So Much A Happenin'

So here we are, one week into April and I know that we have months left of school. No worry on my end as I know that what the girls are getting is a top notch experience. So you wonder what we are up to this past week?

Yesterday we did an entire field trip day. I planned it to fill one entire day so that it would not take too much away from our book learning as well. It began the night before with a sleep over at my mother's house. The girls then get to spend time with great-grandmother. Then in the morning we went a few blocks down to a llama and alpaca farm. I was not sure what to expect but found it was by far one of the best experiences for them. The observed two teens (who are home schooled and come there to learn) shaving an angora rabbit. The girls then picked out the leaves and particles from some llama fleece. The learned how it was washed and died and then they saw a young girls with a foot pedal spinning wheel make it into usable yarns. They walked through the fields feeding carrots to each animal and spent time in the barn with chickens as well. The day ended with a craft, it was a walking stick and decorated with beads and llama and alpaca fibers.  Faith was a sweetheart when she noticed the two toes she shared with me that it was an even-toed ungulate but then a dozen mothers asked her age and did not know what an ungulate was.  I laughed and told them neither did I until I had to teach it but I worry sometimes as many of their children were 10 to 14 years old.

Secondly, we went to a friends farm to have hands on time with the new colts. We keep trying to catch the birth but we have been unsuccessful so far. There are still ten more colts to be born in the next month or so. The learned about impressing a human handprint to the new colt. At the end of the day a two day old colt came to Grace with little hesitation. We stood in the corral with seven horses--all trotters-- and four of them had new babies. One had just been born that morning.  While there we also gathered several goose eggs.

It seems our duck eggs are about to hatch. The beaks are visible in the air sacs and there are small vibrations noted. When they hatch we will add the goose eggs next. 

Grace's approach to math continues to be a huge success again. Today she shocked me with some of the independent work she accomplished. She is getting rather bored with he language but still loves to read. I know that the language is helping her as today her sentence structure was great and had some real substance in them. No telling what they will be like tomorrow but I expect consistency there soon.

Faith is doing well in all areas but she is upset that we are not further along in her books. I reminded her that I do not expect to see her go to the next grade level this year but maybe part way through next year. I then remind her that she cannot begin kindergarten until September in the public school. 

Next week will be back to the routine again. Lyceum will resume after a few breaks.  There are only four more sessions of  Master's Lyceum this semester. 

On a final note, great-grandma got Grace a hamster for her upcoming birthday. She is excited!