Homeschool Field Trip: Harvest View Farm

We took a field trip last Thursday with our homeschool coop to the Harvest View family farm in Butler. The farmer gave a presentation on all of the things they grow at the farm - cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, potatoes, strawberries, beans, and apples, to name a few - and taught the kids how to make apple cider.

 They also have honeybee hives and make their own honey, so he gave a demonstration on that too. That was actually very interesting... we learned that if you are suffering from seasonal allergies and stir a teaspoon of local honey into your tea or onto your peanut butter sandwich, it's as good as a dose of zyrtec!  Also, it takes the life's work of eight honeybees to make that one teaspoon of honey.  Chloe and I decided on the way home that the honeybees were quite intriguing, so we're going to head to the library next week in search of books to help us learn more about how they work.

Chloe, Rebecca, Megan, and Brooke, ready to learn!

Paul and Max

Sam

Learning about growing vegetables....

and keeping bees.

A captive audience!

The farmer's wife gave the kids a mini tour of their freerange chicken coop, which was a highlight for a lot of the little ones. They were allowed to pet a chicken - I guess that's fun for a six year old! The moms had no desire to pet the chicken :-).

Then she gave all the kids a delightful and perfectly timed snack - popcorn, apples right off their trees, and little bags of candy corn.

Our attempt to get all the kids looking at the same place and smiling at the same time...

To end the trip we all took a hayride through the farm and had lunch together before we left. It was a great morning shared with the Sheldons, Navarres, and Bozeks, as well as lots of other homeschooling families. One of my personal highlights was listening to the farmers talk. As I shivered in the barn I marveled at the cold, hard work the late Fall brings to them, as it rains and the skies turn gray and winter starts knocking on the door. And yet they are so humble, so gracious, welcoming us to their home and their land, proudly teaching our children about the work they do. Learning about squash varieties and beekeeping turned out to be the icing on the cake... their humility and gentle spirits and dirt-encrusted hands were the real lesson that day.

"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might."

     Ecclesiastes 9:10

Chloe's Zoo Class

On Monday, Chloe and her friend Abigail took the first of four zoo classes that I signed her up for this Fall, and she loved it! This one was all about Amazing Adaptations, and she learned that there are many ways in which an animal's coloration can aide in its survival. They read the book How to Hide a Meadow Frog by Ruth Heller, which we're going to check out at the library to read with the boys since Chloe liked it so much. Her favorite thing about the class by far was that she got to touch all kinds of real live animals as she learned about their ability to adapt to their environments and camouflage themselves. She held a box turtle, a milk snake, and a skunk, and was able to pet a penguin named Mickey.

They spent an hour in the aquarium learning about glass catfish, flounder, butterfly fish, lion fish, and stonefish... all of which have unique coloration that helps them to survive.

It was nice on the way home to bring it all back to God, and to what a creative Creator we serve!

Highlights from the Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend. We spent Friday night at our friends the Bozeks' home, enjoying fellowship, donuts, and fresh apple cider around the bonfire. The kids raced around the yard, played on the swingset, and visited the two alpacas that live next door. It was an awesome way to kick off the Fall season!

The gang of kids around the bonfire.

Beautiful sunset.

The next morning we got up bright and early and headed north to Ithaca, New York to visit Uncle Steve and Aunt Carla, Greg's brother and sister-in-law. The kids don't get to see their cousins Hailey, Hannah, and Tyler nearly enough, and they were thrilled to get to spend the weekend with them. We had a wonderful visit.  We visited an awesome park, ate pizza, sang, danced, and played. Sunday was a beautiful crisp Fall day so we headed to a local farm to pick pumpkins, take a hayride, and see the stinky pigs, cows, bunnies, goats and sheep. It was a short visit, and a sweet visit. We're already planning our next gathering!

 Heading into the farm...

 All five cousins smiling... alert the media!

 Checking out the "pumpkin people."

 We had no idea our kids were so strong!

 Racing to the singing, dancing gorillas, a favorite of the kids.

 Sam checks out the long horned cattle.

 On the hay ride!

 The photo credit for this one goes to budding photographer Hailey. Not bad!

 Smiling Smiths... minus Hailey.

 Two of my favorite guys in the whole world.

 Muscle Man Max.

 Wonder Woman Hailey.

 Sweet cousin time.

 Sam picks a pumpkin.

 An attempt to get one more picture of all six cousins.

 Notice the busy two year old on the far left of the picture.

 As good as it's going to get Mom... can we get up now?

 Sam & Max in a sea of pumpkins.

Hooray for an awesome weekend!

Field Trip Friday: The Pittsburgh Zoo

I decided this summer that I wanted to have a four day academic week so that we could spend a day each week as a family, doing something fun and educational. We kicked off our first Field Trip Friday with a trip to the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium with some special friends. What fun!

Smith kids & Bozek kids

Meghan taught us about the flamingos... did you know that flamingos are pink because they eat so much shrimp? Neither did I, but this sweet little five year old did!

The giraffe always seems so serene, doesn't it? I wish I was more like a giraffe :-).

Giggling and rock hopping...

 The female lion in the hot September sun.

One of the highlights of our morning was when the male lion roared. Have you ever heard a lion actually roar right in front of you?  It is unlike any other sound you've ever heard - it was so cool! 

Sam the Man's all-time favorite, the beloved elephant.

 

One of the zoo's elephant families. How can you not fall in love with them?

 Checking out the fearsome Komodo dragon!

  A fringe benefit of Field Trip Fridays? The chance to invite along Baby James. Isn't he delicious?

 The kids got a kick out of learning about the elephant's daily diet. We've been comparing it to our own this week!

 The learning was sweet, but the fellowship was sweeter...

 

"This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."

Psalm 118:24