Summer!

It's hotter than Hades, and the kids are bothering cranky old me in my un-airconditioned house. I sent them outside with popsicles so I could have some peace and quiet and write to you about what an awesome mom I am. Seems totally reasonable, right? The woodworker has declared it a good day for basement projects and he's right. He went to hide work there and finished the cork boards I had ordered a while back. Then, I decided to honor the day by switching our season science table officially to Summer. You can see the cork boards in the corner above the table, freshly installed.

  

And here is the table! I borrowed the concept of a season table from the Waldorf world, but ours has a definite science slant to it. The table itself was a freecycle find with solid mahogany legs, except the table top was totally rotten. We replaced it with a tray top, with a 2-inch tall frame around the top, to hold in all those items we wanted to study and decorate with. And now when the kids ask if they may bring an inanimate object inside, I have an answer: It can go onto the season science table! (But nowhere else. Even I have a breaking point for messes in the house).

This summer, you'll find this horse shoe crab molt we found at the beach last year, an abandoned wasp nest we cut out of a bush, shells upon shells, some butterfly wings and chrysalises. Rocks, fancy and not so fancy. Feathers. And lots and lots of field guides of all sorts. Can never have enough field guides!

My younger two kids have been asking and asking when exactly summer would be here, and how we would know? How many days are left until the longest day of the year?
We keep track of these things using this amazing calendar by Chris Hardman:

Looks like this on the wall, above the map. Each season has a three-panel fold out that is beautifully decorated with interesting natural motifs, and then there is the back of another three-panel fold out explaining phenomena in nature and astronomy one might observe at any given time. Since the woodworking husband has become an astronomer husband as of late, this is a great resource for everyone in the family.
There is also a simpler chart noting the day's date and weather, which works better for the younger two children. And then, there is more literature and a simple microscope set that they managed to win at a Christmas raffle one year.

I think I'm going to take the 'Woods, Ponds & Fields' book and find a body of water to cool down in study now. Did I mention it's a scorcher here today? Happy Air Candy Night to you!

Photo credit to the artsy husband!