Moon viewing
Like many others, we enjoyed the spectacle of the lunar eclipse / blood moon on Wednesday night last week.
My husband went out with his camera and his Dad to a site with less light pollution to capture some photos, while I stayed home and put the kids to bed as usual. When the eclipse had begun and it was looking pretty interesting, I got the older three up again to have a look. I had promised earlier that I would, but I felt really mean dragging them out of their warm and cosy beds!
Alex was the hardest to wake up – each time I said, “Ok Alex, do you want to get up and look at the lunar eclipse?” he would reply, “Yep!” all heartily then put his head down and go right back to sleep! After 4 or 5 attempts at this I resorted to dragging his blankets off him and hauling him out of bed, where he then stood swaying with glazed eyes. Rugging him up in a warm coat, scarf and hat was comparatively easy, but when I began to make my way towards the stairs to wake the girls he purposefully marched off in the opposite direction towards the bathroom! Realising that he still wasn’t actually conscious, I guided him down the stairs as if he was an invalid or just learning to walk, in order to avoid any catastrophes. Not until I’d woken up the girls, got them dressed up warmly (while Alex sat with bright eyes and a creepy smile on the couch) and we were back out in the entryway did Alex suddenly say, “How did I get my coat on?!” Unbelievable that he could be up and walking around and (sort of) interacting for 5-10 minutes while totally unconscious!
We popped outside several times to check on the eclipse’s progress, finding it too cold to actually stay out. It was awesome to see something that we had learned about together in theory actually happen in front of our eyes! Coincidentally, that morning as part of our homeschooling we happened to study the phases of the moon and lunar eclipses! This was in no way planned by me, but just the way it worked out. All year we have slowly been working our way through Apologia Astronomy on Wednesday mornings, and that happened to be the section we were up to!
The next morning there were a few tired children, but it was definitely worth the effort. Plus, being homeschoolers meant we could enjoy a slower start!
