Missouri Botanical Garden

Patterns in Nature: LightForm by HYBYCOZO

I’ve already shared a look at Patterns in Nature: The Art of HYBYCOZO, the summer exhibit at the Missouri Botanical Garden, by day…now it’s time for a look at LightForm, the nighttime presentation!

First, my favorite sculpture…I loved how colorful it was in the daylight, but it’s even more stunning lit up at night!

Not all of the displays are that colorful, but there is one that changes colors:

My second favorite of the displays has colorful inserts, and makes quite a show on the ground, too!

This one is super reflective during the day, but at night, you lose sight of the mirror for all the lights:

It’s fascinating how pronounced the negative space in each sculpture is as the sun goes down!

I love looking at this one from different angles:

This one also looks cool from different perspectives:

Some of the displays are meant to be spun…this isn’t one of them, but it was already moving when we walked by, so I took a video because it looked really cool!

These look light something straight out of Tolkien, which is appropriate because they line the walkway in the English Woodland Garden:

The displays on the Central Axis never disappoint!

This is a really cool exhibit, and I love how different it is in the light and the dark…definitely one of my favorite summer displays the Missouri Botanical Garden has hosted!

2025-26 School Year–Week Thirty-Two

That’s a wrap on the 2025-26 school year!

We spent the week tying up loose ends. Chickadee finished her massive algebra review. She also finished the final chapter in science. In history we read about independence in Africa and Nelson Mandela. We wrapped up our study of more modern history with one of my favorite 8th grade activities…a study of “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” I gave her one last surprise writing assignment…she wrote a short essay about Simone Biles. We finished The Phantom Tollbooth. And we even squeezed in a visit to the Missouri Botanical Garden!

Our last recipe for the year came from a new book that followed our theme…The Official American Girl Cookbook, which is a new publication just in time for their 40th anniversary. We made Pac-Manicotti, a recipe inspired by Courtney, the doll that most closely represents the time in which I grew up!

And we celebrated the end of a successful school year with a treat at Dutch Bros!

This has been a different and busy school year, and we’re ready for a break…but there are plenty of opportunities for learning this summer before Chickadee begins high school!

Chickadee Thursday

Last week we had fun at the Missouri Botanical Garden checking out their new art installation, and at Eckert’s, where we enjoyed tulip-themed sundaes:

Patterns in Nature: The Art of HYBYCOZO

On Friday, a new art installation opened at the Missouri Botanical Garden, and I am super excited about it!

Patterns in Nature: The Art of HYBYCOZO, explores the connection between art, science, and nature. The large, geometric sculptures by artists Serge Beaulieu and Yelena Filipchuk have beautiful, unique designs that let sunlight filter through during the day to create shadows, and are lit from within at night for a completely different experience. Ironically, it was cloudy on opening day, so I simply enjoyed the sculptures on their own without the light and shadow interplay, and they were lovely! I especially like how some of the pieces are colorful, and others are reflective, but they all have unique shapes and patterns!

I will definitely be going back on a sunny day to enjoy this project, but what I’m really looking forward to is seeing them lit up at night!

2025-26 School Year–Week Twenty-Eight

There’s a new exhibit exploring the connection between art, science, and nature at the Missouri Botanical Garden! Today we were there for the opening day of Patterns in Nature: The Art of HYBYCOZO:

We also stopped by Eckert’s to try the Tulip Lovers Sundae we weren’t able to get when we visited the Tulip Trail last week…the combination of lemon and lavender, not to mention the darling purple tulip lollipop, felt like it was custom made just for me!

In algebra, Chickadee solved literal problems, including ones involving interest and distance. She also found the limits of exponential equations and graphed them. We read about the Six-Day and Yom Kippur Wars, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the rise of terrorism in various countries in history. She continued to work on her big writing assignment. In science she learned about magnetism. We discussed missionary work at home and abroad in religion. This week’s recipe from the American Girl Sweet & Savory Treats Cookbook was Cosmos Doughnuts, inspired by 2018 Girl-of-the-Year and space enthusiast Luciana. Chickadee has been wanting to make this recipe all year, but I’m glad we held off until now, because they were also the perfect treat to celebrate the journey of Artemis II to the moon and back!

There’s also a new exhibit opening at the Missouri History Museum this weekend, and I’m hoping we’ll have time to go explore it next week!

2025-26 School Year–Week Twenty-Six

It was another busy week of school! We started with a visit to the Missouri Botanical Garden to see some of the spring blooms:

In algebra, Chickadee graphed systems of linear inequalities and used them to solve word problems. She learned about the electric field and charging objects through friction and conduction in science. In history we read about the space race, JFK’s “Moonshot” speech, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. And we skipped making a recipe from the American Girl Cookbook because we had an extra special outing this week…we went on a academic road trip!

Turkey was attending a math conference in Columbia, MO, so we decided to tag along and make an adventure out of it. The conference itself was at Columbia College, but our hotel was right across the street from Mizzou, and the first night we were there, Chickadee and I explored the campus and learned about its connection to Thomas Jefferson.

Friday the two of hit the road and ventured farther west to Kansas City. I’ll share full details of our day trip later, but a major highlight was our visit the National WWI Museum and Memorial, which is one of the best museums I’ve been to…we both learned a lot!

And yesterday before we headed home, we did a little spelunking at Rock Bridge Memorial State Park…it was so much fun to get to explore a small cave!

Field trip season is upon us, and I have a few more outings planned in the coming weeks, but they’ll all be much closer to home!