Skip to main content

There's a "Secret" in this "Garden"

Last year I planted two potted tulips, that were on clearance at Walmart (after Easter) and an Easter Lily, in my favorite little spot in our backyard. Everything I read said that these would not come back up this year!


I know you cannot see it well, but hidden in the midst of all those weeds are all three flowers fully sprouting! I almost cried when I saw them!


Brynne and I are starting a unit on The Secret Garden today.

We are planning to cover this unit until the end of April. I got this idea when I read that our local community theatre was doing auditions for "The Secret Garden", a play that will take place that month. That got my wheels turning!

I bought the book on cd, by Classic Starts: The Secret Garden.


We are going to listen to it and then do TONS of activities! We will do a plant study, build an earthworm habitat, do balloon botany, do flower poundings, make pretties for our garden, plant lots of things, make stone plant labels, make a twig trellis, make a moss covered flower pot, hand make a skipping rope,do other crafts and coloring pages, go on some field trips (one to a fully sustainable "green" nursery and to a couple of beautiful "Secret Garden"ish gardens in Tulsa), make a vocabulary flower garden, read LOTS of books, bake, have tea parties, and go see the play.

Many of the activities we will do came from the book Inside the Secret Garden: A Treasury of Crafts, Recipes, and Activities by Carolyn Strom Collins.


Our major plant study is a free plant unit study found at Funtastic Unit Studies. Click on the Freebies link, scroll down to Science Freebies, and click on "Sue's Free Plant Unit Study".

Our biggest project will be transforming this space into our own Secret Garden habitat for birds and butterflies.


In the spring and summer it's always much prettier. But, can you say weeds? Yikes! It needs some TLC! We will clean it up, add some more pretties, maybe an arbor and a bench. I kind of like the inspiration behind this garden.


I cannot wait to celebrate this classic and the newness of Spring with my sweet girl.

Comments

  1. This sounds like a wonderful unit!! Have fun :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing your ideas and your resources with the OHC newsletter!

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love it when you can find a ton of projects and books and "stuff" to go along with something you want to do. Makes everything all the more interesting, memorable, and fun. Have a great time with the unit - I always loved the story of the Secret Garden!

    ReplyDelete
  4. "The Secret Garden" was one of my favorite books ever. My Mother read it to me one summer during my little brother's nap time. I know that Brynne will love this!

    ReplyDelete
  5. what is balloon botany?

    annette @ a net in time
    http://anetintimeschooling.weebly.com/a-net-in-time-blog.html

    ReplyDelete
  6. Fun ideas! I LOVE the Secret Garden- that book sounds great.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

We all know that in this crazy world of homeschooling, we need all the (adult) support we can get. Please leave a comment if you so wish!

Popular posts from this blog

ABCya

Eli's reading resource teacher shared a website with me yesterday that I would like to pass along. It's called ABCya . There are separate educational sections with fantastic games for ages kindergarten through 5th grade. I browsed the 2nd grade level, and it includes age-appropriate games about Letters, Numbers, Shapes, Geometry, Patterns, Mouse Manipulation, Art and Holiday games. There are lots and lots of fun and creative games for children to play. They are fun, but oh, so educational. Eli's favorite, in his short time playing it, was Create a Car . A lot of the games also have Apps available for purchase (99 cents for most of them) for the iPad and iPhone. I have been looking for another free website for games similar to Starfall , for some time. I think I have found it. I can feel confident having Eli and Brynne play these games.

Cells ~ It's What's for Dinner

Dawson made edible cells on Friday. He made an animal cell pizza ... and a plant cell chocolate chip cookie ... He reviewed what he's learned about cells the past two weeks, and I had dinner made by someone else. Win, win!! I am linking up at Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom.

Last Child in the Woods ~ Chapters 1-4

Welcome to our book study of Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv. To be honest, I have no idea what this "study" is going to look like. I imagine that when we get together I will post about all of the things that caught my eye. And I would ask that you leave a comment, or a link to your own blog post in the comment, about what caught yours. This isn't anything formal, ladies, just a place to talk about what we have read. I have now read the first four chapters of Last Child in the Woods two times. It is just so good. Several things have specifically hit me deep, but in general I just realized that "times, they are a changin'." Things aren't the way they were when we were kids. Chapter 1. Gifts of Nature ~ "When I see birches bend to left and right ... I like to think some boy's been swinging them." ~ Robert Frost What is your definition of nature? What feelings, visions, senses does it conjure up? For me, it's not a