Amy's Farm

L's account of our fieldtrip

Address: 7698 Eucalyptus Ave. Ontario, CA. 91762 Admission cost: $5 per person I went with my NOW group. My mom, my brother, and my sister. This place is known for taking the baby cows from the neighboring farms to take care of them. I think the most special or unique thing about this place is that a family actually lives there. I saw kids go through a secret gate into their fort. The first thing I noticed was the roosters. We heard them crowing when we were getting out of the car.

I learned how to feed a baby cow. That was my favorite part of the day. It was my favorite because it was new to me. The big bottle was silly looking. And, the baby cow sucked so hard that it was difficult to hold the bottle.

Another favorite thing I saw was baby chicks. I also got to feed a pig, pet the goats, pet a sheep, and hold a bunny rabbit.

What surprised me the most was how big a cow actually is. This is Mama Tina. She is 12 years old, and has had 8 babies. She is about 5' Tall and 9' long. She is a Swiss Cow.

I didn’t like the goats, because I thought they were going to eat my shirt.

I would tell someone not to miss holding the bunnies. They’re so soft.

The weather was hot. Next time I won’t forget my hat. On a scale of 1 to 5 I would rate this place… a 363. Because…I loved feeding the cows. And here's Gus. We saw him at the very end.

Centennial Heritage House

Mom interviewed L about his fieldtrip. This is what he had to say... This place is known for: being over 100 years old. The first thing I noticed was: that they have a Blacksmith Shop. I learned about: a Victrola (the record player), a stereoscope (a picture viewer), a telephone with a crank.

I learned how to play a pump organ, make butter, and wash laundry with a scrub board and a crank wringer. I liked the crank wringer. I wish we had one. I would help my mom with laundry every day.

They had different clothes pins a long time ago too, to hang up their clothes to dry. The kids would play a fun game with the clothes pins.

My favorite thing was: the special “mustache cup” that Mr. Kellogg used. It was my favorite because it had a special way to keep his handlebar mustache clean while drinking. This kept Mr. Kellogg from getting a “milk moustache”. I didn’t like: that it rained. It was cold when we were eating our oranges. I went with my N.O.W. group. It was a really fun trip. I wish we could do it again.

Switzerland

The kids had a blast learning about Switzerland from C. They tasted Swiss Cheese. They took turns playing an accordion. And they yodeled. Here's a map with land forms... And another one with landmarks...

Switzerland is cool because so many different languages are spoken.

The Netherlands

A. taught on the Netherlands. L. was still in Napa with Nana, so only T was there for the NOW time.

The flag... I love this collage with different scrapbook papers. They were pre-cut and the kids had to match #1 to #1 spots and #2 to #2 spots and #3 to #3 spots. This was a good craft for the kids. The kids could use red, yellow, and blue wherever they wanted on this grid to make a Mondiran style art piece.

The kids also planted a tulip bulb in a pot to take home and watch sprout. And the kids sampled some Dutch carmel cookies that A. was able to get at Trader Joe's. This was T's favorite part of Holland.

Christmas Party

We hosted the Christmas Party for our NOW group at our house. We had a lot of fun, but I didn't get many pictures. We made wrapping paper. We have a tile floor in our garage with a coin pattern. We used muffin tin rubbing crayons on a 36" wide roll of paper. The rubbings came out beautiful and each kids took home a 10' roll of wrapping paper. We made Salt & Light candles. I colored salt with food coloring. I just added a few drops to the salt in a ziplock and squished it around until it was well blended. The kids layered salt in small glass jars and then we added a tea light. I had a verse about being Salt & Light printed to a card that was tied around the candle. The kids took these home as a gift they could give. We made Candy Cane ornaments. The kids stacked red and white tri-beads on pipecleaners. Then we hooked the end like a Candy Cane. We read the Christmas story. I used What God Wants For Christmas to tell the story to the kids. I found color pages from each day for the kids to take home. We ate lunch and decorated cupcakes.

Great Brittan

C taught about Great Brittan to the K-kids, but we had colds and had to miss our NOW time. She dropped off a packet, and we were thrilled to be able to spend several days on this. The map of Great Brittan. Scottland in the plaid, Ireland in the green, Whales is appropriately a whale, and England is farmland. Some American/British language differences. The pieces that make the Union Jack, the British Pound and some coins, a collage of stamps. The flag of Whales. The Cross of St. Andrew is the flag of Scotland. The cross of St. George is the flag of England. The Union Jack and a London collage. People from England love tea. A British person drinks about 900 cups of tea each year. We had our own little tea party today.

France

A taught the K-Kids about France today. She had the kids arrange their chairs at the front of the room and they pretended they were in an airplane flying across the Atlantic. This was L's favorite part of the morning. The colored the French flag and a map. They were impressionist artists and copied a Monet painting. Here's the original.

L's art.

T's art.

And they read Madeline's Christmas. The boys really enjoyed this because we've been reading Madeline all week!

Thanksgiving Feast

Today, the day before Thanksgiving, we celebrated with our 2nd annual Thanksgiving Feast at C's house. The weather was gorgeous. And the company was even better.

C had planned a million crafts for the kids. So fun. The boys made pilgrim hats and Indian head-dresses. C had white bonnets for all the girls. There were beads to string, teepee's to make, boy and girl pilgrims, and even canoes.

At the outside tables, there was coloring and stamping and stickers. I colored too =0).

This year C even gathered leaves from her neighbor's yards as well as her own for our leaf pile. I love the photos with leaves in mid-air.
There weren't many pictures with Ty. He was hiding his cast.

Lunch was the traditional Thanksgiving meal. Each mom brought something...and the kids at least tried some of it all. Ty doesn't like gravy?! Go figure. Luke needed more gravy, and he loved the stuffing. I brought pumpkin and apple pies. Luke had wanted to make apple pie like on his first day of school. Ty got his cast on Tuesday...so there went our pie baking time. Luke did say...store bought pies are good...just not as good as homemade. Maybe we'll get to do this again next year. I sure hope so.

Italy

S went to Italy last fall for her birthday/anniversary. She LOVED it and was so excited to teach the kids about it. I usually copy L's work if I only copy one sample, but today I'm sharing T's work. He's working really hard on writing for being only 4!

The kids glued together a flag of Italy.

And they learned about different cities of this boot shaped country.

There was too much to scan it all. But really, think of all that we owe to the Italians. Inventions, Music, Art, Architecture, Pasta! The boys favorite part of the day was the Gelato taste test! Even the little ones and the moms got to sample too. Thanks S!

The boys LOVED learning about Fiats, Maseratis, Lamborghinis, and Ferraris. Especially T! He is obsessed with speed. =0) He might be my little race car driver.

And for a craft, the kids made mosaics. I only have photos of these still wet. They're already out in my yard...and it's too dark to go get new photos.