Adventure Science Center, Nashville TN

Adventure Science Center, Nashville TN

We should have stayed an extra day in Huntsville, Al, but we shot down the road toward Tullahoma Tn to the Hands on Science Center. We arrived later in the day and the place was closed. The building was so small, it looked like a community center. We didn't want to try to find a room nearby, So we kept on going to Nashville, TN. Of course every time we pass a Goodwill, Mason sings out and we have to stop to shop. This trip we found a Caddyshack Singing Gopher and a Snow Flake Spinning Frosty Snowwoman. The Adventure Science Center in Nashville, TN, is a tremendous, new building in the middle of nowhere. It has fabulous, large scale, inside physically-challenging activities. A parent friendly sized McD style play place, Aeronautic space walk wall and a realistic flight simulator that can really shake things loose. What a great day it was.

U. S. Space and Rocket Center Museum

U. S. Space and Rocket Center Museum

Huntsville, Alabama or Rocket City is the birthplace of our nations space program. The U. S. Space and Rocket Center Museum located here is a place I would return to again. Engaging, informative displays on the origin and developing space program wind through the cavernous building. Rocket Shot and G Force rides are outside and rock climbing wall and flight simulator are inside.

Homeschooling on the Road in North Alabama

Museums in Gadsden and Anniston, Alabama

Up in the mountains above Birmingham are the towns of Gadsden and Anniston. The Mary G Harden Center for Cultural Arts in Gadsden and Museum of Natural History in Anniston are small yet diverse and worth a look see. The cultural arts center offered a special display called Ink and Blood, the history of the Bible in print featuring a Guttenberg printing press. There was also a Festival of Trees and an Imagination Place. Max had a great time playing with the local kids attending birthday parties there.

The Anniston Museum is a real surprise. It has a large and one of the oldest collection in US of stuffed birds in natural settings. This collection was originally shown on the Atlantic City Boardwalk. The rocks and minerals display and the reptile displays were worthy of a large museum. Outside were oak leaf strewn paths over the hillside. We strolled around and enjoyed the cool air.

McWane Science Center, Birmingham AL

McWane Science Center, Birmingham AL

McWane Science Center in Birmingham is immense, diverse and community involved. Over 400 school children and homeshcool families were there when we arrived and the place did not seem crowded, just busy, chaotic and fun. The aquarium in the basement had individual coral reef ecosystems from the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico and an area on Fish Anatomy and Alabama waterways. The Main floor contained many interesting displays from the illusional to the scientific. The hurricane simulator and riding the high wire bike was a big hit with the boys. The top floor had engaging musical involvements and several topography HO scale train tracks and towns displays.

The IMAX Dome played WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE. It is about anger management, fear of change and the enduring bond of families in an out of control world. Violent and emotional way beyond the child’s story book.