Our BWCAW Camping Trip - The good, the bad, and the ugly!

The Bad:
Mosquitos. Everywhere. ALL the time. I'm talking 24/7.
And-
The bug spray that I brought did not work. At all. In fact, Tyler thinks it attracted them!

The Good:
During our trip to town for boat gas one day, I found a new kind of bug spray in the little grocery store there. And it worked! I think we have found our new fave bug spray! Its called Natrapel.

The Bad:
Tyler got his first ever bee sting during our trip. The bee must have been on his sleeping bag and it stung him when he laid down. I think the entire island knows he got stung... he yelled pretty loud... something about thinking he was going to die. ;o)

The Good:
We now know that Tyler is not allergic to bees like his Daddy!

The Bad:
The sun rises in the East. Our campsite was on the Eastern side of the island... therefore it was VERY hot in the morning and early afternoon.
And-
We had very little shade.

The Good:
I was able to keep us all lathered in sunscreen so that none of us got burned!
And-
We had our own personal beach right at our camp so we could hop in the water to cool off whenever we wanted!

The Bad:
Wood Ticks. We saw 4 of them during the trip. I found 2... and our friend, Octavious, found 2.

The Good:
Only 1 of them was attached. And it wasn't to anyone in my family. :o)
Actually I think that is pretty good odds for 5 people spending 5 days in the woods.

The Bad:
We left a few fish on shore on a stringer while we tried to catch a few more for our lunch. A swarm of Crayfish came along and chowed down on our fish. Ruined them.

The Good:
Tyler had fun catching the Crayfish to use as bait. That'll teach them! :o)
And-
A local Seagull came along and ate the remains of the fish, which was interesting to watch.

The Bad:
We wanted to see a Moose. We did not. We even went for a nature walk one day to try to spot one but the BUGS (have I mentioned the bugs?) were so bad that we didn't make it far before we had to turn back.

The Good:
We saw quite a few really fresh Moose tracks on the trail before we turned back. Something we hadn't seen before.

Our Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Trip

We decided to take the "scenic" route up to the BWCAW... along the North Shore of Lake Superior. Our friend was joining us for the trip and he had not seen the wonderful scenery that is the North Shore. Not to mention there is a little shop along the way that has THE BEST smoked fish ever!

The drive brought back memories of when we used to live "up north". We would drive in to Duluth, MN for our monthly shopping trips... of course we would have to hit a fast food joint while we there. The seagulls would always swarm us hoping we would share some fries with them. This was always a hit with Tyler. Well, the seagulls didn't disappoint us this trip... and they were HUNGRY! See? They ate them all!

Once we finally arrived at Fall Lake we had to make two trips to our island campsite to get all of our supplies there, so the kids and I hung back at the access catching frogs while the guys made the first trip with a boat load of supplies.

Daddy came back for us and off to the island we went...
Once we arrived at our campsite the kids were thrilled to see that we had our own personal beach! They didn't waste any time digging in!

Our first day was spent getting things set up and organized. An early bedtime was in order since we were all worn out from the early morning drive up. Emily had other ideas though... she had a hard time falling asleep in the tent. This was to be expected though, since it was her first camping trip, and she became an old pro by the second night.

Here is Octavious trying to soothe our uneasy, tired little girl...

Our second day was filled with, what else, more sand play and swimming!

Tyler and our friend, Octavious, made a cool bow and arrows from sticks and fishing line. I helped Tyler decorate it with colored electrical tape and feathers. He had a lot of fun with it and, to my surprise, it actually shot the arrows quite well!

No trip to the Boundary Waters would be complete without a Loon photo. I just love waking to these guys calling in the morning. So peaceful...

On our third day we had to make a run back in to town to grab gas for the boat, so we decided to make it a group affair... we all loaded up in the boat and rode back to the access, got in the van, and took a little ride around to see the sights. Sights like this...

And a group of Grouse we saw along the road...

And this local park that we stopped at so the kids could play...

I know. Those are some BIG kids, but what can I say.

Our campsite on Fall Lake was on an island called Mile Island, due to the fact that it is a mile long. There are MANY other islands on the lake though, and we especially liked this teeny little one...

Our fourth day was filled with more of the same... sand, swimming, and playing. I got to do a little shore fishing while the kids played...

I ended up catching two real nice Perch. It was so relaxing to be sitting there looking out over the lake while the kids played away in front of me. They really enjoyed the sand and water so much. I think it was the highlight of the trip for them.

In the meantime the guys were out fishing in the boat and Octavious landed this 14 inch Crappie. Wow!

We also attempted a nature walk on our fourth day. It was a flop due to the BUGS. BUGS everywhere... buzzing you, stinging you, sucking your blood... you get the point. We were really hoping to spot a Moose... that didn't happen, but we did get to see a few good sized (and fresh) Moose tracks.

Speaking of those BUGS... They seemed to like poor Tyler best. he spent much of the trip doing this...

Needless to say, we used a ton of bug spray and itch cream during our stay in the Boundary Waters. Tyler was also lucky enough to get his first Bee sting during the trip. The good part is that we learned that he is not allergic to bees like his Daddy.

We left pretty early in the day on the fifth day. A little more fishing...

And some Peek-A-Boo...

And it was time to head out.

All in all it was a good trip. Things would have been a teensy bit more fun if it wasn't for the BUGS.

Did I mention the BUGS? :)

We're Boundary Waters bound!

We are leaving early Wednesday morning for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. We'll be camping on an island in the middle of Fall Lake near Ely, MN for 5 days. Sounds heavenly, huh? Wish us luck though, this will be the first real camping trip either of the kids of been on. I think it will be fun for them. Lots of fishing, playing, hot dog roasting, swimming, sand castle building, nature walking, smore eating, scavenger hunting... We're hoping to see some wildlife... moose, bears, deer, loons, wolves...

I'll take lots of pictures to share!

Book reviews and recommendations...

I thought I would share a few of the books we have been enjoying recently...

We just finished reading A Bear Called Paddington as our bedtime story. Tyler really loved this story about a silly bear. His favorite part was when Paddington was trying to perform a magic show and he smashed Mr. Curry's watch with a hammer... only he forgot to read the instructions through, which would have told him to have a spare watch before doing the trick. Oops! I enjoyed reading this with Tyler as well, it really brought back memories of my childhood when I was reading this very same book.

Tyler read a couple of Reader books as part of our Toad Study...

First up was Frog and Toad Are Friends. His favorite part was when Toad came out of the water wearing his bathing suit. He also giggled over Toad trying to come up with a story to tell Frog when he was sick... he tried everything, including standing on his head and banging his head on the wall! Tyler loved this one so much that I went ahead and got him a couple of the other books in the series... Days with Frog and Toad and Frog and Toad Together. They just arrived today, so he can't wait to dig into them later.

He also read Toad Makes a Road. His favorite part of this one was the very end when the truck came down his road with all of his friends in it.

As for me... I am plugging away at Charlotte Mason's Original Homeschooling Series. I'm almost finished with Volume 1, Home Education. I am really getting a lot out of this book. It pertains so much to regular life as well as school life. I am looking forward to moving on to Volume 2, Parents and Children. It may take a long time for me to get through all 6 volumes, but I have a feeling it will be worth it!! Charlotte Mason was so wise... so wise.

I am also reading Watchers at the Pond as part of a book club on one of the Yahoo groups that I belong to. This book is simply amazing! It is a glimpse into pond life that you could never get elsewhere. From the skies to the land to the pond itself... and all year round. Since we got our microscope we have developed an interest in pond life. This book is teaching me a lot of what I need to know to help Tyler learn about the amazing things that go on in and around a pond. I highly recommend this book.

I recently acquired a copy of Drawing with Children. I have just started with this book, but it looks promising. Tyler struggles with drawing and gets a bit intimidated when I ask him to draw things. I am hoping that by doing some of the exercises in this book he will become more confident. He has a wonderful imagination.

I've also been flipping through Project Wild and Aquatic Project Wild. These two books have some wonderful nature activities and experiments in them. I think I will be referring to these quite often in the coming years.

Another one worth mentioning for nature activities and experiments is Botany for All Ages. Lots of great ideas in that one as well.

I think that's all we have on the burner right now. I will let you know if we find any other winners in our search for great reading material! Also if you have any suggestions please fell free to comment here or email me. I have been trolling the blogosphere for book reviews and recommendations... I would love it if a few would come right to me!!

P.S.
Don't forget about PaperBackSwap.com when you're looking for books. I have found a lot of great books there... in fact most of our little library is from there! Its fun and its recycling too!

Happy Belated Fourth of July

Hope you all had a wonderful and SAFE holiday!

We've had a lot of fun the past few days. We went to see the fireworks at the Red, White, and Boom celebration in downtown Minneapolis on the Fourth... after dinner at Old Chicago. Then last night we ended up at one of our regular catfishing spots... which happens to be right across the river from the Taste of Minnesota where they set off fireworks every night! So we got to enjoy fireworks TWO nights in row! Fun stuff. Add in a little fishing, friends, food, and sparklers and you have the makings for a great time.

Tyler has been at his friend's house ALL day today for a play date. I'm sure he is having a blast but, to tell you the truth, Emily and I are missing him big time! I'm sure he'll have lots of stories to tell us when gets home about his fun time. I know they ate lunch and then went to the Dog Park to see the dogs and catch bugs... and now they are eating supper before I go get him. Not sure what else they had on their agenda. I'll let ya know!

UPDATE:
Well, Tyler had a ton of fun today with his friend and his Dad. They ate hot dogs and chips for lunch and then they headed over to the off-leash dog park where they petted dogs, caught some bugs, and swam in the river. They also stopped at Dairy Queen for cones while they were out. They played at the house a bit, inside and out in the yard. They had sausage, eggs, and toast for supper before they brought Tyler back home. He got back home around 7:30pm!! Talk about a full day of fun! Tyler said he had a lot of fun... he also said he didn't miss Emily and I. In fact he said he forgot all about us! :( Oh well, I guess that means he truly did have an awesome time. *sigh*

Just thought I would share...

Just a quick note:
I have been working on a few printable resources for our schooling. I thought maybe some of you could use them as well, so I have started a list in the sidebar to the right over there ---> where you can download the things I have made so far.

Summer Nature Scavenger Hunt for the Senses - A really fun scavenger hunt where you use your senses to find the things on the list. See, feel, hear, and smell Nature. (Note: I created this for our homeschool group to use at a park, but I think it will work for nature walks in the woods as well.)

Birds We've Seen - 2008 List - I created this to keep an inventory of all of the birds we see during our Nature Study. You could also keep a separate one for your backyard feeder birds.

Venn Diagram - Double - A nice looking Venn Diagram for comparing two things.

Venn Diagram - Triple - A nice looking Venn Diagram for comparing three things.

Keep an eye on that list... it will be growing!

Fun and Learning at the Zoo

The kids and I had an errand to run near the Minnesota Zoo yesterday, so I decided to make the most of the gas and pop in at the Zoo while we were there. They remodeled the Zoo recently and added a play area with sprinklers for the kids to play in. Tyler was excited to get to play this time... last time we weren't dressed appropriately.

As a part of the remodel, they also added a new exhibit called Russia's Grizzly Coast. This is the second time we have visited the zoo since it opened and the crowds are horrible! Its really hard to get close enough to see the animals. I am hoping things will change as the newness wears off.

We did find this interesting bubbling mud pot without a crowd though...

It was illustrating how, since the area is alive with volcanoes, sometimes cracks and heat just below the surface mix with volcanic ash from recent eruptions and cause these boiling mud pots. Interesting!

This photo is from a couple of weeks ago when I was able to crowd and stretch my way into the crowd to get a photo of one of the stars of the exhibit, the bears... I didn't even try this time.

We were excited to see that the Butterfly Garden is open now (its a seasonal exhibit). Tyler loves to go in here and see all of the beautiful butterflies and moths. They give you a card with photos of all of the species in there and the names so that you can identify them as you walk around.

Julia


Queen


Zebra Butterfly

Spicebush Swallowtail

Ailanthus Silkmoth

They had signs throughout the exhibit telling interesting facts about butterflies. Here are a few we thought were neat:

• Butterflies taste with their feet!
• Butterflies can't hear but they can feel sound vibrations.
• Adult butterflies typically only live two to four weeks.

Tyler was fascinated by how they feed the butterflies...

We also visited the Tropics Trail and the Minnesota Trail while we were there. Tyler was really happy when he saw the baby American Toads... he has a fondness for them since we did our Toad Study. He also thought the baby Painted Turtle was cute!

We had a great time at the Zoo... fun and learning. What more could you ask for!?

Mississippi River Fishing

We are a family of "River Rats". That's all there is to it. And we're proud of it too! There is nothing better than sitting on the banks of the River with friends. Chatting... eating... fishing... We spend many a night doing those things. We've been frequenting the River since before Tyler was born. Once he came into the picture we got him a little tent so that he could play and sleep in comfort. But once he was able to hold a fishing rod he started spending most of his time out fishing with us. He started out fishing for regular River fish... Sheephead, Walleye, and such. Then once he was a little older he moved on to Catfish with the rest of us. We have lots of fond memories from those days.

"River Rat" Tyler got his first Flathead Catfish of the year last night. He was having a silly giggly moment, so we had a hard time getting a decent photo...

It brought back memories, so I had to dig up a photo of his very first Flathead EVER, back in July of 2005, at the ripe old age of 4.

Now don't let that small fish fool you. He wasn't messing around, even back then. Here's a Channel Catfish he caught the week before...

I've enjoyed my little stroll through memory lane. I can't wait to see Emily catch her first fish!!

Thursday at the Park

Today was our weekly playdate with the SMpls-HUG (Home/Unschool Gatherings) group at Lake Nokomis Park. Once again a fun time was had by all! After playing at the park for a bit we ended up hitting the beach. The kids had a blast swimming and splashing. Tyler and some of the other boys found a huge log and they floated around on it a bit, pushing each other around on it. Even Emily enjoyed her first visit to the beach by wading and sitting in the water. My guess is we'll be spending more time at the beach over the Summer... it was THAT much fun!

Here are a few photos that I snapped with my cell phone...

Homeschool Carnivals

I've been busy with gathering materials and making plans for our schooling next year. I almost have it all figured out, just a few loose strings to tie up. These Blog Carnivals will certainly give me some ideas! Both were just posted today. You should check them out! I love seeing what everyone else is up to and how they "do school".

Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival (posted June 24th)

Carnival of Homeschooling (posted June 24th)

The other Carnival that I check out each month is Learning in the Great Outdoors. The June edition is right here. It was posted on June 1st.

All three of these Blog Carnivals are in my sidebar if you want more info about them... or if you would like to submit one of your posts to them. That would be great. The more the merrier, ya know!! :)

Starting new - Our school plans for next year

I am SO excited about the changes we are making with our schooling this Fall! Some of you may know that we have been doing the virtual school thing with MNVA for the last 2 years (K and 1st). I have found this to be a great fit for us until now because I was new to homeschooling and I didn't have any friends or connections to help me. But now that I have found my "niche" in the homeschooling community I am ready to go solo! Tyler and I are very excited to be doing our own thing instead of what the school system wants us to do. He was a bit frustrated with the curriculum this past year... a lot of it he already knew and the rest of it was a bit dry for him. I just know he is going to thrive with this.

Anyways, I have been having a blast gathering our materials and supplies for next year. We are going with a Charlotte Mason inspired school. Lots of Living Books.... lots of Nature Study. We will most likely do a few unit studies as well. I think this is going to be perfect for us! I am still reading Charlotte's books and piecing it together in my mind and on paper, but here is what we have planned so far... (I'm hoping if I put it out there in print for the world to see that I will be able to get things finalized! Or maybe think of something I'm missing. Or maybe you all have some suggestions! Please? :) )

US History: (Explorers to Pilgrims 1629)
This Country of Ours (H.E. Marshall)
Along with a few other Living Books and Readers.

World History: (Medievel/Early Renaissance - 400AD to 1600AD)
A Child's History of the World (V.M. Hillyer)
Along with a few other Living Books and Readers.

Geography:
Paddle to the Sea (Holling C. Holling)
Tree in the Trail (Holling C. Holling)
Seabird (Holling C. Holling)
Minn of the Mississippi (Holling C. Holling)
Or some combination of these.
There are lots of things to branch off and study in these books as well... Geese, ponds, iron ore, copper, Buffalo, trapping, Snapping Turtles, locks, dams, and canals... We will work in other Living Books and Readers to study some of these things. This is where some of the unit studies will come in, I think.

Literature:
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain)
Little House in the Big Woods (Laura Ingalls Wilder)
Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
Pippi Longstocking (Astrid Lindgren)
I think our Literature will be our bedtime stories.
Plus lots of other Living Books and Readers for independent reading.

Copywork: This encompasses handwriting, spelling, grammar, and writing
We will do our Copywork according to our studies that day... sometimes a passage from a book... sometimes a poem... sometimes a sentence or paragraph about something we studied...

Math:
Miquon Math - Blue and Green Books with Cuisenaire Rods
As well as some other supplements, Math Readers, and real life Living Math.

Nature Study / Science:
Handbook of Nature Study (Anna Botsford Comstock)
Pagoo (Holling C. Holling)
Lots of Field Guides too!
We will do weekly nature walks and study a couple of things from those each week (birds, plants, trees, etc). We will keep a Nature Journal, which we have already started.
We will also study weather, how things work (electricity, light, motion, etc), and how things are made (paper, glass, etc)... and do some pond study with our new microscope. We will use Science Readers and other Living Books.

Throw in weekly Poetry, Art, Music, and Handicrafts... and I think we have a curriculum!

This is the schedule I am thinking of going with... sort of a 4 day school week with Friday, Saturday, and Sunday pretty relaxed. Part of Charlotte Mason's concept is a lot of free time.

Monday
Literature
Copywork
Math
US History
Independent Reading

Tuesday
Literature
Copywork
Math
Geography
Independent Reading

Wednesday
Literature
Copywork
Math
World History
Science
Independent Reading

Thursday
Literature
Copywork
Math
Art - Picture Study and some reproducing. Leaning toward Cassatt, Renoir, and DaVinci (?)
Independent Reading
(Weekly park playdate with homeschool group)

Friday / Saturday / Sunday
Nature Study / Walk
Handicrafts / Life Skills
Music worked in to our day(s) - Leaning toward Gershwin, Tchaikovsky, and Beethoven (?)
Independent Reading

Math was a hard decision. Daddy thinks we should just go by the Scope and Sequence for 2nd grade and do our own thing. I am not so fond of this idea though, because I am not very confident with my math skills. SO I found the Miquon stuff through PaperbackSwap and the CMcurricula Yahoo group and we will see what works for us.

Speaking of PaperbackSwap. Have you all used it?? You HAVE to check it out. The link is in my sidebar over there -->. Its a swap site for books of all kinds. There are over 2,000,000 books listed right now!! You list books when you are finished reading then, then when someone requests one of your books they send you a "credit" that you can use to request another book for yourself. You can also buy credits for $3 or so. Don't miss the Discussion Forum too... you can find deals there 2, 3, or more books for 1 credit! I have become addicted to PBS... I admit it. But I have found most all of our curriculum there! Its awesome.

So that's what we have so far. Its not written in stone... and its a dang good thing it's not because I have worn my eraser out getting this far!! We have already started to implement some of Charlotte's ideas into our days... Living Books and Nature Study. We love it! It can only get better from here...

Farewell, Toad - Toad Study: Part 4

"Whoever has not had a pet toad has missed a most entertaining experience. Toad actions are surprisingly interesting; one of my safeguards against the blues is the memory of the thoughtful way one of my pet toads rubbed and patted its stomach with its little hands after it had swallowed a June Bug. Toads do not make warts upon attacking hands, neither do they rain down nor are they found in the bedrock quarries; but they do have a most interesting history of their own, which is not at all legendary, and which is very like a life with two incarnations."

Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock - Page 170

They say all good things must come to an end and our Toad Study is no exception. We released our dear Toad back into the wild last night, ending his week-long stay with us. Tyler decided that Wood Lake Nature Center would be a great place to live if he were a Toad. So that is where we released him. Daddy helped us choose the perfect place to let him go... near the woods and a really nice grassy area (where lots of bugs live) and not far from the pond.

Tyler was feeling both happy and sad as we watched our little Toad friend hop away... sad to see him go, but happy that he was going to live is such a wonderful place. He thinks our Toad will be much happier at Wood Lake than in the urban yard where Daddy found him.

We joked that he was probably glad to have something besides Crickets to eat! And judging by the mosquito bites on Tyler's legs, I think he will be plenty satisfied in his new home!

Farewell, Toad!

Maybe we'll meet again one day on the trails at Wood Lake. Tyler hopes you will hop over and say hello if we do. :)

You can read all of our Toad Study posts HERE.

There will be one more installment coming, when we add our Toad to our Nature Journals.

Also, if you have found our Toad Study interesting, you may enjoy Melissa's Amphibian Study over at In the Sparrow's nest. Her kids collected some Toad eggs at a nearby pond and they got to study them as they hatched and transformed. She has lots of photos and videos of their journey from egg to tadpole to Toad. Check that out here.