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! 

Stanley & Stella

Remember Flat Stanley? Did you think he'd disappeared? Well, he & his friend Stella are still around, and have made some of our field trips with us this year...

Stanley and Stella on the Osceola Train:

And on the Red Wing Trolley:

And they accidentally spent a week in someone else's purse:

Last spring, Stanley went to Mexico with Mane's grandpa, and this fall we're hoping to send one of them by mail to visit our friend in Montana! Stay tuned for more Stanley and Stella updates...

Red Wing Trolley Tour & Universal Playground

This October we headed out to Red Wing, MN  to tour the city with the Red Wing Trolly Company...and some good friends!

The tour brought us through the city and along the river for some breathtaking sites. The kiddos, however, were simply enjoying the time cruising around in a trolley...

 

The real highlight of the trip, however, was our visit to the Universal Playground...

The playground is equipped with special swings, rubber squares for padding and wheelchair accessibility (rather than sand or wood chips), ramps for wheelchairs and those who struggle with climbing, enough space on all the equipment for adults to get around, sensory play equipment, braille, and metal slides that do NOT create static electricity to allow children with hearing implants to use the slides (hearing implants can be destroyed by the static electricity of plastic slides)!!

We found that the ramps and the added width on the equipment made it safer and easier for the kids to really run and play. We saw plenty of grandparents, with limited mobility, hanging out at the playground with their grandchildren because the park is safer for them, too.

As if that wasn't enough, the park also features a beautiful garden, which children are encouraged to explore, smell, and TOUCH...

 ...and visit with the fairies...

We'd go back just for the playground! ...but the ice cream at Halstrom was also fantastic (with both gluten free and no sugar added options)!

 

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!

Harry Potter

Some friends of Mane are hosting a Harry Potter themed birthday party in October. So, our plan to read the first book this school year got promoted to the top of the list. Mane has turned into a Harry Potter groupie, and I'm capitalizing on the obsession!

Drawing for the homeschool notebook:


A page of King's Cross Station, also for the school notebook:


Finding England on the map:


In the coming week, we'll be using some passages from the book for handwriting practice and learning about other things in the book that are true reflections of English culture (food, clothing, idioms, etc...)!

Field Trippin'

A photo journey (three field trips in 8 days!!)...

Last weekend we went on a boat tour in Taylor's Falls:

We stopped in Stillwater for a picnic and saw a gondola going under the lift bridge:

On Friday Mane attended a class on plantable paper (papermaking with seeds in the paper) at Silverwood Park:

The kids learned about all the things that are made from paper and how paper is made:

And they made seed necklaces (bean seeds sandwiched in wet cotton balls in a plastic bag to make a living necklace that should sprout within the week):

Today we took the historical train ride from Osceola, Wisconsin to Marine on the St. Croix, Minnesota:

The best part, of course, seemed to be the train-riding dog:

 On Monday Mane returns to choir! Next week will see the beginning of art lessons and the following week Scottish Folk Dancing! I think "home"schooling is a misnomer.