Puppets!

What a fun Friday we had! We went to see Rumplelstiltskin at the Center for Puppetry Arts. The one hour show had two puppeteers who used marionettes to tell the classic fairy tale. I know my children were entertained, and Miss B in particular was amazed at how much skill it took to coordinate all of the puppets. When the puppeteers came out at the end to explain their jobs she was mesmerized. We toured the exhibits at the center after the show and learned all about different types of puppets. There was an entire section devoted to Jim Henson, which made me want to Netflix some Muppet Movies over the coming weeks! As I also revealed in the seven random things about me, I once wanted to be a puppeteer for Sesame Street, so I loved the exhibit!

Best of all, we went to a puppet making workshop, and Miss B and G Man got to make their own Rumpelstiltskin. (In this picture my son has the monkey puppet we received for joining the center.)

Miss B. chose to make her puppet a girl!

We bought two puppet kits to do at home next week. I had purchased a membership to the center through Groupon, so everything was discounted today, which always helps! Members got front row seats and free puppet workshops.

I'd like to try and get the original fairy tale from the library next week to read with the children. I found the graphic (at the top of this post) online and it is from the original version which was put out in 1886. I can tell that a lot of what we learned today "stuck" with my kids. G Man told his dad all about the "marionettes" and was quoting lots of funny things Rumplestiltskin said, while Miss B was very interested in the mechanics of the puppets and asking lots of questions.

This is a little detour in our curriculum, but part of the beauty of homeschooling is that we can pause to appreciate the beauty around us. We read all of the time and soak up as many cultural activities as possible. I don't think there is a written curriculum for this, it's just the stuff of a well-rounded life.

Since we were downtown, we went to daddy's office and picked him up for lunch. He took us to a new restaurant, Home Grown, which was just opened by a friend of his from high school. It was AWESOME! I had a french toast sandwich which was stuffed with bacon, spinach and tomatoes, cheese grits, and a sweet tea - probably not the most healthy lunch, but it was delicious.

We made a quick side trip to visit my sorority little sister and take some books and toys to her three and one year old. I love it when my children are excited to pass down things they really enjoyed. In this case it was a full set of Sesame Street letter books and a Leap Frog Fridge Phonics set.

I promised the kids on the way home we could go to Wal-Mart and visit the Coin Star machine. They had counted all of their saved change early this morning and told me we had about $14 in coins. The Coin Star Machine gave us a voucher for $13.68, so I think the kids' calculations were quite accurate. What did they get with their spoils? An Etch-A-Sketch (can you believe we didn't have one?), silly bands, and a gallon of milk (since we needed it at home, they let me use their money for it. Cute.)

All in all, a great day! We're settling in to watch the Braves game now, and everyone is stuffed from lunch so I don't have to fix dinner. Happy Weekend!

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Prepping for our Big "Field Trip"

Soon we will be on our way to the ultimate homeschool field trip. Sure, most people would call it a vacation, but we like to view everything as an opportunity for study. We will be visiting my sister and her family who live in Rochester, NY. While there we are going to be taking a ride on the Erie Canal, visiting Niagara Falls, going to the Buffalo Bills training camp (well, that's just for the boys) and going to the Strong Museum. I have to thank my sister for coordinating everything. She just emailed me a schedule of events and I said "looks great" - how's that for service?

Here's some of what we have been reading to prep for our trip:

This book is the well known song about the Erie Canal - it has all of the lyrics and piano music as well. The kids love to sing it while I play the piano.

This book is actually a part of Miss B's Sonlight Core 3 curriculum. It is such a beautiful book (I've got a post ready to go about just this book, in fact!) and is about a canoe that makes the journey from Lake Nipigon (Canada) out to the Atlantic Ocean.... via the Great Lakes and Niagara Falls. It really cemented the geography for the kids.

Miss B. actually noticed this book listed on the back of one of her other Boxcar Children mysteries and brought it to my attention. We are almost finished reading it - it is of course another good Boxcar mystery and references the Maid of the Mist (which we will be going on) and lots of local Niagara Falls geography. I have the visitor's guide for Niagara Falls and the kids like looking through it while I'm reading.

We will be approaching the early 1800s this year in Miss B's history curriculum, so she will learn about why the Erie Canal was so important in the westward expansion of our nation. We've also learned that Niagara Falls is the second largest waterfall in the world (second to Victoria Falls) and that a huge amount of the world's fresh water passes over the falls. It is awesome to think about.

A great find on the internet is the site "American History for Kids". It has a section of American History coloring pages, and since GMan loves to color I'll print out the Erie Canal sheet for him this week. I'd like to take the kids' journals as well, so they can write a little bit about what they thought along the way.

We're all looking forward to a break from this oppressive heat and having the chance to see family and have lots of fun -- because once this "field trip" is over, we need to get back to WORK. Have I mentioned how much I love homeschooling?

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