Creeks, Gardens, and a Visit to Ancient Greece

It's my favorite time of year. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous this week and we've had a good old-fashioned week of outdoor time and learning with friends mixed in with our other obligations. It was technically spring break for our charter this week, but with homeschooling, I've found it hard to do real breaks. Bean didn't have math this week, and there was no art class, but we still had swimming and piano. And since we just took a 4 day weekend, and have a couple short trips coming up next month, we still tried to do a few things this week, although most of them look a lot like just playing. That's the best way, anyway.

Park day has moved to the creek this month, but it's been so rainy that this week was only the second well-attended day. The kids all have so much fun here--it's such a great area for open-ended play and exploration. They keep busy creating civilizations, engineering dams and shelters, negotiating business deals, balancing on logs and rocks (and sometimes falling in). It makes me happy that they have a chance to play how I did growing up with the canyon and creek in our backyard. 

We also visited the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek this week. We had a doctor's appointment up that way and when I saw this was only a few minutes away, decided the trip would feel more worth it if we got to see the spring blooms. 

There were some beautiful flowers there.

It's a dry garden, with lots of succulents,

but in the spring, there are also lots of flowers and blooms. Some are more traditional,

some really unique.

We only had an hour,

but it was nice to be outside and see something pretty.

This week was also our much anticipated Ancient Greek party. The kids, Bug in particular, have been asking for more fun projects and games "how we used to do when we homeschooled". And even though I argued that part of that was because they were 5 and 8, and it was easy to just play all day and feel confident that they were learning plenty, I did start looking into something we could do for fun with what we've been reading about for social studies.

So, we (loosely) dressed in chitons

and invited some friends over for a few activities.

 First, we talked about the Greek column styles that have heavily influenced architecture around the world

and then the kids made columns and saw how many books they could support with just paper and tape.

One sheet of paper!

Bug's style involved a couple sheets of paper, but still pretty impressive that he was able to hold up my college Biology book.

Then, we headed into the kitchen. Some people claim that the Greeks came up with the first pancake recipe, so the kids made a batch of Greek pancakes to go with the lentils, rice pilaf, and hummus that we had for lunch.

We made a couple substitutions (I couldn't find currants at the couple stores I was at this week, so we used Craisins), but they were still different enough from normal that I think the kids felt like they were being adventurous. I'm not sure how much they loved the end product, but I thought they were really good, topped with Greek yogurt, walnuts, and cinnamon (and the kids all added a bunch of honey.)

After lunch came the part I was most excited about. I had found an escape room type lesson plan on Teachers-Pay-Teachers centered around Greek mythology and knew the kids would love it.

It involved reading 4 different myths and then decoding puzzles to get the 4 words that were the "passcode" to get back from a time-travel trip to ancient Greece.

Then, I went one step farther because I knew how much fun my kids had doing the escape room at Christmas.

So I found a couple different containers that I could use our various padlocks and bike locks on and hid part of what they needed at some of the sites.

Then they had to figure out how to get into the locks, which proved harder than I'd thought it would be at a couple of them, but I think the kids had a lot of fun with this.

It beats writing an essay and I actually think that they gave their brains a pretty good workout figuring out a couple of these puzzles. If nothing else, I hope this lived up to Bug's desires for something more "fun" for school. I feel like it's been a pretty good week!

15 Years

15 years of marriage called for a little celebration. I took the kids up to their grandparents house and we spent the weekend in San Francisco. We ate amazing food, found some of the best views in the city, and enjoyed conversations that weren't interrupted by kids.

The Sutro Baths--neither of us had ever been here, and the ruins from the massive public swimming pool were pretty cool.

Plus, it was a beautiful day to be exploring the coast.

And a great day to spend with this guy.

We also climbed Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower.

It's kind of amazing that in the middle of this city, on a hill that feels like it goes straight up, there are all these beautiful little gardens. 

And then the views of the bridge and city from the top.

Coit Tower view from Lombard Street

And then we ended the trip at the Maritime Museum. The kids and I had been here back in January, but I knew Daddy-o would love to see the ships.

It was a fabulous weekend, and judging from the reports, the kids had a great time, too.

They love all the cats and chickens, watched movies,

 visited the Castle Air Museum, and had ice cream every night. If that's not the recipe for a successful weekend, I don't know what is.

Nature Play

Nothing is better than a couple weeks of field trip that are all about nature and science. Even when it's been rainy and kind of cold, we can still find ways to connect with nature.

We've squeezed in a lot of fun with our learning lately. We had a field trip to Sulfer Creek Nature Center in Hayward with the charter we're with, where we got to meet a few of their resident animals and learn about them.

Peanut loved learning about the animals. I wasn't going to sign up for this field trip because it was aimed at the elementary school age, and only one of the kids fits in that range, but I'm glad that we did. Even I learned a few new things.

And there were lots of beautiful animals that they've taken in. It's mainly a rehab center, and they release as many of the animals as they can, but the ones that aren't going to make it in the wild, they keep, and then they use them to teach people.

This week was also Trackers at Coyote Hills Regional Park in Fremont. It's an outdoor school program, and the kids have loved the couple days they've participated. This week was all about traps--they learned knife skills, whittled sticks, wove reeds and grasses, and learned how to set a trap used by Native Americans.

They all loved this. I now have hopes that we can survive the apocalypse.

Last Saturday was a family trip into SF to the CA Academy of the Sciences. We explored the rainforest,

visited the coral reefs, 

saw a lot of different animals. It was a great day all around.

And finally, this whole field trip series started with a trip to the San Jose Children's Discovery Museum. Their outdoor space was absolutely incredible. I wish that we had the space in our backyard to create this type of space--lots of places to explore, observe animals, play and experiment.

The gardens are fabulous--one of these days, I want to plant a winter garden.

Inside was pretty fun, too. The kids tried out face painting

Peanut requested a giraffe. I think Bug nailed it.

We explored all the different exhibits.

Creepy, but fun.

So much cool science to experience.

 And then there was the park day between rain showers.

The kids don't seem to mind what is going on outside.

They just want to experience it.

3.1415

March is a busy month, with lots of little and big celebrations, that keep things hectic, but we didn't want to miss out on Pi Day. Daddy-o didn't have time to make any of his award winning pies this year, but I threw together a rustic chicken pot pie for dinner (at least that's what I'm calling it so it has an excuse for looking a little rough around the edges.)

And even though we're still trying to keep our processed sugars to a minimum, I made a lemon honey pie with whipped cream and blackberries for dessert. It was a fun treat, although I don't know if it's because we haven't been eating many desserts, or just because of how sweet the honey is. But the kids loved that we got to have pie.

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