Welcome to Galleon's Lap! We are a homeschooling family in Orange County, California. Although the decision to homeschool was made when my oldest was still an infant, we have only 'officially' begun homeschooling last year when he entered Transitional Kindergarten through a state charter school.
For more about us, follow the links below!
The Family - Who are we?
Galleon's Lap - Why we picked the name Galleon's Lap and what it means.
Why We Homeschool - What were the reasons we decided to start homeschooling and why do we continue?
Curriculum Choices - Take a look at what we're using for school!
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary
This week we went to Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary located in the heart of Modjeska Canyon. This is another area I love to visit because it feels like we are no where near 'O.C.' but in a sweet wooded canyon miles away.
Unfortunately, I didn't call ahead and the place was crawling with public school field trips. So many in fact, that we were actually kicked out of the nature center but a rather bisque woman. Another ranger who wasn't currently leading a group suggested some places for us to hang out and explore while the school groups finished up. She even stayed with us in different areas and explained some interesting facts. We had an earlier lunch and lost a few people from our group.
Once the field trips finally left we were able to walk a little loop. We found bugs, lizards and so many different birds. We ended up at the nature center at the end (I bought the field guide for wild flowers that matches the birds I got earlier!).
And then the excitement started. It was feeding time for the snakes in the nature center! They gave live mice to the snakes, who hadn't eaten in 3 1/2 weeks. We had the chance to watch the snakes strike at the mice, squeeze them, and then eat them whole.
Pictures follow, as always! Warning: Pictures of the snake and mice are in here so if your squeamish you may not want to look all the way through.
Unfortunately, I didn't call ahead and the place was crawling with public school field trips. So many in fact, that we were actually kicked out of the nature center but a rather bisque woman. Another ranger who wasn't currently leading a group suggested some places for us to hang out and explore while the school groups finished up. She even stayed with us in different areas and explained some interesting facts. We had an earlier lunch and lost a few people from our group.
Once the field trips finally left we were able to walk a little loop. We found bugs, lizards and so many different birds. We ended up at the nature center at the end (I bought the field guide for wild flowers that matches the birds I got earlier!).
And then the excitement started. It was feeding time for the snakes in the nature center! They gave live mice to the snakes, who hadn't eaten in 3 1/2 weeks. We had the chance to watch the snakes strike at the mice, squeeze them, and then eat them whole.
Pictures follow, as always! Warning: Pictures of the snake and mice are in here so if your squeamish you may not want to look all the way through.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Laguna Beach Main Beach - Kelpfest 2013
So, I posted earlier about kelpfest and thought I would share how our trip went. I have to state how much I despise parking at the beach on weekends on beautiful days. Then add onto that special events or holidays and it is just awful. After driving around for what felt like forever, I finally found a lot that let me pay $10 for all day parking. I hated doing it because I knew we wouldn't be there all day but better that then driving around some more so I just submitted.
Thankfully, the beach was a short walk from where we ended up parking and there were a lot of people there. Kelpfest was at Main Beach which is beautiful, and busy. There were a lot of cool booths there for the kids to explore all featuring things on either the ocean, kelp forests, or just being green.
After we explored the festival area we just had to go on the playground! This was also very busy and crowded with a lot of kids. Green Bubbles loved having all the instant 'friends' to play with and created his own game of follow the leader. Little Miss just liked playing in the sand and swinging.
Just a few steps away was the actual beach so we went to get our toes wet and play in the sand for a few minutes before packing it up and returning home.
Now the best part, pictures!
Thankfully, the beach was a short walk from where we ended up parking and there were a lot of people there. Kelpfest was at Main Beach which is beautiful, and busy. There were a lot of cool booths there for the kids to explore all featuring things on either the ocean, kelp forests, or just being green.
After we explored the festival area we just had to go on the playground! This was also very busy and crowded with a lot of kids. Green Bubbles loved having all the instant 'friends' to play with and created his own game of follow the leader. Little Miss just liked playing in the sand and swinging.
Just a few steps away was the actual beach so we went to get our toes wet and play in the sand for a few minutes before packing it up and returning home.
Now the best part, pictures!
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| Boy Scouts had a touch tank! |
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| Even Miss Miss touched! |
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| Closer look. |
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| Artists painting the kelp forest. |
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| Inside the pretend Kelp Forest |
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| Wearing her 'kelp' necklace. |
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| Playing some kelp animal games. |
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| Planting a tomato. (This tipped over in the stroller and alas, I don't believe the tomato will make it.) |
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| Hydroponics... |
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| Decorating a fish. |
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| 'Face' painting, shark. |
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| Playground. |
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| The playground had a lot of signs like this as well as information about the different tidal zones, animals, and just good safety information. |
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| Kelp, seen from the top of the ocean. The paddle boarders were checking it out. |
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| We (I) even saw a couple dolphins swimming by. |
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| A rare group photo courtesy of a nice passerby! |
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Pecten Reef Loop
So I have some exciting news. I decided to branch out and create my own nature study group. I loved the one we went to before, but I never really felt like I belonged in that group. So, this was our first meeting! It was only a few days after I started the new group up so only one other family was able to make it on such sort notice. I'm looking forward to when we'll be able to get the majority of the group together for outings. It will be so much fun.
I decided for this first meeting, which I wasn't even sure if anyone besides me could make, we would try someplace new that we've never been before. I found the Pecten Reef Loop after doing some google searches and decided it looked to good to pass up. This trail was actually a prehistoric reef bed once upon a time. There are fossils! Most of the fossils we found were just shells, or pecten. Hence the name of the trail. And in case you aren't sure what a pecten is.. I googled that too!
"Pecten is a genus of large scallops or saltwater clams, marine bivalve mollusks in the family Pectinidae, the scallops."
This loop was actually a very short trail as well, which I thought would be a great start to a brand new nature group for kids who haven't had much exposure to nature or hiking before.
And now my favorite part. Pictures!
I decided for this first meeting, which I wasn't even sure if anyone besides me could make, we would try someplace new that we've never been before. I found the Pecten Reef Loop after doing some google searches and decided it looked to good to pass up. This trail was actually a prehistoric reef bed once upon a time. There are fossils! Most of the fossils we found were just shells, or pecten. Hence the name of the trail. And in case you aren't sure what a pecten is.. I googled that too!
"Pecten is a genus of large scallops or saltwater clams, marine bivalve mollusks in the family Pectinidae, the scallops."
This loop was actually a very short trail as well, which I thought would be a great start to a brand new nature group for kids who haven't had much exposure to nature or hiking before.
And now my favorite part. Pictures!
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| Western Tussock Moth Caterpillar, Orgyia vetusta (There's two here, a yellow and to the left of him a white one) |
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| Here's another on the bush |
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| Western Fence Lizard.. I wasn't sure about this one because it was so dark so had to look it up. "fence lizards are often very dark in color when they first become active in the morning, and grow lighter as they warm up" Who knew? |
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| Another red-eared slider (non-native) |
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| Ladybug hanging out on a plant I haven't looked up yet |
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| We found SO many snails! |
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| An egg (not chicken!). I'm not really sure if this is a bird's egg but the shell was very thin. There weren't any trees around it though. |
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| Pecten fossil |
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| Kids exploring the fossils |
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| Had to sneak a picture of the baby in. She was carried most of the time. |
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| I have no idea WHAT these are but I'm just sooo curious. If you know, let me know? |
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| Closer look at the little 'bladder' pods on them. They didn't look to be filled with anything that I could tell though. |
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| Green Bubbles' sticks! |
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| After we got home we found a tick behind Green Bubbles' ear. It's Tick Season and a great reminder to start doing body checks after our hikes to check for things like this! (American Dog Tick) |
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