Family Schooling Summary: March at the home school co-op

 I've missed a couple weeks of co-op school updates.  The kids are learning quite a bit, but mostly having a lot of fun in their classes. 

 Hapkido class - practicing self defense moves

 In Miss L's Kindermusic class the teacher brought real Mexican jumping beans! They were amazing. They jump when they get warm.  It is because they are not actually beans at all. They are little cocoons with tiny caterpillars inside.

 The kindermusic curriculum has a lot of cute ways to get kids excited about music and teach things like rests and quarter notes at the same time.

 We played in the snow one week and then had gorgeously warm weather the following week. Spring!

In master builders they had a substitute teacher one week and just built whatever they wanted.

 Once the regular teacher came back they had a new challenge. They were supposed to make a wall around their house to keep it from flooding. Then they added water to test their designs.  M says his design worked "pretty well".  The middle stayed dry.

The activity girls had a mother daughter service project and craft day.  We made 40 lunches for a homeless shelter.

Field Trip: Police Station

A lady from our co-op arranged for a tour of a local police station. I am not a big fan of police shows, not since the original "21 Jump Street" with Johnny Depp anyway, so I had lots of questions.  I learned about beats and police chases and the rigors of being a police officer.  I was curious about mounted police (horses) and police dogs -- both of which they have.  They also have enough diversity among the 400 offers of the police force that their are officers who speak most of the languages needed locally - including Korean, Russian, French, Chinese, etc. They have officers on bikes in parks, on motorcycles, on electric bikes, and helicopters.  Both our tour guides were retired military officers.

 Jail cells. Apparently they hardly ever bring juvenile offenders in here -- unless it is a really serious crime.  Mostly they take them to meet with their parents.

 Scary. "Definitely never want to be in there for real" says brother M.  I was totally claustrophobic by the time we finished the tour.  No windows. No sunlight. That would be terribly depressing.

 Shooting range.  They get tested regularly and have rigorous moving targets, with both day and night time shots that they have to make.

 New police truck. The officers seemed pretty excited to have a truck.  I asked what its purpose was - pulling people out of ditches in snow?  They said that that is a liability and they let towing companies handle all such business.  They have a special rack on the front of the truck and many squad cars to allow them to push stopped or wrecked cars off the road.

Farm Fresh: Signs of Spring

First goose egg of the the season! Found it a few days before they left to go to their new orchard home. Big sister A is decorating it in her pysanky class at co-op school. 

The chicks have reached their awkward tween age. My favorite is this grey fuzz ball (half silkie). 

 Tulips on the dining room table.

 Plants by the front door... Usually the front stoop is my ideal hardening off place for plants -- morning sun only.

But then this happened...

Here is the before shot. I put two trays of Chinese cabbages out there this morning to harden off and the birds (chickens or guineas?) had a feast of spring greens... A little thought came to me that I should not put ALL the trays out today. So glad that I listened!  The birds have not done that in the past. But now they know that I am putting out a salad bar, I expect that they will be back.  I need to think of a creative solution, but not too ugly for the front yard. 

All my ice skating shots are blurry. This is from last week.  She is so speedy by herself now.  Maybe I will have her start lessons in the fall. They all love skating.  A is doing super in her lessons and she and M are probably going to do a performance at the end of the summer. 

Field Trip: Rawlings Conservatory and Gardens

My friend A was in town this weekend for brief visit before a work assignment. On Saturday we got out to do some fun touring around. 

 I think winter is the perfect time to visit indoor gardens. The smells and sights of so many plants made my heart happy. Rawlings conservatory is a beautiful victorian era building. 

 They have an orchid room.  I never realized a). how wonderful orchids smell and b). the variations in their smells.

 We spend a long time there sniffing each one.

 Wouldn't it be magical to have a greenhouse big enough to grow huge trees? I could have stayed there all day.  That is a kumquat tree in the background.

 The lemons on this tree were the size of grapefruits.

 Bananas

 Little brother S was so excited to see these giant goldfish.  Hands down his favorite part of the garden.

 Wall of ferns and air plants.

 The desert room did a great job showcasing large and small cacti and succulents. 

 They had some huge cacti - the biggest I've ever seen in person

 I liked these fuzzy fraggle ones, but was afraid to touch them.

 The kids thought this looked like a giant version of our pineapple plants.

 We went downtown to see the Peabody library, but it was closed for a wedding.  We tried to go into this cool looking cathedral, but the doors were locked.

We looked at the George Washington monument, but did not go up.