Yesterday we ventured into our great city to pay a visit to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. This was Aidan’s second visit to Orchestra Hall. We came for a school program on the work of Mozart, an outing organized by CAHFT (Chicago Area Homeschool Field Trips). It was good fun.
The Chicago Symphony OrchestraThe conductor did a wonderful job of talking with the kids, and the whole show was made very kid friendly–complete with mimes, humor, and a fun dose of theatrical interest–without in anyway diluting the power of the music. Members of the CSO entertained us with their world-class musicianship but showed us that classical music need not be stuffy, pretentious, or high-brow. Everyone got in on the fun. The conductor explained how Mozart himself was fun-loving man, even though he took his music very seriously. He loved to dance and joke and entertain. He was also a bit of a rebel and made a few enemies along the way. Wolgang Amadeus Mozart began playing music at three years of age, was composing music at five, and was touring Europe at six. Among other pieces during the show, we heard the light and cheerful melody of Serenade in G Major (A Little Night Music), the dark and mysterious sounds of Don Giovanni, and the final movement of Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony 41.
After the concert, we decided to take advantage of being in the city and hopped over to Chinatown. Aidan’s been studying about China lately. We’ve be using a “learning box” approach–or, as Aidan likes to call it, a “fun box.” He decided he wanted to learn more about China, so each day he finds inside a little box we designated as his “fun box” a range of activities, projects, learning challenges, and other tidbits on China. One of the cards in his box read “Take a field trip to Chinatown,” and so, while in the neighborhood, this is what we did. We had lunch, popped into a few of the shops, and just explored the area. I think Aidan was having a good time, but it was getting to be a long day. I’m sure we’ll return again soon. In the meantime, we did snap a few pictures. Take a look.
Tags: chinatown · family fun · music · photos · world culture
Several months back Aidan started as a Cloverbud with a local homeschool 4H group. And last Sunday was our first fair–the International Fair. The fair consisted of a number of South Suburban 4H groups all presenting their work for the past year on a particular country of each group’s choice. Aidan’s group had chosen Egypt and had completed a great deal of work studying ancient and modern-day life–building pyramids, making sacred scarab pendents, visiting the Field Museum, cooking (and tasting) Egyptian food, etc. Here’s some photos from the day.
Tags: 4H · history · photos · socializing · world culture
Today we spent the better part of the morning at Pilcher Park in Joliet, IL learning about how maple syrup is made. This is a popular seasonal program at the park where they actually tap their sugar maples and produce the syrup on site. It was good fun. As I understand it, the whole process begins in early to mid February when the trees are tapped. The tree has to be at least 12 inches in diameter before it is mature enough to tap. That’s about 30 years old. Larger trees can take more taps. When done properly, the tree is not harmed. Once tapped about three inches deep, a spile (or spout) is attached and a five gallon bucket is hung from it to catch the sap as it drips out. As long as temperatures are above freezing, the sap will drip anywhere from a half gallon to five gallons a day from each spile. That sounds like a lot, but keep in mind it takes about 40 gallons of sugar maple sap to make one gallon of syrup. (The sap is about 95% water.)
As the sap is collected at the park, it’s poured into a larger tank just outside the “sugar shack.” Going into the tank it’s filtered and then flows into the “sugar shack” itself where it finds its way to the evaporator. As we opened the door to enter the sugar shack, it was like walking into a dream. We could barely see as the room was filed with sweet smelling steam of the water boiling off the sap. The kids all gathered around to learn about the process of reducing the sap down to syrup and even got to sample a bit right there.
After checking out the sugar shack, we went for fun winter hike to work up our appetites for what was to come after that–a delicious pancake breakfast with 100% maple syrup of course. As if all that wasn’t enough, after breakfast the tour continued. This time, we learned about the animals of the park’s nature center–focusing mostly on turtles, tortoises, snakes, and the center’s prized red-tail hawk Nemo.
We had such a good time, when the tour was over, Chris, Aidan, and I decided to do some more hiking. You can’t beat 39 degrees and sunny in February. It was a great morning. Time well spent. Check out the photos above if you haven’t already.
Tags: family fun · food · nature · photos · science
The Chicago Symphony OrchestraThe conductor did a wonderful job of talking with the kids, and the whole show was made very kid friendly–complete with mimes, humor, and a fun dose of theatrical interest–without in anyway diluting the power of the music. Members of the CSO entertained us with their world-class musicianship but showed us that classical music need not be stuffy, pretentious, or high-brow. Everyone got in on the fun. The conductor explained how Mozart himself was fun-loving man, even though he took his music very seriously. He loved to dance and joke and entertain. He was also a bit of a rebel and made a few enemies along the way. Wolgang Amadeus Mozart began playing music at three years of age, was composing music at five, and was touring Europe at six. Among other pieces during the show, we heard the light and cheerful melody of Serenade in G Major (A Little Night Music), the dark and mysterious sounds of Don Giovanni, and the final movement of Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony 41.
