A Great Big Field Trip

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Today I took the oldest two children to spend the day in Raleigh.  Kip stayed home with the little girls- they played with moon dough, baked magic cookie bars and played outside.    Meanwhile, the big kids & I…

-Visited the NC Museum of Art to see the Rembrandt exhibit.   We also revisited the Audubon exhibit & saw another piece of Patrick Doughterty’s stickwork art.

-Visited the NC Museum of Art

-Took a carriage ride around the capital area- saw the Governor’s mansion, the capital building, etc.

-Stumbled on a *fabulous* museum that I didn’t even know was there- the   NC Museum of Natural Sciences .   This was a wonderful museum- I definitely want to go back.   It was gorgeous, 4 floors, interesting exhibits- the kids loved it!

Getting ready to go!

Heading into the Rembrandt exhibit.   You are not allowed to take pictures inside, unfortunately.    We really enjoyed it- his paintings were so luminous that it almost looked as if a light were aimed at them.   Really wonderful.

The NCMA has a kids crafting activity on Saturdays- today they were making shadow puppets.

Patrick Dougherty’s stickwork sculpture in the museum’s restaurant.

In the middle of this field outside the NCMA, there was  a huge silver sculpture of a tree.    I think they enjoyed playing in the field as much as playing around the tree.

NC Museum of Natural Sciences

Carriage Ride- I couldn’t believe our good fortune.  This was right out front of the museums.  Mary has always wanted to do this but it’s always been outrageously expensive so we’ve said no- at Colonial Williamsburg I think it was around $80 for our family to have a carriage ride- so, of course we did not do it.    This was only $20 for everyone!   The Museums were all free so I popped for the $20.   Mary was just ecstatic. 

NC Museum of History- Mary wanted to have her picture taken by the loom.   She’s fascinated with looms, weaving, etc.

We enjoyed the Natural Science Museum so much that we went back to it after we finished the History Museum.  This rainforest butterfly room was very cool.

An exact replica of the Liberty Bell.

Art Exhibit

10/31/2011-  On Halloween day I took the kids to the Beyond the Frame exhibit in Graham, NC.  It was FABULOUS!!!!    I could hardly believe that such a great exhibit was free and only 30 minutes from our house!   We are studying the 1800′s this year and will spend the spring learning about the Impressionist painters for our fine arts studies.   What great timing!

A description from the website:  “Beyond the Frame: Impressionism Revisited,” three-dimensional representations of 19th century paintings by Monet, Manet, van Gogh and Renior… Seward Johnson’s Impressionist-inspired sculptures arouse attention and interest due to the exacting unexpected three-dimensional interpretation of well known nineteenth-century masterpieces. This series marks a thematic departure from the American sculptor’s well-known celebration of the person on the street; for now he brings – literally – an additional dimension to the Impressionist icons of art history, tapping into our memories of these familiar images and encouraging us to take a closer look.

PBS Video about the Exhibit

To get an idea of how big this sculpture is,  check out the tree behind it- the sculpture is as large as the tree!

Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party

Seward Johnson’s interpretation of Renoir’s painting…

Kids are encouraged to interact with the sculptures, sit on the them, etc.   VERY fun!

Renoir’s Dance in the Country

Renoir’s A Dance at Bougival

Monet’s The Japanese Girl

Busy, Busy Girl.

Sweet picture of Mary & Lyra.  (7 1/2 years old & 19 months old)

And with that, Lyra was clearly DONE and it was time to go home for naps!

Natural Science Centers

October 18- Fall Break

This was our 7th week break so I took the kids to the Natural Science Center for a fun day & a picnic lunch.

Nathan & the turtoise eye-to-eye.   Love his funny expression.

It’s a miracle- a decent picture of all four kids!!

CUTE as a BUTTON!

In the owls nest…  

Excellence in Homeschooling

I just read The Marva Collins Way and it was such an inspiring book- I feel newly re-inspired & encouraged to work towards excellence in our homeschool.   After finishing the book last night I thought I’d see what others had to say about the book on my favorite homeschooling board.    As I was perusing those threads, I came across this excellent post and thought I’d share it here:

I am my children’s teacher. I teach. I could be working, making beaucoups bucks and relieving some pressure from my dh. Instead, we homeschool. In order to homeschool I have to actually SHOW UP to homeschool. It’s my job. If I had a “real” job I would show up to it. Actually I have a real job and I do show up to it.
I read about education all.the.time. I learn and grow as an educator. Marva Collins and Rafe Esquith, SWB, the Moore’s, Holt, Wilson, et.al all have great things to say about being an excellent educator. There is always more to learn as an educator. You can’t teach effectively what you don’t know. Are you learning and growing as an educator?

I have a clear vision for what I want for my kids. I have a clear pedagogy. It’s not perfect and I’m not perfect and we do have slacker days. One of my biggest regrets with my older dd is that I did not push her harder. I’m not making the same mistake with my other kids. Not becaaue I have some vindictive idea of ruining their childhood -they have great ones imho- but because I KNOW that they can and will do and go so much farther if I mentor them well. I am giving them a gift of my time and talents and we are going to make the most of it. It is a matter of stewardship. I can make the most of this time or fritter it away.  -Lisa

I love her admonition to “learn and grow as an educator”.     It is so easy to grow stale in our teaching instead of being enthusiastic and energetic- Marva was a great example of this.

Un-School Day

10/12/11- This year we are schooling on a new schedule:  4 days a week with 1 day off and 6 weeks on with a 7th week off, all year long.   This was our “off” day that week.  It was raining that morning so the kids and I spent the morning upstairs in the schoolroom with our little fireplace glowing and the windows open a bit so we could here the rain.  I read and napped on the couch while the kids played around me.    As I was watching them, I was struck by how much learning was going while they were not “doing” school.   We had Vivaldi playing quietly in the background.   One of the kids was playing with our Playmobil Western Fort set and using it to act out the Alamo.    Another had our huge marble run set out and was working on setting up several marble courses- a true exercise in logic.   And we also had magformers out- these are magnetic geometrical shapes that can be used to build all kinds of structures.    I am so lucky that I get to homeschool!

Regal Moth Update

I wanted to collect all the pictures of the Regal Moth/Hickory Horned Devil into one post to make it easier to see it’s transition over time and also easier to find later when I (hopefully) post an update next summer.    The caterpillar is now in its cocoon and will not emerge until late next Spring or early Summer.

Video of Hickory Horned Devil

Wikipedia article on the Regal Moth

July 2- Laying Eggs

July 4- Died

End of July??? Eggs hatched, very tiny- about the size of the bb pellet. I wish we had taken more pictures of the young caterpillars. They were very tiny and all black. Over the course of several weeks, most of them died until we only had one left. He gradually changed from black to green & yellow and, of course, grew rapidly.

August 16

August 28

September 1

September 11- I hate this picture is so blurry but it’s the best I have. All of a sudden the caterpillar stopped eating and started to shrink! I was convinced he was going to die.

September 16- He shed all of his skin & horns and started to change colors. Within several hours he went from green to yellow to a rusty brown and eventually all black.

Again with the blurry.