Comments (9)

By Mom Unplugged, September 20, 2009 9:48 pm

We all had a lovely time flipping rocks this morning for the 3rd Annual International Rock Flipping Day! Honestly, I could not have imagined that rock flipping could be so interesting, but my children, my husband and I all had the best time wandering around flipping rocks (and putting them carefully back of course).

The children ran through our yard and the woods by our house searching for perfect rocks:

We learned that our rocks here are quite beautiful, very volcanic and full of holes:

This one actually showed a distinct lava flow pattern on it:

Under our rocks we discovered:

Mold:

A small mushroom that grew up in the shade of two tightly stacked rocks:

A baby centipede - a teeny tiny yellow thread with lots of legs. I apologize for the bad picture, but much of what we found was very small and hard to photograph:

Strange white beetles with legs and antennae, barely the size of a grain of rice:

The much expected “Rollie Pollies” or Pill Bugs, but these guys were whiter than we had ever seen before:

Ants, LOTS of ants and eggs. Much to our surprise we found that ants don’t just live underground, but actually use the holes in our volcanic rocks as homes and nurseries!

You can even see little dots inside the ant eggs in this photo, Each collection of eggs seemed to have a “nurse ant” to go with it:

A peanut that had been buried (and probably forgotten) by a squirrel - round thing in the middle of the photo:

A small cricket:

Mystery eggs? Not ant eggs and about the size of small beads. Any ideas?

A spider on a pretty rock. Can you see it?:

What did you find under rocks where you live? Email Susannah of Wanderin’ Weeta with a link to your post, or upload your photos to the Flickr International Rock Flipping Day Group.

I will post our feather Unplugged Project and the Linky tomorrow afternoon or evening.

Hope to see you then!

PS. Thank you Susannah for our Junior Rock Flipping Badge. The kids will be excited about this tomorrow morning!

Comments (2)

By Mom Unplugged, January 30, 2009 8:38 pm

Perhaps my favorite place in the whole world is the South Island of New Zealand. If you live there, I SO envy you! What a beautiful place filled with nice people…I can’t say enough wonderful things about it. The only drawback is that, for most of us in the world, it is a little out of the way. No, make that VERY MUCH out of the way! Upon further thought however, perhaps that is what keeps it so lovely and friendly?

Anyhow, I was once fortunate enough to be able to visit New Zealand’s South Island. I believe it was in May and the leaves were turning color. There was a fall chill in the air…strange, since we had just left tree buds exploding with flowers and greenery emerging from the sun’s warmth - a promise of lazy summer days was near.

We had many remarkable adventures in southern New Zealand as we explored the glacial and fjord-laden, yet lush, west coast; viewed spectacular snowy mountainscapes of the central region; and enjoyed sheep (many, many, MANY sheep) grazing on peaceful green hills in the eastern portion.

One of the most interesting places that we visited was the Royal Albatross Centre in Dunedin. Before the visit, I really new very little about these amazing birds, except that according to old sailing lore, it was considered bad luck to see one. Wasn’t an albatross involved in Edgar Allan Poe‘s novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym?

• WEBCAM - I was quite excited to discover a live webcam from Dunedin’s Royal Albatross Center. I found this quite some time ago and have been meaning to write about it. At the moment, it seems to be showing just a general view of the colony since eggs are still incubating. However when there are chicks, it is a nest cam! Remember, that since it is live, you might find it is dark when you go to check it out due to the time difference. Keep going back, it is worth it.

• TRACKING - There are quite a few sites out there that show tracking results for albatross that have been fitted with satellite trackers:

Seaturtle.org (2004 data)

2008 Black-Footed Albatross “race”: Check out these amazing results for “the 2008 winner” named Oski. In the 64 days (s)he was tracked, (s)he traveled a curved path totaling 19,571 km (a straight line distance of 4,943 km) at an average rate of 305 km/day!

The Hawaii Study: Has a good teaching/classroom component.

• ADOPTION - If your family or class has the means (or wants to do a few fundraisers), you can even adopt your own albatross. The cost ($2,500 in 2008) covers the tracking tag and three months of data. You can choose the name of your bird and follow him/her in real time through online maps. Cool! The non-profit sponsor, Oikonos, will also send you a framed photo of your actual bird as well as a map of the completed three month journey.

• TEACHING - Good classroom tools here.

Oikonos also offers free, downloadable classroom tools about the effects of trash and debris on marine birds.

The Albatross Project

• VIDEOS - The Internet Bird Collection These videos are amazing!

If you do nothing else, watch (and show your kids) this gorgeous video of albatrosses soaring over the ocean, and “playing” in the wind. It is such a beautiful sight that it actually made me cry! Please watch it!

OK, now that you have been moved to tears by these beautiful birds, how about trying to save them? Here are some organizations that would like some help (fundraiser anyone?):

• GIVING - Organizations that aim to protect the albatross from long-line fishing and ocean trash:

Oikonos

Save the Albatross

Birds Australia

I don’t homeschool, but if I did, I would somehow work in an albatross unit despite the fact that I live in Arizona! I hope that these resources will inspire somebody somewhere.

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PHOTO CREDITS: Thank you Wikimedia Commons! For photo credits and licensing information, click on these links: Squabbling Albatrosses and Soaring Albatross.

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Comments (2)

By Mom Unplugged, September 21, 2008 8:05 am

The children are playing nicely (for the moment) downstairs while I enjoy a peaceful, early morning cup of tea in bed - a weekend ritual for me. It is a gorgeous fall Sunday here in the mountains. The sky is that same unreal blue color as in my new header image, the air is smooth and cool and the leaves are just starting to take on a slight hint of color.

Homework is happily behind us and the day stretches on ahead, ripe with possibilities: a walk, a board game, a few chapters of a book. Today I am determined to make this a day spent with my children. Something I don’t do often enough.

I recently found these inspiring thoughts on the Screentime.org blog. If you occasionally need a little reminder to live life and forget the laundry (as I know I sometimes do) then read this thoughtful post and see if it helps.

(Many thanks to Wishy’s Husband for this lovely photo! This photo is NOT retouched. The sky really is that color here sometimes!)

Comments (9)

By Mom Unplugged, August 29, 2008 8:42 pm

Unplugged Project Special Edition

Now that my camera cable is back, here is our project for trees. Better late than never I suppose!

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I was fairly uninspired for the Unplugged Project theme of trees. It needed to be simple since we were in Albuquerque for the weekend, away from any supplies beyond crayons and paper. No one had ideas, then I suggested making trees out of our hand outlines. The idea was met with very little enthusiasm, but my oldest daughter and I decided to give it a go.

First we traced our hands:

Then we cut some small branches off some trees that needed a bit of pruning anyhow. We took the leaves off the branches to stick them on our handprints:

What started off as a rather dull project quickly became exciting when one of the leaves I was stripping off a branch suddenly hopped onto the countertop and began walking around!

He was amazingly similar to the leaves I was using and none of us had seen him, even up close, until he jumped off.

We all ooed and aahed and squealed with delight as our surprise visitor crawled on our hands and showed us that he knew how to fly.

After we had all had a very gentle turn with him, we carefully returned him to his tree.

Here is a photo of him in the tree to show you how well camouflaged he was (if you are having a hard time spotting him, look for the brown spot. That is him pooping - much to the delight of the children):

After that bit of unexpected excitement, we finished our projects with new enthusiasm!

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This was an Unplugged Project “special edition.” Be sure to check back on Monday morning to see what everyone comes up with for this week’s theme of insect.

Comments (5)

By Mom Unplugged, August 13, 2008 7:45 am

Last week I just flew our new plane from Denver to my Arizona hometown and thought I’d share a few photos of the spectacular scenery over the Rockies. Enjoy!