Thursday, September 11, 2008

Outdoor Hour Challenge #29: Sunflowers

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Wow, when we first planted our sunflower seeds it seemed to take so long for them to grow, and now it's all over. :(  But it was quite a fun process and I know the kids learned some stuff and I super enjoyed watching them do so.  Only 4 of our big seeds actually grew, but those 4 plants were awesome.  We had plenty more of the smaller variety sprout and in fact they are still going strong (despite me not really tending to them much in the past few weeks.)

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An early pic as one was beginning to bloom.

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On the same day the smaller varieties already had blossoms.

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A few weeks later, in full bloom, complete with bee.

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My favorite flower holder. :)

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Oh, the horror!  Anna Botsford Comstock, look away!!  This is my oldest ds, hacking into the dried up remains of one of the large sunflower heads.

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He dug around until he got to this.  He said he liked the little pattern in it.  My teacher's heart skipped a beat.

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We actually did follow the process outlined in the Handbook for examining the sunflower and broke it down into several parts as seen above.  My favorite is the little floret on the left.

100_5613 Ds2's journal. 100_5612My observances. 

Ds3 and ds4 did not get to participate in today's challenge.  Both have the croup, ds3 has a double ear infection and ds4 has one ear infection.  They are on their meds and on the mend, but poor ds3 gets dizzy when he is upright.  I'm sure we will all be able to join in for the next challenge (unless they pass this on to the rest of us, which is what you know will happen, but one can hope.) :)

5 comments:

  1. Fantastic nature study! Your sunflowers are so pretty and your journals are great.

    Miss Comstock actually said that when it comes to sunflowers, it is the ONE time we should dissect the flower....no guilt!

    Thanks for sharing your link,
    Barb-Harmony Art Mom
    I'm sad that the sunflowers are fading....next year.

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  2. Great entry! Our sunflowers just opened up yesterday, but we did our challenge at Grandma's house and had a lot of fun hacking up some sunflowers too.

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  3. Hi Julie,
    Thanks for stopping by and letting me know about the interview. I did the interview in early July and had forgotten about it. lol.
    You are doing such fun things with your boys. I love to pop over and see your nature studies. :)
    I have been reading your homeschool memoirs and it looks like your school year is going great. I esepecially like that MCWhizkid science book.
    How is your oldest ds adjusting to college?
    Ever time lately that I try to visit blogs my computer shuts down. Ugh!
    Pam

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  4. I love your nature studies, too.
    But I really came by to give you this little award. It's nothing really, I hope you like the color... ;)

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  5. Our sunflowers just bloomed and so I was looking back through Barb's challenges and reading some of the "sunflower" posts. I love your photos and how you dissected the flowers! Great study!

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Thanks for stopping by!