Lincoln families bond while watching eclipse at Holmes Lake

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — Clay Anders didn’t want to miss the eclipse experience with his three children.

So the Lincoln man signed them out of school and took them to the Hyde Memorial Observatory at Holmes Lake, where more than 100 people gathered to watch the eclipse.

“It’s one of those once-in-a-lifetime things,” he said. “I think it’s a great experience for these kids to get out here and experience this.”

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Lincoln Public Schools decided to keep elementary school kids indoors Monday.

“Due to the time of the day and the amount of training required for students to safely participate, we have made the decision to not have all students and staff participate in viewing the partial solar eclipse,” the district wrote in an email to parents.

Anders said he was “kind of bummed” that students would be missing out on the eclipse.

“But I understand the safety and precautions the school is trying to take,” he said.

A mother at the event who home-schools her children said she added the solar eclipse into her kids’ curriculum.

“We have a lot of flexibility in our schedule, and it’s neat to be able to have things in space be a little bit more tangible for the kids,” Sarah Kaldahl said.

Her son Peter said he was excited to watch the eclipse.

“I bet it’s going to look like, well, maybe if you take a cookie and put a flashlight behind it,” he said.