Doesn't every one look perfect first thing in the morning?

I have to say that I was skeptical of MP3. I didn't want to be running around to classes and take away from our school time at home. I love our curriculum. I love learning about history with the kids. I learned history in school but it was dry and just a bunch of dates. We do projects, learn about art history as well, write and read. I love learning about the Bible (but MP3 doesn't cover any bible stuff - that is OK by me). I like watching my kids figure out and understand math concepts. I like being done around 1 in the afternoon to do other things. Oh, I think that pretty much our day is school. We estimate weights of fruits and veggies at the grocery store or the total cost of our food bill, but don't tell the kids that. We are always counting, figuring, measuring carbs for Isaac. So our schooling doesn't stop at 1pm. Back to MP3. I wasn't sure about having to check in every week or do end of the month evaluations but they've have given the kids food for thought and I have a way of recording what we've done each month. Of course the kids put together a notebook at the end of the year with their favorite pieces of work but this is another way to track progress. One thing that I really like is the reimbursements. This year I was able to add Lego science to our curriculum. It isn't something that I would have normally done but the kids love it. Last night I had the opportunity to go to Launching Success, an education store, and pick out things that will help us teach our children and the program picked up the tab for it. Usually we pay for the item/lesson and then turn in our receipts at the end of the month and then wait for another 5 - 6 weeks to receive a reimbursement, but last night was special. they do this twice a year. So what will MP3 pay for? These are items that we can keep because they are considered consumables or lessons.

View of Mount Baker in the morning. We have had some very frosty mornings here.
(I've changed the very bottom picture. It is one of my favorites as of right now.)

This year we have signed up to be extension students to a school district. We have enjoyed some benefits to this. This last Friday we boarded a bus and headed down to the Pacific Science Center. The kids were very excited to go. We went the year before and they had certain things that they wanted to see again. Since we were taking a school bus and the kids were a little keyed up I gave both Job and Lona 1/2 a Dramamine. They have had problems in the past with car sickness so I wasn't going to take a chance on a yellow school bus. Upon arriving we immediately went to the Imax theatre that was showing a documentary of a trip down the Nile. The kids don't know it yet, but they are going to be writing about it this week. Then we headed over to the cafe to eat. I should have brought our own food. Hopefully I'll remember to check the blog for next time. One of the things that I appreciate about France/Switzerland is the cafeterias there. They usually serve a full meal, like a buffet. Not so in the US. After lunch we headed off to the exhibits. Job said that the phosphorous wall was the neatest exhibit. They walked into a small dark closet and posed close to the wall, then a flash went off and they moved away from the wall. The wall glowed except the spots the kids had occupied. "Naked Mole Rats" was another fascinating exhibit. We had seen these animals at a zoo in Portland. I think they are ugly but the kids like them. We will NOT be getting one of these. They were searching the tubes for the baby rat.











One of the neatest exhibits was the butterfly exhibit. This was the only warm room in the whole place. The butterflies were brought in from all over the tropics. They even had a hatchery where cocoons were pinned to a board and you could watch them hatch. As soon as their wings dried they were ready to be released into the room. I think that I could have stayed in this room for hours. You had to watch your step or you might step on a butterfly.





As we were leaving the butterfly room there was a collection box. The kids play the video game Zoo Tycoon. One of the things that they do in their zoos is to put out collection boxes to raise funds for their zoo. Here is a collection box to raise money for the science center. It was quite expensive for us to go, I wonder if maybe they lowered the price, could they raise more money in entrance fees. This is a little economics in here. Another activity would be to count the collection boxes and note where they are in the museum and then count the number of people pacing certain points in the museum. And then determine which are the high traffic areas correspond to the placement of the collection boxes. This maybe mean another trip to the center.





Job was trying to lift a meteorite chunk. It was fairly heavy for the size.


Next was a trip to the planetarium and then the snack bar again. Since we weren't stopping anywhere on the way, I needed to make sure that Isaac had something to snack one besides jellybeans. Then a quick trip to the bathroom and we headed to the entrance to wait for the bus. In this area, there were giant bubbles to try, levers to pull, things to smell, water to spin and much more. This area is just a lot of fun. The kids gain some experience and knowledge about the simple machines that we are learning about without knowing it.



Job was really trying to figure out the directions for this station.





Lona looks bored but she's just waiting for her turn.





Finally we boarded the bus and headed back to Bellingham. Isaac sat with a boy and talked the whole way. Lona found a seat by herself in the back of the bus and listened to my Ipod. It was funny, her little pink backpack, a notepad and pencil and my Ipod. Job curled up on a seat and went to sleep. Both Job and Lona took another 1/2 Dramamine. That was good.


I met another mother whose son is diabetic and wears a pump just like Isaac. It was great to visit with her and ask all sorts of questions of her and her son. He says that he doesn't even feel the injection of his set anymore. Hopefully that will happen with Isaac too. All in all, it was an extremely educational day in more ways than one and I only lost Lona once.