Brooks and Streams

The topic for Nature Study today was Brooks and Streams. The kids were fascinated....okay, Laura and Clay were anyway. I think Barley primarily enjoyed the diversion from regular school work. :)

The best time to study a creek is right after it rains -- and voila -- it rained today!
We walked upstream through the creek and noticed how it drops its load: larger rocks settle in the middle of the creek, the sand and smaller rocks come to rest on the edges, and the mud is found on the sides. They learned about dams and how the silt collects on the rocks before flowing over the dam. Laura especially liked the idea of the creek "playing" and "working" at different times. She was able to point out the areas at which it works is in the bends and turns where it cuts deeper and deeper into the bank.

As they listened to the creek playing, rushing, and tripping over the rocks and dams, I was thankful again for the opportunity to homeschool such eager learners.

We found and followed the source of water that flows into the pond. Having been raised in the Delta area of Arkansas, it was interesting to find that a pond also has a delta where the dirt is deposited before the water continues on.

Tomorrow they will follow the creek to it's primary source which is a spring. We will also be observing the fruit jar full of water, creek sand, rocks and mud to see how it looks in comparison to how these things settle in the creek.