Worldview Historical Ball 2020

 Welcome to the Worldview Historical Ball 2020

Nicholas has been enjoying his homeschool Worldview Class.  The class meets once a week for 3 hours and then the students have a heavy workload at home.  The program teaches core History, English (literature & composition), Bible, Speech, and Debate. 

They also meet for an additional hour and a half each week to learn ballroom dancing.  The highlight of the year is the annual Worldview Historical Ball which takes place at a ballroom at a local hotel and includes a formal dinner.  This year's theme was a Victorian Masquerade Ball taking place in London at Buckingham Palace between the years 1860 and 1899.  Each student was required to research and recreate a historical character that actually lived during this time period and could have possibly attended the Ball. The character had to be between the ages of 15 and 90 at the time of the Ball. All students had to research a character and write a one-page biography of their character that included an explanation as to why they chose the character.

Nicholas has been enjoying learning about electrical engineering so he chose Michael Faraday, the father of electricity, as his character. 

We rented his costume but he created his mask.  He painted it and added LED lights to it.  He has a controller that let him turn the light feature on or off.  He really enjoyed working on it and I think it turned out great.

The following pictures are not my own.  I'm sorry I do not know the name of the photographer to give them credit.  

The kids just love their Worldview teacher, Mr. Tillman, and his wife who assists with grading and administrative aspects of the class.  The Tillmans are very passionate about teaching and although their class is very challenging they still make it fun and exciting for the students. They put their hearts into the class and especially the ball.

Over the year, the students have been learning basic ballroom dances like Waltz, Foxtrot, East Coast and West Coast Swing.  They have also learned some Basic Latin dances like the Cha Cha, American Tango, and Rumba as well as English Country, Folk, and Period Dances, and a little Texas Two Step. 

At the ball, the students receive a dance card which assigns them to particular partners for certain dances.  

After they completed their dance card they were able to choose their own partners to dance with.

Nicholas was not particularly excited about learning ballroom dancing but after just a few lessons he was hooked and he really enjoys it now.

It helps that he has a lot of friends taking ballroom dancing lessons too.

The seniors in the class always do some kind of prank at the ball.  This year there were a few seniors who disappeared for a while then reappeared in dinosaur costumes.  It's funny watching a T-Rex try to dance.

Here are some of the posed pictures. Again, these are not my pictures.

Next year's ball theme will be Greco-Roman.  Nicholas loves ancient mythology so I know he will have fun working on a costume for that one.

Hiking Northshore Trail

Some of our homeschool friends got together today for a hike on Northshore Trail.  It was a little cold but it was nice getting out in nature while getting some good exercise on the trail.

The ground was a little soft in areas and we found some neat animal tracks.

Although most of the bushes and trees had either brown leaves or no leaves, this beautiful holly stood out with its bright red berries which are a special winter treat for the birds.

The trail is really interesting in that it constantly changes elevation and there are interesting features like creeks and bridges.

Nicholas said it would be fun to ride this trail on his mountain bike.

Nicholas is loving his new camera that he got for Christmas.  He enjoys taking nature pictures.

He takes some really great pictures and I love how he slows down from his usual high speed pace to really slow down and zoom in on some good shots.  I think photography is really good for him.

A friend of mine always takes pictures of where she stands. It is an unusual perspective of the places she has traveled.  Here is mine for the day.  Exploring in my hiking boots.

I know this tree look barren and boring.  However, I still like looking at it.  With all of its crazy branches it just seems to be busy and active even though it looks rather dead.

I'm not sure which type of tree this is below.  It is likely a cypress or cedar tree.  I enjoyed it's colorful blooms.

The teens managed to mingle together and avoid the parents and siblings.  Nicholas has a great group of friends and we are blessed to be "doing life" together with them.

I love this picture.  It was still and quiet here but you can actually "see" the wind as it creates ripples on the water.

An idyllic little scene.  I'd like to paint this picture when I have some time.

Although we were staying warm walking, I was glad to have my coat and hat, especially when we were in open areas that were breezy.  I do not like being cold, even when exercising.

Ahh!  Wood sorrel!  Rachel's favorite edible plant.  It is all edible but if you find it early in the season these little yellow bulbs taste a little bit like pickles.  It grows all over here and is really easy to recognize in this stage.

I just love pictures of trails in the woods.  It just invites me to explore a little more down its path.

Although there doesn't seem to be a lot to look at in the woods in January, you can see from the pictures that there are still pretty colors and interesting plants to study.

This has been a fun trail to explore.  It is really long with lots of different entrance points.  We only covered a small part of it today but I plan to come back and hike other areas of the trail soon.

AHG Pet Care Badge

Rachel's American Heritage Girls Explorer group has been working on earning the Pet Care Badge.  To meet one of the requirements they had to take a tour of an animal shelter.  What a fun visit that was!  Of course, Rachel was drawn to the pets up for adoption and immediately started begging me (unsuccessfully) to take this sweet kitty home with us.

We learned about role of the Animal Services department.  We also learned about different types of wildlife that could be seen in our town and how to identify various animal tracks.

We learned about the vehicles and tools that Animal Services uses when they have to capture wildlife.

Animal Services has a lot of laundry to do.  Look at all of those towels and blankets to make the pets feel comfortable in their temporary home.

We got to see a real microchip that they put in animals that are adopted.  It's just that little dark bar and it goes right under the animal's skin.  Both of our dogs have microchips like these.

If the animal is found, it can be taken to a veterinarian or Animal Services and they will use their scanner to read the identifying information on the microchip.  Most importantly they will get the owner's information so they can get the animal back to their home.

The girls were so excited to meet and pet this gentle giant.  His name is Magnum and he is such a sweet dog.

We all enjoyed looking at the wall of pictures of the various animals that had found their forever homes through Animal Services.  

Random facts that we learned about cats:

• Cats can rotate their ears 180 degrees.
• The hearing of the average cat is at least 5 times keener than that of a human adult.
• Domestic cats spend about 705 of the day sleeping and 15% of the day grooming.

Autumn at the Arboretum: It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

Autumn at the Arboretum, named one of "The Best Pumpkin Festivals to Visit This Fall," by Martha Stewart Living Magazine.  

We love visiting the Dallas Arboretum in every season of the year but they always have the best pumpkin patch in the DFW Metroplex.  This year the Pumpkin Village is themed "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!".

There are Peanuts characters scattered throughout the pumpkins.

Schroeder listens on as Rachel plays on the giant topiary piano.

Lucy offers garden advice for a nickel.

And of course, Snoopy and Woodstock hang out on the roof of Snoopy's pumpkin topiary house.

The festival features breathtaking colors of fall including 150,000 autumn flowers accented by 90,000 pumpkins, gourds and squash.

I love the beautiful pumpkin topiary houses like this one that are scattered throughout the Village.

The inside of each house is decorated with its own cute Peanuts theme.

While you are exploring, pick out a pumpkin to take home and decorate.

Off to the side of the pumpkin patch is one of the beautiful "Celebrate the Children" sculptures by Gary Lee Price.

Walk along the edge of the Village to learn about all of the different and unique species of pumpkins.  From smooth pumpkins....

to bumpy pumpkins....

to squash and gourds.

About the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden:

The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden is located on the southeastern shore of White Rock Lake at 8525 Garland Road, Dallas, Texas 75218.  The Dallas Arboretum is also the home of the internationally acclaimed Rory Meyers Children's Adventure Garden. The Arboretum is open daily from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. On-site parking is $15; pre-purchased online parking is $9. For more information, call 214.515.6500 or visit www.dallasarboretum.org.