Rocks...igneous? sedimentary? metamorphic?

The beautiful yarn was a gift from a friend who spins!

Rainy weekend...rainy week ahead.  I had an inkling that this may happen.  That is, we would plummet into the dark days of Fall and Winter and suddenly time would free up for lessons.  Now I'm wishing I hadn't stressed myself out by starting schooling when it was in the 80's!

Brothers...makes me smile.

Outside is a wet shiny world of yellows and greens and the flaming leaf tips are beginning.  It makes me think of Scotland or Appalachia.  There's a mist of clouds hanging over the mountains and the lake has turned to slate gray. Very beautiful.  We started the pellet stove for an hour on Sunday and I've knitted two and half pairs of mittens so far.  As Ned Stark (aka lovely Sean Bean) would say, "Winter is Coming" ;)

Grandma was here at the end of last week and she planned a field trip the Geology Museum at the local University.  It's basically one room with lots of rocks and reading which, to a school group, would probably be really dry.  But since we were able to hang out one-on-one with Dodger and Sailor it was more interesting than I could have imagined.  I felt that we absorbed a lot about the history of where we live and the kids maintained focus for a couple of hours in that small museum.  As we learn more and more about the Champlain Basin it seems important to add some hands on activities.

The kids have been working on timelines and the concept of scale with Grandma, creating their own time lines with photos.  And this has been a fun exercise beyond reading, writing and listening.  Over the past weekend we decided to stretch our legs and we went on a hunt for things in nature to bring home and make our own fossils out of.  As usual it was a challenge to motivate folks at first but by the end of the walk I was shivering and desperate for a cup of tea, whereas the kids had found "rock entertainment" they didn't want to leave.

Kitten was busy throwing rocks and collecting "puzzle rocks", basically ones that have broken into pieces and can be fitted back together.  Sailor found an old railroad tie and smashed rocks...testing Moh's hardness scale I guess!  Eventually he decided to bring home some shale to grind to powder and try to make ink.  And  Dodger made rock sculptures.

Choosing bumpy, textured leaves.

Smashing rocks!

Dodger's art with found objects ;)

Back home in the warm!

The clay was very stinky, despite being non-toxic!

After hot chocolate, pie and  healthy dose of LEGO play we made our fossils in clay...we'll see how they turn out once they are dry, I'm thinking possible Christmas ornaments.  They remind me of ornaments my stepmother made when I was a teenager...maybe that's where I got the idea!

I'm thinking about making homemade geodes next....and we'll be taking a field trip to the oldest coral reef in the world when Grandma comes back next time.  Luckily, it happens to be about 15 miles from here :)