A Family That Draws Together

We do a lot of reading. The children love read alouds and I have found that it is easier to do the 'olders' work with them if the 'youngers' are involved as well. We are almost finished with our Marine Biology study. We have loved this this year and really enjoyed all the hands on learning.

We had technical reading planned and I knew the children were all too squirrly to sit and listen. I decided to dig out the How to Draw Sea Creatures book to keep them busy but also able to listen. Notice Ian is blessing me with another of his art projects, it says IanToMamaILoveYou I also love his stick man riding a horse above, not sure what this has to do with Marine Biology.

Erik drew a shark with a fusiform shape, he also drew the little round shaped fish that will soon be lunch for the shark. His little fish was not the compressed shape or the depressed shape that we were learning about, however, I was thrilled that Erik participated in the drawing as he often gets frustrated that his drawings do not look like the ones in the books.

Aaron used one of the books that contains grids and tells you what to draw in each square. I must confess that even though Aaron's turned out perfect and I followed the same directions, mine looks nothing like the book. I guess I am a bit like Erik in that regard that I really want my projects to be perfect as well.

All the children were satisfied with their drawings and they were placed in our Marine Biology Notebooks along with our other observations and drawings. The art was a perfect balance of bringing together what we learned while keeping busy and learning more.

Echinoderms

This week we were learning about Echinoderms in our Marine Biology Class. Echinoderms are 'spiny skin' creatures. The classic Echinoderm joke:
How did the Sea Cucumber and Sun Star pay for their lunch?
They used a Sand Dollar.

Taylor was really excited about this sea cucumber because it had a limpet attached to it and a small barnacle attached to the limpet! Also you can see the radial pattern of 5. The sea cucumber has 5 rows of tube feet that it uses to crawl along the sea floor. The cucumber has an interesting line of defense, if it is threatened it spits out its guts. The sticky internal organs glue a predators gills or throat shut! Then the cucumber regenerates its internal organs. The 5 pattern corresponds to the five arms of a sea star and the five rows of tube feet on a sea urchin and the 5 petal pattern on the sand dollar.

This sun sea star has 15 legs! Again, using the pattern of 5. You can see the sea star's mouth at the center of the central disk. The sea star's stomach will leave the mouth and engulf it's prey. Once it has done that, it immediately begins digesting the animal, then, as the food gets mushier, the sea star pulls the stomach back in through the hole to be fully digested.

At our local marine life center, they have a tank that you can 'go inside'. Actually it is better than that because you don't even have to get wet! We got to see an anemone attached on the bubble and a limpet. Liberty loved all the sea life!

We tried really hard to find the eyes on the ends of the rays of the sea stars, next time we will have to bring our magnifying glass.
We did see the Aristotle's lantern on the sea urchin. The Aristotle's lantern is the 5 special teeth
an urchin uses to scrape algae off rocks and bore holes in rocks for them to have a place to hide.

The Marine Life Center has great volunteers and are willing to spend a lot of time answering questions an showing us what we are looking for and teaching us more! We were not disappointed!

One of the highlights today were the shrimp! The children were shown how to catch them and were all successful at it!

I decided that as a treat we would enjoy some local shrimp at The Shrimp Shack. Not the type of place I would normally take all of my children for lunch, because of the cost. Fortunately, I had packed lunch so they should not have been starving and we all shared a platter of beer battered deep fried shrimp and chips!

They all wanted more than their allotted 2! It was fun memories made.

We came home and are attempting to make our own echinoderms using a saturated salt water solution and cotton thread. Taylor's solution is the purple one, and she wanted to make sure that her solution was really saturated! Good thing I buy salt in bulk, I think they each used about 3 Cups of salt. Hopefully they are not too saturated and it will work, I will keep you posted.

Midnight Marine Biology

I am so glad that Syndi finds out about cool stuff that we can tag along for. She found out that the lowest tides were occurring at night. We had been talking about going to the beach find anything belonging to the Mollusk Phylum. So we decided to take advantage of the best time to look at go at night! Syndi and Ben came and picked us up at 8:30P.M. to drive a half and hour away and look on a rocky beach for Bivalves (anything with 2 shells). We were fortunate that we found clams (with it's siphon sticking out of the mud).

When we got to the beach we were not able to drive all the way down since the park closes at dusk and it was past dusk. Several of the children were concerned that the van was going to be towed or impounded or broken into.... the other child was excited with the possibility that we might get to spend the night!

We found what I believe are anemones that are closed up and hanging off the rocks due to the tide being out.

Taylor was in this position most of the time we were there. I love the excitement and definitely go a workout running back and forth taking pictures of the different creatures that they found. Taylor caught a sculpin, hermit crab, gunnel, hooded nudibranch, several small shrimp, and a tiny sea star.

We loved all the limpets and were even able to get a few off of the rocks for closer examination. Did you know they always return to the exact same spot every night? I guess you could say they have a specific address.

We were successful in our search for gastropods. A gastropod literally means 'stomach foot' and the univalves comprise are the most abundant in the mollusk family. We found many limpets, and snails and hermit crabs. We even saw the trail they left behind as they moved around.

You can see the tracks behind this giant sea star! A few minutes after we found him he was covered by the incoming tide.

Before we started studying Marine Biology I had never even heard of a Nudibranch much less seen one or know a Hooded Nudibranch existed, now I see them all the time! A nudibranch is a gastropod with no shell. It was fascinating to watch them swim in the tide pools where they were not at the mercy of the waves. In the above photo you can see the eel grass, hooded nudibranch, and several creatures on the eel grass, I believe it is a limpet.

Pretty good photography for no light, and a flash reflecting off the water.

Look at the size of this Chiton! it has a plated shell instead of a 'china hat' like the limpet.

Of course Aaron and Taylor had to find something to climb! I drew the line at the sheer rock cliff they tried to climb in the dark with no safety gear. While it might look like it was cold, we were actually hot. We all took off our coats and enjoyed an unseasonably warm January night with a full moon to light our adventures. I wish I could have captured the serenity and beauty that was around us, but we will have to settle with fond memories.

Our time went way too quickly and we headed back to the van that was still there, refilled hot cocoa mugs and ate delicious homemade chocolate chip cookies that Syndi brought! We were home safe and warm in bed a little after midnight. It was so much fun and another benefit of homeschooling.

Marine Worms

It is amazing how God provides. He provided a beautiful non-rainy day in January. He provided a tide that goes out so we could see the worm castings. God provided friends to go look for worms with us, He even provided the marine biology program for us to use!
Look at this worm, I am pretty sure it is a Pacific Neopolitin Lugworm. See the little red bumps on the side, those are the worm's gills.

I cannot even begin to tell you the number of times we have been to the beach and seen the little piles of sand with holes in them. Never really paid any attention to what they were. I figured that they were an animal of some sort, it did not cross my mind that the beach literally had millions of worms!

The children dug for the worms and we were able to see the mucus lined burrow that the worm lives in. I think this is the acorn worm, (Saccoglossus kowalewski)

Ruby just could not seem to figure out that it was much better to keep her arms in her sleeves. I admit I did laugh when she fell in the cold wet sand and could not get up. It reminded me of Ralphies kid brother in "A Christmas Story".

We finished our study of Marine Worms by heading home, taking hot showers and we were going to watch an Imax movie about The Deep Ocean. Unfortunately we could not get the VHS to work so we appropriately watched "Dirty Jobs" instead.

Nemo Party

Surprise! You were told that you had a lot of work to do today after I got back from my appointment. My appointment was actually at home setting up for a surprise party for the children.

Syndi and I have been trying to have this party for a few weeks now but, alas, the children have not been well so we kept rescheduling my appointment.

They were truly surprised when they came home to a house decorated for a Nemo party!
The children had to jump through the field of jellyfish!

What is a party without lots of food! We even gave the children their own bubbles (Sprite). Ruby and Erik actually asked if they had to drink it! They said the bubbles hurt their nose.


We incorporated a pop quiz into the party. The children had to answer marine biology related questions to receive glow sticks and marine life themed wash cloths.

Crush and his son Squirt joined in the party and loved watching themselves in the movie.

I can't tell you how many times I have watched the movie but I still find it funny and hear new jokes every time. This time I caught that the other sharks' name was Chum, and Gill referred to the puffer fish as Bloat Boy.

Ben and Erik found Nemo and Dori in what proved to be a more difficult hide and seek game than I anticipated.
I had a treasure hunt complete with clues all around the house that led to the coveted prize of, well I don't really remember what the prize was.... it doesn't matter it was fun!

We had a bubble blowing contest. My poor neglected children were not sure if you were supposed to eat the gum. Erik said, "I can't get this chewed! It is too hard to swallow."

No party is complete without a cake! We had the complete aquarium with fish, rocks, worms and seaweed.

Aaron loved all the different food and toward the end of the party figured out that the fish flakes were actually cereal.

I think that this is a school day the children won't soon forget.

Lotsa Learning Happening Around Here

Sorry for the blurry photo, I seem to be inept at picture taking lately. I guess I have other things on my mind..... We have been discussing salinity and discovered that an egg floats in salt water but sinks in fresh water. Which led us to a discussion about the Dead Sea. We discovered, much to the children's amusement, that if one were to pass gas in the Dead Sea copious amounts of salt will enter said orifice and will burn for a long time!
We were also discussing anemones and sponges and that they are porous and filter their food through the 'skin'. The celery in red dye shows how the celery absorbs the water all the way up the stock. Erik was concerned that we were poising the celery with Red Dye 40. I assured him that it really did not matter since we were not going to consume the celery.
The past couple of days we have had great field trips to the beach to try out our underwater view finder that Sean made for us! For actual photos and some great posts about our adventures visit Bakers Dozen and Syndiluhu, they both remembered their cameras and their batteries. I was actually glad that I did not have my camera when we were climbing over some treacherous rocks to view a dead seal. Trying to balance with the baby in the Ergo and helping Ruby over the rocks and not jab myself in the eye with the low hanging branches was no easy feat. Renee had to sacrifice a small child in order to protect her camera. Hey, a child will heal but a camera won't!

Happy Birthday Small Hannah

On Friday our whole family was able to attend Small Hannah's Birthday Party. We were so excited that it was at our local Marine Life Center. It was perfect and went wonderfully with what we have been studying lately. We enjoyed some fellowship with friends from church and met some new really fun people! We were so happy to be able to celebrate with Hannah.
Usually Ruby's friends are the siblings of her siblings friends. But Wesley (pronounced with 3 syllables by Ruby Wes/a/leee) is both a friend and neighbor. He likes to ride bikes with Ruby and watches my boys closely.

The children listened to the story, "A House For Hermit Crab" by Eric Carle. They were able to see and touch the various animals from the story as they were listening to the story. Sandy and her boys Simon and Henry were there to celebrate as well! The staff at the Marine Life Center sent the children on a scavenger hunt to find various marine life located in the tanks. Sandy was helping her boys find mussels, oysters, an octopus, eel grass, anemone, sponges, hermit crabs, and more! Simon kept hiding from my camera but I finally caught him.

Ian asked if they had any hooded nudibranchs? The staff were impressed with his knowledge but unfortunately nudibranchs do not do very well in captivity.

Hannah had many helpers blowing out her candles! They were the cutest cupcakes with starfish on top. We even had hot cocoa to enjoy with the snacks.
Ian took this photo of the octopus in her tank, pretty cool that you can see the detail in her tentacles. I am enjoying watching my children enjoy learning and discovering more every day.
Thanks Hannah for including us in your celebration.

Beach, Beach & More Beach

Just so you know I am not complaining. However, I do not like to be cold. It is getting cold. It is getting very cold. I am thankful it is not raining~yet. I do love the Pacific Northwest but the long grey days get, well they get, LONG. We did a little experiment at Syndi's on light refraction, then made weighted balloons to try out our hypotheses on light refraction. Making the weighted balls was very fun for the boys, they used PVC pipe and poured a lot of rocks into the balloons, which caused the balloons to be full of holes. We finally settled on marbles and Ben wore his dad's waders so he could retrieve the marbles. Aaron also wore his dad's boots, unbeknownst to me.

Aaron and Ben were totally into the experiment and loved throwing Ben's knife at the balloon. We could not figure out why some of the balloons filled with fresh water and marbles floated??

Erik hoarded his balloon and carried it with him the entire time, until it sprung a leak!

The children had to go see what they could find! They act like they have never been here before and it is all new and exciting! Which it is.

They found the biggest moon jelly yet. We learned that it is a male moon jelly. You can tell because the gonads are orange ~ Who knew? I love watching them pulse and move along it is really graceful.

Next week is project week and we will choose one thing to learn a bit more about. I love nature study. I don't like writing. It is painful for me. We are still working on it.

Sea Grass

On Tuesday I was really not feeling great, I still had a headache from the night before and was trying to gear myself up for a day of schooling and getting caught up (an elusive feeling).
Syndi rescued me! She called and asked what we were doing? To which I replied,"I don't really know, why what do you have in mind?"
You see I am very easily persuaded to do hand on learning. She asked how soon we could be ready and miraculously we were all ready to go super fast.
We made our first stop to collect sea grass at the bay. It was really wet and slippery and Erik was dead set on walking in every body of water that was deep enough to enter into his boots. We identified tide height and looked at some seaweeds and collected a bit of sea grass.

Then we headed out to our beach where we were able to find a vast array of microscopic animals living in the sea grass.

We found more sea slugs, and even some roots of the plants.

I had great intentions of looking at the creatures under our new microscope that Syndi got us, but life got in the way and we had to be content with what we saw at the beach. We have not even identified what we found~yet. We will have to be satisfied with the now dead creatures (it is much more fun to watch them move).

We had Ben at our house for the better part of the day on Wednesday, which is a great motivator for my children to complete their work. While here we constructed 3D Bingo cards with creatures that live in the Aphotic, Disphotic and Euphotic Zones of the ocean and they competed to get a 3D Bingo. I know the best part for Aaron was that we used m&m's for the markers and every time someone got a bingo they got to eat all the markers and start again for another bingo.

By the end of the game even Ruby knew that the bottom dwellers were in the Disphotic Zone!

Learning is fun especially when you have someone to share it with!