Educational Camping

So first let me start with I am sorry for the lack of post. The downside to everything being shut down is we are not doing as many cool homeschool things as we normally do this time of year so I, unfortunately, do not have a lot to talk about on here.

Now with that things in West Virginia are starting to open up which means our yearly Memorial Day camping trip and rifle shoot were able to happen. Which the kids were very happy about. Though I will admit there are not as many people here for it as they normally are. Although, it did make social distancing easy, even if the normal amount of people showed up it would still be easy to social distance. We actually are finding out that in the right location camping is actually a good vacation to have and still be able to social distance from everyone. So we will most likely go camping again as more things open up.

(mine and my parents wall tent)

Now with that being said, the camping we do is not like the camping lots of other people do. We camp like we are living in 1600-1800. So not only are the kids having fun, but they are getting a great history lesson in as well. Which is great because it saves me a week of planning and research. Not only that but because they also are learning things hands-on while having fun they tend to remember what they are learning a little better. 

Not only do they get to learn about history while doing this but they get to take part in some awesome activity that they normally wouldn't. Like throwing a tomahawk and knife, shooting archery and some events even offer shooting rifles for younger children. They can even win prizes as they get older for taking part in this activity while camping.

(lilly learning how to safely throw a hack and knife)

Not only are they learning new things but these events attract people from all over the place, even people from outside the use. So they get to meet interesting people and learn about how other people act, as well as tolerance for social differences. 

These type of reenactment travel all over the place as well. If you are interested in taking part in it, or just going for a visit you can learn more here.

So if you click the here link it will take you to a Google search that  give you links to several of the larger events that happen threw out the year.

As always I hope you enjoyed reading my blog. If you like this please make sure that you find my podcast as well. You can listen to it by clicking this link here. Also if you are a homeschool or parent in need of worksheets, or clipart please make sure you check on my Teachers pay teachers store by clicking here

Home Grown Mushrooms

First off I want to say, sorry for no post last week and the late post this week. For some reason, I had been in a bit of a funk and needed to take a bit of time to myself to work on other projects. I also wanted to take time away from my blog because it was starting to turn into a job and not something fun anymore.

I know that sounds odd since this is a new blog but as a homeschool mom, I am actually really busy this time of year. Though it isn't really the homeschool that has made me busy since we are wrapping up our normal curriculum and getting ready to switch over to our summer curriculum. (Which is a little easier and more just reviewing what we learned so we don't forget stuff). But with summer comes a lot of extra tasks. Making my blog seem more like a job that I needed to make time for then something fun.

So with that being said, now it is time to talk about a really cool project we have been working on the past few weeks. That project is growing mushrooms. Mushrooms are one of the few healthy foods I do not have to fight my 6-year-old to eat. So what way could we make her favorite food even better? We let her grow her own!

( My oldest with her mushrooms)

I found this kit by mistake at Lowe's when I was looking for seeds for our garden adventurous (which if anyone read my post about that it is not going well). It was tucked in the back behind a lot of newer looking guarding stuff which made me wonder if it was worth spending money on. However, it was on sale and I have a bad habit of justifying my purchases if they are marked down 50% or more. So I got it. 

So these kits I normally stay away from because they are overpriced, a lot of the time they don't work for me, and my kids normally start them but then quite halfway threw due to a number of reasons them making them my projects. (Thanks to this anytime my kids start something they are now made to finish it but do not have to get any more of that project and the project must be age-appropriate). However, this was was pretty easy so my 6-year-old had no problem doing most of the project by herself.

So to begin with we opened the box and soaked the compacted dirt in water overnight according to the instructions. Then after that, it was as simple as putting it in the box and just remind my 6-year-old to spry the dirt twice a day. (For younger kids I would suggest getting a spray bottle with a trigger. The one the kit has is a push top spray bottle and was a little hard for my 6-year-olds little hands to use but she smaller than most kids her age). Then in about two weeks, we had fully grown mushrooms that we could eat!

(our fully grown mushrooms)

One of the things I really liked about this kit is it comes with a flyer that teaches you about mushrooms. So we were able to use the whole thing as our science for a bit. We learned how to observe changes in things, we learned about different mushrooms, and we also learned how to take responsibility for something. Which are all things I can get behind. Another good thing about this kit is if you go to their web site and share your picture with the fully grown mushrooms the company donates a kit to different things. (Places that grow food for others, and looked like schools as well according to the comment from the company). 

The only down side I found to the kit is it did cost a bit. On the Back to Roots website the kit is 25.00 (that does not include shipping or taxes) when it seemed like many local stores like Lowe's, and Ace Hardware had the kits for a lot less. So if this is something you are interested in I would check your local stores to see if they have the kit in stock first before getting it from Back to the Roots if you are wanting to save some money.

So I hope this is something many other homeschool family can find a way to add into their home school. If you have any other ideas you would like to share please do so in the comments. Don't forget to find us on Instagram at Retro Girl Worksheets. Also check out my TPT shop Retro Girl Worksheets for some cool clip art, coloring pages, and supplemental worksheets. We also have a podcast on podbean called Retro Girl's Treehouse but it is not as family friendly as my blog. (Just warning anyone before the go out and find it!)