voyages

when magellan, my children's charter school, comes up in conversation, people often ask me what its focus is.  the question always throws me for a loop.  i think they're actually thinking of the local magnet schools, which all do have a specified program: leadership, gifted & talented, international baccalaureate, arts & sciences ... but charters aren't the same as magnets; they don't necessarily have a primary focus.  and so i normally just fumble through my answer, often choosing the phrase "back-to-basics" to describe it, since it devotes its entire day to longer, intense class periods in the four main academic areas.  we don't have "specials" that are found in public elementary schools, like music and art and P.E.  (but most of those are incorporated into everyday instruction -- often more effectively than in stand-alone classes.)  our class sizes never exceed 17, and for the umpteenth year in a row, magellan has scored at the very top of all the schools in the state of north carolina in terms of testing. 

but i had a revelation recently and now know how i'm going to answer the next time someone asks me what magellan's focus is.  i'm going to say, "voyages".  yes, it's a fancy term for field trips (linked, no doubt, to the school's namesake); but as liam has reached 4th grade, i realize what an integral part of the curriculum these voyages are.  because magellan believes that the best way to learn is to experience, there are several multi-day field trips each year starting in the 4th grade, from DC to florida to new york.  the pinnacle of the magellan experience is the sixth grade trip to space camp in alabama.  (space camp.  really ... space camp.  there is a lottery for parent chaperones but ohmygoodness do i hope i get to go.)  after spending weeks investigating various effects on organisms' environments, the 4th grade is headed down on wednesday to the coast to delve into the five different habitats of salt marshes, maritime forests, freshwater ponds, the sound, and the beach.  why learn about it from a textbook or a website, when you can drive a few hours and experience it in person?

but there are shorter, one-day voyages too.  these are much more my chaperoning speed, since missing multiple days of teaching is just plain difficult.  (there are no subs in online teaching.)  so i signed up to chaperone his voyage to the zoo a few weeks ago ... and i'm telling you, there's just nothing like the zoo.  oh, how i love the zoo.

below are just a few pictures of our voyage.  and if i don't get chosen for the space camp voyage in a few years, well, hanging out with kendall the chimp surely will just have to suffice.

i literally got my four charges (all spectacular kids!) to sit down together for a photo.  kendall, obvious extrovert chimp extraordinaire, decided to amble on over and join them

feeding a new friend.  "her tongue was long but really smooth," reported liam

i like to pretend and call this "giraffe selfie"