Early learners

Posing with the pengiun craft we made outside the zoo.


Ellen and Arianna with 2 friends from the coop and Hudini the hawk


petting the baby flamingo



look at the crowd

look at Ellen's face



We meet every other Friday with a homeschool group called Early learners coop. There are probably 7 or 8 families with k-2nd graders plus younger siblings. Sometimes we meet at someones house and sometimes we do fieldtrips. One parent chooses to "lead" a meeting and they usually decide where to go and plan an activity or craft. Today we met at the zoo for a picnic lunch then we read stories and talked about penguins and together we all made our way through the zoo before finishing the day at the penguin feeding at 3:30. I think I've mentioned in the past that the zoo does a great job with spacing out feedings throughout the day so you can get a close up view and listen to a little talk about the animals. We stopped at the bird show where they bring out a scarlet macaw, a hawk named Hudini, a baby flamingo, and a black vulture. We've watched this show probably 4 times and I knew a lot of what they were going to show us and talk about. Every time they get volunteers out of the crowd to hold up hoola hoops for the hawk to fly through. This hawk swoops through the crowd and does a few tricks--pretty amazing. Anyway,since I knew this was coming I asked Ellen if she wanted to volunteer and she did. Ellen has been known to be pretty shy in public especially around people she doesn't know. But, recently, she has come out of her shell a bit. So she was excited about the opportunity and ran up there when the lady asked for volunteers. Arianna was soon to follow with the little boy in the red hood (Sam from our group). They were so cute and held those hoops up and listened to the instructions while the bird keeper told them exactly where to hold them. Once the bird flew low, then high, then through the tiny space between the hoops then up through one and down the other. (shown in those last 2 pictures)I wish I had taken video of it.