A day at the Tech Museum of Innovation
I had the wonderful opportunity to join my wife and children on a homeschooler's field trip today. We went to the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose.
Getting there was rather uneventful (save for us almost running out of gas AND not finding validated parking). However, once we got in the first thing I could think of was "Why had I not been here before?". The place is amazing. It is family friendly, homeschool friendly, group friendly. It is just a plain friendly place to go.
It is also very rich with technological history. There are references to Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard on the exterior walls of the building. There is mention of IBM, Adobe Systems, Apple and Microsoft everywhere and there are historical relics all over the place.
We stayed there for about two and a half hours and even at that there was almost another two hours that we could have stayed there. It was a great field trip.
On a side note, Sandi and I did notice that there were a lot of other kids there. I believe it was a "free" day where the museum does not charge admission fees. This meant that there were a whole lot of public school kids there along with us. What made them especially noticeable was their complete lack of courtesy and respect for others.
The homeschool kids we run with are remarkably well behaved and courteous. They use their manners, they respect their elders, the consider others first. The other kids... not so much. Which kind of makes me wonder what the benefit of public schooling really is?
Anyway, I have no desire to launch another debate on homeschooling versus public education. I know the details that make my decision very clear.
And besides, we get to go on some outrageous field trips. 
