Friday, March 7, 2008

Field Trips and Six Months Old

The funny thing about home schooling is every day is a field trip because we rarely just stay home, but today we had two "official" home schooling field trips. Art class was at Krannert Art Museum and we had lots of fun checking out the exhibits before settling in to draw. Dema really connected with the Blown Away art which is no surprise. Parker sketched one of the sculptures while I took Dema around to look at more paintings. Parker just loves to go to any museum and I promised we would go just the two of us soon (or the two of us with Josie) so he can take all the time he wants to see the exhibits and do some sketching on his own.

For the second field trip, we picked up my dad to join the fun. We went to the Illinois State Geological Survey Open House. This is right up Dad's alley since he worked many years as a "dam engineer" (that is what my mom always called him) for the Soil Conservation Service. The kids said they want granddad to come on all our field trips from now on. They really enjoyed it, but Dema had a very long day by the end and needed to take a nap or go run in a park...funny how either one would work. Parker said his favorite part was "everything!", but I think Dema liked the fun with gas (more explosions...that was the theme for today). Parker told Rob all about carbon dioxide, liquid nitrogen, earthquakes, and fossils over dinner. He has been asking me recently why mammoths went extinct and that came up in one of the presentations. Dema was so excited to have his own piece of coal and fluorite. At the end of the day, the boys dug for fossils and were able to take them home. Dema and I went through the makeshift cave and talked about stalactites and stalagmites (I explained the way my mom told me to remember which is which...stalactites are coming down from the roof of the cave and have to hold on tight). He loved the fake bat and fake big bugs. I've decided to take more advantage of local places of interest instead of always waiting to go to Chicago or other places. We have plenty of fun and educational things to do right here in town.

Josie is six months old today. I feel like I'm not spending enough time enjoying her babyhood. I decided to serve again on a local non-profit's board of directors and I've extremely torn about it. I care about the group and think I have something to offer and lots of work to continue, but I also am very busy with home schooling, my business, and other things so I hate to have one more distraction from my main focus which is my family. My mother was extremely involved in the community and many of my early memories of her involve being with her at one meeting or another. I really enjoyed joining her in all or her volunteer work, but the organization I am working with is not very child-friendly. I take Josie to almost all the meetings (I made the mistake of leaving her home last night and I won't do it again), but it will get tougher and tougher the older she gets. She is a joy and very easy going. I love getting to know her more and more each day.

2 comments:

fredbunch said...

Hey - I've been reading your blog off and on for awhile. Your friend's website (Four is Crazy) caught my eye - wonder why? I would love to know her children's actual names because I love the nicknames she uses on her blog. I also like her reference to crazy meter from time to time.

Hope you all are doing well. Hadley and Josie sound so much alike in personality. Hadley is very laid back and just goes with the flow, easily entertained by the twins or her latest big fan, Jo Claire. Can't wait to see y'all again soon!

Camille

VeganLinda said...

Camille,

Yes, you and A from Four is Crazy would have a lot to talk about. She amazes me.

You would not believe how often Dema talks about your kids. He wants to go to NC everyday to play with his cousins. He tells everyone about Blinson. I bet Hadley is getting big...does it make you want another baby yet? Josie is what we call a sucker baby...they sucker you into having another one. I'm about sick of this weather so we may have to come down to NC soon.