#wildmath

We got a lot done today for leaf week with Blossom and Root and Autumn Leaf week with ENWC. 🍂 We finished up our October Botanical Calendar, made a leaf shape poster which Lou labeled with leaf shape and vein type - which double as a matching game for the preschooler! - and completed our chlorophyll extraction experiment. The little guy helped cut up our green leaves - look at those chubby little hands 💕 🍂 For Wild Math we worked on counting leaves and telling if the number was odd or even and rounding. 🍂 This afternoon we were visited by some friends and Emmylou showed them how to make with potions. 🍂 #begoodstewards #blossomandroot #wildmath #enwcautumnleavesweek #wildandfreekids #1000hoursoutside #lastchildinthewoods #backyardhomeschool #witchpotions🔮 (at Anderson, South Carolina) https://www.instagram.com/p/CGGO_nZppPF/?igshid=7w84iv2fmrj

We are off to a great start for @blossomandroot Week 5: Roots and Stems and Davy Crockett! 🌱 I knew surprisingly little about Davy Crockett and the story lead us down lots of rabbit holes as we learned more about Congress and the three branches of government (a nice warm up to the elections unit in working on). We then watched some of the best campaign speeches throughout history to prep Lou for writing her own campaign speech. We ended with Obama’s 2008 “Yes we can” speech 😭 which lead Emmylou to highlight her love of all people in her speech 💕 🌱 Lou thought it was funny that one of the weeks experiments was to taste test edible roots exclaimed that not only has she tried them all - we just planted them in our garden last week! We were so excited to see lots of little Sprouts growing in the garden - even our grocery store garlic! 🌱 She was sad I wouldn’t let her pull them up to look at them til we noticed an onion scrap had sprouted in the compost bin. We are headed in now to exam the roots under the microscope. 🌱 For Wild Math we estimated the tons of turnip sprouts resulted from letting the kids dispersed the seeds, counted them and then rounded to the nearest 100. 🌱 #begoodstewards #littlesprouts #blossomandrootsecondgrade #wildmath #wildandfreekids #1000hoursoutside #lastchildinthewoods #backyardhomeschool #backyardgarden #gardenwithkids (at Anderson, South Carolina) https://www.instagram.com/p/CFsmJoqp53p/?igshid=1i12cvf57jhnl

First Plants (Moss) + Mini-Beast Week were a big hit and paired so well together. 🌱 Today a caterpillar joined us during reading about how plants evolve and we got to talk about and identify where the caterpillar should live based on how he looks because he also evolved to adapt to his environment. Then our youngest who was busy playing with his bug bin announced “look what I found on this stick!” - a type of fungi we had never seen before but have identified as “jelly ear”. It amazing how much he is picking up above his level through his older sister’s lessons. 🌱 We made math more “Wild” and tactile by writing numbers in the 1000s with correct place value in the mud. When Lou started to get frustrated with my “trick questions”, we would take a moment to ground our bare feet in the mud. 🌱 For tea time the Sprouts joined me in the kitchen making special Mini-Beast Biscuits. 🌱 #begoodstewards #blossomandroot #wildmath #enwcminibeastweek #poetryteatime #lastchildinthewoods #1000hoursoutside #wildandfreekids (at Anderson, South Carolina) https://www.instagram.com/p/CFS4BYaJKR-/?igshid=1l1u2n8uh0jeb

Sick homeschool was a bit more productive, even though they both were feeling a bit poor today. 🌱 Still lots of cuddles and reading in bed but extra art time to make up for them not being up to outdoor adventures today. 🌱 #begoodstewards #blossomandroot #wildmath #wildandfreekids #sickday #johnhenry #watercolor (at Anderson, South Carolina) https://www.instagram.com/p/CE7zL5VpKfM/?igshid=t2jt8cpa0vb0

This is what school looked like today since the youngest Sprout woke up feeling bad. 🌱 So lots of snuggles, read alouds in bed, educational videos streamed on the TV, and the occasional wrestle match when medicine was working. 🌱 I could feel like this was a lost day and incapable of teaching one child while caring for the other who is sick and let this derail our whole week. But because of the path we are on, I was able to nurture both Sprouts. Being part of the Blossom and Root and Wild+Free communities have really helped me have that confidence and for that I am grateful. 🌱 #begoodstewards #blossomandroot #wildandfreekids #wildmath #covidhomeschool #talltales #johnhenry (at Anderson, South Carolina) https://www.instagram.com/p/CE5caqrJXRX/?igshid=10hcq5qgmxmjz

I am so proud at the Sprout’s first attempt at a fairy house! 🌱 She practiced breaking the sticks into lengths that were similar and also sorted them by size and length. She used our play dough from yesterday as glue or mortar and some moss for the roof. #begoodstewards #fairyhouse #wildmath #wildandfreekids #1000hoursoutside #lastchildinthewoods #backyardschool #letthembelittle https://www.instagram.com/p/CEF8-v7J6F8/?igshid=xqndeitkyrtc