it was a relaxing sort of day.  we didn’t plan on starting school today…you know…with the big hoorah and the excitement even though it was the first day for the public schools around us.  we were going to start next week after everything was all orderly and in place.  that is the control freak in me.

so jonah and i spent some quality time on our bellies this morning.  i snapped away but he just fell asleep.  its hard to hold your head up when it’s 1/3 of your body weight and nearly as wide as your entire self.

to the garden i went.  the kids and i noticed how many blooms we had on all the plants but then [gasp] we noticed real food!  we picked some sugar snap peas and talked about how things grow.  we examined the details of the food, we counted the peas inside each pod, we used the sun as our xray machine to see all the veins…we thoroughly observed.  we pulled weeds together, we harvested lettuce together, we yucked at the slugs and accidentally trompled a corn stalk but then…

we found a friend.  in the zucchini.

and he made us giggle with his wiggles.  side note: my girl was the only one who would hold him.  love to see that sweet little lady with a pinch of tomboy.

we decided to observe him for a bit before releasing him.  there have been accidental frog deaths in our midst in the past so we were very careful not to hurt God’s creature this time.

all three kids had a blast with this surprise find!  the 2 year old helped me count how many finger and toes he had.  the 5 & 7 year olds told me all the things they noticed about the frog.  like the fact that frog’s belly was bumpy when the 5 year old was expecting it to be smooth.  or that he had sticky things on his fingers that reminded him of the plunger in our bathroom.  that lead to a long conversation about the plungers at Sears that they love to stick to the ground and then make pwop! loudly.  but we came back to the frog.

see?  bumps.  and plungers.

we then talked about his color and pattern and how he may have gotten in our garden.  while i have out of this world possibilities (he fell from space, we accidentally planted frog seeds, and my fav…his plane just landed an hour ago and he got lost on the way to the rental cars) big Sis was quick to remind me of the frog life cycle and birth process.  i smiled inside, stoked that she retained such information.

we discussed what he could eat, if he would be comfortable with a butterfly in the observatory with him and if he ever brushed his teeth.  of course, i corrected them.  come on?!  all good homeschoolers know that frogs are comfortable with butterflies!  😉

we released the frog (and the butterfly) and went back to the garden.  dirt kissed hands picked unripe fruit and lessons were shared on attributes of a ready food.

we laughed about our funky carrots and hypothesized as to how they got that way.  best we can figure, the rock-rich soil is not letting them grow very deep.  so we get curly-carrots…a new breed.  like curly fries but better.

it was hot out.  and we had new legos thanks to a certain four year old turned five the night prior.  but did they float?  science experiment time!  the tubs we started out with weren’t good enough.  a pool sounded way better.

between discussions of displacement, examples of currents and detective work to see what could be causing our boats to sink, we learned a lot today.  we learned that 2 year old’s diaper weighs 2.9 pounds when fully immersed under the water.  we learned that green tomatoes, if eaten, turn your face inside out.  we learned that slugs are very good at hiding in what looks like healthy lettuce.  we learned that not all lego boats float.  and we learned that school can happen in the pool.  after all my concerns about getting the school room ready or having the plan all filed correctly, i adored our unexpected first day of school.

happy faux day of school everyone.