M.C. Escher Exhibit, Bookstore and a Visit to Sweet Lola's Cupcakery!

Since it's spring break here for the area public schools and Ethan (a teacher at our local high school) has off we took advantage of some of our free time together and planned a little day trip to visit an area art museum that currently is showing the work of one of my favorite artists, M.C. Escher. I wasn't able to take photos within the exhibit itself, but was able to snap these in the entryway before entering.

It was fascinating being able to see some of his actual woodcut blocks and then the prints that he made with them. So much detailed work.

I was able to take some pictures around the rest of the museum...this was a fun optical illusion. It was a three dimensional painting that was protruding outwards from the wall in the kids room. Fun!

After leaving the museum we decided to walk around downtown a bit and made a visit to our favorite cupcake bakery!

Zoey had a mint chocolate cupcake and I had a huge slice of banana cream gluten free pie! Yum!

And where does a librarian and her husband, (who happens to be the high school librarian) and their daughter go for fun? The book store of course! :) We all enjoyed some quiet time perusing our favorite genres for a bit. Zoey found some fun books in the science section that she has added on her ever growing wish list for her birthday.

Overall, a fun day out with the family. It's nice to get out of town a bit here and there when we can.

The Peace of Wild Things

It's been kind of trying around here as of late...nothing all out serious, just exhausting, mostly. It felt good to get out and away for a bit here this morning.

We were tickled to see some Tundra Swans on our hike too! So glad I grabbed the binoculars.

Nothing soothes the heart more than being outdoors and near the water or in the woods.

Wishing you a peaceful week ahead...

Science | Heart Dissection

So these pictures are already from a few weeks ago, I'm just a bit behind in posting what it is that we're up to...we've been busy! Next week is spring break for the public schools in our area, I think we're still going to do a bit of school "light" that week just so we don't lose our steam. We'll be sure to try and fit in some fun though for sure!

Zoey shared that the heart dissection was the most fun out of all the dissections she's done so far. I think she says that about all of them though. :)

The heart was definitely the most challenging to make cuts on. The fatty tissues and muscle was quite tough to get through. But the struggle was well worth it.

For those that may not be regular readers, we are following Guest Hollow's Human Anatomy curriculum for science this year and WE LOVE IT!  So very many hands on activities and the books that are scheduled in are fantastic. Zoey is really learning a lot, as am I. For all the dissection labs we were able to get supplies from Home Science Tools.

If you are at all squeamish you may wish to look away...

I love that Zoey is getting this experience with hands on learning. It's quite amazing.

This afternoon Zoey has her drama class with the local homeschool co-op and then later this afternoon she will be taking a class from Outschool for the first time. Her first online class. I'm hoping our internet connection can handle it as well as our clunky laptop and that she likes the class. I still can't quite believe that she yes to taking the class, usually she is quite wary of anything to do online. The class does have to do with acting though so that may have something to do with her interest and enthusiasm! It will be fun to share an update of how it went shortly!

Wishing you a productive week!

Looking Ahead

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I've got loads of pictures to share of our recent homeschooling activities but they are still sitting happily in my camera, so that will be a post to come...perhaps, (hopefully) this weekend.

I'm already looking ahead to what we may pursue in the way of our curriculum choices for next year and I somehow stumbled upon Beautiful Feet Books and Blackbird & Company. I'm intrigued by both and am wondering how it is that I didn't discover them until now. I've found a few reviews for Beautiful Feet Books but have found very few for Blackbird & Company. I'm such a visual person that I really like to see a nice spread-out of a curriculum before making a purchase. Both curricula however do have limited samples available on their websites for viewing. I was so smitten with the Medieval Times curriculum from Beautiful Feet Books that I went ahead and purchased it for Zoey to use next year for her history.

I found the entire lot available for sale on a used homeschool curriculum board on Facebook that I belong to, and actually paid less than half of what the listed price is online. The only thing missing is the map. I can't wait to get it to look it over more closely. I'll be sure to share my thoughts when I do. When Zoey went from public school to her charter school in 5th grade she missed the year long study of medieval times and since the rotation of the charter school had already studied it as well, she has yet to learn this time period in history. I'm also considering the History of Science lot from them as well but am going to wait and see what I think of the history before making a decision.

Right now, I have several things from Blackbird & Company in my shopping cart. I have the Science - Elemental Journal in my cart and know that I will for sure be getting this for Zoey...she is OBSESSED with the periodic table of elements ever since she read the Itch trilogy of books. She will use this here this year yet I am sure. She's already trying to collect some of the elements on her own so this will be something that is just right for her right now. I also really am interested in their writing curriculum. I think this is what I've been looking for. This is the first writing curriculum that I've wanted to splurge on immediately upon seeing it, beyond Brave Writer (which I have yet to actually purchase...we're still just implementing the philosophy as we think it applies). I'm still wishy-washy when it comes to Brave Writer, for whatever reason...this though, I can see myself getting behind and I think it would be worth the price tag if I need to pay full price.

I also currently have the Taxonomy of Living Things in my cart. Because...well, it looks interesting and Zoey is a science kid! Ack...what am I going to do? If you have any experience or knowledge of either of these companies I would appreciate your reviews!

Geography Project | Cuneiform Tablet

For history we've been talking about Egypt and one project that Zoey did this week that she enjoyed was to create a clay tablet using cuneiform script. We had some basic air dry clay that she rolled out into the shape of a rectangular tablet (keeping it thick enough so it would be somewhat sturdy upon drying) and then she took a knife and wrote out (something of her choosing) by pressing the designs into the clay. It took about a day to dry.

Super simple project for when you are studying Egypt and want something with little prep!

Making Hydrogen

Zoey has been reading the Itch series of books (written by Simon Mayo) lately. I brought home the first book to read myself to see if it might make for a good book club book for my tweens at the library this summer but she got a hold of it first, and is now on to the second book. She LOVES them! Kind of disappointing that there are only three books in the series though.

I was on the phone yesterday and saw that Zoey was digging around and putting together all sorts of things in the kitchen...batteries, paperclips, etc. and I quickly got off so I could see what was going on. She was determined to see if she could create hydrogen. It was kind of hard to take pictures of this project, but she did it and was happy with the outcome...it was cool to see her excitement and witness the process of figuring it all out on her own. This has nothing to do with what she is studying in science right now but rather was purely interest led, based on the books that she is reading (on her own) for fun! Yay!

Do you allow for impromptu rabbit trails through your days of learning with your child? I'm really trying to let this happen more often, as I truly believe whatever is being sought out independently, becomes more meaningful through the very act of free choice.

Geography Project | Creating a Rain Stick

We've been so busy this week! Lots of fun projects happening around here, some planned and some that weren't, but all have been meaningful. Today I'm sharing a geography art project that was scheduled in Zoey's curriculum this week. She was to create a Brazilian rain stick. I had a real rain stick made of dried bamboo when I was a kid...my dad had brought it home from one of his art shows for me as a gift. I think it broke when I had a little boy over to babysit at some point during my teenage years...I remember that it was really cool though and I loved making the sounds of rainstorms with it. 

I was tickled to discover that Zoey got to make this for a project and even more tickled to discover that it actually sounded pretty good for being handmade and pretty simplistic in nature. Here are the details and her finished project...

Hope you're having a great week!