CC Day: Week 12

One of the benefits of living in Rocket City:  

Rocket scientists!

Here in Huntsville, engineers and rocket scientists are aplenty. Mr. Daniel, the husband of one of our tutors, did a fascinating presentation today on the beginning of NASA, US space missions, the benefits of the space program, and the new rocket his company is building for NASA!

Click on this picture to enlarge it. You'll want to see the 9 weird things that flew on the space shuttle! #5 ... weird and spooky!

Did you know that cameras in cell phones, scratch-resistant lenses, CAT scans, ear thermometers, and memory foam are just some of the cool things that have come from the space program?!

Mr. Daniel also brought a boatload of awesome goodies:

All the kids want to be astronauts now! I love it! 

A pretty cool conversation took place that I thought was funny. At the end, Mr. Daniel asked for questions. One little boy asked how the fire comes out of the bottom of the rocket. He started to explain, stopped, and then asked if we've studied Newton's Laws yet. The parents shook their heads, and then Amy, his wife and amazing tutor, said, "Not yet, next semester." Ha! I love Classical Conversations!

Since this is Thanksgiving week, Anna is off from school and joined us today in class! Yay!

She did a wonderful job! We're listening to presentations in the picture above.

Our last week of tin whistle - woot! Yeah, I won't be shedding any tears over this. ;) However, I do love that our kids are learning music theory and practicing their listening skills.

Our campus is going to visit one of the local nursing homes next month to share the love of Jesus after our Christmas party. We practiced our tin whistle song today:

Notice any little Indians? Today was also a theme day!
I can't believe the first half our year is over! Time really flies. This is our second year of CC, and I've noticed that Mary is absorbing the material faster than last year. It appears that training her brain to memorize isn't just some crazy fantasy after all! She's doing it - awesome!
What about you? If this is your first year of CC, what do you think so far? If you're a veteran, have you noticed your child memorizing and recalling the information at a quicker pace than last year? I'd love to hear your thoughts!