School and Children's Museum of Vegas

The second day of the Con-Ag Expo, I wasn't all that interested, but I did want to go to a local LDS private school that Karen told me about; American Heritage. The school was based on the model in American Fork.

I called one of Karen's friends who has a child enrolled to ask her about how she liked it and what she liked most. It was interesting to get her feedback, because a lot of the positives for her were basic things that are already in the model for Bridges Academy.

Karen and Mathew went with me to visit the school. I liked that they blended Biblical and secular history and made an understanding, appreciation and love of America's founding an important part of the curriculum. They were operating out of a temporary location in a strip mall, but given their sparse circumstances I think there was still magic in the classroom. I got a good overview of their approach as I stepped into each classroom. One classroom was quoting Shakespeare, one classroom was discussing Christ's admonition to be as "wise as serpents, but as harmless as doves" and the contrast between Satan and the Holy Spirit. One classroom was going over US History, anther working on math. In their main auditorium they had booths set up for their science fair. We spent about an hour looking around and I was taking pictures like mad (with permission from the Principle, of course). He showed us a short video from the American Fork school. It was impressive. After it was over I turned to Karen and she had tears in her eyes. She said that I should move there so I could send my kids.

After the school we went to the Lied Discovery Children's Museum. It was rated in the top 50 in the US, so I was excited to visit. I took about 200 pictures. You gotta love digital cameras! There were a lot of experiments that were exactly like ones at the Exploritorium. My favorites were the grocery store, the green screen, the under five area, and the ball movers.
Ethan especially liked the green screen. He kept going back to it and playing soccer, or volleyball or hockey. Karen was surprised that they're weren't more people there. She said that usually when they go the place is packed with children from field trips.

We stayed until about 2 o'clock until the guys called to go home. We left for home after that and didn't get home until about 12:30 am. I think it was better for Ethan, since he got to sleep most of the way.