A Farm Field Trip

Last week we visited a local organic farm and CSA, which also has a biodynamic seed operation. The kids had a great time (ok, I did too!) seeing what goes into the seed collection process. We often don't think much past going to the store, buying a pack of seeds, and ripping it open.

We first looked at biennial seeds, such as carrots. The kids never thought much about planting actual carrots back into the ground to get a flowing plant in the fall.

After that we helped harvest potatoes, some of which can be seed potatoes for next year. They had the most beautiful purple potatoes! Inside they were almost as purple as beets. Crazy! At our house we save the "too small" potatoes from the garden to plant again. I believe the potatoes in my garden are 3rd generation replants. :)

While harvesting potatoes, the kids found several "woolly bear" caterpillars.  Wyatt said this one liked his belly button. Silly boy.

Next we harvested bean seeds. It was fun collecting the pods into dry buckets. We were able to help them harvest the entire crop with all the little hands to help.

At the end the showed us the wet process of harvesting the tomato seeds. We found out that fermenting the tomato pulp is a very important part of the process, leading to good germination rates in the tomato seed. It was truly amazing!

We were so thankful to Nathan and Beth for showing us around (again). :)


©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com

WW: Pond Exploration

 

@ 5 minutes for mom

©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com

3 Thrifty Day Trips for Homeschoolers

When you homeschool, the budget isn't always there for big vacations. Day trips are a great solution, and you can count it as a school day! Our family loves to take advantage these to break the educational doldrums; we just can't let them break the bank.

Today I'm a guest author over at Thrift Schooling. Click through to read the entire article, and find 3 fun and thrifty day trips!

©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com

Adventure in Philadelphia: Downtown History

A couple of summers ago we spent some time in Pennsylvania for my sister's wedding, and while there took a few day trips to the local attractions. One of the days was spent in downtown historic Philadelphia. It was an absolutely fun time, and the only expenses were the parking and the cheesesteaks we just HAD to have. :)

There were two fun and free things we enjoyed there. The first was a visit to the Liberty Bell. The Liberty Bell Center is located in the National Historic Park, and it has free admission. Because it is in a National Park, there is a fun free program families can take advantage of: the Junior Ranger Program. (This is offered at nearly all National Parks!) We love to pick up a Junior Ranger book and use the things we are learning at that particular park to fill it out. Then the kids can be "sworn in" as junior rangers!

The other free attraction(s) we loved were the Once Upon a Nation Storytelling Benches!

From the website, the schedule for 2013 is:

• Storytelling Benches will operate on Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., starting Memorial Day Weekend, May 25-27.
• From June 18 through August 10, Storytelling Benches will operate Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• From August 16 through August 31, Storytelling Benches will operate Fridays and Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Storytelling Benches will operate for Labor Day Weekend, Sunday, September 1, and Monday, September 2, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Bench Locations

• Independence Visitor Center, 6th & Market Streets
• Historic Philadelphia Center, 6th & Chestnut Streets
• Independence Square, behind Independence Hall
• Signers' Garden presented by the Avery Foundation, 5th & Chestnut Streets
• The ACE INA Foundation Storytelling Bench at Carpenters' Hall, Carpenters' Hall, on Chestnut between 3rd & 4th Streets
• Franklin Court, on Market between 3rd & 4th Streets
• Christ Church, 2nd & Market Streets
• Betsy Ross House, 3rd & Arch Streets
• The Lincoln Storytelling Bench at the National Constitution Center, 6th & Arch Streets
• Franklin Square, 6th & Race Streets

They had local theater students performing/telling the stories of each historic location. We had a great time traveling from bench to bench to catch each performance. It brought the city's history to life! I hope you too can enjoy them. :)

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This post is part of our Adventure Fridays series. If you'd like to join us, we'd love to have you return every Friday for something new!

As always, I would welcome a guest post here on my blog about some place fun you've been. If you have something yet-unpublished to submit, please use the contact tab above to let me know. 

Also linked at:

©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com

Adventure in Kansas City: Johnson County Museum - KidScape!

We recently had the joy of visiting Kansas City, MO, for three days. While Ben was in work meetings, the kids and I explored the city. My only requirement for our outings were that they would be free and educational. This is the fourth installment of our adventures there. 

One of the stops we made in Kansas City that surprised me the most: the Johnson County Museum. I expected a local historical society and a gathering of local artifacts to be housed in the historical looking old building, but I had no idea what fun we were in for! I really could not believe it was free, and by the end of my tour, I was all too happy to drop some cash in the donation box.

We entered into their lobby/gift store, and were quickly drawn into the first exhibit by colorful signs and the sounds of children laughing and playing. The very first hall, called KidScape, was a "hands on suburban street-scape, where kids can explore community." I couldn't really describe it any better than that!

There was a hall lined with playhouse sized buildings that looked like any small downtown. Each one had hands on things to do that made the kids feel like they were part of the city. It was complete with a city park that had golf (via a Wii) and fishing (magnetic fish on a painted pond). Tyler loved this part the best. Wyatt's favorite was the post office, where he quickly figured out that the little wooden letters all fit in the mail bag on the wall, which he donned and began delivering mail up and down the "street". Emma and Mayda worked away making beaded jewelry in the "boutique" and then wandered down to the "hospital" where Emma performed surgery while Mayda attended to some sick baby-dolls.

We enjoyed the KidScape exhibit hall for over an hour. Then we looked around the corner and saw that the whole museum wound around through a maze of exhibits and actually ended at KidScape. We had gotten ahead of the game. :) We backtracked to the lobby and checked out a free iPod audio tour "board" and began the tour at the beginning.

Through period artifacts and photos, the story of the local area unfolded in a way that is repeatable in any now-suburban, once-frontier county. The kids learned of the local American-Indian tribes and the ways in which the local settlers negotiated and re-negotiated the land use. There were hands on exhibits like a puzzle with pieces that didn't all fit, showing how they couldn't cut up the county in any way that made farmers, developers, and natives all happy. The path followed the history of development from wild prairie to Kansas City suburb in a colorful and interesting way that my kids were able to follow. Every juncture there was a clearly posted number for the audio tour track.

The coolest part were the "KidScape" type exhibits scattered throughout the museum. At every turn was a hands on corner or small playhouse where the kids could step into that moment in history and play the part.

• A farmhouse complete with gingham aprons and chicken hutch by the door. 
• A railway station platform where you could experience sitting on the bench waiting for the commuter train to the city. 
• A play store where kids can shop for goods from the farms.

After following the story to the present day, where the exhibit asks lots of good questions about our consumeristic lifestyles today, then the whole thing wraps up by ending at KidScape, where the kids can play at suburban life for a while.

I visited with the curator for a while, and he told me that the Funville exhibit downtown (see last week's post about Hallmark and the Crown Center) was a copy of the idea, and was built by the same man who designed their one-of-a-kind exhibit. He is evidently a Broadway set designer and created these wonderful scenes for children to interact within.

We picked up some postcards and were on our way, and were SO very glad we didn't write this stop off as "too locally oriented". So, check out the local museums, even if you aren't a local person. You may just be surprised what you find!

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This post is part of our Adventure Fridays series. If you'd like to join us, we'd love to have you return every Friday for something new! If you have a field trip to share, add the button on the right to your post and feel free to link up HERE. 

As always, I would welcome a guest post here on my blog about some place fun you've been. If you have something yet-unpublished to submit, please use the contact tab above to let me know. 

©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com

Adventure in Kansas City: Kaleidoscope at Hallmark

We recently had the joy of visiting Kansas City, MO, for three days. While Ben was in work meetings, the kids and I explored the city. My only requirement for our outings were that they would be free and educational. This is the third installment of our adventures there. 

One of our favorite stops in Kansas City is the Kaleidoscope Family Art Sessions at the Hallmark Gold Crown Center. This fun activity is for 40 minutes of creativity in a space that only Hallmark could dream up. We made a day of it by going in early and shopping at the Crown Center Shops and eating at one of the fun restaurants there.  Some of the eateries there include:

• The American Restaurant
• Big Momma's Bakery-Café
• Chip's Candy Factory
• Chip's Chocolate Factory
• Crayola Café
• d'Bronx
• Einstein Bros. Bagels
• Fritz's Railroad Restaurant
• Greek Food, Ltd.
• K.C. Bar B.Q.
• Milano Italian Dining
• Pak Ling Express
• Potatoes and More
• Sheridan's Lattés & Frozen Custard
• A Streetcar Named Desire
• Taste of Philly
• Three Little Pigs BBQ
• Topsy's Shoppes

You can get free parking for a few hours in the Gold Crown Center parking garage, if you have your parking ticket validated. So we shopped, played at Funville, and then had it validated when we ate. We then drove around the block and parked again to reset the "free time" on a new parking ticket. We had that validated at the Family Art Session and didn't pay one cent to be parked downtown most of the day. :) If you've ever been city sight-seeing before you know what a deal that is. (When in Denver, Philly, or DC I've had to shell out as much as $20 to park!)

You will want to call ahead if you have a group of 15 or more. Also you will want to get there to line up early. The sessions fill up fast, and it's first come / first serve. The mornings are all school sessions, so you will want to get in on the two afternoon ones, unless you come on a Saturday. Here's the link to their calender! 

Arriving early to get our tickets, we watched as the parents and kids all lined up to go in. Having been there before, the kids were SO excited. When the doors opened the kids spread out into a large room with work stations and color everywhere. It's like all the card making supplies at Hallmark - and a Crayola factory - collided with a cartoon landscape!

The kids were given a bag to write their name on and began creating cards and pictures, and even pressed out their own puzzles. There were disco balls and black light rooms and all kinds of fun things to see and touch. It was an absolute blast. I'll let the pictures say the rest.

Our time was up quickly. This was too soon for the kids, but just right for me who had a hard time keeping track of all four in the large crowd and room. After we were finished we took a much quieter stroll through the Hallmark Visitor's Center, and made it just in time to "meet the artists". This was a fun intimate opportunity to visit with a couple of the people who paint, craft, and design the Hallmark Cards. The kids got to ask good questions like: "what did you study in college to do this?" and "How do you like doing this for a job?"

During the visitor center tour we got to watch a machine assemble a gift bow at the push of a button, and to get our picture taken and emailed to us. All of the staff were friendly and helpful, and we really enjoyed our visit to Hallmark. In our previous visit we also went to Union Station (right across the street) but this time we ran out of time. :)


This post is part of our Adventure Fridays series. If you'd like to join us, we'd love to have you return every Friday for something new! If you have a field trip to share, add the button on the right to your post and feel free to link up HERE. 

As always, I would welcome a guest post here on my blog about some place fun you've been. If you have something yet-unpublished to submit, please use the contact tab above to let me know. 

©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com

Adventure in Kansas City: The Moon Marble Co.

We recently had the joy of visiting Kansas City, MO, for three days. While Ben was in work meetings, the kids and I explored the city. My only requirement for our outings were that they would be free and educational. This is the second installment of our adventures there. 

We took half of a day to visit the Moon Marble Co. I had been looking to find a free factory tour for the kids in the KC area. There are also tours of the Harley Davidson Plant (but the kids must be all over 12) and of the Roasterie Air Roasted Coffee, but we decided this was the one for us. 

It turns out this was not a "factory" but an art glass shop. Never-the-less, it was completely worth the time, and the glass making demonstration was a blast. ;) We even had time to visit with the artist and get our picture taken with him.  He shared about how he learned to work with glass and the careers available doing that. It was fun!

While waiting for our turn to see the demo, we perused the gift shop, which is a destination in itself! We had a great time picking out some marbles and art glass for souvenirs too. 

Things to know in advance:
The tour and demo are free, but you will want to bring a little money to buy something fun in the store. If you want a small tube of marbles, you can pick out all your favorite colors and fill one for $4 and up. Art glass marbles start at $25 and go from there. 

This post is part of our Adventure Fridays series. If you'd like to join us, we'd love to have you return every Friday for something new! If you have a field trip to share, add the button on the right to your post and feel free to link up HERE. 

As always, I would welcome a guest post here on my blog about some place fun you've been. If you have something yet-unpublished to submit, please use the contact tab above to let me know. 

©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com

Homeschool Adventures: join us?

Welcome to the launch of a new weekly series,
Adventures Fridays: when learning hits the road!

For the next several Fridays, for as long as I have material to cover, we will be exploring one of my favorite aspects of homeschooling. . . the flexibility to take it with you, and to bring your kids the world. Why Fridays? We schedule our school week so Friday is our day for wiggle room. If all goes well it's a day of adventure and field trips. If it's a bad week, it's a make up day.

Over the past several years of homeschooling, we have had the opportunity to see and visit many wonderful places. Sometimes this means being able to go along on daddy's work trip without missing any school, taking in a major city while visiting family for a wedding, or just taking a day off to be a tourist in our own town. Either way, this is the best part of this education we share, the flexibility to go and do like no one else. The hardest part is the budget, so I'm going to endeavor to share low or no cost adventures in a variety of cities.

Want to come along? Great! Meet us here every Friday! My friends and I will be sharing our adventures here. Have a low cost adventure in your favorite city to share? Contact me (via the tab above) with your idea, and we'd love to host you! I'm always looking for guest authors. Please submit your idea for a, yet unpublished, piece, and I will get the details to you about scheduling.

Finally, we on the last Friday of each month, we will host a link up. You can share any blog post you've written about a field trip in  the past year. I only ask:

• That it be low or no cost, and homeschool family friendly.
• That you include the community graphic (Adventure Fridays Button seen on the right) in your post.
• And that you title your link with the City/Region name so we can quickly find your post when we want to visit that place!

First stop, Portland! Thanks to my friend, Gwen. See you there next week!

©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com

Day 3: Games on the Go (5 Days of Teaching Creatively)

"Having grown up out "East", although I was Nebraska born, I was used to seeing the Pennsylvania farmhouses and barns built in the 1700's. I often felt that Nebraska was a "young" state in comparison. But, after living here for 15 years, I stand corrected. There is history everywhere, you just need to know where to look! " (read the rest of this post at the link/graphic below.)

Join me today, as I guest post about Nebraska on Glimpses of Our Life. Thanks for the invite, Jennifer! <3

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Today as I join with the Crew blog hop, the theme is Toys, Games & Puzzles.  When I was a child, we spent many summers driving the interstate between our home in Pennsylvania and grandma's house in Nebraska. We had a fun game we played along the way, once we had graduated from the "Find-the-alphabet-in-order-on-the-road-signs" game. We made a list of all 50 states and then would check one off when we saw a license plate from that state. It kept us busy for hours, and we were excited to cross every state line. Needless to say, we almost never checked off Hawaii or Alaska. Jennifer's blog theme (above) is like a virtual collection of the states. So fun! It is a definite reference for kids who want to learn about all the states. 

My own kids are in the middle of learning all the states and their capitals for our history studies. We have found a host of online games and tools to help with that quest. Here are some of our favorites!

• Sheppard Software: this one is a favorite and comes in several difficulty levels. It was fun even for myself!
• Learning Games for Kids: also quizzes on state nicknames, flowers, and more.
• US States Quiz: is a bit harder for kids to try and see if they can name/spell the names correctly.
• US Map Puzzle: just like the wooden one, just online.

Join us on a blog hop?

©2012-2013 Loving and Learning on the High Plains. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://www.homeschoolhighplains.blogspot.com

"V" is for Van Gogh

Back in September, a homeschool-mom-friend of mine embarked to arrange group tickets for students to see the Becoming Van Gogh  Exhibit at the Denver Art Museum. As a world exclusive exhibit, it was an awesome thing to have an opportunity to see. Given the long lines and the crowds we encountered, I'm amazed we got in at all. I'm so thankful for my friend arranging it! In anticipation, we ordered the Usborne Children's book of Art and worked through it daily so we would have the book finished just before we went. Tyler loved the Van Gogh painting Sunflowers, and even made a sketch of it for me. Considering how much Tyler struggles with artistic pursuits, I was seriously impressed. We really loved this book as a prep introduction to art before our big trip to the museum.

I carpooled with my dear sister (in-law) and my neices and nephew. That made it even more fun! After the 4 hour drive, we arrived in  Denver around 11 and easily found parking. We enjoyed a self guided audio tour where the kids could tune in to more audio explanations of each piece that were right on their level. As grown ups we could listen to more in-depth critiques and about Van Gogh's life as he evolved as an artist. There's an excellent write-up about the exhibit here on the Denver Post.com.

I don't have any photos from the exhibit, as photography was prohibited. Honestly, I didn't want to photograph the art, but the adorable way the children were interacting with it. Imagine my 6 year old nephew, seated before The Potato Eaters, pondering the audio descriptions of how Van Gogh admired their hard-working hands. I wasn't sure how my littlest children would enjoy the exhibit, so I only took my older two, and they enjoyed it immensely. Experiencing it with them on a more one-on-two ratio was also really enjoyable for me.

After a lunch in the park across from the museum, we went back and enjoyed the rest of the Denver Art Museum, or at least what we could see in an afternoon. I must admit I was a bit jealous of the museum guards on each floor who I'm sure got to see it all much more in detail...

My cousin, Kate, who lives in Denver, met us there and served to help us find the most interesting points quickly. We moved quickly through some areas, and more slowly through others, but overall I know I could easily take a week there and not take it all in. A few highlights:

Classical Art

Modern Art

Another of my favorite parts of the trip was the architecture of the museum. The original Denver Art Museum is tall and unique, and we found the windows offered views that nearly competed as framed works of art. But the newer addition of the Duncan Pavilion and the Hamilton Building, really completed the picture going from ancient art to modern. Coming from a flat wide open prairie life, my children and I are always amazed at the city sky-line anyway.

holding up the roof on the Hamilton Building

It was well worth the visit, and when the other two are a bit older, I look forward to going again, and seeing what new and amazing exhibits will be available then. I was impressed by the collection they had brought in from around the world, and I expect great things in the future.

Originally Posted 11/4/12

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Linked at:

Field Trips in 2012

Joining a blog hop today!

Click the above link to see all the other posts!

Best Field Trips of 2012, click the links to see more!

Local play of Cinderella, a Daddy Date Local high school productions make some of the best cultural experiences, without breaking the bank. This year we took the kids to see Cinderella, My Fair Lady, and A Christmas Carol. 

4-H and the Fair

Starting our own 4-H club with our homeschool group afforded many opportunities for field trips, such as fishing, cooking classes, and more. 

National Geographic Map of Asia

One of our favorite activities was getting to visit the Giant Asia Map from National Geographic! Our home-school group had nearly 60 students take advantage of this.

Fall Marching Band Competition

A side benefit of our Summer Farmer's Market being downtown. 

The Pumpkin Patch

Van Gogh Exhibit at the Denver Art Museum

And so many more... :)