Homeschool Day at the Florida Museum

Today was homeschool day at the Florida Natural History Museum in Gainesville. We got there nice and early, about 20 min ahead of the 10 oclock entry time. The line was not that large at that time. Yet, it still took almost an hour to get a ticket purchased. I was not super happy about that. I would think they could have done better than that. The exhibit itself was interesting, but in my opinion not worth 6 dollars a person. Then the various activity stations were mostly for very young children. We did get to look at shark skin under a microscope, at one station, and the kids did a fishing test that taught them using nets for fish gets you way more than you wanted, or expected. The rest of the museum, except the Butterfly Rainforest is free, but our time was limited, and we had already seen it. We were able to identify two types of shark teeth, that we had collected while fossil digging.  A Tiger Shark and Lemon Shark.  All in all I was disappointed. Not sure I would go for another Homeschool Day.

Our Visit To The Tampa Aquarium

OK first let me say we had a wonderful day. Then let me say if you decide to ever visit an aquarium take a video camera because it is incredibly hard to get good shots of moving fish, with a flash camera. Anyways I will share some good shots. Our day started out in the wrong direction. We go to the ATM to take off the cash I have been saving for the trip, and it says I have eight dollars. Really? So we went anyway thank goodness for credit cards, we had been planning this for so long. So when we got home I called the bank and they said the ATM made a mistake and withdrew the money from my account but never gave it to me. Geez thanks Mr ATM. All isn't lost, we took the trip, and they will deposit my money back in 24 hours. The Tampa Aquarium is one of the top ranked aquariums in the US. It is definitely worth seeing if you ever get a chance. BTW thanks to all the vets who serve our country, and Happy Veterans Day. I won't tell everything about the Aquarium because DJ is doing a writing assignment on it. No school tomorrow, Yay catch up time.

Some Thoughts, And Art Work

I have to make a quick post on health care, and then I have to move on. I am kind of getting tired of listening to the nonsense surrounding it. I watched about 30 min of President Obama's speech last night, and there were two things that especially caught my ear.

1- About the supposed tax hike on the rich, to pay for it. He very clearly said, it was not really a tax, but a change in the way the very rich make itemized deductions bringing it down to the same as a middle class family. I think that is reasonable, and certainly not as drastic as liberals are making it sound.

2- The comment, I have good health insurance, and so does every Senator, and Representative. Yes, they do, and all us tax payers pay for it. They never get denied treatment, go to only the best doctors, and hospitals, are treated like kings, and queens. Want to know how to pay for it, how about we take that benefit away from them. They are rich, they certainly could afford to pay for their own health insurance. Or they could pay for it out of their own pockets, like they seem to see nothing wrong with Americans doing. How about we turn the table, and show them how it feels. Why should we Americans, pay big taxes for them to have cushy health care benefits, when they don't give a damn if their fellow Americans even get any? I say that is the answer to the problem, how much money do you think that would generate? Call them, ask them if they think they would be willing to give up their health insurance, and go on Medicaid, because you know that is such a great program, or go without health insurance at all, and their kids, and spouses too. Do you think you will get an answer?

OK now onto something I truly love, and that is my children's love of art. They both picked their favorite art work pieces, from this school year. Caitlin, who is 5, picked her Spongebob picture. Her art has progressed so much, from even six months ago. DJ picked his Batman, and flower pictures, because he feels they were the best. The other two items are sharks, that we made with a kit, and painted. As you can see Caitlin's is very colorful, where DJ's is more traditional. It is funny, because when he was five, he let his imagination run wild, as he gets older he chooses more traditional art styles. This coming school year, is the first year, I actually purchased an art book. They learn from videos on youtube, and looking at pictures. Just giving the oppurtunity to do art, gives them the desire to do it.