Weekly Wrap Up: Ford Museum & The Stratford Theatre Production

The group of kids at the Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, playing at The Stratford Theater

The car President Kennedy was assassinated in.

I didn't get an opportunity to post my weekly wrap up last week, so I thought I would combine last week and this!  We got back from a three week holiday up north a couple of weeks ago and then headed into a full week of activity for our first week back.  Our week included:  Book Club, Speech Competition Workshops, Swimming and a field trip to the Henry Ford Museum!   The kids had a great time touring  the museum, going through the Titanic exhibition and an IMAX film on the Titanic. We went with a local homeschool group as well as my SIL and her kids (who are new to homeschooling - yay!).  The Titanic Exhibit was interesting (no pics of that as per their policy).  We had taken a unit study on the Titanic around the time of the 100th anniversary so it was good to follow it up with this!  We were given tickets of actual people who boarded the Titanic.  There was information on them and at the end we looked up their name on the wall to see if our passenger had made it.  There were a wide variety of artifacts from the ship including: plates, purses, clothes, documents, silver wear and the like.  Scattered about the exhibit were quotes from those who survived and stories of those passengers who did not.  It was amazing to walk through as this was such a significant event in history and affected so many people from all walks of life.

The Ford Museum was also interesting.  There was lots of cars (of course!), furniture, heavy equipment, trains etc.  I was surprised to find the car President Kennedy was assassinated in, along with the bus Rosa Parks sat in when she sparked a movement to end segregation.  The latter was of particular interest to my daughter.  She has read articles and books about her.  So she was very excited to sit in the same bus seat as she did!

The kids in an older combine (farm equipment)

An interactive car game at the Henry Ford Museum

Heather sitting in the seat Rosa Parks sat in when she refused to give it up.

Graham doing one of the eye tracking exercises.

My son has been concentrating on eye tracking exercises to improve his reading fluency.  We've been using the Eye Can Learn Website.  He found some of them challenging.  In the above picture he is staring at the dot on the screen and, without moving his head, needs to touch with his right or left hand the colour the dot changes to.  The object of the exercise is to help improve peripheral vision.  He developed some headaches while working on them so we would just stop and pick it up the next day.  He was a trooper though. :)

Baking - tis the season!

We did some baking!  Mmmmmm!  Wonderful muffins from the Nourishing Traditions book!  I used a combination of spelt and Gluten Free Flours.  This is a great baking/cooking book.  It encourages the process of soaking your grains to make them more easily digested as well as bring out the natural nutrients in the grains.  The kids love these muffins and they enjoy making them with me as well! :)

Our view driving to and from Stratford.

At very short notice we took off to see a play in Stratford. We saw Shakespear's: Much Ado About Nothing.  I had an opportunity to take them on various dates that were open for homeschoolers at a reduced rate.  I was hoping for later in the month but our calendar was full for both the later dates.  So, the night before this production we purchased tickets on line!  I was rather scattered because I had wanted to, at least, read through the brief version of Much Ado About Nothing with the kids out of the book: Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb.

Despite the fact that we didn't end up doing that the kids truly enjoyed the day.  We were able to join another homeschooled family for the 3 1/2 hour trip up and back.  It was a gorgeous drive as the leaves are turning and the scenery was stunning (see above picture).  We did some fast food for lunch and dinner and the kids were able to take in the play.  They were a bit lost at first but as the story line of the play was revealed they were taken in!  They raved about it on the way home, the two eldest wondered how they could get themselves into a production. :)  They definitely want to see another Shakespeare play and I will gladly take them next year.

We will be studying this play in detail over the next couple months with a book club I help facilitate.  I was actually glad that they saw the production first as they are entering into the study with lots of good images in their head about the Shakespeare production they just saw.  They are eager to read through it now.

Two girls very excited to be at the Stratford Theater for Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.

It has been a wonderful two weeks, full of activity and what not!  It's good to have been busy to keep those post vacation blues away. But I am looking forward to a slower pace these next couple of weeks will bring! I have had some sniffles and am a wee bit run down with all this running around.

This post is linked back to Weird Unsocialized Homechoolers Weekly Wrap Up!  Join in the fun and post your own weekly Wrap Up.  Very encouraging way to end your week!