space day

It was brought to my attention (yesterday afternoon) that today was Space Day and that there was an event going on in Barstow with lots of cool space-y stuff to do. So, in true unschooling form, we dropped everything and headed to town to see what was up. (I love so much that we have the freedom to do that. SO much.)

We are fortunate enough to live near a deep space listening station, so there was lots to see and do at our local Space Day, put on by the folks from the Goldstone facility. We have been over there for the tour a couple of times, so some of what we saw was already familiar to us- but I think we learned a good bit more today about all the different space missions as well as just general astronomy stuff.

There was an inflatable mini-planetarium, where the kids got to learn about constellations- they all thought that was VERY cool. Well, except Lyle. He and I stayed inside for about 13 seconds before he made it clear that he was not interested in the remainder of the presentation.

There was also a working replica of the Mars Rovers, which was demonstrated by being driven over the kids as they lay on the floor. This was great fun of course, and showed the kids how the Rovers are able to roll easily over rough terrain. It was hilarious to watch them squirm and giggle as the wheels gripped their clothes and rolled across their backs.


And who doesn't love looking at pictures of the Mars through 3D glasses? Well, once again, I think Lyle was a bit unsure of the whole thing, but everyone else loved it!