January 11, 2008
Revolutionary War
A couple of weeks ago we went to see the annual reenactment of the Battle of Trenton.
Though we won't officially cover the Revolutionary War for a couple of years, (We're following the Well-Trained Mind)we are taking advantage of the regional historical opportunities. We have been in Central New Jersey for 2 years now and we have seen a handful of places and events related to the founding of our country. We have about 5 months left here and a couple more places we want to visit. I hope we can do it!
Henry in front of a cabin at Valley Forge
Washington Crossing Park (The New Jersey side)
Reenactment of the Battle of Iron Works Hill
The Liberty Bell
Independence Hall
Mt. Vernon
The boys greeting Thomas Paine in Bordentown, NJ.
Monmouth Battlefield State Park
Patriot Theo
Patriot Henry
Posted by Julee at 07:31 AM
April 17, 2007
Moon Marble Company
While in Kansas City visiting all of the grandparents we made a trip to the Moon Marble Company in Bonner Springs, KS. You can watch a demonstration of a marble being blown by hand They also have one of the coolest toy stores I've seen in a long time - definitely a toy collection a homeschooler can appreciate. Too bad there wasn't much room in my budget for appreciation! Though I did spend $4 on a tube of large hand blown marbles.
Posted by Julee at 11:38 AM | Comments (0)
February 24, 2007
A Visit to the Rutgers EcoComplex and Landfill
Last week we visited the Rutgers EcoComplex and the adjoining landfill with Henry's Environmental Education class. Theo even got out of kindergarten early yo join us.
The kids made edible landfills:
Then we toured the landfill.
Posted by Julee at 01:51 PM | Comments (1)
October 19, 2006
Wheaton Village
We visited Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center in Millville, NJ yesterday. A very cute village of artisan studios, shops, a couple of museums and a train. We started our visit with a tour through the studios with demonstrations on glass-blowing, pottery and marble making. The artists were all pretty engaging and held the children's attention for a fairly long time. It's great to see them in the process of creating!
After a lunch and a train ride we all went to the Museum of American Glass. where we had the pleasure of seeing the world's largest glass bottle, as well as some other oddities all in glass.
Theo even played hookey from kindergarten to join us, which he will probably do for all of our field trips. I know he will learn so much more by getting out, seeing and doing than by sitting in a classroom all day. (Though I am absolutely pleased with his teacher, as she is very enthusiastic, warm and creative.)
Posted by Julee at 09:55 PM | Comments (0)
November 16, 2005
Aquarena Springs
On Monday we went to Texas State University Aquarena Center in San Marcos for a turtle presentation. The place is actually on the site of an old amusement park, Aquarena Springs, which closed in the 1990s. Some of the old structures are still standing. It is also the home of the actual San Marcos Springs which puts out about 200 million gallons of water a day.
It was really great trip. We started off with a ride on a glass bottom boat and saw a ton of turtles swimming, as well as a variety of fish. We also saw the springs in action: it looked like the mud on the bottom of the lake was boiling.
We then went into their small aquarium and saw a handful of local endangered species, including a very cute soft shelled turtle. We also went on walk across a boardwalk over some restored wetlands and saw even more turtles.
We capped off the field trip with another set of turtle shell paper plates:
(notice my children were still dressed in summer clothes)
Posted by Julee at 11:17 PM | Comments (0)
November 04, 2005
Charlotte's Web
We like Charlotte's Web. So far I have read aloud the book, we have watched the animated version on DVD and the boys frequently listen to it on their audio CD. Today we saw a stage production of the story presented by the Madison High School Drama Department. I had not seen a high school play since...well, since high school. I was pleasantly surprised. It was a really cute production with really great costumes. Most of the acting wasn't half-bad either.
Another homeschooling mom organized the outing and I'm glad she did. I would have never thought of going to the high schools for a fun but inexpensive way for my kids to experience theater.
Posted by Julee at 08:39 PM | Comments (0)
October 21, 2005
The Maize
Earlier this week we drove to Hondo to tackle the South Texas Maize. Did you notice the play on words? Actually the maze was not cut in a corn field; it's sorghum. The owner told us that they tried to grow corn but they only could get it to grow waist high.
Anyway, I digress. We had a great time. The maze was actually pretty difficult and we got lost a few times. One group got so lost they had to send in a "corn cop" to retrieve them.
The owners are homeschoolers themselves, so their children were there helping out. Apparently they follow a curriculum and then take their "summer" vacation in the fall so they can help out with business. My kids were completely enthralled by watching their teenage son make kettle corn and the daughter came with us on a wagon ride and caught a chicken for the kids to pet.
The chicken:
Ice cream on her face:
Posted by Julee at 04:17 PM | Comments (0)
October 18, 2005
Love Creek Orchards
We drove up to Medina, TX to Love Creek Orchards yesterday for a fun field trip. We didn't actually go into the orchards; we left before the tour. We were too worn out from the hay maze, making scarecrows, painting pumpkins, eating maple coated apples, a wagon ride and petting farm animals- all under the 90 degree hot sun.
Painting Pumpkins:
Gathering Hay for a Scarecrow:
Playing in the Hay:
Brothers:
Posted by Julee at 08:57 PM | Comments (1)
October 11, 2005
Mitchell Lake
We went on a great fieldtrip yesterday to Mitchell Lake Audubon Center. We got a guided tour through the property which has wetlands and several small lakes. We saw hundreds, if not thousands of pelicans. We also saw egrets, stilts, anhingas, roseate spoonbills, cormorants, coots and many other birds.
We also saw a nutria, a South American rodent about the size of a beaver, which is not native to Texas. It had been introduced for its fur and in the hopes that it would reduce some aquatic plants. It hasn't been very successful and has become a problem in many places. One benefit though is that it has become a food source for the native alligator population, which is actually starting to make a small comeback. Luckily we didn't see any of those!
The nutria:
At the end of the tour we stopped at a pond where our guide took a sample from the bottom of the water and put it in a container so we come see the creature residents. We saw freshwater shrimp. damselfly larvae, small fish and some other tiny insects. We also saw many turtles poke their heads up through the water.
Posted by Julee at 08:32 AM | Comments (1)
October 07, 2005
SAS Factory
Earlier this week we went on a tour of the SAS Factory. SAS stands for San Antonio Shoes.
In the past, we have seen some of the more touristy factories, including Ben & Jerry's, Hershey Chocolate and Vermont Teddy Bear, but this was a real working factory. The warehouses where most of the assemby is done had not been redesigned for the tourist's eye at all. There was no little filmstrip about the history of the company and our tour guide didn't follow some cheesy script. She simply took us from station to station and explained each shoe making process, while we watched an employee actually do it. We got to see the whole process of the shoe being made- from the big piece of cow hide to the quality inspection in the end.
The actual tour was the perfect amount of time and there was enough action to hold Henry and Theo's attention. But I really think they enjoyed riding the shuttle bus around the factory grounds more. And the best part: SAS has a shoe store on the grounds designed to look like an old-time general store. They had a soda counter where we bought popcorn, cokes and cookies for a dime each. They even gave us a goody bags with pencils and rulers. What a great field trip!
Posted by Julee at 06:56 AM | Comments (0)
September 17, 2005
Bats
I haven't been doing much with this blog right now, but I'll go ahead and post some pictures of the bats we saw on a field trip last week.
We went to the Old Tunnel Wildlife Management Area outside of Sisterdale, TX. At about 30 minutes before sundown nearly 3,000,000 Mexican free-tailed bats emerged from an abandoned railroad tunnel over a 20 minute period. They do this every night during their stay in Texas while they are on their migratory path to Mexico. We'll have to make a point to visit Bracken Cave while we are living in San Antonio. It is home to 20 million of the bats, the largest colony of mammals in the entire world.
It was amazing and my photos don't even begin to show how many bats were in the air.
Posted by Julee at 10:03 PM | Comments (0)