When we started talking about homeschooling, one of the concerns Mali had was missing out on field trips. I assured her that we would go see lots of fun things together, but it would be different than going with her whole class. This week we ventured up to the Tellus Science Museum. Usually for this kind of outing we go into the city. However, this time, we went in the opposite direction of the city, which turned out to be beneficial. The traffic wasn't as bad, and it was not at all crowded.
We didn't know what to expect at this new museum, but it turned out to be perfect for us. It was small and fed the kids' interests just right. For a long time, Mali has had a special interest in gems, stones, rocks, and minerals. Here we found an entire two sections of the museum were about gems and minerals. They were so beautiful. Some were untouchables, but we got to touch a lot of them. There was also a "river" where we could go panning for gems. Next door was a fossil dig. We learned that on 9/8/09 there was an earthquake in Colombia. We also learned that there are many volcanos in the western United States!
Greta has a special interest in dinosaurs and sharks. The next exhibit we came upon was on ancient creatures. It was amazing!!! We learned so much (did you know there were dinosaur fish (some of whose remains have been discovered in Kansas)? and turtles as big as cars? and sharks bigger than a school bus?). Mali even touched petrified dinosaur poop! She was quick to assure Mark when we got home that it was dried up, and just like a rock, not dirty.
The final exhibit was called "In My Backyard" which was a hands-on area that we all enjoyed for a long time. Since there were no crowds, it was pleasant to just linger and take our time.
We also got to watch a show in the planetarium -- very cool!
Mali's favorite part of the museum: digging for gems
Greta's favorite: "the dinosaur bones, where I said, 'BIG HEAD!'"
My favorite: the planetarium
Another way that all three of the kids love rocks: climbing them! After days and days of grey clouds and rain, rain, rain, when we walked out of the museum, we saw sun! SUN! The kids ran to climb the rocks and soak it up.
5 comments:
What a wonderful day! I can't stand the pic of greta near that MOUTH!!!!!!!!!
How are you guys doing with all that flooding? I hear it's pretty bad...I hope you're okay.
Wow. I bet ALL of you are learning a lot this year-how exciting!
yes, we're okay, suze. it's crazy what others are dealing with. i'm grateful for a contemporary house, which means our basement is above ground. i'm grateful that we could hunker down and stay home for the day that was the worse.
one local school was destroyed, and the people in that neighborhood not only are dealing with losing their houses, but their kids are all having to be shipped to new schools, which will inevitably be over-crowded. this is all before even mentioning the fatalities! so sad.
oh, and i just drove by a sign that *still* warns of a level 4 drought. it says "outdoor water use prohibited" while our yards (front and back) were underwater!
Sounds like a great day! We went there in January and had a similar experience, including the rock climbing at the end.
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