All About the Plants

Botony has taken over! We received a gorgeous flower arrangement from Nana this morning, and what do we do? Dissect a daisy! We thought the yellow center was made up of stamens, but we were wrong! Many, many pistils. The stamens are tucked into the curve at the base of each petal. Soooo....how does the flower insure that the pollinator will come into contact with the pollen? Maybe the nectar is tucked in there, too. Interesting.

Last week I pulled up old (or invading) plants to prepare the garden for new growth. Noting that roots are similar to branches, E decided to see if they can switch duties. Will the branches begin to draw in nutrients? Will the roots grow leaves? Nope. But a mint plant will survive with only a teeny bit of root touching the soil, it's stem doing a U-turn to head upward again.

Ready, set, grow! Seeds are planted. Why are we still getting frost at night? Where is spring?

 

The garden is e's baby. She and I have worked on it from the start. She made the markers, planted seeds in the rain, watered it today in the sun.

I adore my chalkboard wall!! So much learning can happen without me saying a word. Today E ran in and out, matching roots he'd pulled up to the kinds on the board. He found everything: a great benefit to living in Virginia! He also dug a few holes in the grass...luckily grass grows back. :)

 

e is learning to read cursive. Not write it, just read. Fun stuff. I'm still not sure how my little e grew big enough to be reading cursive!

"I don't eat anything from a flower," declared my otherwise quite intelligent boy. Luckily we had a lot of fruit in the house to cut open. Crazy boy.

Symmetry! I found the kids playing with the laundry doors last month. Hilarious, and a great teachable moment.

E received a 3D pen for his birthday. Quite a lesson in melting points, different plastics, and architecture.

 

Geometry won't stay in its own block! We've moved on to using a compass, which at first elicited fits. It isn't as easy as mom makes it look! But he got it, and now draws his own compass creations during quiet time.

Aaaaand I'm still not caught up! More to come!