Return to the Moon/Castle Airfore Base

The year is 2017, and for the first time since the Apollo 17 in 1972, a group of astronauts is planning to land on the surface of the moon!  You may recognize a few of these young astronauts!

Today, our home school group had the privilege of participating in "Return to the Moon", a program put on by the Challenger Learning Center in Atwater.  Challenger Centers dot the U.S., built in memory of the Challenger Crew, who lost their lives seconds after take off in 1986.  This memorial is not made of brick or stone, but is a living, breathing monument that is giving children all over the U.S. a chance to learn what real astronauts do in space!

Half of our crew was in Mission Control, while the other half braved life in the space station.  After one hour, they traded places.  Each member had a specific job and tasks to accomplish.  Javan was on the Medical team.  Here he is reading his scripts and getting ready for his next test.

Bret was a member of the Isolation team.  He and his co-workers controlled robots which operated outside of the space craft.  They were measuring, counting and completing tasks assigned to them by Mission Control

Moriah - our other Medical team member!

Rachel and Emily as Life Support!!  Oh, boy!!  At one time there was only 3 minutes left of oxygen on the space craft.  These girls performed their many tasks in a calm manner and with the help of Mission Control saved the lives of all their crew members!

Busy, busy!!!  They were a great team!

Navigation with the help of Mission Control had to decide the best place to land the space craft.
Remote was very busy, analyzing space rocks, etc.  Mission Control side analyzed data for them, and in their spare time helped find a safe place to land the craft.

More testing!  Mission Control kept Rachel and Emily very busy!

Sending results, via Data to Mission Control.

Safety first!  They loved the glasses - not!!

Isolation continues to work

It looks easier than it is to control these joysticks!  Wade was a great help to the Isolation team!

Almost done!

A safe landing on the moon!  Mission Accomplished!!!

Homeschoolers cram as much as they can in one day.  Once your out, you're out.  So next stop was Castle Air Force Base!  This is Wade's absolute favorite plane - the SR-71

This particular SR-71 was the first to fly over Vietnam, and it flew photo reconnaissance over Libya in 1986!

Planes, and more planes!  It was a great day!  Beautiful weather!  Thankful we don't live in Vermont today!

Top Gun!! (Something this 80's girl could relate to!!)

Cool, and very cool!  Open cockpit at Castle is May 24th!

A little more unpacking, lost treasures...

Today has been an unusual day, I don't think I've had one like it in 8 years. After watching a friend's children for an hour, she picked up my four for the afternoon! I caught up on my school records, organized our Robinson curriculum and am in the process of cleaning out a closet. Wow! Wade offered to go get the children and then have them help him get more wood. I'm sure they're thrilled right now! Ha, ha! I was a thoughtful mom and packed them a snack and some water.

So, back to the closet. I stuffed a lot of things in the downstairs closet when we moved in. I'm not saying it will be cleaned out by the end of the day, but I've managed to empty a couple of boxes! What did I find? Read on...While filing CD's I came across this one of a field trip we took last year. This is the Lynx - you can google it for more info. Our school boarded the Lynx one afternoon for a history lesson on the War of 1812. A good friend and fellow teacher prepared the children by teaching them the history of this war. The experience of being on a clipper ship turned the history lesson to life.
Here I am, wondering where my sunglasses and camera are! Mr. V.A. is the great photographer who took these shots.
My nephew!
Rachel, Bret and classmates. Rachel's reading pays off. I was amazed at how she answered all the questions like - what this old stale looking bread was - hardtack. How did they make it, why did they eat it, on and on. I guess that's why they say readers make leaders!

Well, enough of the memories, it's back to the closet for me!!! My hungry woodcutters will probably be arriving within the hour. I'm looking forward to having them home.