Homeschool Science with Free Videos

I haven't posted much this last year or so, a lot of life going on around here with pregnancy loss and then pregnancy and keeping up with homeschooling 3 kids and all their activities while pregnant.  This year we decided to try The Good and The Beautiful for LA and History and are enjoying it and continued with the next books in Sassafrass Science and stuck with CTC math.  That's the main stuff.  However, I have really struggled with my motivation to do science.  The chapters feel long, I didn't feel like we were getting a ton out of the SCIDAT log books...my kids only like the story but they logbooks became a big chore, science felt very time consuming and even though I kept wanting to love it, my kids weren't retaining what they had learned very well.  Not to put that against the science curriculum it may just be that my kids learn better through different methods.  But I started to feel like it wasn't worth the time when after all the time and effort in science and they couldn't recall much from it later on, yet they could offload detailed facts about things they had learned from a wildkratts episode they had watched a year ago or from watching the Planet Earth and Life series as a family.

With a preschooler and a baby about to join us, I want to be intentional about how we manage our time and learning.  The more my kids would randomly talk about in depth facts from science related videos and documentaries they watched a long time ago, but couldn't remember what we had studied in our homeschool time, it didn't feel like a good investment of our time.  The more I thought about this the more I figured if my kids retain information so much better from videos rather than a living book with notebooking (as much as I love the idea of that) then I should just have them do science learning through videos and then let it be delight directed learning from there.  So if they watch a video on something and they get excited about it, we can look up more on it, watch more videos, look up experiments or demonstrations they can watch and or do.  So this is a compilation of some resources for approaching science in a more unschool-relaxed way of learning that I think we are going to try.  I haven't previewed many of these but saving the links here for myself and anyone else that wants to quickly find free videos for science topics and unit studies.  This will be an ongoing compilation, if you know of any great resources to add please comment and share!  from here you can do notebooking, project based learning, lapbooking or simply narration or as enrichment to go with your packaged science program...there are so many ways to enjoy learning and it's important we don't get stuck within the security blanket of a purchased curriculum product for everything we do,  Sometimes it's easier to just have that open and go curriculum and I totally appreciate that, but we don't have to be hostage to certain products or methods of learning and teaching every subject either.  I'm curious to see how it goes just watching videos, then having the encyclopedia handy for the kids to look and then seeing where things go from there.

ANATOMY

Operation Ouch - The Amazing Human Body on YouTube
Tongue, How Babies Grow, Eardrum, Breathing, Toxins in Wee, Kidneys, Spinal Cord, Energy, Bone Marrow, Poo. Body Bacteria, Plaque, Skin, The Heart, Guts, Couching, Blood Vessels, Flouresence, Red Blood Cells, Digestions, Wrinkly Skin, Bacteria Breath, Epiglottis, Vocal Chords, Vomit, Enzymes, Strength, Hormones, Fueling the Body, The Eye Lense, The Diaphragm, The Stomach, Brain, Pain Receptors, Sneezing, Diarrhea, and Nastogastric Tube.

Operation Ouch - The Endocrine System
Muscles, Energy and Adrenaline, How Tall Are You, Sleep, Insulin

Operation Ouch - The Human Head
Ear Injuries, Tongue, Head and Heachaches, Snotty Noses, Throat, Mouth, Excellent Ears, Getting Hairy, Teeth and Braces, Lip Injuries, Incredible Eyes, Contagious Yawning.

Operation Ouch - The Immune System
Bacteria and Infections, Alarming Allergies, Frightful Verrucas

Operation Ouch - The Nervous System
NERVES, Spine, Brain

Operation Ouch - Cardiovascular System
Blood, Blood Pressure, Pumping Hearts

Operation Ouch - Human Skin
Top 5 gruesome cuts (skip if you don't want to see gruesome cuts), Belmishes, Skin, Smelly Sweat, Sore Scars, Stretch Marks, Deep cuts and wounds, Bruises and blisters, Birthmarks, Burns and Skin Grafts

Operation Ouch - The Skeletal System
fingers and toes, Sprains, Broken Bones, Skeletons, Ankle, Wrist, Breaking Bones, Joints and Skeletal System, Lively Legs, Fantastic Fingers, Fixing Feet, Dislocations, Broken Arms, Knobby Knees, Tending to the Toes.


ENERGY- Heat - Light - Sound

Energy | The Dr. Binocs Show

Here Comes the Sun: Crash Course Kids

Three Methods of Heat Transfer

How does Heat Flow - CC memory song

Heat Transfer: Conduction, Convection, Radiation

1st law of thermodynamics (experiments)

1st Law of Thermodynamics (Classical Conversations)

1st & 2nd Law Thermodynamics - Experiments and Explanations

2nd Law of Thermodynamics (Classical Conversations)

Laws of Thermodynamics CC Song

The Laws of Thermodynamics, Entropy, and Gibbs Free Energy

Light - 3 characteristics of light - CC memory song Reflection, Refraction, Spectrum

Light | The Dr. Binocs Show

Top 10 Experiments For Kids with Light and Optics 

How Is A Rainbow Formed | The Dr. Binocs Show

What is Sound? | The Dr. Binocs Show

Super Cool Sound Experiments To Do at Home

ZOOLOGY

free on amazon prime

Wildkratts

Exploration Animal Science

MARINE LIFE

The Living Sea

EARTH SCIENCE

Free School Earth Science playlist

3 states of matter, landforms, bodies of water, volcanoes, astronomy and space, rock cycle, clouds, oceans, glaciers, water cycle, snow, how leaves change color, thunder and lightening, caves, eclipse, why is sky blue, erosion, giant causeway, leap year.

ASTRONOMY AND SPACE

Free School Astronomy and space for Children - Playlist
solar system, astronomy and space, phases of the moon, the sun, dwarf planets, milky way, solar eclipse, nebula, apollo 11, about the moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Venus, Neptune, Myth of Orion, Aurora Borealis, Cassiopeia, Lunar Eclipse, Scorpius, Leo, Pluto not a Planet anymore, Ceres, Light Years, Taurus

Homeschool Plan for 2017-2018 so far

Homeschool Outline for 2017-2018

With a 3.5 yo, 2nd grader and 4/5 grader

(4/5 grader- what seems to have worked best for my oldest is being in-between grades, giving us flexibility to be at her own pace. So while this will be her 5th year homeschooling, if she was in school, I would have waited another year before sending her to kindergarten so she would be in 4th grade so we just hang in that range.)

We are eclectic Charlotte Mason inspired homeschoolers, have done Classical Conversations in the past as well as experimenting with unschooling which is where my daughter amazed me with the growth and improvements she made in spelling and writing without being forced.  I like to cater to inspiration and delight in the moment led learning but with some great tools and resources available too where the kids can get even more inspiration and new ideas from.  Unschooling for me involved a LOT of intentional strewing and seeds planted and being observant and available.  That is why I can't have a rigid schedule so we can relax and enjoy the unexpected learning, inspiration and rabbit holes that spontaneously happen, a spontaneous lake day when the weather is too perfect to be inside all day and to accommodate our twice a year trips cross country to visit family and a variety of small trips with my husband as sometimes we tag along with him for his work travel.  But I find by having a general outline, I can modify and find a rhythm to still be intentional and make it all jive by the end of the year, even if it might make someone else go cross eyed trying to understand lol! This year I will probably be scheduling a little more than I have in the past to just wrap my head around time frames and how to get it all done with other big commitments that we may have this next year outside of the home but that is all still undetermined. I am still finalizing the details but I have lots of notes around and need to gather my thoughts in on place so I'm doing it here.

Also, I do as much combined with my 7 and 10 year old as possible and modify accordingly to make it easier for the younger one or a little more challenging for the older one.  I don't want to be going crazy doing everything different for each child and keeping track of it all, I don't think I could handle that, the thought of that makes me go cross-eyed so we will do as much learning together as we can as long as we can, accommodating each child accordingly.  When it gets to a point I feel they can't do as much together, then I'll probably start looking at hybrids, virtual classes or something lol! So without further ado, here is my working list for the upcoming school year as of now.

HISTORY 

Beautiful Feet Early American History

We began this program this year and are doing it over the course of 2 years so we ended with Pilgrims and will start the fall with Benjamin Franklin.

To go along with this we will re-download the Classical Conversations App Cycle 3 which we already bought all apps in the past. We will use cycle 3 for American History memory sentences as they tie into our BF American History.  Should be quick and easy as they will be familiar from before.

LANGUAGE ARTS

I also have gone through the book list for BF and found other great books to add in as additional reading for personal reading, read alouds or audiobooks for book reports or Arrows (by Brave Writer) that coincide with the history we will be covering. I will post a list at the end of this general outline.

*Language Lessons for Today by My Father's World (Grammar, composition, narration, picture study etc) grade 2 and grade 4 books

*Daily reading independently (partnering with 2nd grader til he's more comfortable on his own)

*Shakespeare - I will read to them Much Ado About Nothing this year followed by watching the movie, then let them help come up with a project of their choice, either their own acted out video, puppet show, art project...they'll have to determine their project.

*Friday Freewrites (they were a hit this year) from the Brave Writer lifestyle.

*Movies - another reason why I love Julie Bogart of Brave Writer! I have always found movies and tv series to be great teaching tools but she goes out of her way to give you permission and emphasizes the educational and relational value of watching good movies together! Our movie selections will also coincide with other subjects we will be covering. I am excited! (Listed below this outline with the books)

*Arrows for my 4/5 grader that go with historical books I mentioned above. Arrows use a book to teach copy work, dictation and literary elements learning from great literature. 

*Explode the Code (with spelling words coming from the code lessons) and WWT continued for my 2nd grader 

*thinking about Writing and Rhetoric also for my 4/5 grader. Will also be looking more at Brave Writers products and IEW just to see.  But I do gravitate so much towards Julie Bogart of Brave Writer.  Also may use Spelling Wisdom by Simply Charlotte Mason as I found book 1 & 2 for a steal at a used book store. But we will see my daughter has suddenly decided she loves spelling tests and Spelling Wisdom is all spelling through dictation. It was cheap enough to grab but not sure yet if I'll keep it.

*Creative Writing-whether my daughter takes a class again at enrichment for this, we will all spend time writing stories, from my preschooler where I jot it down for him, to my 7 yo where I will jot it down/partner write with him, he still gets fatigued getting it all written and will need support, to my 4/5 grader who already does this as a hobby on her typewriter.  I will also encourage song writing, as we do poetry and sing hymns and other songs.  This was/is my secret favorite hobby I started when I was around 10/11.  It's such a great way to express yourself, as well as enjoy whatever instrument you are learning.  Even for the kids being very beginner music students, it's exciting if they can take what little they know and apply it to a simple song of their own.  

*Journal Keeping my daughter started keeping a personal journal this past year. My son has a happy times journal that I write in for him. As he tells me some of his happy thoughts about the day.(basically a mini gratitude journal). As he gains more independence in his writing he can go on to do more journal keeping independently, although I'm guessing he won't gravitate to it as naturally as his sister.  We shall see.  I don't even tell my daughter to write in her journal anymore she just does that on her own and I don't read it unless she wants to show me something. She kept wanting me to read all her entries in the beginning which was sweet but I figure we are around each other A LOT, I told her it's ok to have her own thoughts that she keeps private in there. Like if she's mad at her brothers and vents in her diary, I really don't need to read it because it would probably make me annoyed and my impulse would be to get after her.  

*Beginner Blog my daughter started her own little blog so that will be another writing project where she will be motivated to complete her posts because it's fun and have a good attitude about editing as she wants my help to make sure it reads right and doesn't have lots of spelling mistakes.  We can focus more on grammar, punctuation and such as she has a reason to care.  This also will help with her computer skills and photography which she is interested in.

MATH

*CTC MATH.  We have a family subscription and my kids and I have really enjoyed this program. It is a great fit for us.

*Occasionally incorporate math games from Family Math and other hands on games like Dino Tracks, Monopoly, Battle Ships etc..there are so many games you can enjoy with your kids that reinforce math skills.

*Will use the Classical Conversations app here as well to memorize skip counting.  My daughter has them all down but now it's my 2nd graders turn.

SCIENCE

we will start our first real science program this year. In the past we have just been really organic and Charlotte Mason Nature Study focused, with being involved in a nature club and then my kids have taken science classes at an enrichment program each semester that involved lots of hands on science. We also had a little Charlotte Mason Enrichment group and did a science experiment together once a month and then in the past Classical Conversations memory work for science and using nature notebooks.  The kids watched a lot of Wild Kratt's which they have retained so much information from and we would watch documentaries on sea turtles and dolphins or whatever they were into.  I think the science we are going to do fits really well with our style of doing school and will give us a little more structure in this area.

*The Sassafras Science Adventures: Volume One: Zoology

I hope to finish this in one semester and then move onto Volume Two: Anatomy later in the year. You need the novel, the logbook and the guidebook.
 We will also pull from our Classical Conversations science materials over the 3 cycles to match up memory sentences with the main topics.  I already have all that because we did 3 cycles.  When we go back to it, it is fun for the kids as it familiar and they just need a refresher.

*We will still continue to enjoy being in nature and observing all that stuff and keeping nature journals but our main focus will be this series.

*Inventor Biographies - as a little side dish, as we cover American History we will also watch or read some inventor biographies such as Benjamin Franklin, The Wright Bros and Thomas Eddison.  We may just watch the videos created by Nest entertainment and have the kids make a narration page or oral narration. Maybe go on Pinterest to get some coordinating project ideas.  Honestly those Nest videos are great I grew up watching the animated scriptures and that is how I remember all the bible stories more than anything else I probably was taught as a kid! Either way, we will incorporate this aspect. And maybe take a projects based approach and see if the kids are inspired to invent or create something but if not, I wont force it.

CHARACTER/BIBLE/DEVOTIONAL

*We will continue to use My Brother's Keeper. We have been doing it VERY slowly even though it is designed for a couple weeks or so. But we do it every now and then and it gives the kids time to digest and practice the lessons. I tend to pull it out when siblings need to hit the reset button on the direction of their relationship...and it definitely helps!

*NEST Videos - Old and New Testament 

*The Action Bible

*Bethany Hamilton's 90 Day Devotional RISE ABOVE continued for my daughter

*His Mighty Warrior for my son

*Big book of 5 minute devotions for all three kids over breakfast or lunch and love that it all brings lessons based of lessons about animals as we will be doing zoology.

MUSIC

*Hymn Study - I will teach them a hymn and usually play the piano or ukulele as we all sing along, sometimes give the boys drums to play on.  Then later I will use a hymn we are learning as copy work and then we visual journal around it or watercolor paint over it. We do one hymn every month or two. 

*Music Practice - for all of us. daughter has taken ukulele and will practice that or piano as I have been slowly teaching her. She will be trying violin this summer so if she decides to continue with that then she will need to practice according to what her teacher says.

My son is trying guitar lessons this summer, so same with him, hopefully he will want to continue as we will have daily practice time. And I will keep recommitting to giving myself time on the piano/guitar/ukulele. I love it so much but get SO out of practice.

*Song Writing- as I mentioned under creative writing in our Language Arts but it overlaps.

*To go along with our American History we will have fun learning and singing American Folk Songs.  I can figure those out on piano or guitar but I'm hoping as my son gets comfortable he will enjoy playing the as we sing along as I'm sure there some super easy versions of them.  If possible maybe they can play guitar and violin together on easy folk songs and little brother can tap a drum.

*Musicals.  My kids haven't seen a lot of the great musicals that I have added to our movies list for the year.

*Live Blue Grass concerts.  We live in the south east, we can find some live blue grass to enjoy with the kids. And hope to get them to as much free live music events as we can.

ART/HANDICRAFTS

*We will study American Artist Thomas Cole 1830s father of American Lanscape Painting. I'll do some related art projects.

*Charlotte Mason style artist study/picture study  (I use Ambleside Online as a guide, this is quick)

*American Colonial and pioneer games and handicrafts will find on Pinterest 😘🤓😎

*Native American handicrafts-cave paintings, stonework, earthenware, feathers, clay, turquoise, silver, glass, fabric, totem poles. symbols-sun, moon, bears, eagles or people. Jewelry-rich in symbolism used to adorn, protect and honor.

*daily drawing (they have sketchbooks for practicing drawing skills either still life, following tutorial or lesson from me)

GEOGRAPHY

*Geography is part of our Beautiful Feet as we cover the beginning of the colonies and then expand westward. We will also make use of the 50 states I Want To Take a Trip YouTube video that is fun to sing, use our United States Map floor puzzle and possible work on some sort of project like making state floats, if you look that up on Pinterest it is such a neat idea but my kids would have to make 25 each over the course of the year to get all 50 states for the "float parade" which I think would be a fun crafty, hands on project but we will see if it is too ambitious or not. If so I may just have them do a few. But there are lots of resources on Pinterest for the 50 states so I will be going there for more ideas.

UPDATE: I printed off the 50 States Geography notebooking pages from the same maker of Sassafrass Science. Can be found HERE. The only thing I will do different is not bother with state seal and in that box have them draw interesting things about that state that stand out to them like a coke bottle and or peach for Georgia, the Statue of Liberty for New York or whatever the decide.

I got this book to go with it.  I love that it looks like a nature journal as you go through.  I thought it was perfect because in the notebooking pages for each state I am going to have my kids draw the state flower, state bird etc.  

*The Sassafras Science program also includes geography work as well.

BOOK LIST

This list includes all the books from Beautiful Feet as well as the ones I've added in as part of language arts to tie in. I'll note after each (BF) for Beautiful Feet or Arrow for brave writer or LA other language arts/reading projects.  There will be other books we may add in based on child's interest but these are the books that will correlate to our History.

Benjamin Franklin by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire (BF)

Ben and Me by Robert Lawson ARROW-historical setting

A More Perfect Union by Giulio and Betsy Mastro (BF)

George Washington by  Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire (BF) also watch Nest video on him

George Washington's Mother by Jean Fritz - audiobook on Epic

Daring Book for Girls p136-137 Abigail Adams' Letters with John Adams and Writing Letters p142-144 (LA) 

Johnny Tremain by Ester Forbes ARROW-Opening Hooks and probably watch the movie after

Nate Donovan Revolutionary Spy - audiobook on Epic reading app

Boys and Girls of Colonial Days by Carolyn Bailey (BF)

Moccasin Trail with ARROW-Alliteration and book project

Winter at Valley Forge by James Knight (BF)

George Washington's Breakfast by Jean Fritz (BF)

the Courage of Sarah Noble (BF)

Matchlock Gun by Walter Edwards (BF)

Carry On Mr. Bowditch  with ARROW-writers voice

Abraham Lincoln by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire (BF) watch Nest video about Abe.

Meet Abraham Lincoln by Barbara Cary (BF)

Like a River - Civil War novel (LA) book project

The Perilous Road - audiobook on EPIC (reading library app)

Caddie Woodlawn - with ARROW-conclusions

Possibly start Laura Ingalls Series

Buffalo Bill by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire (BF)

Sarah Plain and Tall - late 19th century time period with ARROW-confusing word pairs

The New Land First Year on the Prairie by Marrilyn Reynolds - (available illustrated read aloud on EPIC)

The Fourth of July Story by Alice Dalgliesh (BF)

The Indian in the Cupboard (LA reading and book project)

Your story hour CD's H1, H2, H3, H5 through audible. (BF)

Some of these extra books may also be listened to via audiobook. 

MAPS Book we already have to look up geography we will cover in Science

Inventors Secret what Thomas Edison told Henry Ford - audiobook on Epic

Kate Shelly and The Midnight Express by Margaret Wetterer - (available on epic) 

Movies- some during school time some as family movie night
many you can find on youtube, amazon, or your local library

Liberty Kids Series for free on youtube or on Amazon

Ben and Me Disney Short Film

Disney American Legends

7 Brides for 7 Brothers

Oklahoma!

Annie Get Your Gun (buffalo bill)
Calamity Jane

Much Ado About Nothing

Davy Crockett

Indian in the Cupboard

Jeremiah Johnson

AG Felicity - 1775, just before the Revolutionary War
Beyond the Mask - BEYOND THE MASK is a revolutionary new family film that brings history to life in a faith-filled adventure celebrating grace, liberty, and true freedom.

Newsies - 1899

Nest Entertainment bible and history

Tall Tale: the unbelievable adventure - Pecos Bill & The American West

Miracle at Sage Creek - 1888 Wyoming two families overcoming prejudice

The man From Snowy River - not hisotry related but for my daughter with horse interest 

Return to Snowy River also not part of american history really but want to include.

The Black Stallion

National Velvet

Long Road Home

White Fang (gold rush in Yukon)

Rocky Mountain Express (transcontinental railroad)

Mandie and the Secret Tunnel (1899-native American prejudice and African American issues)
Little House on the Prairie Series

SONGS TO LISTEN TO/LEARN

America The Beautiful 

this Land is Your Land

Go Tell it on the Mountain

Blowin in the Wind

Poor Wayfarin

She'll be Coming round the Mountain

Yankee Doodle

Amazing Grace

Buffalo Gals

Skip to ma Lou

I've been working on the railroad 

Etc...

Classical Conversations Cycle 1 wk 2, Unschool Beach Time, Nature Study FUNGI

I didn't have time to post this before we went on a two week trip, but before we left, these are some of the things we did for CC Cycle 1 week 2, followed by 2 weeks of relaxed unschool adventures on a road trip to Conneticut.

For history we made the second tablet engraved with commandments 6-10, to go with the first tablet we made in week 1 using crayola air dry clay.  The kids made up their own actions to go with the song.

 We also did more picture study from the Art History text that featured clay pots, mud bricks/buildings, jewelry, votive statues, and the beginning of visual narrative in artwork from the Fertile Crescent/Assyria. 

  

For science we used our nature notebooks and made a page for each of the 5 Kingdoms of Living Things. For Animalia they made a collage, cutting out pictures from magazines, animal stickers, stamps and drawings.
 

 For Plantae we each made a page full of illustrated plants, trees, flowers etc.

Fungi was a fun one.  We made mushroom prints.  The kids went on the hunt for some fungi outside and we stamped our various fungi samples in ink and stamped them on the page experimenting with different patterns.

For Protista I pulled up a google image and we replicated the protists.  We used green glitter glue to fill in the blob shapes...algae or slime mold I guess...

kind of looks like a page of snot lol! And finally for Monera we made a page where we just used our fingertips covered in ink to stamp little circle stands and clusters.  This one is by my 5 year old.  Not that exciting to look at but they thought it was fun.

The kids LOVED the project and are proud of every page, even though it's simple! But I think they are proud because they know what those words they learned in their science memory work actually mean and put them in context in a fun easy way that I think/hope they will always remember.  

When we were at the beach last week they were excited to point out things and identify which kingdom it belonged to.  We had to google muscles and clams and my daughter was right, they are in Animalia.  The only thing my son couldn't find was Monera but I assured him it was there!  Probably a lot of it in the rotting crab leftovers from the seagulls and the murky water in the marsh that smelled like sulfur when we explored back in there when the tide was out observing crabs scurrying around and eating little bait fish.  And especially certain there was a good amount of Monera (bacteria) in that area when a ranger came over just to make sure people know the muscles aren't safe to eat from that area!  

So we were 2 weeks in and then took a 2 week break for this  trip.  We unschooled at the beach. They were learning so much on this trip and enjoying being outside every possible second.  We were in Madison, CT and the weather was perfect the whole time and the water warm enough I even got in!!! I don't get in the water a lot of the years we've been going because it's cold but it was just slightly cool and refreshing.  Hubby and I definitely took advantage of the kids having lots of quality time with their grandparents and got to recharge our batteries going out to breakfast, taking long walks around the entire town, kayaking, hanging on the beach and just enjoying our littlest one a little extra as he turned TWO while we were there and it's gone by so fast!  Having family around to enjoy the kids is a luxury we don't get to enjoy very often as we live on the opposite side of the country!  

Here the kids are crabbing, when the tide goes out they crack open muscles with a rock, tie it on the end of a little fishing line and drop it down into the openings between the rocks where there are little tide pools.  After collecting crabs in the bucket they dump them out in the sand and have a crab race to see which crabs get back to the ocean the fastest.  They learned to all about this fun activity from another little girl my daughter met there last year and they have been own pals and thankfully, they were able to see eachother again for 2 days while we were there.  Her once a year beach friend pen pal!  Being pen pals with her beach friend and her cousin is definitely part of our language arts as it's such an easy and fun way to work in spelling, grammer, punctuation and neatness!

The kids learned how to cast and reel, I was amazing at how quickly they could easily cast it way out!  But no fish.  Dad and Grampa kept catching fish every time we happened to not be around them ... Or maybe they were just fish stories!!! Lol

The kids started their first business.  First J made flower, herbs and grass soup from yard clippings.

And made a lovely presentation...

Grampa was a good sport and tasted it and then convinced her to taste it.  It looked pretty but after a taste she was onto the next thing...setting up a shop selling cool rocks, sea shells and fresh flowers from the yard

Business was decent due to a nice mail lady, elderly gentleman and supportive parents and grandparents...but when things slowed down they learned that it's hard to sell something that people can go get for free 30 steps away.  A lesson in supply and demand.  So they upgraded to an ice tea and lemonade stand and it was, in my daughters own words, "A SUCCESS!"  She sure was willing to go the extra mile for her customers as she told them she's open til 9 and she can also deliver on her scooter, no extra charge...which everyone had to chuckle at the thought of a cup of lemonade being delivered on a scooter.

They learned about being resourceful when they wanted a sign for the shop. No poster board available but paper plates and fishing line come easy at a beach cottage!  The also got some practice in making change and an economics lesson.  She did pretty good with her sales and tips and we reminded her that stores don't get the things they sell for free.  Even a little calculator from the dollar store, the manufacturer needed those buttons, and what about the plastic casing? And the computer and battery inside that makes it function? And they had to pay a person to make it. So hardly anyone can sell something for pure profit because there are costs in doing business.  So she asked her grandparents how much she owed them for the lemonade she used since they bought it and they said 25 cents would be fine so she paid back one of her quarters and asked how much for the plastic cups? So she was understanding the various costs involved but we said they were on the house, literally... the house had a big supply of plastic cups when we arrived!  It was a spontaneous, organic lesson that got her thinking about how businesses operate but was gentle enough.  She didn't mind paying 1 quarter out of the bowl full of dollar bills and change she had earned.  Since then, she has had more questions about the ins and outs of running a business and at the grocery store will remember "oh yeah so the store isn't really getting $7 from that because they had to spend money to buy it and they have to pay the people that work here and probably have to pay for the building and stuff I wonder how much they really make?" 

Another afternoon during the baby's nap we just had been at the beach all morning so we had a quiet time in the living room doodling on the floor while listening to Children of The New Forest on the Audible app on my phone.  

And I will say, my kids are pretty good with extended creative play together but after this trip, at that old 95 year old beach cottage that is so simple and easy and technology free other than the adults cell phones, the kids ability for creative play now is like seriously impressive ...to me at least I can only compare to what I know but we decided to do the drive home in one day which ended up being 15 hours and we only stopped once for an hour at chik fil a and then just quick restroom and gas stops.  We went about 6-7 hours before I decided to put a video on in the car because my newly turned 2 year old was needing some distraction and when I put it on the kids were enjoying the game they had been playing for the past several hours they agreed not to watch the video and keep playing.  After that it was getting late and I put on a Disney movie and then the babe fell asleep.  After we finally got him asleep we let the kids each play minecraft for about 15 minutes to keep the car quiet so baby wouldn't wake up from their toys doing whatever in their game.  Then we took the phone back and put on some peaceful music and they talked/played quietly until they fell asleep which is where the only fight occurred.  When my son got to be almost asleep he got upset that his sisters leg was touching him, barely.  I told him he always snuggles her in his sleep and he didn't believe me so after his little stink about her leg barely grazing his, he quickly passed out and before you know it he's snuggling into his sister, we had to laugh...after all that fuss about not touching her, he was completely snuggled into her.  My husband and I were seriously impressed and thankful with their hours and hours of creative play with no fights for that long in the car.  We got in late last night and today, they picked their game up right where they left off, but first started by building castles with moats (play silks) filled with alligators (green blocks) and surrounded by knights (the black blocks)  the main characters are my daughters Rapunzle and Flynn Ryder dolls and my son has a GI Joe Ninja and transforming Dino Robots....I'm not sure what the storyline is but it must be really fun! Lol

And then it came full circle back to their CC science week 2 memory work when they discovered all kinds of Fungi that had popped up in the woods while we were away.  We ended up going on a scavenger hunt to see how many different kinds we could find.  There were so many interesting, strange and pretty varieties.  The kids couldn't believe the vastly different shapes, sizes, textures and colors they kept coming across.  We ended up going back inside to grab the camera and go back and photograph some of our favorite finds.  Even my 24 month old was joining in pointing and saying "fungi!"  

See the huge fungi in front of him?  I looked like a turtle shell, it even had an opening where it looks like it tucked it's head in to hide.

My daughter also found these treasures while out studying Fungi today. The middle feather is from a blue jay, the bottom one we think a woodpecker and we still need to find who the long yellow and light brown feather belongs to... But we know they all belong to the Kingdom Animalia ;) thank you fun CC memory work.  I wouldn't do it if we didn't enjoy it and as you can see it really is a great fun way to strew little bits of knowledge that can spark new interests and learning beyond the time we learn the new material.  

And since this short blog turned super long I will end with a story about one our moments on the trip that didn't go so well.  We went to Five Guys and the babe was crying that he hurt his fingers right when we left relatives house and we couldn't figure out what he did...until we arrived and were waiting inline to order I noticed some little blisters on the tips if his fingers and figured out that whip he and the kids were playing in the living room, we were in the kitchen right next to them but didn't see what happened, I realized he must have touched the light bulb on the lamp.  So we went to the table and put his fingers in the cup of cold water and he immediately was happier but in the meantime, the kids are focused on me helping the Babe with his fingers and my son accidentally spills his full cup of ice water all over the table.  Ok accidents happen my hubby goes and gets a bunch if napkins and cleans it all up.  He comes back and almost sits down when the baby suddenly reaches for the condiment cup of ketchup and it flies towards him and lands on the chair splattering everywhere.  My hubby gets more napkins and cleans that mess up and then is getting to his hair to sit down when our daughter whose a gymnast randomly does some fancy gymnastics salute at the table and sends her full cup if ice water flying everywhere.  My husband gets a S-ton more napkins and again cleans up as I'm still helping the baby with his sore fingers.  He comes back with our food and sets it down and I catch the bag before it falls and knocks over my water... We look at eachother like holy crap is this really happening!?!? Then my hubby gets everything situated and FINALLY sits down and SQUISH!!!  The first cup of water spilled had run off the table onto that seat and we didn't notice because it went everywhere!  So he was sitting in a puddle of ice water!  I mean at that point, what do you do?  Just laugh it off and eat your food and don't worry if looks like you wet your pants when you get up to walk out if the place.  For all the times things go well, there will always be times when randomly we get to be the spectacle that leaves people thinking who knows what!  Or maybe it's just a thing with us and Five Guys....one time my son thought the fire alarm was a dispenser for those little white notecards they draw on and the alarm was so flippin loud the place cleared out completely and they told us we couldn't leave til the fire department came and shut it off.  That was also quite fun!!!! Really!!! NOT!!!  The good news was I put some Lavendar on baby's fingers and he was fine the next morning!  I always bring Lavendar and peppermint with me.  Use the Lavendar in the car to help keep things calm and relaxed and then use the peppermint on the hubby and I when were start getting a headache  or just need a pick me up.  Sometimes I rub a little on his neck and shoulders while he's driving.  Sometimes it comes in handy to rub on our tummies if we are feeling rotten after eating out.