Our pond this week:
I wasn’t entirely sure we would get to the pond this week, but the children nagged and nagged, having missed it terribly last week. I think our new book had something to do with their enthusiasm. It really has sparked many, many ideas. As promised, here is a quick review of the second half of the book:
We read half the book the first week, and we have just finished the rest. It is giving us so many more ideas which we will apply over the next few months. Not that we lost our enthusiasm for the pond study, but this has definitely given us a renewed vision. We are almost half the way through our one year study, so it could not have come at a better time. A student could spend one session studying just one double page, and would not have wasted any time. It is that good. Over the winter, when things are quieter at our pond, I intend to do just that.
The second half of the book concentrates on the effects of different weather conditions on the pond, such as rain; the pond at twilight; the changes in seasons at the pond. Right at the end of the book there are six pages of pond dwellers you might see, grouped into handy sets:
The book also has a fantastic index so looking up information pertinent to your own particular pond study stage is easy. Of course, with the children feeling better, there has been much begging to get to the pond to choose their square. What parent can deny pleads such as those? So off we trotted.
Once we had reached the pond I was left alone to survey the wonder that is nature whilst they dashed off to inspect possible sites for their square:
Whilst they spent much time and effort choosing and unchoosing and then rechoosing their very own spot I peacefully watched the Heron:
I also spotted one of the baby Moor Hen, who isn’t such a baby anymore. I will be adding him to my Moorhen Bird study post:
Whilst I was snapping away, T11 asked if we could do a water study soon. He had lifted a rock, which was to be on his square and he said there were so many creatures, he wanted to get them home to study for a while. He takes his pond study very seriously and is planning on bringing out a David Attenborough type video series (!) L10 is to do the on set catering! Here he is in pure ponding mode. I love the intensity of all his passions:
What a blessing it was to be in among God’s creation again, drinking in all her beauty.