State Archaelogical Area

Last week, we visited a State Archaelogical Area called Sellars Farm. 

The History of Sellars Farm

            A significant platform mound possibly used as a dwelling for an important ruler or ceremonies.

Our wonderful guide, Tyler, telling about the history and landscape of this Native American village, thought to have been inhabited from 1000 AD to 1300 AD.

Mayapple flower

Boys and their stick guns and swords

Fish eggs laid in a shell

Gathering freshwater mussel shells

A spiny soft-shelled turtle

Fascinating Fungi

                                     A beautiful, wonderful day, filled with friends, nature, and history!

Science Fair

We attended the annual Science Fair at Volunteer State Community College.

Walden's Puddle (an animal rescue-rehab group) shared some interesting stories and facts about different animals.  This opossum was a favorite!  They are so cute and supposedly they make better pets than cats.  Companion and garbage disposal in one! 

Making putty

A little pig anatomy..."wow look at the intestines."

Pasta skeleton.

Bone drawings....

Examining a cow eye...

The egg drop!  H looks forward to this each year.  The kids are given a packet of materials(sticks, cardboard, pipe cleaners, straws, tape, 2 rubberbands, a string, and 2 small squares of bubble wrap) and they must construct a protector for the egg.

His box made it past the 8ft. and 12ft. drop, without breaking.

The final drop (16ft.)   He is making adjustments...only a small crack in his egg after the drop.  He was  satisfied with his design and planning how he will improve upon it, next year.

Nature Walk

We went for a walk together last week and made a few interesting discoveries.

 We are trying to figure out a little creature we found in the creek.  They appear to be in a larvae stage but partially in a rocky casing with their legs and head poked out, crawling on the bottom.  We are still investigsting.

Squeezing water out of the algae makes it lighter so he can throw algae bombs!

A suprise find!  Our Jersey mix cow had twins(her 6th set) and abandoned one of them.

We picked her up and took her to the barn.  She was 1 day old and took to the bottle very well.

We are still trying to get her mother and other calf in the barn, hopefully to take them both. 

Learning by Chocolate

We did a fun study all about chocolate, and finished up with some hands on learning at a local Chocolatier.

We read a book about chocolate and worked on a lap book. 

Now, for some taste testing at The Cocoa Tree.

 

Truffles!  Yum!

A delicious treat!  We learned some geography (Central America), Ancient history(Mayans), science (cacao tree, pollination, cacao beans), harvesting, processing, creating, and eating...all from a little chocolate!

A few days later H came up with this joke:  "mom, what is a cow's favorite tree?

"a Cacao (CACOW) tree!  :)