We are wrapping up our study of Botany this week. We visited the US Botanical Garden in WDC. It was a really good trip. Kids enjoyed moving from room to room - Hawaii, the Desert, Orchid Room, Endangered plants room. The Garden has such a wonderful ambience. We had a little time before we needed to be back home before rush hour so we walked over to the National Gallery of Art. We aren't cultured enough to enjoy all the art but we thoroughly enjoyed the gift gallery. I was able to pick up Renaissance Art Cards to play "go fish" and a activity book on Arcimboldo - an artist whose works were made of fruits and vegetables. What a great segue from Botany to Art. I found this book at the library and finished it on Monday. The author mentions visiting the Gallery of Art and purchasing some great items for art appreciation for her homeschool. It gave me some really great ideas for homeschooling as it chronicles a mother's homeschooling year with her 5th grade daughter. Unlike a lot of homeschooling books I've read, the book reads like a novel instead of a "how to" book. But I should have expected that since the author is a college literature professor. Makes for some good reading especially for a newbie like me.

Tuesday we worked on Botany collages - finding pictures of people using plants in our world aesthetically, culturally, religiously, etc.



Wednesday & Thursday are a blur with the exception of buying supplies for our human body science unit on Thursday, and going to the library. But today we shopped for our Christmas box for Samaritan's Purse. We will have to do some work on Saturday to catch all of the things that fell through the cracks during the week.

Hope you had a productive week. Join the weekly wrap up by visiting the weird, unsocialized homeschoolers blog and sign up and see what other homeschooling families have been doing this week.