love II : free learning

I love that Tuesday while we were listening to Multiplication Vacation, Trev asked what the Taj Mahal is.
I love that after a brief explanation, I promised that we'd look it up when we got home.
I love that he then asked what Thailand was most famous for--"China has The Great Wall. The United States has the Empire State Building, or maybe the Statue of Liberty when coming into the country..." said he. "So what does Thailand have?"
I love that we took a peep into the Taj Mahal that night when we got home, and that I've now remembered that we must investigate Thailand.

"Mom," begins Maddie, "So... beavers think they're humans?"
"Noooo... what do you mean?"
"Well, you said that beavers have species."
"Uh... do you mean speech? Communication? Species means..."
"A particular kind of animal."
"Exactly. Speech, do you mean?"
"Yeah."
"Well, no... animals don't 'think' like we do - that is, they're not capable of processing information for seeking intellectual growth or gain, as we are. But they definitely communicate with each other."
Welcome to our book Animals Exposed! The Truth About Animal Communication.
We learned that only a few animals communicate with sound (words).
We learned about rabbits thumping, and wolves howling. We learned about roosters crowing, llamas spitting, and that any grazing gnu who starts walking is a signal to the others that "I know the way," and very quickly the whole herd follows.
Very interestingly we learned that a particularly hungry gentoo penguin will leave the breeding colony to go to the shore to eat. Like the gnus, this signals others to follow. They then march along the shore, looking out to sea, back and forth, watching for black heads of their main predator, the leopard seal. If one is spotted, they'll leave, and then come back an hour or two later. The process begins again, and if no heads are spotted, a few will dive into the water, followed then by the others.
Cool.

Create-

pictures

I'm the one on the left. I hope it's significant that she's as big as me! :)

mazes
in her sticker book.

Googol multiplication videos.
For Madd - Trev said they were freaky. (It's the puppet things.)

Off for a meet-up with unschoolers at the Museum of Ancient Life.
It's a good one.

Now there's a familiar picture! (Just like at home.)

Into the temporary display... color and light.

Home again, home again...
for Trev to continue his lecture and show me the 1933 King Kong scenes he'd been describing with the octopus spider, and spider pit. :)
Riveting, I tell you.

Quiet time with a movie for Maddie....

I don't really know where the rest of the day went -
I was loving reading.

As always, I'll keep trying...
In the meantime, I'll just keep living in gratitude.