Apologia Biology: Still working on Ecology

Bear with us!  The kids finished their food web and created a list of 100 species including their scientific names.  It took some time to look up all of their feeding habits and reassign organisms to the correct tropic levels.  They finished!  It has been raining.  So the kids come like red water samples from the pond and investigated the creek this morning.  We have had a drought and I want to do water tests while we can.  Most of the morning was spent  testing water with the Lamotte Water Quality test kits.  The last thing we did was to review the parts of the microscope for a quiz next week.  Next time, the kids are going to do several water tests and a stream assessment, including identification of benthic macroinvertebrates, following some preparation with virtual stream assessments.  My plan is to measure the stream rate, temperature, macros, and do some chemical tests for pH, nitrates, etc.  But isn't that one of the advantages of home-schooling?  You have the flexibility to conduct a field trip anytime it's convenient!  So, our group is doing a considerable amount of field work before the weather gets too cold in order to lay the groundwork for the course.