Last night was the Orionid meteor shower, when the Earth plunges headlong through debris left by Halley's Comet. Even though the peak time to view the "shooting stars" was from 1 am to 6 am, we went out just before bedtime to see if we could perhaps catch a glimpse of one. We bundled up and carried our blankets and sleeping bags out to the trampoline, a very comfortable "classroom" to lie down and watch the sky. Our students were one very intent 12 year old and one very wiggly 4 year old. As we watched, we looked for known constellations, and named a few new ones, thanks to Lydia. We only saw one really good meteor, but it was worth the time spent.
I think that homeschooling leads us to seek out those moments to learn together as a family. Those times have become precious to me, and I feel the girls will always remember them. And yes, I know you don't have to homeschool to have family learning activities. But I think that I would not be so compelled to do those things if I did not feel solely responsible for my children's education.
It just makes me happy when learning and family time are all wrapped up together, snug in a blanket on the trampoline under the stars.
Oops, I forgot it! The first time I remember seeing an Orionid meteor shower, I didn't know what was going on, and it kinda scared me. I heard what it was the next day on the radio. :) I'm happy you're teaching your children to love God's handiwork.
ReplyDeleteNot to worry; the Leonid and Gemenid meteor showers will be here before we know it: http://stardate.org/nightsky/meteors/
ReplyDeleteEnjoying your blog, Wanda!
wait a minute ... you have a trampoline?! v says she'll be right over ...
ReplyDeletemy family used to do things like that even though we didn't homeschool. i remember driving down the road one night when there was a really great moon out and seeing a mom in the car ahead of me with two kids in the back seat. they were driving slow (i could've passed them but didn't) and pointing at the moon. reminded me of when i was a kid. :)
yours will always remember these things you do with them. it's so important.
We need to do this! :-) (But alas, we have no trampoline. . . ;-) )
ReplyDeleteI used to wake Kyle and Daniel up in the middle of the night and we'd do the same thing when we had a trampoline. Banjo the dog, always laid under the trampoline while we were on the top. She'd run her nose along it, bumping us. -laffin'
ReplyDeleteThen, after our trampoline got demolished in a storm, we'd make a bed in the back of the pickup truck to watch. Ahhh ... those were the days. *sigh*