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We spent most of our Saturday in Philly in the Franklin Institute.
We took our time, seeing most every exhibit, having fun touching everything. (And praying we didn’t pick up some virus or the Swine flu!)
We tested the brakes
before we rode on the real steam engine.
We spent plenty of time in the Heart wing.
Here we are making our way through the walk-through heart.
Chuck found out he has
of blood in his body. Interesting.
Brooke has always wanted to be a doctor. She decided to practice a little open heart surgery in preparation for her future career.
Where else will you get to sit on a bone bench?
Or crawl through a blood vessel?
We made sure to get plenty of exercise to keep our hearts beating strong.
In the space wing we made and tested moon rovers
and watched a really cool movie in the plantarium all about the sun. Perfect preparation for our upcoming solar system study.
We had a BOO-last at the Liquid Scare show. Here the children are all molecules in a solid, packed tight together, being quite still.
I forgot to take photos of our faces at age 70, as seen through an age progression machine. That’s probably better left unphotographed, anyway 
I do highly recommend the Institute for lots of science fun.
I made a new friend at the Greater Philadlephia Christian Writers Conference this summer.
She and her husband are missionaries with CLC Publications just outside Philly. She invited me to visit with my family, and I couldn’t resist the offer.
We started our visit with a tour of the U.S. Mint–no photos allowed there. We learned all about how coins are made and actually watched the process happening live. How cool!
Friday night we toured the CLC publishing house. What fun to physically see the Editors’ offices and the old print room–and everything in-between. I asked to see the infamous ”slush pile,” but these days it’s more of an electronic thing.
We spent Saturday in downtown Philly strolling the same cobblestones great men in history walked.
The line was very long to see the Liberty Bell, so we took our photo with the display at the Visitor’s Center instead, opting to come back on a weekday to see the actual bell.
We spent the majority of the day in the Franklin Institute science museum. (I’ll add another post with those photos soon.)
Sunday we worshiped with our friends and toured the Castle. The castle was my favorite place in Philly.
We had a fantastic time with new friends, in a new place. I hope we can get back there again next autumn.
Poor little Junior Sparks had been struggling to breathe all day. I assured them it would be just fine to put him right into fresh new tap water. I’d done it my whole life. He’d be just fine and he’d be able to breathe.
The next morning, Brooke told me Junior Sparks was sleeping. Oh no. To tell the truth or a story that would buy me time to get a replacement? It didn’t matter what I said–the look on my face was honest. No poker face here.
An apology and acknowledgement that yes, there just might be a pink fish out there somewhere, was enough to quell the tears. Now I know. No fresh tap water for Junior Sparks Junior.
I don’t typically give the children written “tests” to assess what they’ve learned in home school. Usually I ask them to teach their daddy what they’ve learned, or narrate back what they’ve read. Sometimes I use lapbooks. Here are the kids’ lapbooks for our Rocks and Minerals unit.
Brad:
Brian:
Brooke:
They might not be named Dopey and Sneezy,
but my little miners
sure know how to find treasure.
This time they found a dinosaur. Next time, diamonds!
The girls were itching to take dance lessons, but we just didn’t have the extra money to send them in this season of our financial life. They took the news hard. They were very disappointed. It killed me to have to say no to their passions.
But, very much by mistake, we stumbled upon a local rec program with great instructors for a fraction of the price.
We didn’t even have to spend money on dance duds. Brooke can wear sweats and her hip-hop tenners from last year,
and a friend from high school even gave me a pair of shoes for Breanna–for free!
Now my little princesses are thrilled to be dancing.
And I’m happy to be able to nurture their passions and talents.
God is faithful to not only meet our needs, but to grant even our hearts’ desires…like new friends!
We’re practiced in the “crafts” part of Arts and Crafts, but this year we’re exploring a little more of the “arts” side. Friday mornings we complete a lesson from Visual Manna .
Recently we learned about patterns by drawing a gingerbread house.
We also brought out our book on Akiane and imitated her style.
Brea has her own plans pretty much all the time. She’s a free spirit.
Speaking of doing things a little differently, this is how Brian likes to learn most.
Oy! Well, we do make sure to wipe off the table before meals at least.
We’re in the midst of our KONOS Rock Study. After we learned what makes a rock Igneous, Sedimentary, or Metamorphic
(children watching sediments settle)
we took off to collect some slate at a friend’s house.
Slate is a metamorphic rock made from shale. Apparently some of the highest quality slate in the world is found in nearby Delta, Pennsylvania.
Not only did our friend give us slate, but she gave us a box of gems, geodes and other minerals from Utah.
We had a few other rocks some friends gave us last year, including these rose quartzes.
(left: unpolished; right: polished)
We spent the better part of the morning identifying and learning about our specimens.
We’re still working on this one we collected from Topsail Island, NC a few years ago on vacation. Far as we can tell, it might be a barnacle fossil. Anyone willing to venture another guess?
