Getting Outside

The weather has been pretty cooperative with us getting out and about to try to finish off our 1000 hours outside. Peanut and spent 3 hours at the park on this gorgeous afternoon, hanging out with friends. And we camped out in the backyard one evening--he really wanted to get his hours in, and I needed the hours and was excited to try out my new camping pad.

And then, today, we went on a short family hike. We will not make it to the 70 family hikes that we'd hoped for, but we are averaging more than one a week, so it still feels like a win.

Del Valle was gorgeous in the mist.

We talked to some friends later who were out there biking at the same time--turns out they could hear us and know that it was us from a mile away, haha. We know we're loud.

The rain held off long enough for us to enjoy the morning and get another hike in.

Science and Field Trips

Science classes have been busy with our human anatomy study--

bones and muscles, 

which included a chicken wing dissection. Peanut and his partner enjoyed it the most out of the kids--they got to see the muscles up close and work with the tendons.

We've had some field trips--hiking at Lake Chabot where we watched a vulture drying its wings.

And back to look for tarantulas. Found two this time!

I can never guarantee animals when we head out for these field trips, so it's great when they show up!

Caught the beginning of another sunset.

We also got to do a class at a local nursery.

The whole place is set up for fall.

They started with a talk about bees. Peanut has spent quite a bit of time reading about bees because I hoped that after his bad experience with yellow jackets last year, we could use knowledge to overcome his fear. It hasn't really worked, but he was able to answer a lot of the questions. Actually, he came over at one point and whispered, "I'm going to stop answering all of them so the other kids can have a chance." Glad he's aware enough to know when to hold back, haha.

We took a tour of the gardens and talked about other pollinators, too. The kids got to plant a pea plant, learn a little about chickens, and traditional broom plants.

Then, the finished off with some pumpkin fishing. It is actually surprisingly difficult to catch a pumpkin in a funnel on the end of string.

We also bought some apples to do a little taste test at home. Turns out we prefer modern apple varieties.

Our circulatory system week included testing for blood types. I learned my lesson--even with the middle schoolers who wanted to do this, it took quite a while for them to get up the courage. The upper elementary kids mostly refused, and in the future, I wouldn't try with kids that young. I forgot that when I did this activity a few years ago, I was only teaching middle school ages. Peanut did his and no surprise that his is the same as his dad's and mine.

Lots of fun with this guy and his organs and parts. It's hard to keep everything together, so he's mostly been in pieces since the first weeks of class.

And then another week out at Sycamore Grove--this time to talk about fall/winter in the Bay Area and took look for walnuts and acorns and just enjoy the beautiful weather.

I'm glad that we've created this community to learn with. Peanut and I both get a lot out of these field trips and the friendships and the chances to explore. 

Evening Hike

Sunset is my favorite time to hike the upper part of Del Valle Regional Park. We set off for a quick hike, mostly to look for tarantulas,

and we found them!

I've never actually seen a tarantula in the wild, but this is the time of year that everyone reports seeing them in the hills all around us, and sure enough, we found one!

I'm glad because I'm leading a hike here in a couple weeks for my nature group to search for them, so I'm glad to know they really are out there.

The rest of the hike was filled with a beautiful sunset. Such a great time of day to be out here. I love that in the fall and winter, we can take these sunset hikes before dinner.

 

Field Trip Week

Some weeks, there isn't a lot of HOME in our homeschool. But on-the-go learning is the best, anyway, so we aren't complaining. 

Peanut and I went to the Oakland Museum of CA as a follow up for some of our CA history we've been studying this year. It had been a few years since we'd been and so it was mostly new to him.

This exhibit on recycling was pretty incredible.

We explored the natural history area, which tied in really nicely to some of our recent nature group field trips.

And we spent a long time in the Native American section. This was a fun history unit and the museum has a lot of great things that we recognized, like this fish trap which we had read about in the book, Adopted by Indians.

We spent another afternoon hiking in Del Valle. I love this area in the spring when the hills are all green.

Along with looking for birds and wildflowers and other signs of spring, we also brought along our read aloud because you can't beat a view like this while you're reading.

I managed to get a few miles out of this kid, too. He prefers hikes with friends for actually going much of a distance because apparently I'm not exciting enough to distract him from the pain, haha.

But it was too lovely to turn back.

I love these weeks when we have time to get out of the house and explore.

 

Reality and Virtual School

We're still getting outside as much as we can. We headed out right after breakfast, hoping to beat the crowds, and while it wasn't too bad, there were quite a few cars in the parking lot, especially an hour later when we got back to the car. So many people trying to use the outdoor spaces that we have. And with the stricter sheltering rules that were just put in place, mostly just clarifying things that should have already been cancelled (no, you cannot go to the park with your friends to play basketball or climb all over the playground--WHY do people not get this?!), I'm worried that our outdoor options are going to be restricted even more in the next few days. So far, hiking is still okay.

Today's outdoor adventure involved an intense climb pretty much straight up a couple of hills to this view of Del Valle.

43 flights of stairs worth of hill. Peanut has a little fear of heights, and the steepness of the trail at times was hard for him, but he pushed through. It's a good thing he wants to be a Gryffindor because sometimes that is just the right push for him to be brave. And he reminded us that he is also tough, haha. He was today.

Our hike was a short one so we could get home for Bug's virtual art class. As of this week, everything but the sports have moved online and we're now back to a similar schedule as we had before everything went crazy--with the exception of the driving around from class to class. I'm grateful that teachers have been willing to do these virtual classes, and that the kids don't have to miss out on everything while we are on lockdown, but it also makes things feel just as busy as always, but at the same time, a little off and lonely. It's such a strange paradigm we're living.

Peanut was very interested in the video we watched for history today about Nathan Hale and George Washington's spies during the Revolutionary War. He immediately made up his own war, wrote a letter from Hen Men, the spy, and began hiding so he could do his own spying.

This is my favorite part of education--watching their interest get peaked and seeing what they do with their new knowledge. Play truly is powerful.

We had virtual Park Day after lunch--totally not the same, but so fun to hear the giggles and conversations and the kids do like getting to see each other. I can't wait for when they can all be running wild around a park again.

And the evening was finished off with some Star Wars play, watching the second Star Wars, and homemade pizza. It's not a bad life we're living. It's strange, and hard not to worry about all the people being affected by this in ways worse than ourselves, but we'll always remember the family time we've had.

Spring!

The weather has not quite made up it's mind that winter is over, but we're getting peaks at springtime. It was finally warm enough to read out on the hammock last weekend. And then we had two days of cool rain this week.

Bug and I snuck out for a morning of hiking before the first rain storm came through. Del Valle is SO green right now. This is my favorite California. The golden hills are pretty, but this:

This is what I love.