seeing the Animal Kingdom up close

We were invited to the Wildlife Center at Ferris State University (about twenty minutes from our home). This is a free exhibit, and someplace near you probably has something similar (ask around).
This gave us a chance to see many animals up close. They were stuffed of course, but they were real, and we got to see them very closely. We attended a tour, presented by one of the students there. It was fun and informative.
By the grace of God, it was nearly free. Don used the day with an empty house to work on his Haggadah, and we got a free parking pass for showing up early, then after lunch, the lady at the cafeteria told us the kids were free. The whole day cost us just $2.85 (my lunch), plus the gas to get there.
Since we are the only homeschooling family in our church, the activity was attended by adults only, except for our children. When we were leaving, several of the women commented to me on how impressed they were with how much the kids knew about the animals we saw, and how well behaved they were. Because homeschooled children tend to act more mature (they are influenced more by adults than by their same age peers), I often get complimented on their behavior (they interact and converse well with adults). But, even I was impressed by how much they knew about the animals. The tour guide asked lots of questions and they knew almost every answer, which the adults didn't.
We are currently working on Vacation Education destination Animal Kingdom, and so we are learning a lot about animals for our science this year, but they knew things even I didn't know.
Proverbs 10:1 tells us "A wise son brings joy to his father..."
I was proud to come home and share with my husband (their father) the joy brought about by the wisdom of his sons (and daughters too!)
What a blessed day it has been!

The author of this blog, Corinne Johnson is a Christian homeschooling mother to six, help meet to her husband Don, and the author of Vacation Education Books
www.vacationeducationbooks.net