Zoo School: Big Cats

Our November theme for "zoo school" was big cats. We had an amazing experience! We got to see a training session with one of the tigers and visited a young tiger who was born at the zoo named Chewie. And the best of all was our animal visitor: a 2-month old snow leopard named Casper. He was super-fluffy and very cute, and we each got to pet him! We felt very lucky to have this opportunity. The kids also worked on a big cat sorting activity.

Homeschool15: Halloween

Kyrie did a great job on (both sides of) her unit folder!

Holiday units are always fun! During our Halloween unit we explore Halloween traditions and nocturnal animals. We have lots of fun (& maybe a few spooky) stories to read, and then get to have our own fun dressing up & trick-or-treating! 

Kyrie spends time during this unit learning about the traditions of Dia de los Meurtos.

I enjoyed reading this list of what Kyrie thinks is real or not real. 

Kyrie did a great job on this owl!

Degen's unit folder

Degen learned ALL about pumpkins!

He also learned lots about bats.

Degen is starting to work with sight words. 

Trick or Treat 2015

Though the Kiddie Parade was rained out, we had a beautiful day for the Grand Parade and Trick-or-Treating! The kids were excited to try out their costumes, and we had a great time making our way around Independence. 

Neewollah15 Fun

The best thing about Neewollah is spending time with friends & family! This year, we enjoyed making some spooky treats, busting a pinata, playing with friends, playing at the park, enjoying the Grand Parade and trick-or-treating. Unfortunately, the highlight of our Neewollah experience, the Kiddie Parade, was cancelled this year due to heavy rain. (We will keep this year's float and costumes for next year.) 

Batty cupcakes

The Grand Parade

Queen Neelah, the Queen of Neewollah

Neewollah15: The Drives

The kids worked together to reassemble this replica of a Chinese Terra Cotta Warrior.

As seems to be the case, what seems like just a few weeks after summer we were preparing for our annual trip to southeast Kansas for Neewollah! This is always a time of excitement for our family. On the drive to Neewollah, we have made stopping at the Indianapolis Children's Museum the best "rest stop" ever! This year, we started on the lower floors and then made stops to see the special, traveling exhibits and then on to our personal favorites. I only took a few pics this year, but here they are: 

This year's special exhibit was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It was a little busy in this exhibit, but the kids had fun testing their ninja skills. 

Another special exhibit, we enjoyed exploring sacred places around the world in this exhibit. Kyrie has been working on a country study of India, so we were particularly interested in the section about Hinduism.

An amazing view of the Gateway Arch!

On the second day of our drive back home, we woke to find the entire city of Effingham, IL in a fog. This was the thickest, most wide-spread fog that I have ever experienced. It took as 30+ minutes of driving to get through the cloud cover. At most times, the visibility was less than 100 feet. It was eerie to drive through, and we were grateful to get through it safely.