Taking the Scenic Route

#26 “Investigating Snow” Our school theme this week was “Snow”, but the forecasted snow was more like snow dandruff on Monday. You could kind of see the flakes on the BBQ grill cover, but they were small, broken up flakes.

#24 “School Prep 4: visual schedule ready to go”

#21 “School Prep 3: working on the visual schedule”.  Boardmaker would make this so much easier.

#18 “Counting the Days” (the abacus in the schoolroom)

#16 “School Prep 2: the first phase of the finished product” (still want to make bean bags and a bracelet, but not right away)

#14 “School Prep 1: decisions” I gave Zane the prompt words and let him choose what color “matched” it and I needed to take a picture so that I knew which color went with each word in case my stack got messed up. (Zach just wanted me to avoid a “rainbow” look since I plan on making him a bracelet to wear in the same colors so that he can have the visual clue for describing things) BTW, the curriculum this originates from is “Visualizing and Verbalizing”

This Saturday’s theme was “Trucks”. Both kids had fun. They painted pictures using little trucks as “paintbrushes” (the pictures were the tire marks in paint), they built little trucks, they had a snack, they played with moon sand, and there were a bunch of trucks and vehicles to play with. Zora lost it when circle time came, but Zane did well. He participated in a version of “The Wheels on the Trucks go round and round” and sat nicely while she talked about trucks and read a story.

The class ended up with the same thing they did last week, which I think might be how they always end the class…they go to another part of the building that has a historic carved carousel with all sorts of different animals to ride a round. Last week Zane wanted to be on the one unmoving animal (the Lion), but this week he ran to the horse. Zora wanted the giant turkey, and throughout the ride pet the turkey and said “nice tuw-kee”.

Here is the little trucks that they made (with Daddy’s help, one at a time). Zane’s has the windows drawn on, Zora’s had the bed colored in.

After the class, we planned on spending the afternoon in the rest of the museum messing around. It ended up only being for an hour because Zora just could not handle it. But, for a while we had a good time.

This water table shows how impediments alter water currents. Zane has liked this before, but playing with a bunch of other kids kept him far more interested in it because everybody had a hand in changing the way the balls flowed down the maze.

Zach showed Zora how to do a leaf rubbing. She didn’t really “get” it, but she had fun coloring for a minute.

They had a new exhibit on poop. It was pretty cool. Zane actually was able to match the various poop with the animals successfully.

Here he is playing the funniest educational game I think I have seen. It is a dung beetle derby. You roll the giant ball of “dung” and it moves your beetle up the hill, trying to shove the ball of dung up to the top. He was very impressed. lol.

Zora liked the frogs in the cave. As she was getting ready to leave the area, she declared the frogs “cute”, and then proceeded to kiss the window right where the frog was *shudder*

This was a part of the Jane Goodall exhibit. Zane thought the chimp nest was pretty cool.

I wish the shot I took right before this came out. Zane was riding the horse so hard I was scared he was going to knock himself out as the head of the horse came back. Zora saw him riding and ran, both arms up in the air, yelling “horsey” with glee as she clammored on her steed.

Through the entire museum, Zora had increasingly bad meltdowns at each stop. We decided to cut the trip short, skip the trip to the “Touch a Truck” kid’s event at the stadium, and just go home. It turned out to be a good thing because about 20 minutes after we got home an intestinal thing hit me full force.

I was so dissapointed. I had a wedding I really wanted to go to tonight, but there was no way I was going with Zora having such a hard time (not sure if she is getting sick, but she does sound like she has some sinus thing going on) and me not sure if I could be that far away from a bathroom. Not the way I wanted to end the day, I tell ya.

After taking a quick break, we load up to go to another field, this time the beans. The combine is a lot smaller, without the buddy seat, so only one kiddo at a time. Zane rode with his Grandpa in the combine, and Zora went with her Grandma out in the truck. This round soybeans are going to be hauled into town as the loads finish up.

This is how they always did it when I was a kid, except that when I was little, it was a combination of trucks and pick-up trucks with home-made sides that made the bed higher. They prefered the trucks because they could haul more, but I loved it when harvest was going fast enough (and the lines were slow enough) that we got to take the pick-up truck. I thought it was a lot more fun to dump the pick-up truck in the elevator because you had to drive on a lift and then they lifted up the front of the pick-up to get the grain to dump out the back (instead of the hydraulic lifts that trucks have). It was like a carnival ride to me as a kid. lol. I used to go with mom to the elevator a lot and remember that one of the best things about harvest was the bottle of cold pop we could get at the co-op, a rare treat.

Zora wanted to drive. She tried to convince Grandma to get in the passenger side. lol.

Shelby hoping for a ride.

Heading out to the field.
This is the more typical type of header on a combine to me. We didn’t grow corn when I was growing up (the new hybrids do a lot better in Kansas, the prices are better, and my Dad’s allergies are under better control so he can handle it now). This header will cut wheat, soybeans and milo/sorgum. It cuts the stalk and drops the grain into the bin and the chaff out the back.

In the foreground: Grandma and Zora. In the background: Grandpa and Zane in the combine.

Shelby

Watching Grandpa head back out into the field

The famous Zane lean. He does this all the time…puts his full body weight against you.

Zora was pointing out all of the tracks made by the combine and trucks all day.

And, back to the house so I can go get Zach from work and mom can get supper ready.
During the walk back Zane was very concerned when Shelby went out into the field or off the path. He kept working to herd him back into the group to walk back to the house.

(will continue…)

The time of year where a “field trip” is actually to a field. (Split into a few posts because of length.)

Zach had to work in Mac yesterday, and it happened to coincide with the beginning of harvest for my folks, so Zach worked the morning here in town and picked us up after ST to head out to Mac, then I drove the kids to the farm.

They were cutting both soybeans and corn. The entire field isn’t ready to cut, but some parts are. (they weren’t all planted at the same time)

The corn combine has a “buddy seat” in it so that another adult can ride along. My Mom rode along this round to make sure the kids stayed safe their first ride on a combine.

Turning around at the end of the row and picking me up.

Because corn is so specialized, you can only use a corn combine for corn. The machine doesn’t cut the stalks, instead, it strips all the leaves and husks of corns off the stalk, leaving the stalk mostly in tact. Inside the machine it strips the husks off, strips the corn off the cob, and then spits the leaves, husks and corncobs back out and the corn goes into the bin.

Watching the stalks being stripped and the corn going in.

At the end of the row, the bin was full, and the semi truck driver had arrived, so we headed back to the driveway where Mom and the driver were waiting. The semi truck holds 3 loads of corn, so two grain trailers plus the corn still in the combine bins all fit into the truck. With the price of gas, it is cheaper now to hire a semi to come out rather than truck it into town yourself. (plus the hour or two it takes while waiting in line at the elevator to dump the load). The following picture is the process of emptying the trailers and combine into the semi truck. The kids stayed in the cab of the combine.

You can see the corn in the trailer as the process starts (taken from the stairs landing at the combine door)

Waiting with Grandma

The grain trailers are empty, so Dad takes the combine to empty it.

Off to take a quick break inside and get a drink.

(will continue…)

Looked it up. It is a Tobacco Hornworm (Manduca Sexta), a close cousin to the Tomato Hornworm, but the Tomato one has a black horn and the Tobacco one has a red horn. Both eat tomatoes. I discovered that this is the last stage before it goes into a cocoon and emerges a gigantic, beautiful moth. It is horrible in gardens for tomatoes, but a good pollinator and I am trying to figure out what I want to do with the sucker. I really hate to kill it, but I want my tomatoes. It didn’t seem to be going very fast so I figured I would think about it overnight.

Today I did incorporate the caterpillar into the home school. Instead of having Zane work with pictures on his Visualizing and Verbalizing work, I took him outside and used the prompt questions to observe and describe the caterpillar. Some of the things I was planning on showing him didn’t work so well in real life. After looking at videos of the hornworm on YouTube (there are lots), the bugs apparently ooze green goo out both ends when they are disturbed (like when people pick them off of plants). I was going to annoy it with a stick and show Zane that because I knew he would think that was cool. The worm was slumped over and showed almost no resistence to being moved. I put him on the ground and he responded just enough to let me know he was still alive, but probably not by much. I guess mother nature took care of the decision for me.

I did find one person online who likes these critters enough to raise them. Apparently, they are also used a lot for scientific studies, sort of the lab rat for the insect world, because they are big enough to really see the organs with the naked eye and easier to dissect.

Later this evening or tomorrow I plan on helping Zane look up info about it and attempt to have him to make a report (as much as we can…might be pretty short. lol), but I am really tired and he isn’t cooperating well. (he usually does, so I assume he isn’t feeling great either)

And one last bit of good news, Finally, we have a red pepper. mmmmm