Doing D.C.

Before Little Weed #4 joined our family, I considered myself the field trip queen.  As one of the many perks of homeschooling,  I really made an intentional effort to allow my kids to learn through real experiences, real places, and real life.  We typically enjoy between 20 and 40 "field trips" in a school year.  This school year, I think I can count on one hand the number of outings we undertook.  In hindsight, this was a really good move, but as spring approached, the weather (finally) warmed up, and I felt confident that our family was ready for a few more excursions, we decided to tackle a day in D.C.

A friend of mine had organized a rocks and minerals  class at the Natural History Museum for the bigger kids.  It was really well done, and the kids gave it two thumbs up. 

 

 

 

While the three older kids learned about color, luster, hardness, and streak as they identified a whole assortment of rocks and minerals, Little Weed #4 and I went for a little adventure in the museum.  That short stroll is currently one of my fondest memories with #4 so far.  His eyes were wide with wonder as he looked around, attempting to take it all in and asking a million and one questions.  We walked through the ocean hall where a 45 foot right whale is suspended from the ceiling.  If that weren't enough, we were treated to display after display of unusual sea creatures.  Since this is neither a zoo nor an aquarium, the question of the day was, "Is that real?", meaning, "Is that alive?"  Since I answered time and again that the displays were no longer alive or were models of real animals, #4 began to get the idea that we might just be surrounded by dead things.  I'm pretty sure his favorite "dead thing" was the dinosaur skeleton. 

 

It wasn't long before our time was up and we had to head back toward the classroom where the other kids were to be finishing up.  We had only been in two galleries, but I'm pretty sure #4 had enough new questions stored up from that limited experience to last him a good long while.  We'll head back again to tackle another few sections.  :)

 

Back in the classroom, we were allowed to do a little investigating on the microscopes and activity kits. 

 

The quote of the day came as we were looking at the life-sized human skeleton model in the room.  A museum employee walked over to us as we compared our arms to the arms of the skeleton.  #4 turns to her and casually asks, "You kill that guy?"  I worked hard to stifle my giggle, but the museum employee calmly and respectfully explained the situation to my naturally curious little man.  Precious and priceless.

 

After hitting the butterfly exhibit, we decided to head out and enjoy the peak blooming  of the cherry trees over near the basin.

 

We also couldn't resist a completely overpriced sweet snack to help provide the energy necessary for the long walk back to the car.

 

We decided to call it a day and declared our first major DC field trip of the year a success.