the lab at lakewood

i love ben's school.  he goes for half-a-day, everyday.  they offer a program called extended day where the kids can stay until two and depending on the day of the week, they focus on different themed enrichment activities.  for example, one day offers kindermusik, another offers an art class, science class, etc.  (of course, i shoved ben in the tuesday afternoon art class.)  

the school has a partnership with the lab at lakewood for their science extended day.  the lab offers camps, parties and programs that introduces the kids, and basically makes them fall in love with, science by having them make slime or play with bugs.  they learn without realizing it.  genius, really.

this spring break they offered a camp all about animals (right up ben's alley), so i signed him up to check it out.  

here's an example of my typical after-school conversation with ben:

me: ben, how was school today?

b: good.

me: what did you do?

b: i don't remember.

me: what was the best part of your day? 

b: playing ninja gorillas outside.

me: tell me the best part that happened inside the school.

b: daniel called me a genius.

me: what did ms. brooks teach you about today?

b: i'll tell you later, i'm too tired to talk anymore.

in summary, i get no where. (mind you, this has nothing to do with his teachers or what he is learning.  it has more to do with ben torturing his former-teacher/mother by providing little to no information about his education.  throw me a bone, kid!)

after spring break camp at the lab, i learned that he: dissected an owl pellet, found little mouse bones, made eagle tracks, put a snake around his neck (gross), observed millipedes and scorpians, learned about worms/compost, made stamps out of a dried fish, learned about bees and honey production,  painted and brought home a bat house.

all from ben!  i was so excited to pick him up everyday to hear about all of the awesome/gross things he got to do that day.  they also offered a cooking camp where the kids were able to tour a food truck and learned how to garden.  ummmm, can i go to that camp?

anyway, my point is: the lab at lakewood is awesome.  i wanted to stay and hang out all day and ben didn't want to leave.  if you have school-age(ish) children, consider checking it out.  here's a link to their summer camps.

you are welcome.