la jolla marine bio beach teach

 

la jolla 2.21.2013

miss smartypants 8th grader was invited on our homeschool co-ops high school marine bio beach teach lab. the younger brownsugars went to the Birch Aquarium with their sitter & big sis & i spent the day together exploring the beach & tide pools with the high school kids. (btw - i loved this awesome group of teens!) 

the day started out chilly but by the time we hit the water it was much warmer, sunny & absolutely beautiful!

 

*note to self*- the red wellies were a fantastic choice! i would have been miserable with wet jeans, socks, shoes & freezing feet!

 

SUCH a fantastic day & another fave field trip

(the younger girls had a fantastic time too!...bummed i missed it)

Gold Rush at Riley's Farm

Riley's Farm. Oak Glen, Ca. 11.1.12

a few weeks ago a friend invited us on their homeschool charter's living history trip at one of our fave local places 

Riley's Farm. 
it was on our fall to do check list, so we packed our stuff up last minute & hit the road early in the morning!

my mama made the brownsugars costumes a few years ago when we visited the Colonial Farm Life trip
& luckily they worked again for this Gold Rush trip. 
(because really what better way to experience a living history field trip than being in costume!)
check the Riley's Farm link...it's absolutely beautiful & they have so many many fantastic things to offer! 

our guide giving the group a history lesson & the laws of the land.

mining in the gold field.

to enter we had to make a deal with the claim owner.

our deal was to pay 30 percent of the gold found. 

the kids mostly calculated their negotiations themselves.

{these pix are out of order...oops}

searching for nuggets by hand in the sluice boxes.

afterwards the girls decided that maybe it would be better to invest some of their hard earned gold mining money on a {highly} price inflated mining pan.  

 at the bank they converted all their gold into paper money.

there was even a bank robbery!

 the miners also had the opportunity to try to earn extra money by doing other chores if they could find any.

 

after the claims & the bank closed for the day

we were served a miner's lunch that consisted an apple, jerky meat, cornbread, a slice of cheese & lemon aide

before the auction in the big barn

(where of course you get to spend your hard days work earned pay).

the auction was such a great educational lesson in supply & demand (as the supply of objects to bid on decreased, the bidding price on the remaining objects increased significantly).

at the end of the auction the guide discussed supply & demand in further detail as well as other valuable educational & historical info.

one of our fave tidbits was that he pointed out that the same people owned the claims, mines, the goods & supplies for purchase, the bank, the auction, pretty much everything involved

& they made a fortune off (US) the desperate miners!

i'm not giving it all away,

but fall at Riley's Farm is a beautiful time of year to visit (as any actually)...check out the Riley's Farm link to see why!

Elfin Forest Hike...kicking off our hiking season

 

elfin forest unit

acorn naturalist

plant identification cards from the kit

crossing Escondido Creek

 

 

Elfin Forest Interpretive Center
Elfin Forest Recreational Reserve 10.27.12

 

yesterday kicked off hiking season for us (we are wimps in the summer heat).

even though we are currently experiencing the warm dry October Santa Ana wind weather, our weather starts to cool off soon after.

we've been here about 6 years & this was our 1st time hiking the Elfin Forest Recreational Reserve & the brownsugars & i had such a great time doing it with our homeschool co-op group.

 

i purchased a unit study specifically for the Elfin Forest from one of my fave resources, Acorn Naturalist & brought it with. along with the parents guides, it was a very handy resource. i'm loving that the kit is reusable because aside from hiking the Elfin Forest again, our area is filled with similar local chaparral & we can easily reuse the kit to expand on the hike & finish some of the activities we didn't get to.

 

the hike was fun & very informative, the kids were super excited about spotting a coyote down by the creek BUT the preserves amazing Interpretive Center was by far the highlight! we could have spent hours!

it was beautifully done inside & out. the displays caught & kept everyone's attention. there were so so many FANTASTIC hands on activities but i will just mention a few (A MUST SEE).
the microscope with camera & TV screen set up was def a fave. we were able to collect & view samples of the Escondido Creek water we crossed on our hike & discover some of specimens that were present in it such as fresh water flatworm planaria, algae, mayfly larvae & more. there were also other samples prepared for viewing.
the center provided owl pellets to dissect, tons of real-life or realistic habitat specimen samples were on displayed which helped identify what we saw & what we missed, beautiful art work, fantastic docents...a very rich real life educational environment for all ages.
way too much to see & do...we cannot wait to go back!