busy day

Yesterday was jam-packed with activity. Wherever the impression came from that homeschooled kids never get out, I have no idea....

In the morning J had a class about States of Matter (a "REAL science class!" as he excitedly reported, taught by a real lab-coat wearing scientist) at the CT Science Center (organized by a local homeschooling group, there were classes from pre-K through high school). Zoo Boy and I spent some time in the Speed Exhibit, him listening to various stories from racecar drivers, skiiers, skydivers, etc, and me being somewhat introspective and astounded by the desire of this society to go faster and faster. (There's a blog post in there somewhere, if I ever find time to write about it....) He wasn't excited about attending a class with 30 other kids, and I wasn't excited about him having a "real" science class at this point in his development (when it's more appropriate to approach science via story and just experiencing it), so we decided together that when J has class there this year, we'll just explore the museum.

After class, it was back to the Speed exhibit to design and build some race cars. Zoo Boy jumped right in and tossed together a car, then spent the rest of the time modifying it to try to make it run down the track right. J on the other hand made one attempt, then decided to sit down and actually read about the components needed to make a good race car, then built a model that worked great the first time. Both spent about 45 minutes, Zoo Boy did about 20 modifications while J read, and both wound up with a race-able car in pretty much the same amount of time. Experimentation vs. Research, both successful in the end, and both boys were convinced that "their way" was best. Absolutely fascinating to observe!

The Map Man even came to join us for an hour mid-day (he works a couple towns south of Hartford, so it was convenient to come over on his lunch break. Here the boys are playing "Mind Ball" -- the sensors on their heads measure Theta Waves -- the more relaxed your mind, the less Theta activity. The less Theta activity, the more the ball moves towards your opponent. So the goal is to relax as much as possible. Both boys and The Man were really good at it. Me -- not so much, they all whupped me but good.

After all that hard-core science, we were in need of a bit of expansion, so we went for a nature walk after grabbing some late lunch. It was every bit as cold as it looked and was spitting rain, but it was SO NICE to get out of the crowded museum (oy, but there were a lot of school groups there!) and commune with nature a bit! Both boys would have happily walked for a lot further than we did, but we had to get J over to the children's museum for...

...a cooking class! J just loves these cooking classes, and has asked for more, so I've signed him up for several more this fall. Meanwhile, Zoo Boy played in the museum, and I visited with another homeschooling mom and some of the museum staff that I know from being there so often.

We're pretty happy to have a nice, quiet day at home today! The past two days were a lot of fun, but I'm ready to take things at a slower pace for a day or two.