Houston Rodeo 2012 (Cc-Cow, Gg-Goat, Hh-Horse lessons)

We arranged our schedule to have the farm animal lessons of our curriculum (Cc-Cow, Gg-Goat and Hh-Horse) coincide with the Houston's Rodeo and Livestock show.

Our family has some sweet Rodeo memories from years past.  Jim and I attended our first one while we were still dating over 12 years ago and we really enjoy it now with the kids.

Homeschooling adds a whole other element of enjoyment to the event.  There is SO MUCH to be learned.

What I like about the Rodeo as an educational experience is that everything is hands-on.  The kids are not just looking at some farm animals.  They experience the animal's full life cycle and they can touch and feel as much as they want.

For instance, they have an exhibit teaching about poultry.  They start with an incubator where the kids can watch eggs hatching.  So neat to see the chicks come out and live their first minutes of life there in front of us.

Next, you walk over and see chicks at about a couple of weeks old. 

A couple of steps later and there are the adult hens.

The factual info they have on big posters is always especially helpful to me... how else could I have learn that eggs produced by laying hens are infertile and will not produce an embryo?   I remember worrying as a child about cracking an egg and finding a not-quite-ready  to come out chick inside :)))

My second favorite area was the simulated farm where the kids had to run a farm, plant, harvest, collect eggs, milk cows, etc then sell at a farmer's market to earn money to buy a snack.  I think it gave them all a better understanding of the process involved to bring food to the table.  I could have taken 100 pictures just there but here are a few:

Liquid actually came out of this fake cow if you could milk it the proper way.  So the kids got lots of practice.

Words 2 Remember for Cc-Cow:  God's Word helps me grow.

Words 2 Remember for Gg-Goat:  Jesus died for my sins.

My last post was about our Vv-Vegetable lesson.  This field trip totally brought that lesson home to the kids... taking corn to a whole other level.

AND this, well  I have to share 'cause WHO knew there are currently 3,500 different uses for corn products WITH MORE being found each day! I wonder if making corn angels is listed as one of those uses ;)

My third favorite exhibit was the cow milking one.  They milk a cow in front of everyone using the technology available in modern dairy farms.  Do you see that big class container in the center of the picture with a little milk in it?  You see it go up and get full in just a matter of minutes during the presentation.  Fun!

Here are a few other things we learned about cattle:

 

 

 

Two other highlights were the bee hives and the nutrition center.  We are currently on our Ii-insect lesson so getting to play with bees was just perfect timing.

Learning to make wise choices when it comes to NUTRITION.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST, was the actual Rodeo.  We had been there for about 7 hours by the time the show started but the kids were still jazzed to see the bull riding and the calf roping and dozens of other events showing incredibly well trained and obedient horses... a lesson not wasted on these homeschoolers who were learning in their Hh-horse lesson that "I obey right away".

Words 2 Remember for our Hh-horse

This was like the Super Bowl of field trips for us this year.

Thank you for letting me share!