Art, Rockets & Birds, OH MY!

Here's where I've been spending some time every Monday afternoon for the last 6 weeks:

It's the "waiting room" at Rum River Art Center where Mane has been taking art classes! These are some seriously fantastic art classes (scanned artwork coming in another post soon). Somehow the children go from chattering and  giggling to quietly and diligently turning out artwork under the influence of their teacher, Larry, who overflows with sincere praise and constructive criticism of all their work. Mane's current series of drawing classes just ended, and we'll definitely be back!

Another event we'll be returning for is the Tripoli Rocketry Association rocket launch in North Branch, MN! We attended October's launch, and Mane was totally inspired. We're hoping to attend a launch in the spring with our own rocket!

And, finally, something we probably won't get to do again - at least, not for a long while: attend a bird show in aunt & uncle's sun porch! My sister-in-law's father turned 70, and he LOVES birds. So, she found someone who does bird shows (typically for children's birthday parties), and she invited us, since Mane also has a keen interest in birds:

And that is not all, no that is not all! Mane is learning the glockenspiel at the same church where she sings in the choir...

...and our six week series of folk dancing classes just ended at the Tapestry Folkdance Center. 

We might...just maybe...be looking forward to a break from some of the busy-ness. Perhaps we'll finally get around to learning some Spanish at home and cooking together a bit more! We might actually be "home"schoolers for a while! 

MORE Field Trips?!!

There has GOT to be a word for this...homeschoolers, who never stay home. We're not Unschoolers. Maybe we're out-of-school-schoolers? World Schooler sounds too presumptuous. Nontraditional schoolers? Maybe just schoolers? Scholars? ...got any suggestions?

In any case, my good friend took us on a tour of the Joseph Wolf Brewery Cave this past weekend in Stillwater, MN. Mane learned that the temperature stays the same in this cave all year round, that it was marketed as a bomb shelter during World War 2 (she also learned why it would have made a really poor bomb shelter, especially with a fireplace and a thousand people inside), and that beer brewing had to stop in 1920 due to prohibition. We saw the underground spring and talked about why cave tunnels shouldn't be dug one on top of the other. That's a good bit of science, history, and social studies right there in one half hour tour!! She gave the full report to Mango when we got home. So, I know she enjoyed and retained quite a lot from our little field trip!

On Monday, Mane had her first art lesson at Rum River Art Center in Anoka. We stopped in at the Lifetime Fitness in Champlin, where she played in the Play Maze. We picked up Mango from work. Then, Mane went to choir practice! It was a full and active day! 

Tuesday morning we caught the bus and headed to the park! 

Mane at the bus stop (yep, right here on a city street corner):

The View From the Bus Stop:

Tuesday afternoon we finally stayed home! Mane added to the history timeline on the wall, listened to some Story of the World audio and read from the Usborne History Encyclopedia, read books, practiced handwriting, did math, talked about Harry Potter, and helped make dinner! Life is full to the tippy top!