museum basement

Yesterday the Museum Explorers discussed the types of collections that museums keep. Here the amazing Ms Anne has the class's rapt attention as she reads a book about a museum and its exhibits. That's Zoo Boy hanging all over Ms Anne (he loves Ms Anne....), and J can be seen in the lower left corner.

Then everyone strapped on their explorer gear and headed to where no class has ever been before -- the museum basement! -- to explore some of the museum's collections. Here Ms Anne shows the museum's resource library.

The museum's workshop, where all the exhibits are planned and made. The kids saw lots of tools, paints, and construction materials.





Zoo Boy tries on a hat from the museum's hat collection. Other examples from the hat collection can be seen on the bench in front of him, while his classmates can be seen in the background checking out some of the other collections, such as the New Year's collection, the shoe collection, and the dance collection. We also got to check out some of the museum's mask collection.

Finally, the kids were taken inside the vault to see all of the museum's treasures. The kids really enjoyed the class (as did we adults!), and have now truly earned the name "Museum Explorers"!

week #27, spring #3

I seem to be doing my weekly summaries later and later....

This was an action-packed week for us. Despite some fairly un-spring like weather, we managed to pack in a lot of spring-like activities and events. Like, for instance, the birth of our final set of lambs for the season -- these twin girls, known as Samantha (in the rear) and Teena. This was the last week for our Raven and River Adventure Circle, which we are sad to see end, as we all really loved it. But I'm sure Five Little Ducks will be fun, too. (Stay tuned to next week!)

We refused to let the chilly, gloomy weather keep us indoors, and went on several outings, to the playground, Union Pond, and the Fox Hill Tower, where the boys discovered a great place to play in the trees. We also had several classes -- our usual Monday Homeschool fare, as well as a class for J entitled "Dragon Tales", where he learned all about dragon mythology, and created his own dragon story.

For my part, I made my first strides at bring more magic into our daily lives. Not only did the dragon class jive with this, but we came across this depiction of an interesting looking creature at Union Pond. The boys immediately identified it as a fish, and Zoo Boy figured that this particular fish must live in Union Pond. J posed to have his picture taken with the artwork, while Zoo Boy scrambled up the bank to a safe distance, you know, just in case the fish was lurking about in the shallows.

We ended the week with a really fun visit for just Zoo Boy and I to the Springfield Science Museum, where we met up with our friends Kyra, Dave, and Fluffy (note: they all have their own blogs now. You know what they say, the family that blogs together, slogs together, or something like that....). We attended a wonderful planetarium show and had an all around great time at the museum.

To top the week off, our baby chicks arrived!! Here they are, just a day old, and too cute for words.

Family story time stories for this week were: Mrs. Potter's Pig, by Phyllis Root, illustrated by Russell Ayto (just because it's so much fun, and a book about mud seemed appropriate....); Owl Babies, by Martin Waddell, illustrated by Patrick Henson (a perennial favorite around here); and Good Night, Fairies, by Kathleen Hague, illustrated by Michael Hague (my magical selection of the week, and a good one!).

boys in trees

We turned into a family of monkeys for an hour or so on Saturday afternoon, when we discovered these really cool trees that were just BEGGING to be climbed. (They seem to be some sort of Hemlock, but not a variety -- or at least a growth pattern -- that I'm familiar with.) Just sharing a few photos of the fun.

Jungle J.








Zoo Boy, amongst the branches and needles.







The Map Man turned Monkey Dad.










I even got in on the act.

Fox Hill Tower

We took advantage of some somewhat spring-like weather (ok, it was cold and windy, but the sun was out, more or less, and the ground was bare and not covered in water for a change) and took a family excursion to Fox Hill Tower in Vernon, CT on Saturday. Here's The Map Man and the boys at the base of the tower to give you some idea of the size of the tower. You can actually see blue sky in this picture! Whoot, whoot!!

Overlooking the city of Rockville, CT. It's really a pretty good view from up there!





The boys were just happy to have some open space to run around in.






And J was relieved to be able to stretch out in the grass, even though it hasn't even thought about starting to green up yet. Still, it's been a long winter, and I know just how he feels....


Me and my boys, nothin' but smiles.

Union Pond

At the end of the week we paid a visit to Union Pond, in Manchester, CT. There are a couple of parks on the pond, and a long trail around it. The kids wanted to walk the whole trail, but the wind was biting and cold (so much for spring!) and I didn't think any of us were up for a big excursion (nor did I bring along enough refreshments to sustain us!). I promised them we would come back to walk the entire trail when the weather got nicer and we had a picnic lunch with us.

J walks atop a railing at one of the parks.










The boys on an overlook, overlooking the pond (obviously!). We saw a cormorant out there, but little else. Did I mention it was cold and windy? (Mind you, the kids never complained once, but *I* was fairly uncomfortable the entire time.)


But we had a nice walk despite the weather. (Here Zoo Boy, in the front, is holding his hood down against the wind, which was howling even in the woods.)



J contemplates a Vernal Pool along the path.

I'll be happy to return again when we are better prepared for an extended adventure, but the kids had a blast today regardless. I think they've been as anxious for Spring -- and Spring outings! -- to start as I have. So it was worth putting up with our RIDICULOUS early spring weather to get in a little woods time again.

back to the playgrounds

On Thursday, after spending an excruciating afternoon of shopping for a new spring jacket for J (turns out I'm about 2 months late for actually finding anything, although we did finally score a sweet expedition type jacket at Old Navy for 70% off, so it was worth the searching!), we decided it was spring enough to make our first playground visit of the year. The kids were SO excited to be out romping about with packs of other kids, scrambling all over everything, sliding down slides, and, of course, swinging! Here's a few photos from the fun for you to enjoy:

Zoo Boy, arboreal child, proving the evolutionary link to monkeys....









J (far left) and the carpet-o-boys that he and Zoo Boy found to play with. Seriously, those boys spent almost their entire time at the playground entwined in good-nature headlocks and wrestling holds. It was like one massive child with 8 arms and 8 legs. And a whole lot of laughter.

My own personal Spiderman. (Aka, Zoo Boy.)










The Map Man swung by to pick up the kids on his way home from work (I had to go into work from there). Zoo Boy tells him all about the fun he and J had.

embracing the magic

Time for a confession: I'm not so good with the magic. You know -- fairy rings, elven folk, castles, dragons. Fantasy is just outside of my comfort zone. And yet I strongly, deeply, believe that this sort of magic is an important -- nay, ESSENTIAL -- part of childhood.

For weeks, months (dare I say years?), I've been desiring to bring a bit more magic to my kids' lives. To give them the opportunity to explore and embrace all the possibilities. I never really had exposure to those sorts of things as a child, which I think is why I feel so uncomfortable with it now. My friend T was telling me that she took her son to a garden exhibit, and there were lots of those little stone animals about the garden. She commented to her son that an angry troll must have come out of the woods and turned them all to stone. A nearby mother was horrified that she said this, but when she told me, I was absolutely captivated! I would never have thought of something so creative and magical, right off the cuff like that. Which is probably why I'm so mesmerized by T -- she's just oozing with magical creativity. I guess I'm hoping it'll rub off on me!

In any case, I was discussing this with her recently, and she made me feel justly silly about putting so much thought into this. So finally I was shamed into actually DOING something about it instead of just TALKING about doing something about it. Here's my first step. I purchased a set of poem collections on The Flower Fairies, by Cicely Mary Barker, who is pretty much THE person for Fairies. It's a collection of 8 volumes, each with 20 or so poems and illustrations. I left the Flower Fairies of the Spring volume out on our nature table, along with the Fairy puppets (first photo) I found at our children's museum (and purchased months ago, which were just sitting in my closet waiting for me to get over my paralyzing inertia and give them to the kids).

It took a day or two for them to find it, but when they did, they were thrilled. J immediately read all the poems to Zoo Boy, and they discussed the illustrations in hushed whispers while I was in another room. (I purposely removed myself from the room so as not to allow any of my negative-fantasy-vibes to rub off on their initial attempts at exploring this realm.) They then played with the Fairy puppets, Zoo Boy running to find me and invite me into their delight at these things, asking pertinent questions like "why do fairies have wings?" and making generous comments like "we're both going to share these fairy things". Nobody asked where the items came from (I wouldn't have fessed up even if they had -- it's magic, after all!). But they embraced them with every bit of the excitement I knew they would. The only question is, what took me so long?

It was a good week to launch my intro to the magic of the woods -- J was signed up for this class on Dragons at the museum! Here the amazing Miss Anne reads the classic poem "Custard the Dragon" while the class paints their own depiction of the story. The kids were so engrossed in their work that nobody even noticed me slip into the classroom to take this photo, then slip out again.

Here's J's finished product. I particularly like the "eek!" in the middle of it all!

We will be reading a fanciful type story each week during Family Story Time. I will leave the other Flower Fairy volumes out for them to discover and embrace. I will try to write a bit more magic into our Adventure Circles. I'm going to be selecting more magical stories for our Spring Semester curriculum stories. And, hopefully, as my kids get more and more comfortable with the magic, so will I.