Another fabulously fun and educational World Traveler's Day with our Albuquerque Homeschool Co-op group! Our friends, Laura and Karen were the hostesses this month. Laura offered up her warm, cozy and friendly home to all of the families and Karen shared a wealth of information about one of the unique places that she grew up in Panama and Costa Rica.Laura sang a fun song about visiting Costa Rica while rainforest sounds beckoned in the background. All of the children chose a special animal to showcase and they were all so fascinating and engaging to listen to. The artwork and information they shared was most impressive, too. But most of all, the support and kudos they gave each other was the most heartwarming of all.
Jackson gave an impressive oral report about a Central American cat called the Margay, which is one of the very best acrobatic, arboreal cats in the world. Margays even hang upside down by one foot, just for fun. Jackson spent hours working on his gorgeous Margay painting. He was so focused on it and I am quite impressed with his art skills.
Jeremiah was full of interesting facts about the Ocelot, one of our most favorite of all cats, and maybe even of all animals. We even have a 5' tall painting of one in our bedroom that was painted by a friend. When researching this cat, Jeremiah became very upset upon realizing that Ocelots are still being killed for food and fur, even though they are considered threatened. He would be such an amazing, sensitive activist as he becomes outraged and sad about any type of injustice. Jeremiah spent a couple hours on his ocelot painting and it is very beautiful. I am so proud of him.
I brought along a couple of our guinea pigs to talk about with the children, as guinea pigs are members of the Cavy family, which means they are related to Agoutis and Capybaras, which live in Central America. The kids were thrilled to pet and hold them, and our piggies were pretty good sports about it, too. Maybe they knew in some small way that they were being PR ambassadors for their species?
Laura had a nice set-up outside to create rain forest terrariums with living plants and small plastic animals for realism. Karen showed us how to make little burritos filled with cafe fresca, or farmer's cheese, then wrapped in banana leaves and baked. Yummy! We also enjoyed tasting tropical fruits and snacks, such as fried plantains, which are much like french fries in taste and in popularity as a snack in Central America.
After the presentations, Laura invited us to linger and visit while munching pizza, drinking beer and chatting together. Monica, another dear friend, who we don't often see as much as we'd like, because she lives in the East Mountains, surprised us all with a special visit, which just added the 'icing' to this wonderful day.
This is the type of day that reminds and reconfirms why our family chooses to homeschool our children.
