the Science Centre

So yesterday turned out much better than expected school-wise. We were done at noon, so that is a major bonus. We still haven't done our science test, so no science this week, but not that concerned. They did spend the day at the Space and Science centre. I think next time we go there I will take them to a show in the planetarium, I LOVE the planetarium! And there are a bunch of new Imax movies out that we could see, but only the 13 year old likes to go to those.

The science centre is a pretty cool place. On the main floor there are 3 permanent galleries. The Police services gallery has a mystery for the kids to solve, you get to walk through the crime scene and collect clues; watch news clips about the 'crime'; listen to witness statements; and then take all your evidence to the lab where you learn all about forensics. I love that part. You compare fingerprints, DNA strands, fibres, learn tons of stuff about forensics through hands-on activities. Then you decide who you think did it, enter all your evidence in a computer program and it tells you if your case against the defendant was successful. It is so cool, I love the little news clips you get to see-all recorded by local newscasters.
Next is the human body gallery. It is set up like an old-time carnival fun house. Very bright and noisy and has hands on activities to learn all about your body and senses. The boys love the gallery of gross, containing jars of boogers, feces, urine, stomach acid, any icky thing in your body. (all fake of course)
The third gallery on the main floor is the Green's Garage and Garden. You learn about the environment, weather, recycling, gardening/growing, water and erosion, etc. In the Garage, they have a remote weather forecast studio, where you can record your own weather forecast complete with real footage of real weather. When you are done you get to see yourself on the 'newscast'. Huge hit with my kids.
On the main floor there is also a stage for live science demos about various topics and the Imax theatre.
Upstairs there are tons of hands on activities/brainbusters on all sorts of topics. There is the outer space gallery with tons of computers to do simulations, view NASA photos; there is a space shuttle to walk through (my kids love to sit on the space toilet), a solar powered mini Mars rover to try to maneuver across the terrain; oh tons of cool stuff. They have a computer lab and a Lego Mindstorms lab in there as well. Next to that is the discovery gallery for the younger kids. There is a blocks and trains area; a water table area, complete with wave machine; a science crate, preschool computer area that has a beehive in the summer; and the top area has a giant floor piano, funhouse mirrors, puppet theatre, giant puzzles. All my kids can spent hours there. Up from that are some classrooms.
The last gallery is the feature gallery that changes themes several times a year. They had an awesome dinosaur display recently and now have a Lego Starwars display. This area also has a bunch of hands on physics and body mechanics type displays and a huge lightning in a box.
On the third floor is the planetarium, can't wait to go there again!

Science Centre Homeschool Day

Our first homeschool day at the Space and Science centre! So exciting:) I haven't signed up for many homeschooly things since we have lived here, we have a pretty busy schedule of outside activities as it is. And with Daddy's often extremely busy work schedule, we like to spend whatever free-time we have with him. And I am not that connected in the homeschool community here. anywaysss...
I did it. I signed the kids up for some classes, even my almost 4 year old! We love the science centre and go quite often, and I think this is a great opportunity to see science in action in a way that is difficult at home. And a very awesome bonus is the likelihood of meeting some other home-educating families in the area. I did see a few familiar faces there, and the kids had a blast in their classes, even if they are little know-it-alls. We asked them what they learned and were informed that they knew all that stuff already. hmmm. well.
They did think the new Star Wars Lego display was pretty cool! And the Robot wandering around, and the lightning-in-a-box. One thing I appreciated is that there were lots of staff on hand and all the displays were operational. Often when we go during the week, it is really quiet and certain things are not up and running.
Everyone here is sick with a cold, but we are managing to keep up with most of our bookwork. I do need to catch up with our marking though.
Off to drive the big kid to Bible study, Mom's taxi is never idle:)

Tuesday Sunshine

I think I will go easy on the book work today, the sun is shining and there is snow in the forecast for later in the week. I am gonna take the kids to the river valley and go for a nice long walk-maybe even to the zoo, the preschoolers should really enjoy that.
Yesterday was really fun. I pulled out my box of Discovery toys preschool stuff. J spent hours doing activities. Matching and sorting games, lots of pre-math stuff, colours, shapes and last night we played an alphabet fishing game with Papa. I let him stay up for a bit after A went to bed so we could play without little destructo hands being involved. It is really fun that he is so into learning and wanting to try stuff.
The boys got their math, handwriting, grammar, journal, geography and science done yesterday and today I need to pick up some red cabbage for our science experiment tonight. I may have to rethink the blogger journaling, because they are spending more time putting in links to games and uploading photos than actually writing.
ooh, Daddy is gonna do a real life geometry lesson today, he need to build some stuff in the garage. fun!
Off to do school.