Landis Valley/Hands On House

Apr. 16, 2014

Our co-op took a field trip up to Landis Valley (Lancaster, PA) to tour a living history farm. They had displays and demonstrations of what life was like for the German/Mennonite/Amish community there 200-300 years ago.

It was a little over Seth's head for the most part, but he did love the Blacksmith (anything with ore is interesting, thanks to Minecraft). He also loved the sheep and was disappointed that this was as close as we got:

After a couple of hours of boredom (and a screaming baby), we decided to cross the parking lot and try out the Hands On House (a children's science center). Wish we would have done that from the beginning! 

Making the pinwheels spin using a pump

Following the instructions to assemble a "Thingy"

Self face-painting

Seth's creation

The kids had a great time killing germs, delivering mail, sorting corn and assembling flying birds. They would have stayed much longer if given the chance!

Science Center

Apr. 11, 2014

We scored a great deal on a membership to the Maryland Science Center and decided to put it to good use. Seth had been there once before for a Mummy Exhibit, but this time we just saw all the regular displays. It was a bit crazy with a bunch of older kids running around, but Seth had a great time.

Excavating dinosaur bones

Pulling himself up using a pulley

Pretty proud of himself

Assembling a path for the ball with his friend, Brie.

We were there for three hours and still saw less than half the displays. Can't wait to get back again and hopefully have a chance to see the rest of the Center.

Cherry Blossom Festival

Apr. 10, 2014

We braved the Metro by ourselves to take a trip down to D.C. to see the Cherry Blossom Festival. It was a perfect day for the trip.

Waiting to ride the Metro

(their favorite part of the entire experience)

Seth and the blossoms

Gorgeous cherry blossoms!

I wish we had more time so we could have seen some of the monuments and museums, but it takes a LONG time to haul three kids and a stroller through the Metro system and D.C. We'll have to make another trip later. 

Mammoth Follies

Mar. 5th, 2014

We originally planned to see this play in January (when we were studying dinosaurs), but due to an itty-bitty snowstorm (less than 1/2 inch), the play was postponed until March. The kids were thrilled to finally get to go to the "dinosaur show".

Mammoth Follies isn't going to win any awards, but the kids were in heaven. They loved the giant puppets and the music. Catherine has been asking me to go back ever since we left!

Our group, after the show

Being dinosaurs

Herr's Field Trip

Jan. 2, 2014

Some of our awesome homeschooling friends offered to take Seth with them to tour the Herr's Factory in Pennsylvania. 

He had a fantastic time and asked the tour guide all kinds of questions about the factory and the workers. He told me he definitely doesn't want to work in a potato chip factory, even though the chips were delicious.

Pumpkin Patch

October 14th, 2013

We had beautiful weather for our co-op field trip to Lohr's Orchard. It's a great deal--$3 per person and you get a hayride, an apple picked from the orchard, a small pumpkin from their patch and a small glass of cider. 

Seth was lucky to have his grandparents there. Grandpa helped him pick the best apple.

Seth and his co-op friends!

We love Lohr's and they did a great job making this educational. They taught the kids about how each of the plants grew and answered all the questions put to them. We'll definitely be making this an annual trip!

Mummy Exhibit

October 4th, 2013

Seth has been obsessed with mummies lately, so when his dad found out there was a mummy exhibit at the Maryland Science Center, we decided to send the two of them to see the mummies (and we got a great price on the tickets thanks to October being Homeschooling Month at the Science Center). 

Seth's favorites were the animal mummies, but he loved the whole thing. And the picture above is all his dad took as proof they actually did go to the exhibit...no mummies, but it is the Science Center!

Hogle Zoo

September 3rd, 2013

Our last day in Utah we managed to sneak in one more field trip--this time to Hogle Zoo, courtesy of Grandma Cathy (thank you!). 

Checking out the gorillas

Riding the rhino statue

Seth insisted on taking my camera so he could take this picture of a diver cleaning the otter tank.

Riding the carousel

The whole (hot & tired group) leaving the zoo.

Seth isn't a huge animal lover, but there were some pretty great things that attracted his interest. He got to see the polar bear swimming around, the tiger strutting on a cliff, and (his favorite part) a display of various animal skeletons. Guess I should look into visiting a zoo a little closer to home!

Construction Time

August 26-27, 2013

Another fun Utah adventure--helping Grandpa & Great-Grandpa install a pipe in the creek! Seth was thrilled not only with the chance to play in rocks and dirt:

...but also with the chance to see some construction equipment up close and in action! 

Seth asked a lot of questions about what was going on and why.

Luckily Grandpa Russell was a great (and patient) teacher: 

Seth even got to help Great-Grandpa put the final touches on the pipe: 

And the final test: a drive in the Avalanche over the newly-placed pipe! 

This was a great engineering lesson for a little boy who LOVES this kind of stuff.

Dinosaur Park

August 24th, 2013

This was our second fun field trip during our Utah trip. I loved going to the Ogden Dinosaur Park as a kid and hoped it would be a hit with my kids as well. Nothing like huge dinosaurs to get a boy excited!

Seth & the triceratops

Seth is about to be eaten!

He loved watching this little animatronics display of a T-rex pestering a Triceratops and her babies.

Possibly his favorite activity: panning for fool's gold

Digging for fossils

And, of course, feeding the ducks (always my favorite as a kid).

Eden Petting Zoo

August 22, 2013

We were lucky enough to get to spend a few weeks in Utah visiting family this summer, which made for a lot of fun learning opportunities!

The day after we arrived we were off to Eden to visit a petting zoo! Seth and Catherine were so excited to feed the animals.

Seth asked the owner lots of questions about the animals and what they ate.

Highlight of the day? A ride on a horse!

Fire Trucks!

June 27th, 2013

Best thing about homeschooling? Learning can happen even when you don't expect it. 

This was technically Seth's day off school because we were going to my husband's work party. Little did we know that this year Seth would take a sudden intense interest in the firetruck they always bring for the kids to investigate.

I let him pester the firefighters with questions for over an hour. One of them jokingly remarked that Seth is now fully trained to operate the truck. 

A fantastic and completely unplanned lesson on firefighters from a bunch of actual firefighters while sitting inside an actual firetruck. So cool!

Future firefighter?

First Field Trip!

June 20th, 2013

The great thing about having homeschooling friends is that they can inform you of great opportunities for activities you'd miss out on otherwise! Like our very first field trip to Annapolis:

We got to ride on this boat (The Harbor Queen) for a 40 minute informational cruise around Annapolis. Not sure how much the kids got out of the narration, but they loved the boat ride!

Ships from the Naval Academy practicing in the water

Completely enthralled by the whole experience

We'd never been to Annapolis before, so this was a great experience for all of us!