Life Lately in Pics: Field Trip to an Estuary

Homeschooling has been all consuming this month.(As it should be) I feel like our days have been non-stop and I have been going at 100mph. I love the structure that homeschooling brings to our lives. Not only do the kids need it but I do also. I have been trying my hardest not to rush the kids with school but also set limited times for how long they can spend on a subject. If I didn't they would find ways to waste away the day.

Though I am learning to embrace homeschooling I admit that I really look forward to the end of our school day. I always have all these plans of what I am going to accomplish but the truth is that by the time I finish helping the kids to clean up the school room, do the dishes and put away laundry it's time to start dinner and then I am d o n e.

So if you don't hear from me in awhile you know why. We have been doing some fun unit studies and I hope to be able to squeeze in some time to share more of them with you.

I feel so spoiled some days that I get to do so many fun things with my kids and enjoy this beautiful place that we live in. Then there are those other days when it feels like I am struggling to hear myself think above the din of crying, whining and fighting.

I love to post beautiful pictures of my kids and the places we go. I don't think it's necessary to show you the ugly of our days. Just be sure to know that behind every smile and happy scene there is crying child, someone getting hurt, me losing my patience and lots of messes.;)

We have been doing a unit study on the ocean for a couple of months and this week we were learning about estuaries. If you don't know what an estuary is; it is where freshwater flows into salt water. There is a park near us that is as close as we are going to get to one. Estuaries also have mangrove swamps and lots of different animal life. This park has all of those and we were lucky to find a few little critters and even catch a glimpse of some dolphins hunting and playing!

Despite the barrage of mosquitos we had a great time. It was the perfect break that we needed after being stuck in the house for a couple of weeks. We were happy to find a spot that was nice and windy and mostly mosquito free. Luke fell asleep on the way home and when we got home we recorded our little trip in our nature journals and finished up the rest of our school. Though I like to start our school work in the morning it was nice to do it in the afternoon when Luke is sleeping. I just might be changing up our school schedule...

Here are the books we used to learn more about estuaries: 

Living World Encyclopedia(by Usborne)

Properties of Ecosystems

What have you been up to lately? 

Have you gone on any field trips? 

Have you ever been to an estuary?

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