Unlike Wisconsin, spring in Albuquerque actually arrives when it is supposed to. We started seeing daffodils in March, and at the beginning of April, most of the trees were budding. It's the end of the month now, and the entire bosque is green and lush. With perpetually sunny skies, I have never been so tan in April in my life, thanks in part to triathlon training, but also to our great homeschool activities. The first Wednesday in April we went hiking in an open space off of Route 66. We hiked to the top of a hill, then stopped at a stream to have lunch and play.
Levi, Elenor, Luke, Josh, June, Gabby, Audrey, and Zach
Niels, Anna, Stella, and Bea on the trail
I think the hike was about 2 miles round trip
Anders loved playing King of the Hill
Zach, Niels, and Anders
A nice view of ABQ from the top
Anna and Bea building a dam in the stream
Elenor, Bea, and Anna at the dam
Erik and Anders playing in leaves
Niels encouraging Anders along the trail back to the car
We were really excited for the next week...taking the Rail Runner to Santa Fe for the day!
We went to the art museum...
...followed by lunch. Anders, Kasandra, Michelle, Niels and Bea
Stella, Anna, Abby, Ava, and Hattie
There was a maze outside the church that they were enthralled with
Hattie and me in front of the church
We also went to see the miraculous staircase, a marvel of craftsmenship. I wish the banisters hadn't been installed!
(without banisters)
Outside the church with the staircase
Waiting for the train home
Anders, Zach, Gabby, and June playing games on the train
Abby, Ava, Stella and Hattie
Week number 3 took us to an open space near the Rio Grande. We did poetry recitations, followed by playing in the forest and the river
I forgot to snatch a video of Niels reciting "Tug of War" by Shel Silverstein
The kids posing in front of their tepee
And finally, yesterday we went to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History for the DaVinci exhibit. They had a large display about the Mona Lisa, how they have discovered that it is actually a layering of 4 paintings using special infrared photography. They also built many of the inventions he imagined so that we could see what they would look like and how they would work.
I think the tank was the biggest hit...
...or maybe the machine gun!
And of course, we finished the afternoon at the park for lunch. We are sure going to miss our homeschooling friends!
I have to admit, this was the homeschool activity I looked forward to most all year...the recycling center tour. I guess being raised by a manufacturer, I've always been fascinated by mechanical processes. And it didn't disappoint! The enormous sorting facility was so cool.
Niels, Holder, and Rowan loved watching the garbage truck dump all the recycling into one pile. Then a bulldozer pushed the pile as high as it could go.
Elaine, Kasandra, and Nancy with a veritable mountain of trash behind them
We were there during lunch break, so we were able to go onto the balcony to see some of the specialized sorting machines, with a nice overlook of Trash Mountain.
Eventually lunch was over, and we saw the machines in action, along with the workers who do some of the sorting by hand.
We then got to see row upon row of sorted plastics, papers, and cardboard as they are ready to be shipped off to manufacturers who actually recycle the products into something new. It was really cool.
The following week the girls spent an entire day building their Jungle Book diorama. We had also been learning about Brazil, so it was perfect timing for our Charlotte Mason book club.
I have to say, theirs was probably the coolest project there. They want to move it to Virginia with us, but I'm trying to have them play with it like crazy now so that we don't move a box :)
The last week we did a tour of Casa San Ysidro in Corrales. The girls had done a Sheep to Shawl art class there in the summer. They loved it, but I don't think this tour was quite so awesome. Our docent was rather boring, others were terrible at knowing how to speak to children and wouldn't let them ask questions. I think it could have been interesting, but the old docents in charge were just not used to kids younger than 10.
I spent the whole time chasing these two around.... :)
