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We drove into the city today to attend Harry Potter Science day. The kids loved it! They were each given a bag with a marauders map in it, they had to do a minimum of 6 stations and get their map stamped. If they did a minimum of 6 they got a "diploma" from Hogwarts and a Harry Potter trading card. We got there late and missed out on some sessions but they still had fun.

 

When we first got there the sorting hat chose their house for the day.

DS13 was slytherin, as was dd4. DD12 was Griffindor and DS8 was hufflepuff. I thought it was funny that is chose those ones, I could completely see DS13 been in slytherin if it was real. And with DD12 the hat got stuck for a long time before saying Griffindor which is funny because I have always said she will either go straight and be CEO of some major company and do amazingly good things in thie life, or she would run the mafia and do amazingly bad things. She has the charm, smarts and charisma to do either. The hat had a hard time chosing her house, I guess if "saw" the same thing as I do. :D

 

 

First station they did was a potions class. They used red cabbage juice as a pH indicator and tested some solutions.

 

Next on the list was Care of Magical Creatures I and II. In I they had live animals (Macaw, Boa, chameleon, turtle etc) for them to see/touch/learn about. In II they moved around the room and learned about how actual animals of today created teh mythological tales of the past (horn from a Narwal being thought to be a unicorn horn, elephant skull being thought of as a cyclops etc) They were given a stamp of a wearwolf paw, a dragon scale, feather and "cyclops eye" to glue to their discovery card. In this session one of the people talking is the resident dinosaur expert, a student doing a PhD in paleontology. DS13 had a great time talking to him and has requested to start High school science on Monday to start getting ready for university (he was talking to the guy about what courses he needs to get into the university to do paleontology)

 

3rd session was Herbology they made their own herbal tea bags and secret messages with lemon juice.

 

4th was Muggle Studies, they extracted their own DNA and learned a bit about genetics, dominant/recessive genes and mutations.

 

5th session was Defence against the Dark arts where they solved the mystery of who put Harry's name in the Goblet of fire. They did chromotography and finger print identification. All 4 kids thought this session was very cool and want to do some chromotography at home now.

 

ANd lastly they went to Owlery II where they made homemade compasses out of pictures of owls and paper clips and learned how owls navigate using the earth's poles for directionality.

 

Sessions we missed out on Owlery I which was an actual live owl demonstration(and needed sign ups but was full by the time we got there), Quidditch (same as the owls it was full for the whole day by the time we got there), Wands (make their own wands), Howlers(origami to make a peice that moved like a howler mouth), charms (which was actually a trivia game), the dungeons (where they were reading tales of beetle the bard) and graphic novel making. If we had got there on time and had another1.5-2 hours to spend we would have been in everything.

 

If your area every has this run you really should take your kids to it. At the end the kids got their Hogwarts diplomas and best of all it was all FREE!

 

ETA: As I posted this I went to check on the kids. DS13 was making a list of the sciences he wants to start studying on Monday in preparation of University. I am going to go with it :D My laziest kid of them all suddenly has all sorts of plans, we will see how long it lasts but I will grab hold of his enthusiasm while I still can.

Edited by swellmomma
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This sounds like so much fun! Who/what put it on? Do you know if there are other places doing it? Or if there's a website? My kids would flip over something like this! :D

 

 

I was hosted at the university by the faculty of medicine and dentistry. The full title was:

 

Harry Potter's World Renaissance science, magic and medicine. An Exhibition about the historical roots of a modern society.

 

Here is a link to the US site about it. From what I understood the one we went to today was the only place it was being offered in Canada at this time, but there may be other locations in the US that will offer it soon.

 

There great thing about the website that I just learned while looking for it, is that they have links to educational ideas formiddle school- high school etc. The focus today was mostly for 7-12 yr olds

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We don't have things like that around here... but I'm sure, my kids would love it!

They came in the HP-hype when I started watching A Very Potter Musical on You Tube back in 2008. I love it more than I like "the real" Harry Potter.

My kids know all the songs from those musicals (we watched the Sequel as well) and now we started reading the books. Not sure if I'll continue after book 3, cause it gets cruel by then and they are still little (they haven't watched movie 4 and further either for that reason). But they enjoy the first book and are crazy about everything HP related.

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I think this is the page with all the cities on it. So sad, none in Washington state.

 

I found the spot where it lists San Diego, but no other information. Times? Is there a way to sign up for it and get more information? I REALLY want to take my kids! Also, it doesn't give ages that are allowed. Are 6 and 9 year olds good for this? I want more info, lol!!!!

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I found the spot where it lists San Diego, but no other information. Times? Is there a way to sign up for it and get more information? I REALLY want to take my kids! Also, it doesn't give ages that are allowed. Are 6 and 9 year olds good for this? I want more info, lol!!!!

 

:iagree: We're in LA and I would totally make a trip down there for this, it sounds so cool.

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I found the spot where it lists San Diego, but no other information. Times? Is there a way to sign up for it and get more information? I REALLY want to take my kids! Also, it doesn't give ages that are allowed. Are 6 and 9 year olds good for this? I want more info, lol!!!!

 

 

When we went it said it was geared for 7-12 yr olds but my 4 yr old got a ton out of it, I just helped her with some projects and some she did herself. Now we are a science loving family so she LOVES experiments and is very good listening to instructions etc. My 13 yr old was "technically" to old for it, but he loved it more than the rest put together. I found the information given was perfect, not talking down to the kids, yet still understandable to my youngest 2 (4 & 8). I had as much fun as they did so it really was awesome for the whole family.

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How fun! I would love to go to something like that. How did you find out about it? Is it only in Canada?? Sounds like everyone had a wonderful time! :)

 

I found out about it when someone posted it on a local homeschool yahoo list. It is an American place that puts it on, from what I understood when we registered, this was supposed to be the only stop in all of Canada.

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Wish I'd heard of it!

 

Dang it, I thought you knew. For some reason I thought you were on ed-hs or ab-hs yahoo groups. That's how I found out. It was crowded though so it may have caused issues for your arm, but wolf could have taken them.

 

Do you guys go to science sunday? It is put on by a different dept at the Uof A. This year is Mar 4. We have gone most years since ds12 was 5 yrs old. The kids look forward to it every year. It is a lot of fun and lots is experienced/learned. I think this Harry Potter one was better than Science Sunday but that won't stop us from going again this year.

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