Ahoy mates! We’ve shoved off and we’re underway to the Kasitsna Bay Research Facility to explore our marine and forest ecology! This is an overnight trip across Kachemak Bay. Seas are mostly calm, overcast skies, it’s supposed to rain but so far it’s just cool and overcast.
I’ll be sure to post more about our adventures when we return home! You can see our adventures here!
We started this lap book the first week in February. For this session we watched copious amounts of YouTube videos about desert biomes. Lesson enrichment included crafts like mask making and sand art. And we planned to prepare some prickly pear cactus to eat, if we could have found some locally. We incorporated lessons about sand and silica and glass as well. So this module was heavy on the crafting and very hands on.
Since my kiddos were sick during this beginning of this lesson plan, we relied more heavily on videos. Even when your sick you can still watch a video. 👍🏼
We also spent a fair amount of time discussing sand. What is sand made of? We learned that sand is mostly rock particles but can also contain glass, bone, shell or coral fragments and more commonly in today’s age, plastic particles. (Of course this includes beach sand in addition to desert sand.)
So after a series of sand composition, construction use (desert sand does not work well for construction purposes) and magnetic sand experiment videos we made some sand art!
There were lots of writing practice sheets, some math and endless desert fact sheets! Lap books are a lot of fun.
Apparently it’s too much to ask of these northern grocery stores to stock cactus in the fresh produce dept. So we’re going to have to be satisfied with pickled nopalitos. Which the entire family approves of, to some degree.
And that’s it for another fascinating study of our amazing planet’s diversity. What’s up next? Good question.
Cletus decided we needed to make these adorable little gnome garland strands. We ended up with 10 of the turquoise and 11 of the pink/black ones. Two kids made themselves a gnome. And we made three oddball gnomes for variety.
The hats are made by looping yarn around a paper towel tube that’s been cut down into 3/4″ rings, give or take.
The beards are pom-poms glued into the hats. And a wooden bead for a nose.
I’ve never seen so many gnomes.
They were a fun craft, lots of yarn cutting and pom-pom making silliness.
#crafts #gnomes #notbored #fiberart
Riding the Alaska Railroad is a dream come true for many a tourist and resident alike. It stays a dream for countless others who only venture to Alaska with their mind’s eye. We get to live that dream on a daily basis. And some days are more dreamy than others.
This was just such a day.
Portage Train Depot is right on the highway, near the Placer river, at sea level. We loaded up onto car A, the double decker with full glass viewing panels. We had quite the vantage point. We also had a Chugach USFS ranger as our guide for the trip. He had interesting local lore, history and flora & fauna information for us.
Sitting on the train while they off-load rafts on the Placer River, watching my kids unaware. Talking to their friends, sharing snacks, playing games. There may or may not have been some musical chairs with these assigned seats. They are in their element. The simple pleasures of life.
…what thrills me about trains is not their size or their equipment but the fact that they are moving, that they embody a connection between unseen places.
Marianne Wiggins
We rode from Portage to Grandview past Spencer, Bartlet and Trail glaciers. From the train station we traveled through marsh and flat lands, into cottonwood forests and gained more elevation until we were in hemlock and spruce forests. It’s cloudy with a little rain every now and then. Once in a while the sun pokes it’s rays through the fog and illuminates a mountainside. Glorious.
Just a little past Grandview Whistle Stop we topped out at 1061′ elevation where we stopped to gaze at Trail glacier. We stopped to see Snow White falls, named for its seven drops, the source of the Placer River.
We had a short stop at Grandview so we could hike up to a couple if vantage points. One to see the train and another to see a waterfall. We enjoyed the remaining flowers and berries and mushrooms growing along the trail.
We rode through 5 tunnels and over one trestle 104′ above the raging river below.
We saw snow drops, rock slides and a lake full of ice floes.
We passed over sheer rock walls, roaring rapids and glacial erratic in kettle ponds.
We learned about T-Bone Clark and Alaska Nellie and back country road houses.
The kids were amazed that the telegraph and telephone poles were still standing with some insulators in place.
Trains tap into some deep American collective memory.
Dana Frank
Best of all we got to experience some of Alaska’s rugged beauty with our friends. Memories for a lifetime.
#akadventure #homeschool #experience #akrr #learningisfun
My baby girl passed her provisional permit exam and will be driving the snowy roads of the Kenai Peninsula.
It seems like only yesterday that she was my little Curly Girlie playing with her dolls.
Whelp, before I turn into a sappy mess I’ll cut this short. I’ll save the really sappy post for her 18th birthday later this year.
#AKlife
#lovemyfamily
#studentdriver
#shellalwaysbemybaby
@thelowestpickle
We’ve been working on our upstairs bathroom. It’s been partially out of service (the toilet) since early March when we had a smallish fire in the bathroom trash. Thank goodness for keeping fire extinguishers in our home! And for being home due to covid-19 shutdown!
We had some drywall repair to do and let’s face it, neither one of us likes to do drywall. So it has been waiting on us to finish it. And finally we’re back to it. I’m tired of only one toilet in the house with 6 people!!
The meantime I’ve been sourcing materials as they go on sale or clearance. So when we were ready we could do the reno for less $$.
Dean started sanding & applying more mud while I started to strip down the map decoupaged vanity top. I scored the surface and used some fabric softener mixed with water to loosen the paper. Most of it scraped right off after soaking for a while. The rest got a light sanding and then I wiped down the surface with a damp rag.
Next was fitting the tile to the vanity top. I rough cut the tile to fit, now I need to trim the edge pieces to fit the tile into place. I had intended to use penny tile, since it would be easy to fit and no cutting needed. The colors Home Depot had just weren’t right though, and this hex tile was perfect. Plus it was on clearance so I got a bargain deal on all the tile for about $13. Now I’ll be learning a new skill, cutting tile! Yippee!??!?
Dean never has been fond of the dark taupe colored walls so we opted for a sage green color. With accents of beige tile, sable grout (bought on clearance for 10¢ a box!!) and one wood accent wall we hope to add interest to this unusually long, narrow, odd shaped bathroom.
#renonation
#updatedbathroom
#diyAK49
No work for me today so the kids and I spent some time outdoors. We took a little walk to the sawmill. Little Mister wanted to go help Dad at work. So we leashed up Panda and went for a walk. Once there, Lil Mister went to work shoveling sawdust while Panda explored these new surroundings.
Then Lil Bit and I went berry picking for more lingonberries. And a botany lesson for good measure.
Just a regular day.
We got about one cup of berries this time, they are slowing down. Might get out once more for a few more. We’ll freeze these for making cranberry nut bread for Thanksgiving dinner.
#alaskalife
#lovealaska
#wildcrafting
Our approach to homeschooling is that every day, there is something to learn, whether you think you’re at “school” or not.
Life is learning.
Live and learn, a motto that is my reality!
Especially here! And believe me, you learn quickly here!
We have seen and done so many new things in our short time here than we’ve done in months, or years even, before moving here it seems
Going to the beach, the learning opportunities are boundless. From the tides and how the moon effects them, to the sea and the water content. The rooks and sand are so interesting, most of it being glacial in origin, you just never know what you’ll find. (BTW, to my homeschooling friends back in the lower 48 if you’d like to have a sample of beach sand and rock, just ask and we’ll send you some!) The strata visible on the sloughing bluff. The sandy silty composition of the soil… The mountains, complete with active volcanoes. Plate tectonics. Geology, History, Physics, Biology, our reality!
And that’s just the beginning! Then there’s bear, moose, wolves, and salmon and their interesting life cycles, the different varieties of salmon, all of which is hands on learning when you can see them, touch their tracks or cast them, (like the bear, moose and wolves), or in the case of moose and salmon, eat them! 😉 The kind of learning that we like, hands on, living it out. Being part of our lessons, not simply just listening to a lecture or reading about it in a book, which have their place, but really being a part of learning.
Alaska on my mind... 