it takes a village :-)

Today was one of those blissful homeschooling days.... a day where you sit back at the end of it and really realize just how lucky/blessed you are. We truly are. We no longer belong to any formal homeschooling group but we have this good solid circle of homeschooling friends that surrounds us. A group that gets along well... both parents and children. A group where each individual member is active in either coming with field trip ideas, organizing outings or teaching classes. There's no pressure to do it all... just opportunities available.

Today was the capper... but it had been a really good week. Tuesday was our last day of a science class series at a local museum. The older kids really truly loved the class and really had a great time together. Clara and her friend (the younger sister of one of Alex's friends from class) had a great time hanging out together each week during class time. They explored the museum, played the play area, collected sticks outside or sometimes just sat at their own table in the cafe and talked girl talk. All the while, her mom and I got to have some much needed adult conversation. It was good for everyone.

So... on to today. One of the families from our circle I mentioned earlier, invited us over for a science class. The dad had picked up a box of supplies from the Adler Planetarium and wanted to teach a class on space for the kids. How cool is that? The kids and I went over to their house this morning for the class. The kids all went off to the kitchen with the dad for the class while the moms hung out in the other room and chatted. It was wonderful!

The kids had such a great time and really seemed to learn a lot. Their favorite time of the class though was rocket time :-)

Here's Clara waiting to launch her rocket...
ready for liftoff...
The "class" ready for a group launch....
(the mom of the girl on the right didn't want her daughter's photo posted, I hated to crop her out since she was part of this group.... so I covered her with a cute little flower by Emily Merritt)

I love this series... just look at their expressions as the rockets go off (click on the photos to see them larger)...


After the class, the girls went inside the play and the boys stayed outside to continue launching film canisters into space!

A wonderful homeschooling day! :-)

I have more stuff to ramble on about.... but I'm tired and this post has taken me longer than it should have so I'll try to catch up next week!