Thursday, April 26, 2018

April homeschool activities

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!
Bea, Ava, Anna, Hattie

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