Science for free

Last Friday I took a day off. It was supposed to be about packing for our camp trip, but it was a bit more.

I spent some time cleaning the front of the house, which has desperately needed it. Ruth joined me, but only to keep me company. Eventually she lost interest, and wandered back inside. I plugged along, and picked up an old vinyl table cloth from under the window near our front steps. I tossed it aside, and saw a single yellow jacket emerge from the wrinkles. As it landed, I noticed the nest attached to the underside. I left it 'be' and kept on plugging along.
A bit later, Ruth came out again. She was chattering away about this or that, mostly her newest interest, "The Hunger Games". All of a sudden she shrieked, "Mom, Look at those bees!" Over where the tablecloth used to 'be' (hehehe, I am having a bit of fun with that), there was a small swarm of yellow jackets. They were just flying around. "Why are they doing that?" Ruth asked. My response was to say something about the missing nest, and I showed it to her. There were no adults near by, so we poked it with a stick. (No, we could not leave it "be'. hehe)
There were yellow bulges in the holes of the nest, and we picked at them. How cool to 'be' able to check out the different levels of bee morphing? So, I encouraged Ruth to bring the nest inside and poke around to see what she could find. She took several photos, which I will have to attempt to upload at another point in time. She ended her project by lining up the different stages, and adding two more. (The last two stages included stingers and wings.)
Free, Fun, This is why I have ALWAYS wanted to home school!