Peek-A-Boo

I think I want to be like this guy. Hanging out in the pond, partially submerged, taking in the scenery but keeping outta sight *grin*.

My days seem to be moving at lightning quick speed lately. So fast that I can't seem to catch up. We're still working on repairing outbuildings and getting the garden beds weeded and on top of that I've stepped up our homeschool routine. Those of you who know me well know that I'm a bit of a tidal homechooler with our learning coming in waves of high activity followed by more calm and relaxed phases. Well right now we're in hyper drive *grin*

I like to finish up our school year by the end of May because we have better things to do like camping and playing outdoors but that means we have to hit the books hard :) We're right on track though! K has finished up his math and english texts and we have a few key topics to touch in science and social studies still but it looks like we'll be done on schedule.

I'm actually really proud of him. I have never done any testing of any sort but I thought since he's getting a little older now and heading into grade 7 that I'd feel him out and see how he would handle some light quizzes where he knew he had to do the best he could. He really took to them and got A's and B's for his marks :) He was so proud of himself and it gave me a really good gauge as to how he's retaining this year's materials. Looks like things are sticking! LOL.

Most of my online time this week has been spent reading the homeschool boards and checking out what is available for our fall semester to. I was talking to Hubby on the phone the other night joking that I've been eating, breathing and sleeping math texts LOL. I had no idea that there were so many choices for math and I have come across some really cool looking science programs to. I love picking out new books :) We're still using Sonlight as our core for history, readers and bible but I always supplement their english program and add more science materials and of course add in math and the extra electives.

So that has been keeping me mighty busy but I'm hoping to pop over to see what's happening on your blogs this week! If you've emailed me and haven't heard back from you I promise I'm going to catch up :)

Hugs, Rosina

right now, I AM

....listening to the frogs croaking *grin*.

They're back! Over the last couple of days nature has made a sudden and very vocal comeback and it is music to my ears :) There are so many more birds now visiting the feeder and chirping away, dozens of robins can be seen scouring the fields all the time as they look for bugs and turn the manure piles over and tonight the frogs are singing. And not just one frog but a chorus of them. Not long and there will be multitudes of eggs clinging to the reeds and grass around our pond ready for little fingers to poke at and inspect :)

Hubby and I were just talking and making plans for future camping trips to. He figures it's a little to cold to go now but come the end of April I think we'll start venturing out. I'm looking forward to going further north to one of our favorite spots where we can camp right at the top of the beach along the ocean. It's a little chilly in May but is the only time that we can just pop out whenever we want and get a front row seat to the ocean. I love to spend the afternoons scouring the beach with the children looking for shells, crabs and other cool things that we come across and then at night we get to sleep to the sounds of the waves crashing up onto the rocks :)

There are so many things I am looking forward to :) How about you?

Hugs,
Rosina

Click the frog to learn more!

Nature walk along the Puntledge

I know our daily nature sharings are over but that doesn't mean that our outdoor explorations have ended :)

Today we trekked along the Puntledge River with a small group of homeschoolers to find a marshy area where we could search for frogs & salamanders.

After flipping over rotten logs, collecting worms and seeing lots of little wood or sow bugs we finally came to a good wet spot to search for frogs but there were none to be found. There was a brief sighting of a tree frog hopping out of a skunk cabbage but other than that we came up empty handed :(

Check out the size of that skunk cabbage! It's just about as tall as M *grin*.

There were lots of native plants to be found. This beautiful pink Salmon Berry bloom...

Trillium flowers...

I'm not sure what these are but they had the most interesting blooms that looked like they were ready to explode...

and loads of pretty Bleeding Hearts :)

As the rest of us scouted out the area for salamanders and other critters M and daddy stole a quiet moment by themselves and watched the river rush by :) It was a great way to spend the afternoon.

~ Rosina

Frog Spawn ~ Outdoor Challenge Day 5

We finally had a chance to get down to the pond again today and after a brief search along the banks of the pond we spotted an egg sack or frog spawn (fertilized eggs) within reach! During the breeding period a single frog can lay thousands of eggs. One frog spawn alone can contain hundreds and hundreds of eggs. The freshly laid eggs have many predators. A few of them are newts, fish, snakes, aquatic insects and birds.

Did you know that roughly only 1 in 5 eggs matures into a frog? No wonder they need to lay so many eggs! I don't think that they'll miss a couple if we take a few to observe :)

K had some trouble picking put the eggs as they were so slippery but they couldn't escape being sucked into the large jar. We didn't end up keeping them all we just couldn't avoid sucking them all in en mass when they started to float in *grin*.

The following link is to an interesting 2 minute video of frogs mating in a backyard pond. It has some neat underwater shots and close ups of the frogs and frog spawn. You can view it at: http://www.vimeo.com/745654

Make sure you turn up your speakers and watch it on full screen for the best view. Another neat site is this one which helps you identify different frog eggs by telling you the different breeding times, egg sizes, color, hatch time and more!

We can't wait to see if we can raise our frog spawn to maturity!!

Visit The Great Outdoors Challenge to join in the fun and you can also visit other participants and see what sort of nature fun they have been having by clicking on the names below :)

~ Rosina

Fellow Nature Players:lisa, sanders, angelina, phyllis, sarah, christie, jennifer, debbie, dong dong, denise, luisa, joy, stephanie, cori, alex, dawn, kristen, catherine, tricia, becky, christy, ruth, kari, courtney, branflakes, jessica, renee, haiku, brynn, amy, clemencia, sherry, leslie, lise, renee, anet, jenn, marina, amy, ella, marcia, karen, beth, julie, kyndale, kelly, lizzie, eileen, ag, mari-ann, cindy, robin, nicole, debbie, julia, anita, lisa, jenn, montessori, marita, jeannie, hallie, mandy, kangaroo, andrea, joey, carmen, teena, stephinie, gidget, elizabeth, emma, rosina, saminda, melissa, katie, becca, atouria, barbara, ariella, missy, elizabeth, sarah, eileen, lisa, stacy, jennifer, tulsileaf, lisa C, morticia, angela, rana, jamie, lisa c, luz, charley, heather, valerie, kirsten, rachel, annie, kendra, beth s, lindsey, michelle, megan, renee

A Froggy Find ~ Outdoor Challenge Day 3

Today we awoke to a covering of snow!! It melted away by the afternoon but it was looking pretty threatening outside this evening. We just may get a good dump of it yet :)

As we headed outside to explore in between rain showers we noticed that the frogs had been busy and there were tons of eggs in the pond! We didn't have enough time to retrieve a bucket and collect any as the rain began to pour down on us again but we're definitely going to have to return and take a few in hopes that we will be able to raise a frog *grin*.

Visit The Great Outdoors Challenge to join in the fun and you can also visit other participants and see what sort of nature fun they have been having by clicking on the names below :)

~ Rosina

Fellow Nature Players: lisa, sanders, angelina, phyllis, sarah, christie, jennifer, debbie, dong dong, denise, luisa, joy, stephanie, cori, alex, dawn, kristen, catherine, tricia, becky, christy, ruth, kari, courtney, branflakes, jessica, renee, haiku, brynn, amy, clemencia, sherry, leslie, lise, renee, anet, jenn, marina, amy, ella, marcia, karen, beth, julie, kyndale, kelly, lizzie, eileen, ag, mari-ann, cindy, robin, nicole, debbie, julia, renee, anita, lisa, jenn, montessori, marita, jeannie, hallie, mandy, kangaroo, andrea, joey, carmen, teena, stephinie, gidget, elizabeth, emma, rosina, saminda, melissa, katie, becca, atouria, barbara, ariella, missy, elizabeth, sarah, eileen