We had a great day today. We started the day by joining our charter's first expeditionary learning field trip of the year. We met in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and went for a short hike near Castle Peak. At one stopping point, the children were given a handout on igneous rocks and asked to collect various specimens from the surroundings. With the aid of some color photographs, the children sorted their collections by type. It was surprising how many of the different forms of igneous rock were present in the area.
From there, we hiked across a beautiful meadow. At the next stopping point, the leaders passed out paper and pencils and asked the children to record what they were sensing through all five of their senses. They were also asked to draw a picture to illustrate what they had seen. These were collected and will be used to make comparisons when we return to the area during the snowy time of the year.
On the hour plus drive up and on the way back, we listened to the Story of the World. The boys remained quiet while I drove because the stories were so interesting. Truth be told, they provided a good review of history for me, as well. We also had an interesting discussion about whether the Bible is historically accurate, and how Bible stories can still be rich with meaning whether they happened exactly as written or not.
By the time we reached home, it was fairly late in the afternoon. We decided to forgo beginning lessons in Moving Beyond the Page today. Instead, I decided to take some time to update my sidebars, which have been annoyingly out of date for some time. I hope they will prove useful once again to others.
From there, we hiked across a beautiful meadow. At the next stopping point, the leaders passed out paper and pencils and asked the children to record what they were sensing through all five of their senses. They were also asked to draw a picture to illustrate what they had seen. These were collected and will be used to make comparisons when we return to the area during the snowy time of the year.
On the hour plus drive up and on the way back, we listened to the Story of the World. The boys remained quiet while I drove because the stories were so interesting. Truth be told, they provided a good review of history for me, as well. We also had an interesting discussion about whether the Bible is historically accurate, and how Bible stories can still be rich with meaning whether they happened exactly as written or not.
By the time we reached home, it was fairly late in the afternoon. We decided to forgo beginning lessons in Moving Beyond the Page today. Instead, I decided to take some time to update my sidebars, which have been annoyingly out of date for some time. I hope they will prove useful once again to others.
It sounds like the field trip was a wonderful learning opportunity. I think I need to get these kids out of the house more often...
Lord of the Rings is quite possibly our favorite set of books. JT has read them on his own already. We are currently listening to an audio CD set of The Hobbit that is absolutely fantastic. The voice actor is singing all of the songs from the book! If you have another long car ride ahead, I highly recommend it.
It surprises me that Landry hasn't already read LotR. It's right up his alley, except for the fact that our single volume version with very small print looks pretty imposing. I'm wondering if he'll pick it up when I don't get through it fast enough to suit him. :)
Thanks for the tip on the CD's. I'll definitely put it to use!