Our Weekly Amble for March 9-13, 2015

This week was odd.

It started out wonderfully! We had a really good Monday, and accomplished everything we had planned.  Including two science experiments about air pressure: water in a cup and a piece of paper and using suction cups.

We also, finally, got to play outside a good portion of the day as the weather was warmer and dry.

I had my CM Group meeting Monday evening and I even got my homework done.  Wonders never cease.

Tuesday, we went with my parents to the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh.  It’s a long, but doable, day trip; slightly more than three hours each way. Plus, it gave complete reciprocity for my parents’ Grandparents +1 Adult membership to our local Science Center.

One wonderful thing was seeing the ice coming out of the rock face walls from when the road was put in.  M-girl said, “Mommy, it’s just like that book! Madam How and Lady Why … the water is wearing away at the rocks.” I had forgotten to watch, but she hadn’t.  That was my first reason to love AmblesideOnline this week.

The Center had some of the best science exhibits I’ve seen in children’s museum.  Where we not only played, but actually learned some science.  Their Science of Sports area was fantastic for learning about the mechanics of our bodies and for doing a lot of physical activity (which, after 3 hours + of travel was appreciated).

The robot exhibit was well done; many things to do and see, plenty to learn.  We enjoyed playing Air Hockey with a robot arm, programming a robot arm to draw with small marbles, and trying to trick different sensors.  N-boy enjoyed the astronaut weightlessness simulation.

The water exhibit, which was new, was really neat.  We learned about water’s form, function, and behavior. We played in a sand table that projected topographic lines on our mountains, then how water would behave on those hills.  There was a great deal more to the exhibit, including water creatures, plumbing, and how waves affect one another.  So good.

We got home rather late on Tuesday, exhausted with a ton of fog from quickly melting snow to drive through.  I was so thankful my dad did the main driving of the day.  So we had a reading and music day on Wednesday.

Thursday was our Art with Friends day and I still allowed the children to sleep late, so we got little done at home.  We finished the project we began last time by drawing lighthouses (or islands or boats) on our tissue paper sunsets. 

Then, because St Patrick’s Day is coming, and we had Corned Beef and Cabbage for lunch, we made rainbow Wind Socks.  It was finally nice enough to go outside, so we have this beautiful picture 🙂

Friday we just finished with reading.  My second reason to love AmblesideOnline came Friday when the children were reading about New Amsterdam in This Country of Ours. That chapter also discussed the Duke of York and after the reading I listened to a rousing rendition of The Grand Ole Duke of York.  I love that.

So, while we didn’t get as much done as in last weeks, I’m still happy with this Weekly Amble.