This Orange Ain't Sunkist...

For two months now, we've had Declan enrolled in Tae Kwon Do. He absolutely loves it and, I must say, we've noticed a huge difference in him (for the good). The school structure is fantastic and his teacher does a wonderful job, not only teaching them karate, but also interacting with them and knowing/understanding that they are kids. It's a fun yet enriching time.

Enrolling him was a definite good move on our part and I strongly recommend karate to anyone out there who has considered it. Go do it. If you'd like detailed info regarding the school we go to, let me know.

This past Tuesday Declan had his first formal testing. Personally, I think he did fantastic, but don't take my word for it. See for yourself:

**ignore the double postings of the videos, there's a technical issue with blogger it seems...

Don't look now, Mommy...Slugzilla is on the loose

Today for learning time, Declan and I decided to take a nature hike and talk about all of the things we see. It was a great walk and for a kid with a treasure bucket to fill up, life doesn't get much better. We set off into the forest and, like all boys do, we kicked, cracked, pulled and prodded everything we could to dig up creepy crawlies, roley-poleys and slithery-slimeys.

The first pull provided an opportunity to talk about plants and how they work. Looking at a small plant, we talked about how the plants roots are like straws that drink water from the ground. That water goes up the stalk and out to the leaves. And, with Autumn approaching, we found some specimens to show what happens when trees don't send moisture to the leaves.

The next find was a creepy crawly one. We found some downed trees and under the bark we found a whole colony of ants, which at the sudden loss of their home were scrambling in a terrified frenzy trying to save what they could before doomsday. Cool, huh? Declan also spotted a macaroni log hiding in the woods. Good eye, bud.

We found spiders and worms, daddy long-leggers and worms, but I must say that Declan had the find of finds. We found a few cut logs which were decaying nicely and, with the walking stick, we poked some apart. We found two freaks of nature: Slugzilla and Mr. Roley-poley Giant (guess who named that one).

This little piggie went to market

This morning we decided to go to the local market. After learning time we did arts and crafts. During arts and crafts we talked about what a market was and how it's different from a grocery store.

We talked about how farmers and bakers and candy makers can bring things to market to sell and how almost all of the stuff comes from our area.

We had a really good trip and, after a few decent buys, we'll have an even better supper tonight!