The Buzz about Bees

We attended a presentation on honey bees at the Museum of Natural History. They all enjoyed the program. The learned about the different classes of bee (queen, worker, drone, etc.), the fact that bees can be promoted from one job to another, and what different “dance moves” mean in communicating the location of food. Apparently there was a movie and honey samples, so it must have been good.

Owl Sanctuary

Today, we went with our homeschooling group to the Owl Sanctuary down in Ocala (actually called the Ocala Wildlife Sanctuary). This is a non-profit organization that specializes in rescuing birds of prey, primarily owls. We heard about the owls, how they are able to hunt using sound (echolocation) and that they don't need daylight to see.



There were many other birds and fowl there, including ducks, a parrot, a kestrel, a crow, a goose, and more. We saw screech owls, barred owls, great horned owls, and barn owls. Because it was daylight and many of the birds were in heavily secured "mews" (for their safety as well as ours), it was a bit hard to see them, and very hard to photograph them.

We ended the tour by receiving an owl pellet to take home and dissect (this is the undigestible parts of the animal that the owl fed on). Ours was a dark brown one, which should be a barred owl's pellet. It will be a fun thing to dig through.

Not Back to School Potluck

Today, along with six other homeschooling families, we celebrated not going back to school. A potluck gathering meant lots of fun and socializing to be had, for kids, moms and dads alike! Among this setting, there were groups forming to act out the Boxcar Children, a children's army, petting and caring for the goats, dress-up, water play, trains, LEGOs, and archery.



It was really a great way to continue our summer past the arbitrary school calendar cut-off. It was a hard transition to leave for pretty much everyone. Luckily, we'll see almost everyone again tomorrow (most dads will be back to work, and miss our fun trip to the owl sanctuary!).

Leo Building: Mars Base

K and P collaborated on building a Mars base, complete with green houses and tunnels from building to building.

Lego Building: Banks

P built a bank today, complete with teller desk, ATM, alarms, and an air conditioner. He then proceeded to rob it. But the police caught him.

City of Ember

"P" and "K" listened to the audio presentation of "City of Ember". Later, they discussed sections of the book with us and incorporated some of the scenarios of the book into their creative play.

August 12

P worked on his handwriting - Print and cursive for the letters A and B.