We were there at least twice this week (possibly three times, I honestly can't remember). On Tuesday night we went to a "NASA Missions" presentation at the planetarium. It wasn't meant to be a kids program, it was fairly late on a school night, but our kids loved it. Two space scientists from the museum talked to us as we stared at the dome of the planetarium. They took us on a virtual trip across the surface of Mars using images from the Curiosity rover, past Pluto with images from New Horizons spacecraft, and even through the rings of Saturn aboard Cassini.
The very next morning we returned to the museum to meet some new friends. Our homeschool community keeps growing and we're meeting the most interesting people. This family was no exception. Ella met Finn in her writing workshop last week and they hit it off so much that Ella begged me to set up a play date. With the weather still hovering around zero, a playground was out of the question, so where else? We spent a few hours wandering around the museum with Finn's mom, two sisters, and little brother and it felt like we had known them a long time already. While his mom and I hit it off talking homeschool, travel with kids, and blogging, the kids were getting mini-lessons from docents who had plenty of time on their hands in the middle of a school day. I felt a lot less guilty about not getting any "schoolwork" done that day since they were learning lots of random science facts from real experts.
Finn's family lives in Vermont mostly and Manhattan part-time and is about to embark on a 50-state tour of the U.S. in an RV! So basically, they live my dream life. Ella and Finn have already started emailing back and forth and we can't wait to virtually follow them on their big adventure this year. Spending a few hours with a seasoned homeschool mom, and one who loves to travel as much as I do, left me feeling really inspired and excited and even more confident in our decision to homeschool.
After all, I have a 7-year-old who begs to get the Science section of the New York Times first. I must be doing something right.
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