St. Louis Science Center

2023-24 School Year–Week Twenty

Ladybug worked with composite functions in pre-calculus. She read about vitamins and minerals in health (and we got to discuss one of my favorite topics…scurvy!). In history, she read about the last of the Crusades…finally! She is almost done with The Divine Comedy. In physics, she started a chapter on periodic motion by learning about Hooke’s Law and springs. She read about the ascetic movement in the early church in religion.

Chickadee continued to work with measurements in math, and learned how to convert from temperatures in degrees Celsius to degrees Fahrenheit. She finished the extended chapter on the nervous system in science. In grammar, she learned about constructing sentences and avoiding run-on sentences. She met Smaug in The Hobbit. In history she read about the Bubonic Plague (I personally think it’s still too soon!).

Today we went to the Missouri History Museum for the February History Exploration Day, which focused on Black contributions to health and medicine in St. Louis (and the wider world). Ladybug and Chickadee got to make their own hand sanitizer, we got to handle some actual surgical tools, they made herb sachets, and we learned about a lot of interesting people we were unfamiliar with. While we were out, we also swung by the Science Center to see the TARDIS.

Next week isn’t just the middle of February…it’s also the beginning of Lent. I can only hope that it goes by quickly!

2022-23 School Year–Week Twenty-Four

This was our last week of school before spring break, and the theme for the week was wrapping things up…we finished a remarkable number of things!

Ladybug graphed parabolas in algebra 2. She finished To Kill a Mockingbird. In history, she read about the breaking up of the Islamic Empire and also about Vikings in Britain. She finished the chapter on the gas phase in chemistry, focusing on the Ideal Gas Law.

Chickadee worked with ratios in math. We finished reading The Journey Begins. We also finished the science chapter on snakes and lizards. In history, she read all about Julius Caesar…the battles he fought, his rise to power, and his untimely death. She diagrammed compound sentences in grammar.

We also had an opportunity for a field trip this week…the Missouri History Museum had a “History Exploration Day” about mid-century women, which was right up my alley. The workshop on “Women, War, and the Workforce” was, in my opinion, one of the best they’ve presented. There were also some cool, um, “artifacts” to explore:

While we were out, we swung by the St. Louis Science Center:

I’m looking forward to spring break!

Chickadee Thursday

Today’s picture is from the First Friday at the St. Louis Science Center last week…I thought Chickadee was going to explode when she an Ewok walking around!

First Friday–Star Wars Night

On Friday night, we went to 2020’s inaugural “First Friday” at the St. Louis Science Center, and it was a lot fun, which we realized even before we entered the building!

Yes, the theme was Star Wars, and they went all out for it. There were some artifacts, which even included props from the movies:

There were plenty of people in costume:

And where there are costumes, there are also photo opps:

We saw a lightsaber combat demonstration (from a distance…I think this was the most crowded event we’ve been to!):

And we participated in a campus-wide game, at the end of which, the children got to make medals for being Resistance heroes!

My favorite part of the evening though, was the class we took…a Star Wars cross-stitch class! I couldn’t resist choosing an adorable “Baby Yoda” pattern.

Ladybug picked BB-8, and not only did she finish it, she added a bit to it, which impressed me!

I will admit that I occasionally find these events overwhelming, because there are so many people it’s hard to move at times, and it gets very warm in the building. But there are also a lot of fun activities, and it seems like this geeky occasion was made just for our family!

A Holy Dino?

This is hardly the first time I’ve used the sun to create a halo for a statue, but there’s something amusing about a T-Rex with a halo, don’t you think?

Chickadee Thursday

We spent the morning at the St. Louis Science Center, and it even cooled off enough to make a walk around outside to see the F/A-18B Hornet a not unpleasant experience!

2018-19 School Year–Week Eighteen

We’re done with school until next year!

This week was all about finishing up. Turkey and Bunny finished chapters in history, math and science. Ladybug finished a vocabulary lesson and Justin Morgan had a Horse. Chickadee finished a section in math and a handwriting lesson. We also read A Christmas Carol, watched several productions of the Nutcracker, made ornaments, and read some other Christmas stories. We even found time to visit the St. Louis Science Center to see their new lights display, “Science Illuminated.”

So that’s it for a few weeks. We’ll be back to work in January, hopefully feeling rested and ready to tackle the second half of the school year!