It’s been a few years since we have been to the zoo, and our youngest has been eager to go and see real animals up close. He was super excited about the lions and tigers. He’s been asking for several months if we could go to the zoo. I thought fall would be a nice time as it wouldn’t be too hot. I was hopeful we could see animals being more active than in the summer months that we typically visit.
This year in History we are studying American History from the explorers to the war on 1812. I love history. It is my favorite part of home schooling. And I am so grateful that we live within driving distance of so many great historical sites. I really wanted to take the kids to Philadelphia for a day trip over spring break. Scott graciously rearranged his work schedule so that he could join us.
This week I took my girls on a field trip with their classmates from our tutorial. We visited a Science Center run by the local school system. The kids learned how to observe the world around them and record those observations. They studied bugs and wild life found in our area as well as learned about camouflage and even played a game to reinforce the concept.
They got to use almost all of their senses.
When we switched out history curriculum this year so that the whole family studies the same period of history (with varying level of work catered to their age level), one of the reasons I was MOST excited was that our field trips would be applicable to all. When our tutorial gave off for Presidents Day, I was eager to take advantage of the day free of book work to go on a field trip.
I really wanted to take the kids in to DC this spring to see the Cherry Blossoms. It’s not something we do every year, in fact, I think I’ve been only a handful of times in the 27 years I’ve lived in Maryland. But, this year, I thought it’d be fun to go and was thinking we might even have a free weekend during their peak blooms. But, thanks to the warm winter we had, they peaked early and there was NO chance of going during their peak week as it just didn’t fit with our schedules.
Scott took a vacation day on Thursday so he could spend the day with our oldest daughter. First they went with the other kids in her Kindergarten class to see a performance of The Night Before Christmas. Apparently the sets were gorgeous and the play was very well done. Such a treat to go to a live theatre AND to get to see it with her school friends and Dad. I think it was also a treat for Dad to get to see her with her school friends, it’s an aspect of her life that he doesn’t get to see very often.
We had a super fun time at the aquarium today for our tutorial fieldtrip. And although we’ve taken the kids two other times over the past 7 years, I think they had way more fun getting to go with their friends…which proves Piglet was right, “It’s so much more friendly with two.” (or 40)
Having gone twice before, I kinda wasn’t expecting to enjoy it as much as I had before… yet, I found myself amazed yet again at the incredible creatures our God has created…and I saw things I have never seen before…
On Friday night we took advantage of the aquarium’s last discount priced Friday night of the season and enjoyed some family fun.
We took 293 pictures during our 3 hours at the aquarium. From those we narrowed down 42 keepers.
And from those, I have the difficult task of dwindling down some for the blog.
The kids favorite part of the evening was the dolphin show.