clean up the old spot by scattering droppings and removing any larvae along with providing some fertilizer.

This days move was a big one, the pigs were going from a spot in the corner of the yard to a spot in the middle that we needed tilled up. Pigs are amazing rototillers - or, rootertillers ;-) They root up the grass with their super strong noses using the force provided by their thick neck muscles. It doesn't take very long for a spot of mature lawn to be completely tilled by a couple of pigs. To move the pigs, we created a little chute for them to walk down.

Sam was on the lookout for any pigs that might escape the chute and head his way.

 Anika providing a mud spot for the pigs in their new spot.

Pig

The pigs proved very stubborn today and in the end, we had to put a bucket over each ones head and then push from behind at the same time. It took us pretty much the whole day. What did the kids learn? Perseverance  ingenuity, and the importance of training new piglets to go where you ask!

First Day of School

Caratunk Wildlife Refuge ~ Crystal Scavenger Hunt!

Today we went on a scavenger hunt with a group from the Natural Families RI Meet-Up group. We had such a great time, I decided to label the day our First Day of School. Since this is our first year homeschooling, I took advantage of the freedom we have by picking my own first day... after we had it - that way, I knew it was going to start off on the right foot!

One of the wonderful women in the group had taken the time to come early and hide crystals along the path. Then, she wrote a story about how the crystals were hidden by gnomes in the forrest. It was so cute! The group of kids had a great time listening to the story and find the crystals while we walked.

After the hunt, we had a picnic lunch and the kids played with a very patient frog they found over in a small pond. Unfortunately, the only picture I have from the hunt itself is one that wasn't very good - you can barely make out Sam and Anika through the branches and leaves...

Shortly after the picnic, the rest of the group left, but we decided to stay since it was one of my rare days off from work. I wanted to take advantage of being able to stay until we were all ready to go - and the kids definitely weren't ready! Sam had the forsight to bring a bag of carefully chosen toys. He emptied the legos onto the blanket and then he and Anika proceeded to spend a very pleasent time together building.

After Lego building, we explored our surroundings a bit. There was an old building on-site that looked like it may have been there since the area was first settled. Unfortunately, it was locked, so we couldn't get a look inside. There was also a more modern looking shed that was unlocked, but it turned out to be inhabited with some mean looking wasps, so we decided to leave them to their endeavors and explore elsewhere.

Once the kids felt the need to rest a bit, we headed back to the blanket to play with trains and read books. If  I'd been thinking further ahead, I would have brought the library book we have about the settlers. Oh well, I'm still new to this!

A little while later, the kids were ready for another walk in the woods. This was nice since it was less hectic without the big crowd.

We found a neat creak that had a bridge built across it. After the bridge, the land was elevated falling down to the sides in what appeared to be a man-made walking path for times of flooding. Very muddy land down below gave proof that the creek could easily spread when fed a lot of rain.  Sections of land were bisected by what looked to be very old stone walls, some crumbled, some still standing. I wondered if the land where we stood had been all farmland way back when...

Further down the path, another bridge and yet another patient frog sunning himself in the water. I'm sure he was grateful to be just a bit out of reach of little grabbing fingers.

I loved watching them explore and have fun. For that day, they forgot how much they normally get on each others nerves - there was no fighting, no arguing, just two happy kids learning about the world around them in the best environment to experience it! No desks required :)