Homeschooling, Salmon Spawning, and Salmonberries- Life on the Tundra

Well we had a great second day of school. It seems we are really finding a rhythm that works for us. It's amazing how much can be acomplished in a few hours of homeschooling, and it makes me really realize how much of A's time would be wasted in a classroom setting. 
This morning we woke up around 8, but hung out in A's bed snuggling till about 8:30. The breakfast and feeding the dog, taking her out, and all those other morning routines. 
We ended up in the school room about 9:15.
From then to about 12:15, we had our school day. 
We covered spelling, math (A did 2 more lessons and their assignments on her Teaching Textbooks program), and our daily science work. We also spent some time on American History. We learned about James Madison, the War of 1812, Francis Scott Key, and the Star Spangled Banner. In fact, later out in the tundra playing, A was singing it over and over at the top of her lungs as she ran from hill to hill. A also started a biography of Dolly Madison.
We even managed to cover some grammar- reviwing action verbs and identifying them in sentences as well as chosing the more vivid action verb to complete sentences to give our writing more punch. We finished up with a quick work out of the daily writing book we are using, and learned more about chosing strong, specific ideas in writing.
For free read time (this is the time from when all school work is complete to when lunch is ready and A can chose any book she wants to read) A picked up Kate D. Camillo's book, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. I read aloud this book over the course of several days last week, and A enjoyed it so much that she has picked it up and is reading it again on her own.
After lunch and some down time, we took the crazy dog and headed out to Pyramid Valley. A and Bella both needed to run and get out of the house. It was a beautiful day and while they played and explored for several hours, I picked some more deliciously ripe salmonberries. 
When you think about it, all of this was accomplished while the school kids were still sitting at their desks and we even got to sleep later. Man I love homeschooling.

Anyway, on to the rest of this post. 
Sunday turned out to be a pretty decent day...cloudy but not rainy and windy like the day before...so of course we headed out as a family into the tundra for some fun.

The pink salmon are running right now and they fill the streams and creeks, turning the water into a massive black swirling entitity. It is really an amazing sight and the pics don't do it justice, but I tried to capture it anyway to share with yall.

If you look closely you will notice that the massive black area right there in the water is actually hundreds of salmon swimming up stream to spawn. They even create their own rapids.

 The surf was kicked up to much for A and Dh to fish, but they still had a lot of fun.
 Look at all those fish!

 A had a blast trying to catch them in her hands as they came in from the ocean. She managed to get one, but it jumped out of her hands before I could get the camera.
I love the life my child is able to experience here!


 Beautiful isn't it?
 Of course I can't be outside this time of year and not stop to pick some berries.

Salmonberries, super ripe on the bushes and ready for picking.

 A got into the action too.

Exploring secret places in the tundra, a perfect end to a day.



Comments

MastHoliday said…
Really, interesting story! all the pictures looking amazing.......
MommyWise said…
We loved Edward Tulane. It was a read aloud at bed time for the girls.