Dinosaurs, Pioneers, and Leonardo da Vinci in Montana

We took advantage of the Man of the House being off for the long weekend, to sneak in a quick road trip to the Museum of the Rockies, in Bozeman, Mt. That is, quick by Montana standards, where 75/mph speed limits, and relatively light traffic, even on a holiday weekend, make 500 miles round trip, a doable distance for a day drive.

As you might guess from the picture above, the Museum of the Rockies is one of the stops on the Montana Dinosaur Trail. It is said to have one of the largest collections of dinosaur fossils in the world.

We didn't make the drive for the dinosaurs though. We actually wanted to see the temporary Leonardo da Vinci - Machines in Motion exhibit, before it's taken down next week, to make way for an exhibit on dogs.

After reading about the scientist, it was fun to see some of his sketches built into models.

And, most of the exhibit was hands on, which was great for the children. When we could get them to hold still long enough, to read the write-ups with each machine, it was truly fascinating.

The real hit of the day though, besides a Lewis and Clark film in the planetarium (a first for the children), was the living history farm, outside the museum.

Helpful volunteers walked the children through some of the chores of a pioneer day, such as feeding the chickens...

...cooking on a wood stove...

...and weaving rag rugs.

The girls really embraced the whole experience, and announced they want to live on a farm, when they grow up.

I think what they really mean, is they'd like to work as reenactors, demonstrating pioneer life all day, but returning to the comforts of televisions, and microwaves in the evening.

Either way, I see a nice segue into a career day.

For more fun with history or geography, check out this week's link-up at Children Grow, Children Explore, Children Learn.

It's great to be a homeschooler.