Welcome to our 2006/07 Projects! Our first project was sprouting beans, but I forgot to take pictures.  Oops!  We've also tried our hands at being frogs catching their prey using sticky toys and cut out paper bugs. Here are pictures of our first photographed project - Owl Puke!  One of the science lessons was on predators and prey.  I had gotten the owl puke (a regurgitated pellet containing fur, bones and what-have-you that an owl produces after eating) last year but we hadn't used it.  The kit comes with a book, a bone sorting tray and a steralized owl pellet.  It's very important that you do not excavate owl pellets that you may find outdoors as they could carry germs. Book out, gloves on and ready to go! Fur and bones!  We even found a skull! Some hind legs with the ball for the ball & socket hip joint, some ribs, and a complete skull including the lower jaw and teeth.  Poor little rodent! (I thought I'd get a little squeemy doing this, but it wasn't too bad.) This experiment had to do with the water cycle, condensation and evaporation.  First we dug a hole in the back yard (just about anything for education!), put a dry container in the bottom of the hole, covered it with plastic and put a rock on the plastic over the container to help direct any water that might condense.  Then we waited a week to see what might happen. After a week we had collected about a tablespoonful of water! Christopher Columbus Lapbook This year we are using The Light & The Glory For Children for our history and geography studies.  The first two chapters dealt with Christopher Columbus. This is an information sheet complete with flaps, on California missions. Having grown up in San Diego, this was especially fun for Mom!