BURTON 4H CENTER - TYBEE ISLAND

Carter has been studying wetlands at co-op. I really wanted to go somewhere that he could see a wetland "hands on". I was thinking about places that may have programs relating to wetlands here in Savannah and I found Burton 4H Center on Tybee Island. This place usually only does group outings, so I thought I might organize a small group homeschool field trip. Here is our small group:) HA! We had about 37 children in all and about eight adults. WOW!!
This little plant is know as "sea pickle". Yes, you can eat it and yes, we all tried it. It really doesn't taste bad - it is salty and crunchy. Our guide told us that very "fancy" restaurants sometimes put it on the top of salads. Mmmmm . . . marshy, wetlandy, sea pickle!!

These are some great pictures of periwinkle snails. Yes, these snails are edible and no, we DID NOT eat them!! These snails were all over the spartina grass in the marsh that we walked through. These snails cling to the grass or shells like you see above. They respond to vibration as the tide comes in and we were told that if we put them on our neck and hum, they were know to come out of their shell. No luck for us, though. None of us got to see a snail out of it's shell. It was too cold!!

COMMUNITY SERVICE

At our co-op this year, I offered to teach a Community Service Projects class. I had really tried to get the kids at the After School program involved in Community Service when I worked in Spartanburg, and I thought I could help some of our students here in Savannah as well. It was a GREAT class. In these pictures, we are at America's Second Harvest, donating all of the canned goods (and money) we collected at co-op, for the Souper Bowl of Caring. We collected over 200 canned and boxed goods and around $82.00. I was so proud! Here are Carter and Cooper getting their goods to "stock the shelves"!!
O.k., I know this is a posed picture, but isn't it cute? Cooper is such a Community Servant!!
Here is part of our homeschool co-op who went with us to stock the shelves. I had ten children in my Community Service Projects class, but we had several more just come to help! It was great!!
O.k., another posed picture of a great Community Servant, but isn't he cute, too? He did not take Community Service Projects class with me this year (as I have a rule that I do not teach my own children at co-op - you can ask me about that later). I am probably going to enroll him and Cooper in the Community Service Projects class next year at co-op, since it is such a great class. Just FYI, I will not be teaching the class next year:)

SAVANNAH OGEECHEE CANAL

This is the Savannah Ogeechee Canal. The boys and I went on a trip here to have a nature walk as well as to fulfill some requirements for Carter's Georgia State Parks Junior Ranger Program. Isn't this beautiful? It was a chilly day, but it was so serene.
These are some of the Cypress "knees" that we saw along the way. Carter and Cooper love these because we saw a lot of these when we went to Okefenokee Swamp. They have remebered them since our trip there and they remind me each time we see them what they are!! They love showing off their smarts!
We reached the end of the canal, where the canal opens into the Ogeechee River. It was so pretty at this spot. We visited the museum before we left and the guide there told us that when the weather warms up, you can see a lot of native wildlife around the canal. As she said this, I was thinking in my mind, "FIELD TRIP"!!!
As part of the Junior Ranger program, we went on a plant scavenger hunt. One of the items we had to find was spanish moss (which is not really a moss, but a flowering plant). Carter and Cooper love spanish moss because they like telling the stories they have heard about bugs being in the moss. Boys . . . they love bugs!

TENNIS

The boys both took some more tennis lessons in January as a way of keeping active during the "cool" season here in Savannah. They loved it! These pictures are from some one on one sessions. The trainer was trying to help the boys with their backhands, volleys and forehands. Tennis here in Savannah is great. There are a lot of programs for younger kids, which is a blessing as Cooper wants to do whatever Carter does!!

IGLOOS AND INUIT FOOD

Here is our finished igloo. It took a very long time to create this masterpiece. We had to build the igloo two layers at a time. When the two layers were finished, we had to let the icing dry so that the sugar cubes would set up before we started another layer. Carter finally got to take his igloo to co-op on Monday and everyone thought it was great. He had a lot of comments on how "cool" the igloo was!! He was really proud of his work. I think it was good that it took a while as it was a good lesson in patience for us all!!
These little cakes are bannock bread. Bannock bread is a food that is common among the Inuit peoples. When Carter was studying the Arctic Tundra biome at co-op, they sent home a dry mix for this bread. We added the wet ingredients to the mix and made this pancake like bread and fried it in a pan with a little oil. It was really good. Carter, who is a notorious picky eater, loved it. As I always say, food can be a great learning tool!

IGLOOS, INUITS AND CARTER!!

In addition to losing more than one tooth since Christmas, this cute, little snaggle-tooth kid and I have been working on a lot of school related stuff during January and February. We started back to co-op in January and Carter's group has been studying BIOMES!! We began studying the Arctic Tundra which has been really fun. We have learned about the weather and animals of the Arctic Tundra as well as the people who live in these frozen tundras. We learned about the Inuit people. Carter was fascinated by this group and we read a lot of books about them and watched some educational videos on Discovery Streaming about the Inuit and their lands.


As you can see, we are in the process of building an igloo in honor of our studies about the Inuit people. We have begun building our igloo with sugar cubes and icing. We can only build the igloo two rows at a time because we have to allow the icing to dry. Each row of "ice" must go in towards the center a little more each time and stability is an issue if we try to complete more than one row at a time. When we complete the igloo, I will post the picture here.

BACK TO REALITY

O.k., so I know that I have totally neglected this blog lately. I am really sorry, but the month of January was spent catching up on school with the boys after a busy December as well as finalizing plans for WALT DISNEY WORLD for Cooper's 5th Birthday. I am not going to post any of those pictures here, but if you would like to see them, you can see them here. In this picture, you can see Cooper working on his Saxon Math. He is doing so well on his school work. We are already on lessons in March and should be done with the math book well before the end of the school year. We are also pretty far in Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons. We should be done with this book by the end of the year as well. Cooper is reading so well. If I can figure out how to, I am going to put some video on here of Carter reciting some poetry and Cooper reading. They are both doing so great in school!!
Here is Carter, hard at work in his pajamas (one of the great things about school at home - COMFORT!!). Carter, Cooper and I are working on memorizing all 50 states and interesting facts about each one. I really wanted to have the states memorized by the time we went to Florida, but we got started late. That's okay though, because the boys really look forward to this part of their school day each day. I am going to try and borrow the book, Eat Your Way Across The USA from our local library. It has full meal recipes for each of the states and the boys and I can make "state themed" suppers each night as a great addition to our learning!! We have really enjoyed learning about this amazing land we live in!!

GINGERBREAD FUN!!

Aren't these amazing? The boys and I went to The Westin Savannah to see their annual gingerbread and Christmas tree display. It was awesome!! The picture of the large hotel like building is actually The Westin Savannah in gingerbread!! Cooper has said up until this day that he could eat the entire Westin (meaning the gingerbread Westin)!! This was the first gingerbread village that the boys have ever seen and they thought it was great. I have to admit, I did too!!
This was one of my favorite pieces in the gingerbread village. I love the bridge!! It was just too cute!!
Here are the boys on the Savannah Belles Ferry. We took the ferry from one side of the river to The Westin. They were so cute, both on their knees, looking out into the water, I had to take this picture!! They love the ferry. It is a free ride across the river and they think that it is the best thing!!

AHOY MATEY!!

This huge ship was downtown in Savannah on River Street during Thanksgiving. We had heard from some friends that there was a ship in the river that you could tour for free, so we toured it. It was awesome!! Here are the pictures of the ship (it was huge) and the boys on the upper deck!!

Here are the two troublemakers trying to drive the ship and navigate! Lord help us if they decided to leave port!! It was a beautiful ship. The wood was polished and beautiful. I would love to really sail on it and I think the boys would too!!

CAN YOU SAY CROQUET?

Tony bought us a croquet and bocce ball set after Thanksgiving. The boys really like bocce ball (they had played it before) and we all LOVE croquet. Tony and I are really competitive and these games are great for "friendly" competition!! It has been so warm this month that we really got a lot of great use of the games. It has been really great for us as a family. I am posting this link here because I think that knowing the rules for croquet can count as educational, right? I hope so!!