Did someone say fieldtrip?

I just love a good fieldtrip. Don't you?

I sometimes wish we never had to learn math and reading and writing and instead all we needed to do all day was go to really neat places and have loads of fun. I could get used to that.

SIGH.

Today we went on a great field-trip organized and hosted by the homeschool charter school we are part of-IDEA.  It was incredible.

First we visited the Boise Art Museum and got a great art lesson about quilts. We learned about several elements of design, including contrasting color, symmetry, pattern, and texture. We were able to study some beautiful antique American quilts. Quilting is truly an amazing art form.

Then the kids got to make their own quilts, using sticky board and fabric scraps.We were short on time for that activity. I thought the kids did great whipping up quilts so quickly. It was surprising to see after all the talk on symmetry and pattern that a majority of the kids preferred to make crazy quilts.

Crazy Quilts are pretty fun to look at!

Here are Josef and Ian's quilts.

After the Boise Art Museum we headed over to the Idaho State Historical Museum. There we got a very entertaining talk on the story artifacts tell us about history and human progress. The kids participated in an activity were they had to try to identify the use of unknown artifacts. This was fun! Some of the interesting ones were

an atalatal, 

old pot scrubber, 

an ox lead,

(which went in their nose and looked like a clamp with a leather strap attached-OUCH!)

a laundry scrubber ,

and some pressed tea bricks. 

 

Overall, it was a day well spent learning new things.

The bonus was we received free tickets to come back the Art Museum as a family. Maybe when Levi is back in town we will go again. They are setting up a new exhibit-Robots: Evolution of a Cultural Icon. Who doesn't LOVE robots?!