I think I want a goat :)

We learned a lot about goats at our recent Cottage Co-op meeting (okay, so it was several weeks ago and I am rather behind in posting this : ) ). There are some really funny goats out there- fainting goats and tree climbing goats(they are very coordinated animals). Olivia thought it was funny that baby goats are called kids. I once thought goats would eat anything but they are actually picky eaters. They have a 4 chambered stomach and eat things like woody stems, trees and WEEDS. Seems like a goat would be a perfect animal to have in the backyard. ;) Goats may use their lips to feel with and are extremely curious and intelligent. They have a rectangular pupil and are thought to have excellent night vision. We learned about what goats provide for people. Much of the world gets their milk from goats instead of cows. We also saw goats that were raised specifically for their hair and those that are for meat. Unfortunately, we also learned that goats can jump up to 5 feet high. So that combined with the city rules against livestock means we probably won't be getting a goat anytime soon. :)

We took advantage of the free first Wednesday afternoon of the month at the Natural Science Center.

I took pictures of the goats and cut them apart as puzzles for the "littler" ones.

In addition to our nature study on goats we did our usual activities at co-op. Our self-control game this time was a stance game. The kids paired up and faced one another. They then had to stand in the same stance (we tried several) while looking at each other. No talking or touching. Then it was just a chance to use their self-control to hold the stance the longest. For our picture study, we looked at Grandma Moses' painting 'Jack and Jill'. Olivia has really enjoyed her scenes of rual life and 3 nursery rhyme painting we have looked at so far have made the nursery rhymes come to life. Olivia has been memorizing some nursery rhymes and wanting to present during the poetry recitation time.

And, to add to our folk song (This Land is Your Land) this time, we looked at some of the California on the map and learned a little about the Redwood Forests. Those are some HUGE trees. We put a picture of these Redwoods on our map next to CA so that we will remember as we sing our folk song again and again. This tied in nicely with MFW since we were studying the state of California and the California Gold Rush just the week prior to this. An interesting part of the story we read talked about how the man who lived on the land where the gold was first found did not want to tell anyone because he knew people would come, take over his land, and dig it up. Ultimately they found very little gold and not many people, if anyone, got rich. Our riches and security are not in money and it will sure make us do things we will one day regret. What a hard but freeing lesson. God I pray that you would use this little lesson in history to make the truth real to me.