Planet Explorers

As i was writing my recap of the late months of 2010 i realized there were quite a few detailed posts i missed in all the hubub of November and December.  Back in November the boys and i went with our friends and their three kids to the planetarium.  We had never been before and it was a huge hit with all the kids, ranging from 2 to 7!  Henry and the girls went to a star show with Cullen and Henry while Silas and Walker explored, made a kite, and put together a craft that explored how the earth rotates and is alternately in day and night.  The latter was extremely useful to me-- a very visual person that just never "got" the why of night and day. 

Short digression.  One thing i looked forward to when dreaming about the babies in my belly was learning afresh along with them.  My goal was around ditching all my hang-ups and failings that i experienced with math the first time around and learning with a fresh clean slate.  Of course the learning hasn't stopped with math and definitely not with formal things like math or science.  But as the boys progress in their schooling, it is pretty amazing to learn things with an open mind.  I'm working on encouraging all of us to seek answers together, and follow the boys lead, rather than jumping to answer the things i know (or think i know.)  Not that all answers are bad but i've been trying to work in a lot more "i wonder..." responses when i'm asked "why....?"

The boys enjoyed the more staid aspects of the museum plenty, but they went nuts over the "Planet Explorers" part of the museum.  They got to put on space gear including flight jackets, backpacks, and hats, launch and dock a space shuttle, drive a moon buggy around the moon and scoop-up space rocks, and drive rovers around the space of planet X.  I think another visit will be in order, and i also think i'm going to work on sewing a space suit for Silas, who sure was loathe to return that flight jacket...