The National Civil War Museum

Our History club and some friends visited the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, PA.  This is a neat little museum, but a little strange to me that no battle was fought there.  They were prepared to fight when Lee was advancing north, but the Confederates never made it that far.  None the less, the museum is there.

There were lots of nicely done exhibits, like comparing the different uniforms, medical equipment, and weapons.

There was also an exhibit about the slave who mailed himself (with help from abolitionists) to the North and freedom.  I like that they reproduced the box, so that the kids could get inside to try to experience what it would have felt like to be in that box, upside down at times, for the hours and hours it took to get to freedom.

They have a nice eating area as well where the kids had a lunch.

I don't know that this museum is worth a trip all on its own.  It was a nice addition to our lessons, and thankfully inside on a chilly day, but I'd rather visit the actual battlefields and the museums that usually accompany those.
Still the kids had fun and got to see and touch and listen and watch civil war history, so it's all good.
:)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Our field trip group held a Valentine's Day party.  I had to work, so I wasn't there until the end, but they girls had a fun time.  Everyone got to exchange Valentines.  They played lots of games, sang some songs, and had a "banquet" at the end.  I'm so glad the girls get to do group things like this even though they aren't in school.  The bonus is, the party isn't just part of the day or something at the end.  The party is the highlight of the day because you go there just for that.

Don't they just look full of love!

Gwyn's youth group did Valentine's Day babysitting as a fundraiser.  Celee and Lyla had a Valentine's Day party at their gymnastics place.  So Jason and I got to go out!  Woohoo!
We started out our romantic evening at AutoZone after we had dropped all the kids off.  If's funny what a free evening has become.
We did go to Snickerdoodles in Hampstead afterward for dessert and coffee.  We sat and enjoyed talking and being silly while the snow fell outside.  It was nice to just sit and enjoy each other's company with no rush to finish eating and leave.  I do love this man!

When we did leave, the snow was coming down like crazy!  We actually got into a white-out situation on a road that crosses corn fields.  The crazy person behind me was honking for me to go, but I literally could not see the road.  So they could go around for all I cared.  We crept along when the wind blew a clear moment, and finally made it to the church to pick up Gwyn.  It wasn't as dramatic by the time we went to get Celee and Lyla thankfully.

It was a very quaint Valentine's Day.  Nothing big, nothing dramatic other than the driving.  It was just a day of spending time with people we love.  I am one lucky lady!

SCCK is back on!

SCCK, or South Carroll Covenant Keepers, is our specials co-op.  And it's back on!  SCCK has two sememsters that each run 10 weeks.  The girls have made some nice friends here and we were all excited to start the round of new classes.
Gwyn is taking a reptile class.  Each week the teacher will bring in a reptile for the kids to learn about and interact with.  It is definitely a popular class!  Gwyn is also taking an American Girl Doll class, Circus, Italian Desserts, and Crazy Chemistry.

Lyla is taking Fun with Literature, Art for Small Hands, Superheroes, HapKido, and Snacks around the World.  Once again, in several of her classes she is the only girl, which makes for a very active class!  She can hang though.  And somebody has to represent Wonder Woman in the Superheroes class!

Celee is taking Spanish is Fun, Reptiles, HapKido, Drawing, and Circus.  She's getting to be a pretty good clown.  I think she was a pretty good clown on her own, but now she's learning it for real.  Stilts and all!

Singing in church

Celee and Lyla got to sing "We Want to See Jesus Lifted High" at church.  It's funny how kids disappear from Sunday School when it comes time to sing.  So it was just these four brave souls.  I think Celee would disappear if I let her.  She REALLY hates to get up in front of people to sing or do music.  Which is extra funny because at home she is such a ham!  She sings, tells stories, acts out things all the time!
Anyway, I didn't let her out of this one.   They would't do the motions to the song, but that may have been asking too much.  They did sing.  And it was cute.  :)

Shadow puppets

Addy was our February American Girl.  We talked about how after her family was reunited, she made shadow puppets to entertain her parents.  Then the girls all got to make a girl with moveable arms and try it out for themselves.  I must say that my inspiration for this one came from a program we did at the Maryland Science Center where my girls made shadow puppets.  That one was open-ended, so we ended up with some really neat-o puppets like a monster, a worm, an octopus, etc.  At the AG program, we stuck to girls for time-sake.  We also talked about hand shadow puppets and the different animals you can make.  It was neat to watch all the girls playing withe their "dolls" behind the curtain when they got them made.  I don't think many girls play like this very often.  So I'm glad they got to experiment with it and I hope they went home and made some more puppets.  It's awesome when all you need is a stick, some paper and a window.

Cats!

This is what happens when my girls binge-listen to the Cats soundtrack.  Man I hope we get to see it on broadway someday!

Sumo Robotics

The girls got the chance to try their hand at robotics.  They went to a workshop where they built Sumo robots, then got to play challenge matches to see whose bot was boss!

The bots were all programmed to move forward unless they sensed the black ring.  Then they would turn and move forward again.  So the bot that could move forward at the right angle to push the other bot out of the ring wins.
The girls did pretty good.  After the matches started, they quickly saw which style of arms seemed to catch and push the other bots best.  They weren't the overall winners, but they did pretty good.

I love to see girls doing science/engineering.  It's sometimes funny to see how the boys interact with girls at things like this.  It's also funny to see how they react when girls sometimes win.  A learning experience for all I say.