Solar Eclipse

    OK, two posts in one day.  But that's just because the last one was started four days ago.
My husband and two older boys are in a play here in town being performed at the Center for the Arts.  The play is Bonnie and Clyde.  On our way out the door to walk to their 5pm rehearsal, I caught sight of a facebook post on the computer highlighting a solar eclipse about to happen.  So I tried quickly to create a shadow box for which to view the eclipse safely with, to no avail. 
    A little ways into rehearsal and I mention the partial eclipse to a friend who promptly takes an envelope (OK, my typing stinks tonight.  I keep having to retype everything.  Don't think, just type.) he takes an envelope and punches a hole into it with a paper hole puncher.  Too big.  So I take a sheet of paper and use a tack and hold the paper up near a white wall, allowing the outside evening sun to shine through.  Low and behold, we see the eclipse reflecting on the wall.  Did you know that when the sun shines through that tiny hole, it inverts, appearing upside down?  I did not know this until yesterday.  It was cool. 
    First I call Aramis over to look.  Then I call Porthos.  Porthos things this is all very cool, so I send him to get his oldest brother Athos, who has just finished up his line for the moment.  After a few minutes of staring at the tiny crescent shape that has manifest on the wall, Athos gets called back to do his next line.  To which I say, "sorry, we are having a science lesson by observing the solar eclipse.  My kids are homeschooled, so any moment can become a teaching moment."  The reply came from one of the other actors says "There's and eclipse?  Let's all go see!"  Suddenly there were about ten of us or so, only three being children, gathered around our sheet of paper with its pin prick, looking at the crescent shaped light on the wall. 
Someone got clever and figured out how to adjust the settings on her cell phone to take a picture of the solar event, while another pulled up live filtered feed of the sun on the Center's computer.  It was several minutes before everyone dispersed and resumed practicing their lines.  What a great lesson!  Who needs a classroom, when you have the whole world to learn?  Oh, and as an added bonus, can we say Drama course via community theater?