Another good day

Today we were out the door early again to get to our most favorite museum, The Museum of Nature and Science.  Today, we were going to the brand new exhibit, Maya.

We met up with some friends and toured the exhibit.  We had read about the Mayan in History so the kids already had a connection to the exhibit.

First, we watched a short video about the Mayan, the Maize God and a little about their daily lives.  The kids picked their Mayan names.

Cairn was Great Jaguar
Skylar was Fire Flower
Andrew was Star Crocodile

The kids put together a vase like an archeologist puts together broken pieces of artifacts.  They learned about glyphs, how the Maya studied and charted the night sky.  We also learned about how they believed in decorating their bodies (drilled holes in their teeth to put in gems or gold), sloped their foreheads at birth because they believed sloped foreheads were more beautiful and had many piercings.  We learned about the first team ball game that the Maya played with the hips and a ball made of latex and rubber from the rubber plant.  They also buried their dead like Egyptians with great tombs and many artifacts for the afterlife.

Cairn, Andrew and I had to leave at 12:15 to get to piano class.  I thought we would get to see another exhibit but we spent the entire time in the Maya exhibit.  We had a lot of fun and learned a lot.  I left Skylar with our friends so she could have a playdate after they finished up at the museum.

Andrew did a nice job on his solo and he appeared to have a lot more confidence in class after all his extra practicing.  After class, we ran home because Cairn had a friend coming over to play.  Andrew and I made cookies - actually Andrew made them.  I just helped with measuring, he put in all the ingredients, mixed them, decided when they were ready and then put them on the pan.  I put them in the oven and took them out since he isn't quite tall enough to reach the oven yet.

Tonight, I went out with a friend to chat and to learn some more about our essential oils.

When I got home, the kids were asleep so I was able to get the Valentine surprises out and hidden.  The kids will be surprised.

Cold so off to the museum

Today, was cold.  The day started with Cairn and Bumble on the couch reading.  I had been sitting there from 6 AM until 8 AM but got kicked off when Cairn woke up.

 After breakfast of waffles and mangoes, we took the dogs for a short walk (very windy and chilly) we went to the Cape Fear Museum.  It is the oldest history museum in North Carolina.  We got in free because we have a membership to the Denver Museum of History and Science and this museum is on the share list.

It is very small but full of tons of history about the area.

We started off in the Michael Jordan Discovery room.  I didn't know either.

 This is the beaver den.

 There was a huge area about Fort Fisher and the Civil War.  I took lots of pictures of exhibits to remind me to do more reading about particular item.

 This one was to remind me that Wilmington was the largest port for a long time.

 These were to remind me to learn more about blockades during the war.  I had never heard of blockades before today.

 The girls were creating their own money which is what the states did before the federal money started making US currency.  States didn't always accept different money from other states.

 This was to remind me to read about Wilmington during the Civil  War.

 There was a huge battle at Fort Fisher - I want to remember to read more about it.

 This was the information that was given to voters about which each party stood for - very interesting.

 This is a report card from the early century.  Look at all those classes they took.  A man was reading over the report card and called his friend over to look at it.  He said, "All of these classes...the kids did complain about the few things they are asked to do in school."

I said, "don't get me started about public school kids and the education they are receiving."

The man says, "we are educators in the public school system."

I swallowed, giggled and said, "we are homeschoolers so we touch on a lot of those subjects over a years time."

Then we walked off.  We didn't run into him again.

This entire exhibit was the most fascinating exhibit we have seen in a long time.  We will be studying more about nano when we get home.

The kids are working on their nano city and trying to make sure it balances.

 

 This is ferrofluid that Skylar is playing with while Andrew is playing with large and small magnets in fluid.

After the nano exhibit we saw an exhibit about the mail and the military.  First, the kids had to dress up like soldiers.

 I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside the Mail exhibit.

The last thing we learned about was the Giant Ground Sloth that was discovered in Wilmington in 1991 during a construction project.

 Andrew was fascinated and asked the museum lady many questions about the sloth.

Was it a dinosaur?  what did it eat?  humans?  Where did they find it?

After the museum we went out to lunch at an Indian restuarant - we want to take Uncle Mait there - it was super good and the people were really nice.

When we came home the kids wanted to ride their bikes with the boy next door.  So without helmets and with the seats at the wrong heights they went riding off.

It was chilly but they had a great time.

After playing outside for a bit, we came back inside to practice the piano and make playdoh.

Tonight we watched a movie while Andrew fell asleep on the couch with the dogs.  Tomorrow will be a little warmer so we will get our schoolwork finished early and head to the beach as soon as it is warm outside.

Mythbusters, piano and playdate

Today we got up even earlier than yesterday and got out the door - no schoolwork completed.  But that's okay because we were headed to the Museum of Nature and Science for the Mythbusters exhibit.  Our tickets were for 9 AM so we had to be out the door by 8:15 AM.

We had a fabulous time.  Every single exhibit was hands on and the kids learned a lot.

First, they built a house with light, medium and heavy materials - put it inside a wind tunnel and watched to see if it could withstand the wind.  Then we timed ourselves changing into our super hero costumes inside a phone booth.

Next, we walked and ran through rain and then looked at ourselves in ultra violet light to see if we should walk or run when it is raining.

Then Cairn and Skylar pulled a tablecloth off a table without disturbing the dishes.

Next, they hung on the side of a building and timed themselves to see how long they could hang.  Andrew got to 30 seconds, Cairn's record was 10 seconds, and Skylar was 15 seconds.

Then we determined if a plane could take off with the ground moving.  Finally, we watched a demonstration about reaction times and shooting paintballs.

We left the Museum and drove to A's house to drop off Skylar while Cairn and Andrew went to piano class.  Skylar saved her lunch to eat with A.  Cairn ate in the car, Andrew ate his lunch during Cairn's class.  After 2 hours of piano we went to A's house and all the kids played while I chatted with A's mom.

Eventually, we got home, I made dinner and everyone went to bed exhausted again.

Castle Rock Museum

This afternoon we headed out for a field trip with some of our homeschool friends and Grandma went with us too.

We drove south to Castle Rock to the Castle Rock Museum.  My friend, Liese, set up the trip and her blog as tons of pictures - go here.

We had a wonderful docent, named John, who led the tour.  The first question he asked was, "what is a museum?"  Skylar immediately raised her hand and he called on her.

"It is a place you visit to see things you have never seen before."

Excellent answer if I do say so.

I only had my little phone camera so I didn't take but 2 pictures.

We learned about how Castle Rock became a town - it was voted the County seat.  The museum had a small replication of a general store, a toy train, Indian artifacts, train artifacts, historical pictures that talked about the flood of 1965, the Courthouse fire in 1975 (started by a love struck 17 year old girl) and some old farming equipment such as the tool that cut off cow horns.

This sign caught my eye - appears history is repeating itself.

Grandma found this sign.

I bought a book about the history of Douglas County.

Even though the museum was super small, the kids really enjoyed it.

Cold and snow for our busy day

Today we were out the door early because I had my dance class.

After dance we went home to do some schoolwork before our Tasty Science co-op.  We made cupcakes and made pop explode and tried to write a secret message.

After the co-op we went home to finish school and rest before our big night out at the museum.  It started snowing about 3 PM just like they said it would.  By 4:30 when we left to get Dad the roads were icy and had some snow.  We drove by a rollover accident right by our house.  I tried to stop at the next light and I slide quite a ways.  I called Dad to tell him that if the highway wasn't better then we would turn around and go home.

The highway was just wet and loaded with cars.  It took us 1 hour and 20 minutes to drive to Dad's work.  Normally, a 40 minute drive.

We finally made it to the museum.  The only thing open was the Mastodon and Mammoth event for members only.  It was wonderful.  The kids took their time and enjoyed all the exhibits.  They had many 3 minute videos about different aspects of the mastodons and mammoths or about archaeology.  The kids got to touch a lot of things and manipulate exhibits too.  I didn't take a camera because we have been to enough of the special exhibits to know that they never allow cameras inside.  There were some books I would have liked to purchase.  We drove home in more snow.

Made it home by 9:15 and the kids were in bed by 10 PM.

5 kid day

Today, we had N and C.  There are still on break from school so I invited them to spend the day with us.  N loves to go to the Museum of Nature and Science so we put that on the schedule plus school.  We started the day playing Wii while the kids worked individually with me until we were ready for our science experiments.  Andrew worked on learning how to tell time to the hour and reviewed his states he learned yesterday.  Cairn worked on typing and state shapes.  Skylar was still asleep.

They watched the science video from the Happy Scientist about what is science again.  I really want to get in their heads that science is about observations and experiments within the natural world and all around us. We talked about hot air and cold air.  I emphasized that cold air contracts and sinks - not just that is sinks and hot air expands and rises.

Then we did an experiment about which candle will go our first when they are place under a short glass and a tall glass.  They all predicted they would go out at the same time.

 They quickly learned that the shorter glass runs out of oxygen first and the flame goes out.

The Happy Scientist had a video about a short candle and taller candle and which one goes out first if they are inside the same container.  They all predicted the shorter candle would go out first.  They were super surprised when the taller one went out.  But the Happy Scientist did a great job of explaining why.  I wish I could link everyone to the videos but it is a member only site for many of the videos.  I think it is well worth the $20 a year for access to all these incredible videos, experiments and blogs that he writes daily.  More then we will ever be able to cover.

Finally, we did an experiment with baking soda and vinegar.  They all agreed the candle would go out but some thought it was because I would pour the vinegar on the flame - yep that would definitely put out the flame.  Others weren't sure but knew it would go out.

So after watching the flame go out with the resulting bubbles being made they realized that gas made the candle go out.  Which gas?  What gas was created?  They didn't know but they liked learning about carbon dioxide.

After our experiments we headed to the museum where it was SUPER SUPER crowded.  We won't be going back on another break again - we didn't get to enjoy our visits like we usually do.  Even N was disappointed.

We got home and I just let the kids play with each other.  They were having fun and playing nicely except the occasional argument.

Everyone went to bed early and tired.  I asked Andrew about what he learned today at bedtime.  He said he learned about oxygen.  What about oxygen?  If there isn't enough oxygen, then a fire will go out.

Bingo!

Halloween Trick or treating #1

Today we met some friends at a museum that was having an indoor trick or treating event.  The kids got dressed up in their costumes, invited N and C and we headed out.

Skylar - Aurora (Sleeping Beauty)

Cairn - Laura Ingalls

Andrew - Peter Pan

All the kids together.

 At the museum, the kids collected candy, saw snakes, practiced archery....

 They did some crafts...

 We also got to see the new Antarctica exhibit where we learned how much we weighed compared to a polar bear - Andrew and Skylar were a 3 month old cub, Cairn was a 6 month old cub.

 We learned about the climate and landscape.

 The kids did some more crafts and played with the inflatables.

We were at the museum for 3 1/2 hours.  Everyone had a good time and got lots of candy.  We will go trick or treating 2 more times before Halloween is over.  The Halloween Fairy will have a lot of candy to take away this year.

Museum and Book Club

Today, we were up and ready to head out the door with N and C to hit the Museum of Nature and Science.  We got there by 9:15 AM, ready for some slow, not to many people yet time in the museum.  It didn't turn out that way.  As we were pulling into the parking lot I saw a school bus leaving - really lots of kids already? We got inside and yep - there were lots of day camp kids in their all the same color shirts all over the museum.  OH well.

Since I had 5 kids with me they each picked an exhibit in the museum they wanted to see.  The plan was to see Space (Skylar's), Gems and Minerals (Cairn), Discovery Room (C), Health Expedition (N) and the Dinosaurs (Andrew).

We headed to Space first.

 Shortly, after we got inside the exhibit, N was running around like crazy, not really looking at anything.  I told him that I expected him to learn a lot of things today.  He gave me the "Sigh" and I said, "Don't worry it will be easy."  Off he ran.  A couple minutes later, he came back and asked me what is a meteor and I said let's find someone to ask.  The first guy we found didn't know - that didn't help me at all so we found a kiosk that was describing meteors and meteorites.  He asked away and found out the difference.  He thought that was pretty neat.

 All the kids learning about Spectroscopy - heat helps bend the lights.

 Before we left the exhibit, I had the kids sit down and draw something they had learned or something they wanted to remember.  Cairn drew the Mars Canal because she learned that scientists believe that water used to be on Mars.  N drew a meteor, while he was drawing he asked me if meteorites are called meteorites if they land on another planet.  We walked back to the Meteor kiosk and asked - yep, they are still called meteorites.  Did you know that Saturn is just gases?  Scientists don't think that there is much of anything solid in Saturn.  I didn't - N did and the kiosk lady did - I was corrected.  N thought that was the neatest thing that he knew something that I didn't know.  C drew Earth with yellow stars.  I asked her if all stars are yellow.  She said yes so off we went to find someone to ask.  We found a man who told us that stars are different colors based on their temperature.  C found that very interesting.  Skylar drew the Big Dipper and Andrew drew spectroscopy lights.

 Next, we headed to Gems and Minerals.  N told me that diamonds can be lots of different colors so off we went to find out.  Diamonds occur in a variety of colors — steel gray, white, blue, yellow, orange, red, green, pink to purple, brown, and black, virtually in every color of the rainbow.

Everyone else wanted to find out the difference between a gem and a mineral.

 After the gem exhibit, we went to the Discovery Room to play.  First, the kids learned about water displacement, Andrew played with the magnets and learned about north and south poles.

 Skylar and C went off to build.

 Then Andrew and N went digging for fossils.

 Then the 3 of them went building with the big blocks.

 The girls kept building.

 After the Discovery Room we went to the Exhibition Health where the kids learned how their bodies worked.  We actually went through pretty fast - everyone was getting hungry for lunch.

So we took a break from learning to eat some lunch.

 Then we headed outside to complete some of our drawings.  N worked really hard on each of his drawings.  He made sure to label where he was, what he drew and what he learned.

 Finally, we made it to the dinosaurs.  Andrew was thrilled.  He loved looking at all the bones.  We learned about a couple of injuries on some of the dinosaurs.  We had never noticed the injuries before.  The scientists have speculated what happened but of course we will never know.

 After the dinosaurs, we went to show N and C some of the hidden elves and we drew some more pictures.

Finally, we headed home for 10 minutes before we had to leave to take Cairn to book club.  N and C went with us to hang out at the library.  I don't think they have spent much time at the library, they didn't really know what to do.  They quickly grew bored.  Skylar and Andrew were doing their usual - playing computer games and reading books.  They love the hour of hanging out in the library without being rushed anywhere.

After the library, we took N and C home, I told their stepsister to keep them home until 6 PM so my kids could have dinner and a break from all the action.  At exactly 6 PM, the doorbell rang and we were back outside playing with N and C.  Dad took them to the park while I stayed home and worked.

A busy but fun day.