These kids are locked onto learning about inertia.
For seven years I’ve been witnessing this level of engagement on hot summer days, no #SummerSlide in sight.
Terrific Tuesdays happen at Winterthur Estate throughout July and August. Our first visit in 2013 turned into a membership purchase and we try to make as many of these events each year as we are able.
Of course, the activities offer a great reason to discover the always changing and always beautiful gardens.
After five hours of hiking, playing, and learning, my sons had tired bodies and activated minds.
We had a rocky start to the day, not making it to Sunday service, but we all found what we needed throughout the rest of the day.
My sons played with neighborhood friends as I dove back into Lego sorting and listening to Dr. Jordan Peterson lectures on Jung and Freud.After practicing their lines for an upcoming play and having an on-the-fly lunch, they made a new friend as I battled through one of the toughest soccer matches of my summer. We rushed home to let me get cleaned up and pack snacks for our evening adventure.
The Members Only event at Longwood Gardens proved to be busier than expected, but we met with friends, snuck up front, and enjoyed tight bluegrass interpretations of 80s pop hits from Love Canon.
All of this came on the heels of a difficult few weeks, a funk that was running longer than I felt comfortable with. Action always seems to be the answer for us, the edge of the familiar and the unknown.
I look forward to better sleep tonight and a renewed confidence that I am capable of providing all that I am called to for my sons.
It was a slightly desperate move. The forecast of thunderstorms should have kept us away from outdoor adventures, but I was feeling called to opt outside. For nearly three hours we had the grounds of Winterthur Garden at our disposal. Most of that time was spent running in, out, and around the Ottoman Tent as thunder, rain, and sunshine poured from the sky.
I don’t know how many rainbows we spotted, but the highlights included a double rainbow, a complete rainbow, and a miraculous rainbow that appeared on the near side of the trees.
The storms never got close enough to make us very nervous and we laid ourselves in the grass between downpours.
We snacked on mango and spied snakes, chipmunks, catbirds, toads, frogs, fish, redwing blackbirds, a dragonfly, and a green heron.
More than a small part of me wanted to stay for sunset (we joked about camping out in the Tent), but we had pressed our luck with the weather and more adventure awaited across the street at Delaware Museum of Natural History.
The varying clouds kept stargazing off the calendar, but we learned about the moon and our night sky at discovery stations and during live presentations in the auditorium and STARLAB inflatable planetarium.
We wrapped up the evening with fascinating minerals and legitimately scary foliage in the special Wicked Plants exhibition.
I’m sure there are other single dads who pick up their sons’ friends and take them to museums. I’m sure there are other dads who invite more children along to vehicle capacity. I’m sure these dads would later get their sons to jiu-jitsu, pick up burritos, and head out to a Friday night production of Romeo and Juliet.
Some of these dads may even take a walk to spend a quiet moment with a historical landmark plaque and remember a dad who couldn’t be with his children tonight.
I’m not sure any of these dads would find a new labyrinth on that walk or a flat tire after three hours of Shakespeare.
A friend stepped up to the 11:30pm rescue call and I got my boys into bed by 12:30. They’re champs. I didn’t drag them into any of it, we were all on our seat-of-the-pants game today. I’m continually blessed by these fireballs.
My sons and I are super excited as we’re heading to Detroit to support State Championship LOAD Robotics representing Delaware at the Lego FIRST Championship. LOAD is a rookie, all-home-educated team that fought hard in regional and state competitions to earn their place in Detroit. As friends and fellow Lego Maniacs, we are so proud of their accomplishments and hope you consider supporting their fundraising efforts. Without the backing of a school or robotics club, they face additional challenges in funding their registration, travel, and accommodations.
Locally, there are always opportunities to get children (and some adults) in front of a pile of bricks.
You’ll often find us at Brandywine Hundred Library on Mondays, 3:00-5:00 PM, for their Lego Lounge program. Themes are provided with learning resources, but free building is also encouraged. A relaxed, drop-in atmosphere always produces fun creations.
Hockessin Public Library’s long-running Tuesday Lego Club is where my sons first got a taste for the colorful bricks. From 4:30 to 5:30 PM it’s all about exploring one’s imagination with lots and lots of pieces.
On Wednesdays, head over to Claymont Public Library for their Lego Club, 3:30-4:30 PM. The facilitators are enthusiastic and there are always surprises.
On Friday, May 3rd, at Brandywine Hundred Library there will be a Lego Storytime for ages 3 and up from 10:30-11:15 AM.
Route 9 Library & Innovation Center’s Lego Club happens the first Monday of each month, 6:30-7:30 PM.
My son might be more excited about May the 4th Be With You than his own birthday. At all Lego Stores:
Tantive Make and Take May 3-6: Come in to your local LEGO Store to build your very own Tantive model then take it home, for free! Registration is on a first come, first served basis and quantities are limited. Registration begins April 15 in stores only. The building event is intended for ages 6+ at store discretion.
Bear Public Library will hold their Lego Club on Saturday, May 18th, 2:00-4:00 PM.
Join Appoquinimink Public Library on the third Tuesday of the month for LEGO construction challenges and free play with LEGO blocks of all shapes and sizes. Next meet: May 21, 6:30-7:30 PM, registration opens April 23rd.
I didn’t know what to expect from Sight & Sound Theatres‘ production, “Jesus.” What I got was a refresher on how I should conduct myself in the world.
There was some license taken with the Bible and one confrontation stood out to me as important. Jesus attacks the Pharisees for choosing religion in place of spirituality. My Jesus is the Word and the Word is truthful speech. It’s what creates reality, from Genesis to each time we speak. When I feel the Holy Spirit I feel full of the Word. That’s the root of my spiritual experience and it doesn’t need religion to propagate. Religion fails when people place themselves between you and your spiritual experience. Religion prospers when it facilitates that experience.
April 1, 2011: World Cafe Live at the Queen opens with a Free at Noon show from Sonny Landreth. Our second son was born a month later and had to wait a few months before he got to see Dengue Fever and Matthew Sweet in Wilmington.
Every Friday World Cafe Live hosts a free lunchtime concert. The next week’s act is announced immediately after each show and all you have to do to get on the list is register here.
These are full-on shows. They’re broadcast live and the artists are often on the rise, so the performances have that high-profile feel. Down on the big WCL stage it’s a lot more like Saturday night than midday Friday. The shows are shorter, they don’t run past 1:00 pm, but performers will often play a couple more songs after the broadcast has ended.
When WXPN was still in Wilmington, Mary would take a long lunch and join us. I think we took advantage of every Free at Noon down at 500 N. Market. A particular highlight was the Queen’s Fifth Anniversary Celebration with Ben Harper. Although I saw him at Woodstock ’99, Mary had a great collection of his music and I got to appreciate the variety and depth of his talent.
Getting that jambalaya at Reading Terminal Market after Lissie, 2016 Warming up for Valerie June in 2017Valerie June
#Protips for Families:
Ear Protection! In-ear or over-ear, these are shows are full volume. Also, folks will hassle you about taking care of your children’s ears. It gets on my nerves, but I try to take it as helpful.
Secret Spot! Doors open at 11:30 and the line often begins forming before that. Get there early and you can take advantage of our favorite “seats.” Head straight in along the bar, just past the last support column and before the stairs to the dance floor. There you’ll find the perfect spot to camp out and have a great view with natural boundaries.
And if the kiddos want to get on the dance floor, you’ve got a bird’s eye view of the whole place.
The Lego Monthly Mini Build gives children, ages 6 to 14, a chance to visit a Lego Store, build a unique model, and take it home for free!
First, you must join the Lego VIP program. It’s also free and offers bonuses on purchases and access to events like these.
Then, you can go to this link and register for the next month’s build starting the 15th of each month.
The process has gotten very easy as you can choose your appointment time within a two-day window, avoiding mad rushes and long lines.
The builds have seasonal themes and often include special elements that are hard to find.
Our first mini build in 2014. Modifications come quickly.
Not only have I found value in the new, free pieces, but this gives you an opportunity to take your children to a store full of wonderful things to buy…AND NOT BUY ANYTHING. Now, I can stop by the Lego Store with my sons and they don’t have an expectation that we’ll be making a purchase. I’ve found that this habit has been of benefit in many stores as I have set and followed through on expectations.
My little pirates have been plundering the riches Brandywine River Museum of Art for a long time. The Museum introduced us to N.C. Wyeth’s illustrations for Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island and we read the Scribner’s Classics edition to them. It provided one of my first home education breakthroughs. Having introduced them to the characters, settings, and plot of the story in this simplified version, I ventured on exposing them to the original text. We were already adventuring and spending a lot of time in the minivan, so I borrowed the audio book and took to the high seas. Every time I stopped the playback to review and make sure my toddlers were getting it, they cut me off, “Yeah yeah Dad, could you hit play?”
Billy Bones Jr. The pirate spirit.
This set a pattern of exposing them to literature using junior editions of Robin Hood, graphic novels of The Time Machine, and film adaptations of Shakespeare. Each of these abridged retellings has flaws, sometimes significant (“Sorry son, everyone actually dies in the real version.”); however, therein lies the real surprise. My boys become hunters and detectives, tracking down the mistakes, analyzing the changes, and assigning value to the different choices of each author, illustrator, and editor.
The adventure comes alive and the stories step into the real world. Hedgerow Theatre Company brings a fast-paced and fun Peter Pan to the stage and Pirates of Fortune’ s Folly bring knot tying, pirate speak, and maybe a tug of war!
Get yourself to the Museum on Sunday, November 4th, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm for this worthwhile and FREE event!
Schedule:
10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Pirate Crafts
10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Photo Ops and knot-tying with Fortune’s Folly Pirates
11 a.m. and 12 noon Performances of Storytime Peter Pan by Hedgerow Theatre
First Sundays for Families at the Museum presents free, hands-on workshops designed to engage visitors of all ages in creative art activities and performances. No registration necessary.
Guiding a learning lifestyle with young children is chasing a moving target. Interests can grow or wane daily or by the hour. I’ve learned to listen and observe with intention, to know my sons as well as I can and feed their fickle hungers. However, there is one discipline that has consistently grabbed their attention week after week for more than three years.
Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) has become foundational to our home education lifestyle. They attend classes up to six times a week and we have all acquired important knowledge from Elevated Studios co-owner, Stephen Plyler. After watching and attending several BJJ tournaments, my sons are competing in their first at the Tap Cancer Out 2018 Philly BJJ Open.
As many families, we have suffered painful damage from the diverse effects of cancer. This organization targets childhood cancer research in an effort to protect our most vulnerable sons and daughters. My boys are raising funds and training hard.
I don’t think they could be better prepared for this competition. After visiting half a dozen other schools, I am confident that Elevated is the highest quality training I could find for my sons. Stephen is honest, encouraging, fun, focused, determined, and competitive. He’s been a role model of the utmost caliber for all of his students. We’re all really excited and proud to represent his school in this tournament.
After practicing their lines for an upcoming play and having an on-the-fly lunch, they made a new friend as I battled through one of the toughest soccer matches of my summer. We rushed home to let me get cleaned up and pack snacks for our evening adventure.
