Tuesday, April 20, 2010

The Ring of Fire

Many years ago when my two teenage boys were off roaming the hillsides and combing the forest, they came upon this pond to the south of our property. They fell in love with this water hole and spent many summer afternoons reading, playing, and wading there. They affectionately named it "The Ring of Fire."


I took Tori Rose, Maisi, Zayne, and Nevie there this afternoon as the Ring of Fire is known for its many bullfrog tadpoles, and this is perfect spring tadpole weather. We packed up some of our favorite nature resource books and readers and headed off.


It only take about 15 minutes to get to our hideaway and once there we were not disappointed. The pond was full of tadpoles. Tori and Maisi had constructed a tadpole catching net from an old badminton racket and a pair of old pantyhose. Every swoop of the net promised a big fat tadpole to marvel at.


We read some on tadpoles from our Handbook of Nature and then read from the Bible in Exodus 8 where God sends a plague of frogs upon Egypt. Zayne was so grossed out but yet fascinated by the idea of frogs in his bed, frogs in his boots, frogs in his breakfast, and then dead frogs piled up everywhere creating a big stink!

The tadpoles were in various stages of metamorphose with some having big strong frog legs and others barely beginning their changing from fish like tadpoles. Everyone loved their big fat fishy mouths.

After everyone was covered in mud and sludge we switched gears and read a chapter on Jenny Wren from our Burgess Bird Book. We looked for birds and listened to their calls while trying to identify which sounds went with which birds.

I set an example for the children by writing in a nature journal that I'd picked up for myself. The children rushed home to draw the tadpoles and wrens in their own books.

It was fun. A breath of fresh air for all of our souls. And who would question the fact that much learning was taking place?

3 comments:

  1. What a wonderful day of learning! They'll always remember the memory fondly. :)

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  2. EXCELLENT you Charlotte Mason girl you! :) Have you seen this blog? http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com/
    I can just imagine the great fun you had. . .and the subsequent bathing time! LOL

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  3. Fun! What a neat nature study. We have been so busy lately, I feel like we're not getting much done.

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