Bison Paintings

 Banana Boy

 Pepper

 Sunshine

We got this fun idea from this blog.  I thought they were so cute, and the kids are always begging to do art. 

I did some sample bison and then the kids did theirs.  When they went to put their paintings together, I shared some of my bison with them.  BB's two front bison are his own.  BB decided to add a bison skull and a rock to his, as well.  He was initially very frustrated at his bison drawings, but once we got to the painting and gluing part, he took off.  I love how he cut one in half to make it walking into the scene.

Pepper's bison are all her own.  She hates drawing animals, but I think her little bison turned out really well.  Better than my childish stick calves!  Her lying-down bison is also really well done.

Sunshine's two HUGE bison are his own.  I like his sun and how he remembered to tuck the feet of the back bison behind the head of the front one.

Plains Indians Schedule

The Buffalo Painting can be found here

And the Buffalo Parts activity can be found here.

Peanut Butter Pemmican

More palatable to kids than the suet kind...

"Peanut butter" pemmican

1 part jerky
1 part peanuts or pecans, unroasted
1 part raisins
1 part any seedless dried fruit(s) not preserved with sulfites—apples, peaches, blueberries, etc.
Peanut butter and honey, in a two-to-one ratio
Cayenne pepper, to taste (optional, but contrasts nicely with the sweet fruits and honey.)

Powder the jerky in a blender. Add fruit and nuts. Microwave honey and peanut butter to soften them, then blend them into the mixture. (Use less than you think you'll need, just enough to bind everything together. If you get it wrong, it's easier to add more peanut butter and honey than to add more of everything else.) Add cayenne pepper, working it in thoroughly. Store in plastic bags

Another New School Year, Another Attempt to Document our Homeschool

on a regular basis...

I found myself looking back to the year that I blogged here regularly to remind myself what resources I'd used when we studied American history before.  It made me wish I'd kept up recording our homeschool here.  So here goes another attempt.

For 2013, the four youngers are home.  Sunshine is in 3rd grade (although about 2nd academically), Banana Boy is in 5th, Pepper 7th and Daisy 10th.  Rose Bud will be a senior in public school and applied to her first college yesterday.  :( :)

We are once again beginning American History by studying four regional types of American Indians.

For the forest Indians of the Northeast, our schedule looks like this:

Resources we are using include
Legend Chart

Dreamcatcher

Longhouse Model-- from the Scholastic book Easy Make & Learn Projects: Northeast Indians.  I got a free sample download from this book once, which was the longhouse project.  I can't find the link to it now.

Region Map--two cute ideas  and 


 

Pepper is making a Powerpoint comparing the 4 regions and is reading all the literature.  Banana Boy is reading most of the literature.  Sunshine is listening in and reading some easy readers aloud to me.  His first one is Little Runner of the Longhouse.

Back on Track

Now that I'm back from my trip, we are fully back on track with school.  We've finished our Canada/Olympics study, with the exception of filling in the medals charts.

We are back into Sonlight Core 4 and are on, ummm.... Week 13.  Well, that's the first week that we have entirely completed.  We are jumping around a bit and going at our own pace in the read-alouds, so we're ahead in Caddie Woodlawn.  Pepper needs to read about Thomas Edison.  We listened to Old Yeller twice already, the last time being about 2 years ago and the girls don't want to hear it again, so we'll skip that.  It's not a book I can read aloud (it's actually scheduled as a reader, for them to read to themselves) so we've always listened to it on CD.  I hate sobbing while I'm reading aloud.

Daisy has read all the Core 4 readers months and months ago in her quest for "something to read, Mom!"  Pepper, a more reluctant reader, is going to be plowing through a pile of them in the next week or so.

It's not that she CAN'T read them.  She's an excellent reader.  She just CHOOSES the more fluffy stuff.  Pony Pals (gag) for instance, are her latest passion and she can read two a day.  I gave her the stack she needs to read Monday and she's already blown through The Toothpaste Millionaire (took less than a day) and We'll Race You, Henry Ford.

So in her pile, still to be read, are George Washington Carver, Thomas Edison, Helen Keller and Shoes For Everyone.

Pepper just walked into the room where Daisy is busily (and happily) making electrical circuits for science and muttered under her breath, "I hate science experiments."  This on the heels of Banana Boy, who stomped through the room shouting, "I NEVER get to do anything FUN!  I NEVER get to do experiments!!!"

I offered Pepper the chance to trade with BB (even though TOPS Electricity is really too hard for him) and she jumped at it.  His response to her: "SURE!  But then you have to finish my puzzles." (Lauri crepe rubber preschool puzzles). 

However, once Pepper discovered that today's experiment involved burning up tiny pieces of steel wool, she was all over it.  Now she is determinedly completing her work sheet.  Daisy, who has finished the sheet, is burning up more wires.

Finished the Civil War

We finished the Civil War a bit ago.  The girls made lapbooks from History Pockets: Civil War.  I shrunk the printables from this book to make smaller-sized booklets to use in their lapbooks.

Our favorite Civil War resources?


Across Five Aprils

We listened to this book on audio, rather than me read it. I have a hard time reading dialect aloud. It is available from iTunes or audible.com.  This book is the (roughly) true story of the author's grandfather who was a boy of 12 or 14 when the Civil War began.  He remained on the farm while his older brothers went off to war and the story chronicles the war through all five Aprils, 1861-1865.  It's a wonderful, moving story that captures you and gives a fabulous overview of the war through the eyes of Jethro and his family.

We also listened to Bull Run on audio (also purchased from iTunes). LOVE this book! I prefer the audio version of this book because of the format of the story. It consists of about 15 characters, each speaking in his own chapter. The characters vary between male & female, North & South, slave & free, rich and poor, soldier and civilian. All meet in some way at the battle of Bull Run and through their collective perspective, you experience that battle. LOVE this book!

Besides listening to the audio version, which offers a different voice for each character, we also make a chart of the characters' names, their affiliation (north or south), a few words about their story (who they are) and their role at Bull Run.  This book can be a little confusing because of the number of characters, but the audio and the chart help us to keep it straight.


We read Lincoln: A Photobiography and a few Cornerstones of American History books.

To celebrate the end of our Civil War unit, we took a day-trip to Springfield, IL to visit the Lincoln Museum and his home there.

Lincoln's Home is a national park site and is a free tour.

The Lincoln Museum is part of his presidential library.  If you are within driving distance of this museum, I encourage you to go there!  It is a wonderful, interactive museum that traces Lincoln's life from his early log cabin days through his time in Springfield, the White House and to his death.  There are two really great holographic movies, lots of realistic wax (I think they are silicon nowadays) figures, a coverage of slavery and the Civil War, and actual items that belonged to the Lincolns.  The cost is $10 for adults and $6 for kids, but it seemed worth it to us.

We had actually visited this museum on our vacation to St. Louis two years ago and the kids were STILL talking about going here.  Since they had such fond memories of it, I thought it would be fun to revisit it now that that period in history was "explained" in their minds.  They liked it just as well the second time.

Also in Springfield are Lincoln's tomb, where he and his family are buried and the village of New Salem where Lincoln lived and worked before he became an esteemed lawyer.  We didn't visit those two places on this trip.  (We saw his tomb 2 years ago)  If you can't visit the tomb in person, you can take this photo tour.

15 Miles on the Erie Canal

We are almost finished with this portion of American History we'll call Core 3 (and I mean that loosely, since we've really not followed Core 3 at all)

Recently we did a little trek down the Erie Canal.

We read The Amazing, Impossible Erie Canal and i found it to be a fairly annoying book. I really thought i would like it better, but something about all the extra text in the pictures bugged me. Necessary, I suppose, to illustrate the building of a canal which takes place over time AND space, but it annoyed me nonetheless. Maybe next time we'll stick with Sonlight's Erie Canal book.

Online, we found some cool resources

The Boss singing that song we all learned in music class so many years ago. At this site, you get the lyrics, The Boss singing it (scroll down to the player on the right), and yes, you get the whole song! and you can even download a ringtone (I didn't)

If you want to do a driving tour of the Erie Canal today, go here (well, really, you need to go to New York, but if you click there, it will give you a map and directions!)

Who needs a book? This site has all the history, all the songs, all the pictures and all the information you could ever want about the Erie Canal.

And last, but not least, this site has more postcards, more music and a virtual tour of the Erie Canal throughout history (via postcards)

Really, I might just sell my whole library. The interactiveness of the internet amazes me. I think it's so cool to listen not only read about something in history, but to also then listen to music and look at photographs, play games, solve puzzles. All the work is done for me.

Me and Google, homeschooling the Buds together.

Oh, Say Can You See

Today we read about the War of 1812 and the Star-Spangled Banner (the song and the flag).

The girls were thrilled because they remember when we were at the National Museum of American History in 2006 and SAW the Star-Spangled Banner.  It was still under renovation at that time and we saw it on its rollers in the lab.  Very cool.  They always say, "Is that that big flag we saw that they were sewing on?"

Here are our flag connections for the day:

We were awed to compare the size of the real Star-Spangled Banner to our house.  Our kitchen/dining/living room is 18 x 40 (ish)  The flag is 32 X 40!  Whoa!

The Star-Spangled Banner at the NMAH

Be sure to play the quiz game and collect the 14 stars to earn your certificate on SSB trivia!  We got them all correct.

Last night we were watching a rerun of Antiques Roadshow in Texas and a flag collector there, when asked if there were any flags he did not have that he WOULD like, (he had over 600!!!) said, "the Star-Spangled Banner!"  (can you believe I found the clip!  Is there NOTHING that is not on the internet????)

I sang all three "popular" verses of the SSB to the girls this morning.  (I'll spare you a demonstration) The third verse is little known and seldom sung (but I bet you know verses 1, 2 & 4, don't you!  I hope you at least know verse 1)

Enter a SSB singing contest sponsored by the NMAH on YouTube

Listen to the original English drinking song from which the melody for the SSB was taken!

Check out a rendering of the Star-Spangled Banner by one of my favorite illustrators, Peter Spier.

The Most Common Presidential First Name

is.....

not Barak.

It is actually James. There were 6 presidents thus far whose first name was James.

Second place? John and William tie with four each.

George has 3

Franklin 2

Andrew 2


What president was elected to 4 terms?

What president served 2 non-consecutive terms?

What president gave the longest inaugural speech and served the shortest term? (if you paid attention to the inauguration, you caught this little bit of trivia)

How many presidents have been impeached?

Who was the fattest president?

What president was never elected as either vice president or president?

How many father/son presidents were there?

How many presidents were assassinated?

Who was the first Black president? (you'd better not get this wrong, unless you've been living under a rock somewhere in the jungle!)

Memorize the Presidents

Found here

George Washington leads them, the great and the true.
John Adams succeeds him and Jefferson, too.
Madison follows, and fifth comes Monroe,
with John Quincy Adams and Jackson below.

The term of Van Buren to Harrison's leads;
Tyler, Polk, Taylor, then Fillmore succeeds.
Pierce and Buchanan, and Lincoln in turn,
is followed by Johnson and Grant we discern.

Hayes, Garfield, and Arthur, and Cleveland we score.
Then, Harrison is followed by Cleveland once more.
Then, comes McKinley and the full dinner pail,
and one called "Teddy" who to Cuba, did sail.

William Taft his government began
and Woodrow Wilson, a marvelous man;
Harding, Coolidge are next in the rhyme.
Then, Hoover and the people had a very hard time.

F.D.R. was great in both peace and war;
Truman was striving for what we were fighting for.
The former General Eisenhower
brought the Republicans back to power.

John Kennedy's victory in the race
was for the New Frontier in the "Age of Space."
Lyndon Johnson led the people -- the free and the brave,
with a goal to achieve and a country to save.

Nixon swore to uphold our creed
of liberty, life and every man's need,
but by Nixon these rules were ignored.
So, to take his place was President Ford.

Then, came Carter with a cheery smile
to run our country "Southern Style."
Then, Carter's smile left his face,
and Reagan came to take his place.

"Dutch" stayed two terms, and Bush filled his station,
bringing with him a "kinder, gentler nation."
However, only one term did George H. W. Bush fill
when along came Clinton, known as Bill.

Eight years of great economic changes took place,
but Clinton's impeachment brought him disgrace.
The new millenium arrived with a close election.
The Electoral College chose George W. Bush as its Presidential selection.

A song from YouTube



Using silly names to help you remember

More Underground Railroad Resources

Harriet Tubman and the Freedom Train

Two Tickets To Freedom: The True Story of Ellen and William Craft, Fugitive Slaves

President of the Underground Railroad: A Story about Levi Coffin

Escape From Slavery: Five Journeys to Freedom

Freedom Train: The Story of Harriet Tubman

A Day in the Life-January

I wake to my usual alarm clock--Banana Boy screaming at Sunshine over something. Neither boy is dressed. Wrastle BB into his clothes and tell him 5 times to go brush his teeth and go to the bathroom. Tame his wild hair. He asks me today if he has girl-hair (he's been growing it out "to his ankles"). I say no, it is boy-hair. Well, the kids at school have been telling him it is girl-hair. Would you like to cut it, then? Yes! Now! After school, I tell him.

Wrastle Sunshine into HIS clothes and convince him it would be a good idea to p[oop on the potty and not in his diaper.

Try to convince Rose Bud that she should let me drive her to the bus stop since the wind chill is 35 below. She leaves on foot.

Get BB dressed for the outside world and into the van. Leave Daisy in charge of getting Sunshine dressed for his bus.

Pull out of the driveway and turn up the hill to the bus stop. Spin wheels on the icy road and go nowhere as the bus turns the corner and picks up RoseBud. Drive BB next door (downhill) to get on the bus with the neighbors. Back the van to the bottom of the hill so I can get back up to our driveway.

Put Sunshine happily on his little bus (the school van) He LOVES school and riding his little bus.

Make coffee and listen to Daisy say her AWANA verses. Encourage Pepper to practice hers. Argue with Pepper that she should practice her review verses even though she hasn't heard back from her missionary yet.

Start rice in the rice cooker for my breakfast. Stir the chick peas I soaked last night and am cooking this morning. Decide Chana Masala would go really well with my rice.

While making the Chana Masala, check Daisy's math and help Pepper with her math. Pepper started out excited this morning since it was more measuring and using the scale, but quickly got herself frustrated by the fact that it was different today (grams) than yesterday (kilograms). Once she lets herself get frustrated, she shuts down and won't accept any new information or help. Got her through the lesson and she moved off to the couch to weep over her difficult life.

Listened to Daisy do her grammar and read her her spelling words. Got her started with her writing topic for the day. Did I already say how we do this? I have slips of paper in a cup with a topic on each. The girls pick a topic and then label their page with the topic and the date. Then we set the timer for 5 minutes and they write anything they want related to the topic. They aren't supposed to worry about spelling or penmanship or punctuation, just get the ideas out. Today they picked the topic of Banana Boy.

While Daisy wrote, I snuggled Pepper on the couch.

Rice and Chana Masala were done, so I got to have breakfast. The girls got themselves each a bowl of rice for snack. I suggested they try the chick peas and they both went wild over how good they were.

I suggested Pepper just write five sentences instead of for five minutes. She thought that was a great idea and happily went off to write about her brother.

Both girls had more rice and chickpeas.

Daisy finished up her president for the week (John Adams) and begged to begin Thomas Jefferson.

Pepper decided doing her spelling list with the Bananagrams tiles would be awesome! Hey, we have to change it up once in a while.

Now they are going to play Bananagrams while I read our latest book, The Last Safe House to them.

This is another great book. It actually includes information on all the topics we've touched on so far, including the Slave Trade, abolitionists, plantation life, etc. It doesn't go into as much depth as we have, but this book on its own would be an excellent way to just touch on the subject, espeially for a 1st or 2nd grader. One of the activities in this book was to make gingerbread cookies. The girls were all over that and except for creaming in the egg with the butter and sugar, they did it all themselves!

Life on a Plantation

This week we've been reading the chapter in A Kid's Guide to African American History on life on a plantation.  The girls haven't wanted to do any crafts or eat grits and collard greens, but we have read through everything and had lots of good discussion.

Here are the books we used:

Life on a Plantation

The Strength of These Arms: Life in the Slave Quarters

And the girls' personal favorite  Uncle Remus: The Complete Tales (of Brer Rabbit)

We're also going to listen to some songs such as Blue-Tail Fly (you can listen to an easy-to-understand version here and read the words in heavy dialect and not-so heavy), 

Pick a Bale of Cotton (YouTube video of Leadbelly singing --skip the comments discussion) 

and Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. (this is a beautiful acapella version which downloaded automatically into my iTunes.  There is a link here to the Wikipedia article on this song also.)

Next week we'll investigate the abolitionists, Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad.

Presidential Fun

I've been intending, for a long, long time, for the girls to work through each of the Presidents of the United (did you know if you type this wrong, it spells UNTIED????) States. We went through most of the 50 States first. Pepper gave out round about 30 or so. I think Daisy completed 45. And being the non-closer that I am (walk by any cupboard in my house--you'll see what I mean! It drives Mr. GT crazy. He is a closer) I've left it at that. My kids will have to research Oregon, Washington, California, Alaska and Hawaii on their own time when they are adults.

Anyway, I decided that the first day back to school after Christmas was a great day to learn about the presidents. The main thing holding me back has been what format to use for a report form. I have a bunch of resource books of different types with Presidential Report Forms on them, but none of them included all the things I wanted them to cover and many contained things I didn't feel were important (like name 4 cabinet members).

So, combining a bunch of resources, I came up with an interview format, a paste-down portrait, and a poem to fill in.

Hey! It copied in here. Well, there you go. Feel free to use, if it tickles your fancy.


An Interview with President __________________

Mr. President, when and where were you born?


What was your education and what jobs did you have before you were president?


When were you President of the United States of America?


What was your political party?

Who was your Vice President?

Did you have a nickname?

What were some important things that happened while you were President?


Who was your First Lady and what was special about her?


Tell us a few interesting facts about you or your presidency.


Were you a good president? Why or why not


When and how did you die?

A Portrait of You


A poem I wrote about you


______________ (first name)

_______________(number) President

____________________, ___________________,

____________________, ___________________, (four adjectives or phrases)

Who loved _____________________

Who believed ___________________

Who wanted _________________

Who used __________________

Who gave _____________________

Who said ____(quote written in best handwriting)_________

________________ (last name)

The poem is taken from this resource book



Here are the resources we are using:

Smart About the Presidents

Yo, Millard Fillmore  (back in print, yay!)

The Complete Book of Presidents & States

I'm sure there are other great resources out there.  These happen to be the ones we own and I've placed a moratorium on my purchase of new homeschool materials.  Eep!  I own a lot of stuff!

Esteban/Estevanico

Now we are reading Walk the World's Rim. This is a great book, used by Sonlight in Core 3. It's actually scheduled as one of the first books you read in Core 3 when you are studying American Indians, but we skipped it at that time. I don't remember my rationale for that back then, but it's working out perfectly to read it now, because Esteban is an African slave to one of the Spanish explorers.

The slave theme actually features prominantly in the story because there is such a contrast between Esteban's attitude toward being a slave and Chakao's attitude. In Chakao's mind, an Indian is a coward if he is enslaved because he didn't have the courage to fight his captors and prevent his enslavement. In Esteban's mind, it takes great courage to be a slave and serve your master with dignity.

Esteban was an intelligent, brave African explorer (he's not really African-American, is he? He was brought to Spain and is owned by a Spanish master. Therefore, I'd say he is African-Spanish. Hmmm.) The Indians were fascinated by him, his master valued him only as property, Chakao idolized him, and Cabeza de Vaca (I love that name--- Head of the Cow!) respected him as a valuable member of their party. Makes for interesting dynamics within the group!

It's an exciting, but very sad story. We're only about half-way through, but the girls are begging every day to "Just read one more chapter!"

Here is a worksheet on Esteban.

More Black History

Wow. This has been one of the most interesting studies we have done. We finished The Slave Ship. I would highly recommend this book. I don't know if all the historical facts are spot on. I was doing a little digging on the internet to find out more about the people in the story and some of the accounts I found were a little different. But it is a great story, told well and I think it gives a good picture for younger kids of the situation at the time. The last few chapters seem a little fantastic in that there is no mention of the Africans facing any animosity from anyone except their Spanish/Cuban "owners." Everyone likes them and treats them exceedingly well. They have lots of white friends. Maybe it DID happen like that. They were in New Haven, CT, among abolishonist whites. Maybe it did.

In any case, it was a great story and I'm pleased that we began with that one. My aim in this study has been to begin with where and how slavery began. I didn't want to just jump in to the Civil War, but I wanted the girls to understand the origins of slavery in America and how it differed from slavery throughout history.

The second book we read was Bound for America: The Forced Migration of Africans to the New World.
This was an excellent book, as well and a good next choice. (Really, I just browsed through the online library catalog and picked out whatever books seemed interesting. I probably checked out 40 books and we'll use 6 or 7 of them. I love my library!) This book gave a very good overview of slavery throughout history, moving into how the Africans cam to be enslaved in such numbers and how slavery in the Americas differed from historical slavery. It detailed the evolution of how Africans were captured for slavery, explained the Middle Passage, detailed the transport of Africans to the coast and their harrowing trip across the ocean.

The girls have been quick to point out the use of terms discounting the humanity of black by whites such as "creatures," "cargo," and such. We've talked much about the different world views of the Africans vs. the Americans. The horror of this whole piece of history is so great, that it's difficult to give 8 and 10 year olds enough to understand the tragedy without overwhelming them with the details of the atrocities.

The third book we read was the most awesome yet. The Old African, by Julius Lester, appears at first glance to be just another picture book made for young children.

Oh my goodness, no! Yes, the artwork is fabulous and beautiful and very appropriate for children. The girls were fascinated to see the pictures detailing the capture and transport of the Old African and his fellow Africans to the New World.

The text on the other hand! It's a good thing I am able to edit on the fly! This book is not for independent reading by children, nor for those who like to read over your shoulder as you read aloud. There is language, graphic details of the brutality the Africans suffered, a scene with $*xual overtones between a sailor and an African woman, suicide by the Africans, and, central to the story, a theme of magic and supernatural power.

Yet this book did more to give us a clear and graphic picture of the attitude of a slave owner, the brutality the slaves suffered, the confusion and fright the Africans suffered in their capture and transport over the ocean and the hope and overpowering desire for freedom all slaves carried, even those born into slavery.

I was near tears through most of this story, and if you know me, you know I am not a crier. I did a lot of editing as I read aloud. I'd urge anyone who wanted to use this book to preread it or be prepared to edit on the fly. I'm not sure I would have shared all the details with even my 13 year old. Maybe. Not without discussion, for sure.

So that was our day in history. Enjoy!

Black History

We're beginning a new study, looking at black history from Africa to America.  We are using the book A Kid's Guide to African American History as a spine and working our way through.

Yesterday we read about the ancient African kingdoms of Nubia and Egypt. We made sandstone columns. They were a little crumbly to carve so we thought we'd wait to carve them when they hardened. Yeah. Today they are too hard. Oh, well. It was fun to play with sand in December. 

Impatiently waiting for the dough to cool

Molding it into a column

Carving

Today we started and read half-way through the exciting book, The Slave Ship by Emma Gelders Sterne This is the story of the ship , the Amistad, which was a sugar schooner from Cuba overtaken by slaves recently arrived from Africa in 1839. They captured the ship and attempted to sail back to Africa. The white navigator onboard tricked them into sailing to America where their case was heard by the supreme court and, unbelievably, they were sent back to Africa!

The story is exciting and sometimes funny and it is giving us LOTS to talk about. We are exploring the attitudes of the Cuban slave trader (the poor Africans are better off now that they live in a civilized country), the Cuban plantation owners (examining the slaves on the auction block, considering them as stupid and animal-like, even as they sail the ship), the young slave boy of the captain who, although black was born into slavery and considers the Africans as stupid and ungrateful for their opportunities (since he is given beautiful clothes and a job for an important man). We are discussing the importance of material goods and a "civilized" life vs. freedom and fewer opportunities. We are seeing the brutality (although not over the top for an 8 and 10 year old) of the life of the African slaves. Most of all, we are getting a wonderful picture of the humanity of the African people, their pride and spirit.

Lately

The past few weeks have actually been productive, if not exciting.  We've been busily plowing through math, Explode the Code, R&S Grammar and AWANA.  Spelling has completely fallen by the wayside as Daisy conveniently "forgets" to do it.  Today we did two days' worth and she thought she was going to die!  Many tears.

 

We finished Eli Whitney yesterday.   I actually dislike this book.  It has a happy ending, and I guess the theme by which Eli Whitney lives his life--to keep on keeping on--is fulfilled in the end.  But, golly, he had a hard road of it!  I kept wanting to quit reading the book, his life is so depressing!  It also throws in A LOT of "what else is going on in the world right now" information."  It might be a better book to read AFTER we've covered more of that info, sort of as a wrap up.

 

Anyway, we finished it. 

 

We also finally finished Mrs. Frisby!  The girls LOVED this book as much as I did when I was young and begged every day to read more.

 

For our next "fun" book, as they call it, I think we'll read The Ordinary Princess.  I never read this story until I read it aloud to Rose Bud when she was this age and she and I both loved it.  I think they'll enjoy this one as well.

 

We've also begun Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, another "keep on keeping on" story, also by Jean Lee Latham.  This is a much better story, though.  Very exciting.

 

Pepper has begun carrying in addition and, after the initial resistance to learning something new, has discovered she is good at it and has caught on to it quickly.  She was dismayed to look ahead in her book and discover about 12 pages of practice of this skill before she moves into what looks to her to be more of the same.  This would be borrowing in subtraction! 

 

WHY do I have to do all THIS!  It doesn't look fun! 

Well, I told her, this would be the major work of a second grader:  learning to borrow and carry. 

sigh of resignation.

Daisy, at least, is enjoying learning to round off in math.

 

And in science, we've finally finished our savanna unit and have begun to learn about the rainforest.

 

One last great resource we used for the savanna:  Wildebeest: The Great African Migration  or, as we like to call it in our house, 48 Ways to Kill a Wildebeest.  This was a GREAT movie, if your kids don't mind death and destruction.  My girls actually watched it at BEDTIME and loved it!  It told the story of the wildebeest of Africa and their great migration (in case you didn't get the gist of it from the title!).  Unfortunately for the wildebeest, they have a tough life. 

 

We saw baby wildebeest get separated from their mothers and die of dehydration, baby wildebeest (hereafter known as WB) get eaten by hyenas, baby WB cross a muddy river and bake to a hard muddy crust in the sun, baby WB born deformed and doomed.  We enjoyed watching adult WB trample each other, get eaten by lions, hyenas, giant crocodiles, vultures and wild dogs, break a leg and drown, fall and drown, get dragged under by crocodiles and drown.  The only thing we never saw was a WB get hit by lightning.  I think one even died of a heart attack over stress from the failing economy.

 

In any case, it was a well-done video (although I think all the WB were eaten raw) and if you don't have squeamish kids, it's worth a watch if you can find it.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Really, We're Still Here!

It feels like we've been getting nothing done lately.  With the end of the school year, Banana Boy and Rose Bud have been having end-of-the-year goings-on. 

Rose Bud had the all-band concert (6th-12th grade) which was fabulous.  We have a really great music department here and the middle school band director is especially good.  I think I mentioned that RB only just started playing the clarinet in April and within a month was able to play in this concert.  She has been working so hard and sometimes will practice for almost an hour!

 

Rose Bud also did a slide presentation yesterday on her trip to India for her Social Studies class.  They've been studying different countries around the world all year and are just now getting to India.  Mr. GT suggested she ask to share her pictures since she's been there and her SS teacher was all over that.  So we put together a powerpoint of her photos, she organized them and colored the slides, we put captions on and she prepared to do it for 6th hour. 

 

Yesterday morning, when she arrived, Mr. G actually asked her if she would do it for all four classes intead of just hers.  I was so glad he did.  What a great opportunity to practice public speaking and I'm so proud of her for being proud of India and her brothers!

 

I sat in on the 6th hour presentation (and brought an Indian snack!) and she did a great job.  The kids asked terrific questions and her teacher was very pleased.  He also mentioned to me before the class, how impressed he was with the orphanage.  He said it didn't look anything like what he expected and that it looked more like a school.  He also noted that he could see how well fed and taken care of the children were.  I of course, put in a plug for Holt.

 

Banana Boy had his last day of preschool this week, complete with a recapping slide show of photos from the year.  Very cute!  The kids all had a great time running around in the gym afterwards and BB was so cute with his two best friends.  Hopefully, he'll end up with at least one of them in his kindergarten class next year.

 

At home, we've finished The Witch of Blackbird Pond (I ended up getting it on disc and letting the girls finish listening to it on their CD player).  We also read a book called American Diaries: Sarah Anne Hartford--Massachusetts, 1651.  It is not a very well-written story.  I read it a few years ago with Rose Bud.  But it is an easier read than Witch of Blackbird Pond for the younger ones and it does give a good overview of Puritan life.  So we slogged through it.  (if you want more details about the not well-written part, it is very ponderously written and is almost hard to follow because they take so much time to get through the first half.  The ending is also too contrived and too happy for how I think it really would have happened.  They don't stay true to character.  But, as I said, it does give a good glimpse into the times and the younger girls enjoyed the story.)

 

Daisy is almost finished with her sampler.  Pepper has abandoned hers.

 

I've gotten some more math games in the mail and will review those shortly.

 

We're about half-way through our state study (we're up to North and South Dakota!  Woo hoo!)  Daisy is still gamely plodding along.  Pepper fusses every time.  I did buy Pepper a School Zone 50 states workbook which she is enjoying.  She is also using Yo, Sacramento and enjoys the puns they use to help you memorize the capitals.  (wow!  just went to Amazon to get the link to the picture and that book is selling for over $30!!  Get it from your library.  I wouldn't pay $30 for it.  Glad I ordered it from Scholastic back when it was in print!)

 

Currently we are reading Ben & Me about Benjamin Franklin.  RoseBud never wanted to read this story so this is my first time through it and it's very good.  I think it used to be a Sonlight 3 book but that they've since replaced it with something else.

 

I've been promising the girls we'd make the quill pens from the Hearts and Hands kits when we studied Ben Franklin, so that will be on the slate this week.

 

 

Peter Stuyvesant

One of the books we're reading, which I've mentioned before, is The American Story: 100 True Tales from American History by Jennifer Armstrong.  I have rather mixed feelings about it. 

 

I like it.  I like the drawings.  I like the stories it chooses to tell.  They are definitely multi-cultural, telling the stories of the Indians and the Jews and the Africans, etc.  I'm not far enough into it to see how fairly they represent Christians, if at all.  Seems like every group gets its day except for the Christians.

 

It is also a bit of a difficult read for the younger set.  I've found myself really having to explain what is going on in my own words to the girls.  Daisy "gets" more than Pepper does.  If it was just Pepper, a first grader, I don't know that I would choose this book.  

 

They've chosen an eclectic bunch of stories--some very well known, like the Pilgrims, Pocahontas, Paul Revere's Ride, Benjamin Franklin flying his kite--things I would consider the essentials for an early elementary American history survey.  But they've also included some lesser-known stories, which I like, such as People of the Longhouse, the city of St. Augustine, the Manhattan real estate deal, the planning of the capital, etc.

 

I think I'm beginning to contradict myself.  Anyway, I like it.

 

So today we read "A Manhattan Real Estate Deal" and "Keeping Watch, Keeping the Faith."  The first story was about the Dutch buying the island of Manhattan from the Indians.  We had a good discussion comparing it to someone coming to our house and offering Daisy $10 to buy her bedroom.  Daisy takes the $10 and the bedroom belongs to the newcomer.  Only, then RoseBud gets off the bus and finds a stranger living in her room!  She didn't agree to this deal, she got nothing from this deal and so she chooses to ignore the deal, sleeping in her bed as usual.  Of course, the newcomer is not happy that she refuses to vacate his new room and quarrels ensue (probably a few arrows and bullets exchanged).  Daisy meantime is happily living across the hall with Banana Boy and her $10.

 

"Keeping Watch, Keeping the Faith" was a story I knew little about.  Peter Stuyvesant, the new governor of New Netherlands (aka Manhattan Island) was all alarmed to find a boatload of Jews moving in.  He refused to grant them citizenship or the rights of citizens, including the right to stand watch at night. Instead, he "allowed" them to pay a Dutch citizen to take over their watch.  All fine and good if you had the money, but what if you were poor?  Asser Levy was one such poor man who could not afford to pay to have his watch covered.  He would joyfully stand the watch--he had lots of time!  But PS would not allow it.  Eventually, Levy persevered and just stood the watch anyway, gaining the right of citizenship for the Jews in New Netherlands.

 

The very fun part of this was that I also had at home a library book called, The Day Peter Stuyvesant Sailed into Town.  It went along perfectly with this story and was a charming rhyming picture book about cranky Peter Stuyvesant (who had a peg leg!) and how he whipped New Amsterdam into shape and made it a successful colony.  Written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel  (author of Frog and Toad books--love those!)  The illustrations were funny--my kids love clever illustrations.  For example, on the last page, they show PS sleeping in his bed with his boot next to the bed.  (As Pepper said, "His ONE boot!")

 

 

In other recent school developments, we did art one day!

 

We are still in Secondary Colors and the project was to make a picture which radiated out from the center.  Here is what the girls came up with (mine just looked dumb.  I hate art)

Daisy's is on the left and Pepper's on the right.  And that's my toe at the very bottom of the picture...

 

Left to their own devices, the girls also come up with their own art projects.  Lately, they've been cutting up paper plates and decorating them.  Banana Boy got in on the activity, too.  His is the white one.

 

 

 

And this is Banana Boy's latest artistic endeavor.  I think it looks like a monkey, but he assures me it's a person.  It has a pet on a leash in its right hand and what I thought was a ball in the other.  But it's an Easter Egg basket.