Science Classes

We've been attending some fun science classes outside the home this fall. Homeschool co-ops have not really become a part of the homeschooling life here in Maine as of yet. Partly because we live in such a rural area is my guess. It's hard to commit to outside activities knowing that winter driving conditions are coming fast.

When another homeschooling mom contacted me at the beginning of September about the possibility of setting up some science classes at the local natural history museum (local is a relative term here - I drive 40 minutes one way to get there) I decided to try it out. The cost was very inexpensive as well ($2/child/session - 5 sessions total). While it's harder for me to do things like this with the little ones I babysit, I thought we could manage it & the sessions only last for an hour at a time.

Here are a few photos from the first session we had this month. Serena, our guide & teacher who works at the museum, does a phenomenal job with the children. Our first class was on birds & watercolors (science & art mixed together!). She gave the children a quick tutorial on how to do watercolors and then they each picked a bird to draw.

N's drawing

Then this past Friday we went back for a study on Pond Life. More details on what went on here are over at my homeschool planner blog, but I had to share this photo here:

While some of us moms with older kids kind of hung back & let them at the pond with their nets, Serena was discussing how she goes around to area schools to teach this class. She'll fill buckets with pond water and animal life & then go discuss it. We were talking about what these poor frogs would say if only they could.

"You won't believe the day I've had!" one might exclaim. "There were these huge humans crowded around me just watching. I was moving & then I ended up back here!" Of course, the rest of the frogs would just shake their heads at his tale of "human-abduction." This, of course, had us chuckling over what we'd do if other humans started falling on us as if we were in a cage. That was pretty much the highlight of my morning, but the kids had far more fun!