Venus Transit: Ideal vs Real

I imagine the ideal family, homeschooling or not, preparing for the Venus transit, explaining in advance to their children what it means.  They would prepare for the event by figuring out the best and most enriching public viewing area to attend and RSVP early.  They would all go together, smiling and happy, possibly holding hands.  They might even set up a telescope in their yard.  Everyone would be thrilled by this rare astronomical phenomenon, and it would spark an interest in their children that would lead to a unit study in advanced astrophysics. 


Back to reality, our family observed the Venus Transit the other day.  My husband has a vague interest in astronomy and saw the last one back a few years ago.  The day before this year's transit, he began complaining about how he didn't RSVP in time at the university to see it there, how to see it at one of the local museums would cost $30 a person, and so on.  He complained that he did not have a tripod for his high powered binnoculars.  I mentioned snidely that he had many years to prepare for this moment, and it was too bad he chose to wait until the last minute. I, the homeschooling mom, had no interest in planning for this Venus transit thing.  I had better things to worry about, like fitting in enough theme park visits this summer. 


On the day of the transit, I assured my husband, still sulky about the Venus transit happening and not being able to see it, that it would be too cloudy to see anyway.  "Too bad for all the suckers who paid for the dinner!" I thought to myself.  "It's just a dot," I told him.  "It's not like anything's exploding.  Who cares?"  He went upstairs to tell Bee about it and received a similar (rude) response. 


Well, my mathematician/physicist husband used his cute head and ended up projecting the Venus transit onto a card by propping his binnoculars on a lawn chair.  Bug was out there with him and was happy to see it.  Bug (age 4) can identify all the planets and is very interested in them.  Then I came out and decided it was pretty cool after all, followed by Bee who thought the same thing.  He can also identify the planets by looking at pictures.  I thing planets are pretty, but I get confused sometimes trying to tell them apart.  Clearly, my children take after their dad in many ways. 


I was very impressed with my husband's makeshift projection system.  He's quite the homeschooler.