Frog Update - Not too much...

Charlie in his terrarium.

 ...has changed over the last few weeks. Charlie is doing great in his new habitat and seems to really like the pinhead crickets from our local pet store, but is not so crazy about the meal worms. Bertie seems to be on the cusp of metamorphism and should have his front legs at anytime now. Number 3 is doing well, he is substantially smaller than Bertie which is difficult to tell because of the angle of the shot below. 3 does have rear legs coming in, so it appears he is just morphing at an even slower rate. Number 4 is still tiny and although he has stopped floating upside down - possibly caused from a bacterial infection - he doesn't seem to be growing very much.   
Once Bertie has his front legs and perches on the piece of wood we will be turning the 10 gallon tank into a terrarium for the two frogs and will move 3 & 4 into the two smaller tanks. The one drawback to the kit that we got was that didn't realize at the time that we would need to upgrade the facilities to be able to keep the frog's long term. If I had known that at the time, I may have just gotten the eggs and food and not the whole kit, as the tank is not even big enough to keep one frog for more than a month or two.

Number 3 above & Bertie below

Number 4

Frog Update - Moving to the Terrarium

Charlie was found upon the piece of wood this morning.

 So KM went out and gathered some greens and dirt from the yard to create a terrarium for our little friend.

We used the smaller tank for now and once the next froggy finishes morphing we will have to swap things around again, but for now we hope Charlie will be happy.

Froglet Update

I awoke this morning to discover two things - one sad, one happy. Little Ozzy did not make it, this morning he was found on the bottom of the tank, barely moving and I felt it was time to end his suffering. He will be missed. Charlie, on the other hand has sprouted his front legs, so we have added the floating piece of wood to the tank. I think he will need to be moved to another tank soon. The second largest - still unnamed at this point - definitely has his hind legs sprouting and the twins are holding stable.

The second largest - still unnamed at this point - definitely has his hind legs sprouting and the twins are holding stable. This continues to be one of the most educational and interesting projects yet. I must do in all home ed households!

Froglet Update - Legs have sprung

Backyard Science

Baking soda rockets and microscopes -----

Sketching at the park -------

Pooh sticks and snake identifications--------

What could be better on an incredible spring day!!!

Froglet update

So we have determined that the problem with our littlest froglet - Ozzi - is that it's organs are not centered within the body. In the picture below you can see the red mass of organs is shifted to the left side of it's body.

I am not really sure what the outcome will be, but we are keeping a close eye on this little one.

Random update - Froglets!

We haven't updated in a while as they really haven't had much of a change other than there size lately. The largest is now about 3 inches and little one is only 1.5 inches, so there is quite a size difference. Since we will have to eventually create a terrarium for the critters we decided to upgrade to a 10 gallon tank today, but only put about 3.5 gallons of water in it. This gives them plenty of space to swim around and grow but will not become overwhelming to change the water. It should also be ample space so that the littlest will not get eaten or taken over by the larger. 

You Tube Monday - Chimpanzee - DisneyNature

Chimpanzee opened everywhere on Friday so be sure to head to a theater near you to see this incredible film and help to support the efforts to save these magnificent creatures!!!



The incredible 130+ page educators guide can also be downloaded for free by visiting - HERE!

Mass Audubon - Free PDF activities to get outdoors!!!

Mass Audubon has some great fun and FREE printable activities available on their site to help you and your family get moving and learning outdoors. Though some are specific to their parks - like the discovery booklets - many - like the spring bingo - can be used anywhere! SO surf on over, print some out and GET OUTSIDE!!!

DisneyNature Chimpanzee Opens Today!

We have truly enjoyed going to see the Disneynature movies each year and are excited for the next installment - chimpanzee

As always there is a free education guide available for download - HERE - which has more to offer this year as it is a whopping 135 pages and includes powerpoint presentation with audio and video clips! 

You Tube Monday - Extraction of DNA from onion

We use You Tube for a lot of things - including Science Experiments!

Free Science Projects for Kids from Home Science Tools

The Home Science Tools site is one of my first stops for anything science related. They have a fantastic Free Science Projects for Kids section that includes project ideas in every area - Biology, Chemistry, Microscope Projects, Dissection Guides and so much more!

Weekly Update - Taste of Summer

We are on "book break" this week and BOY OH BOY did we pick a good one. The weather has been incredible and we have fully been taking advantage of it. DN survived his first road trip with CJ and it seemed to be a good turning point and bonding experience for them. KM and I spent the week cleaning, yard-working, finishing projects, KM finished up Wuthering Heights and completed the work for her last Skype class which will be held next week, spent an afternoon at the beach, watched LOTS of shows on the ROKU and KM went to her first semi-formal!!! OH and our FROG EMBRYOS ARRIVED!!!!

Weekly Update - Looking Ahead to SPRING!!!

This past week is the last one of our winter session and things went really smoothly. This was DN's first full session and though there was some trips and a few stumbles all and all it seems as though we are all getting our feet firmly planted beneath us! He was here over the weekend and finished up things smoothly and with no issue. He also completed a few "pre-tests" in writing and in U.S. Geography so that I know exactly what I am working with. He really surprised himself on the writing evaluation as he thought he was going to do poorly on the entire thing, but only a few areas - 4 out of the 21 - that he needs to work on. As for U.S. geography, we have a ways to go, but I think it will all come together without too much of a problem if he puts his mind to it. He was at home for the rest of this week and will be going on the road with CJ next week. This should be a very interesting experience for the both of them, as they have never spent that much time together - 24 hours a day in close quarters for an undetermined number of days. I am confident that this will help them to understand each other a bit better.

KM finished up some areas, but will not be taking a full break over the next two weeks as she has to complete her Literature Skype class which doesn't end until 3/28. She has also decided to keep watching the Liberty Kids episodes and may need to do one or two other things as she is HOPING to have her turn to on the road with CJ the first week of April. This will also be an interesting endeavor as has never been away from me for more than two nights and although I know she will be fine and CJ will take good care of her, I will also be staying at home all alone for the FIRST TIME EVER - dun, dun, DUN! I will be fine, but will probably not know what to do with myself after the first day. I bet they will come back and the whole house will be rearranged, organized and unrecognizable.

As we were ending our winter studies, this included the ant and earthworm habitat studies, so it was time to release the critters. Although I know it is not recommended that you release harvester ants in our area as they are sure to not survive, there were only two left and we really didn't think that it would be long before they would be gone as well. They seemed so sad and lonely in there. As for the earthworms, they were going strong and KM had a great time making me jump and squirm nearly as much as the worms were - I know it is an irrational fear, but I think it is more that I just don't LIKE them than that I am afraid of them. So we released all of the critters close to home and right into our compost container. KM was delighted to see all the worms that were already crawling in there and felt Herbert and his friends would be in good company there. We will be freecycling the Anthill and remaining supplies so that another family can enjoy learning about these incredibly complex creatures. For next session we will be hatching frogs and are awaiting the arrival of the embryos.

I had a personal break through this week that I want to mention - I FINALLY learned how to skate backwards. Yes at 33, my 14 year old daughter found the key to unlocking my ability to skate in reverse. I have been trying all season to figure out how it is done. I watched others, I tried it myself, I listened to suggestions, but for some reason I just could not get more than two or three little movements before I would be in a dead stop or a spin. Well today we got to free skate a few minutes early and had the entire place to ourselves. We got right out into the middle of the ice and started playing around, spinning, turning, attempting to go backwards and suddenly I was doing it a little bit more than I had before. KM was making different suggestions to me and I was trying all the different things when suddenly I had made it from one side of the rink to other, it was jerky and no where near smooth, but I made it. At this point some other skaters arrived and I was nervous about them being behind me. When I would glance over my shoulder my whole body would move causing me to feel unsteady and catch my skate. I just kept trying though. KM was very supportive and started skating in front of me to keep an eye out when she suddenly said, "Move like the samba"  - WELL DUH!!! That was it, I moved like I was doing the Samba and I skated backwards flawlessly. That was my key, she kept trying and finally found a way for me to understand what she was doing.  I was so proud of myself, but I was even more proud of her. She didn't get frustrated or give up on me, she just kept trying. I feel like this is what I do every day with her and DN - I try to find just the right words, programs, approach, resources, games etc. to help them reach their potential and her she was doing the same for me!

And on that note here are some pics from the week -

Our Ant Study - COMPLETED

As part of our biology unit we will be studying ants and will chronicle their adventure here!

I decided on purchasing an Ant Hill from Insect Lore through Amazon. I choose this particular model because it had great ratings and I really liked the idea of the three dimensional design allowing you to see what the ants are doing in and out of the hill in a much more realistic fashion. We ordered the ants from Ants Alive and since it said we had 7-10 days until they would arrive we waited until the following Monday to prep our ant hill following the directions exactly. I also went to the library and picked up a few book for the kids to peruse: Ants (Nature's Children), An Ant Colony (Nature Watch), and Ant Cities (First Sight).

The day the ants arrived KM and I were very excited and took all necessary precautions to get them into their ant hill safely - for us and them, as these are harvester ants and they can STING!!! We did manage to get them in and ready to go. Here I will be posting various links, photos and videos from our study as well as KM's Daily Observations. If you have any interesting links you would like to share PLEASE leave a comment and let us know!!!

OBSERVATIONS BY KM ----

2/8/12 - The ants arrived today and are currently clumping together and getting used to their new home. 

2/9/12 -  The ants have started tunneling on the right side of the hill.

2/10/12 - 

Up close

9:46 am

10:31 pm

2/11/12 - 

9:11 am

9:58 pm

2/12/12 - The ants have a little graveyard outside the hill. They have also constructed about 9 tunnels.

8:51am

8:59 pm

graveyard on backside of hill

2/13/12 -

8:11am 

8:03pm

2/14/12 - The ants are moving very slow and seem to only tunnel on the right side of the hill. It also looks like they have no motivation to work on tunnels. It appears as though only 2/3 are still alive.

8:31am

2/17/12 - They seem to have slowed down working quite a bit the past few days. Not sure what is going on.

2/19/12 - They are busying themselves again, but working more on the outre graveyard than tunneling.

3/2/12 - Haven't posted much of anything as they really are just doing the same old thing. There are only about 17 left now though and it is starting to feel a bit creepy and deserted.

3/15/12 - We released the last two ants today because they just seemed so sad. We learned a lot and it was a really interesting study.