Calder, Maddie, and Pal came to me this morning with a calendar. They wanted to know when school started. It's nice to think they're missing it too, and that I'm not the only one having all the fun. In reality, it's probably just because it's too hot to go outside and they're tired of Lego's, blocks, and designing airplanes. I pushed the date up by a week and then locked them outside. My plan was to finish up lesson plans, but I got side tracked with some of this years pictures.
Our subjects were:
- Early Explorers
- Early Settlers (Jamestown, Mayflower, etc..)
- Weather
- Revolutionary War
- The Constitution
- Geology
Below I've posted pictures and a couple of email excerpts for the year.
We'll start where we left off and go from there.
Geology:
Some of our treasures after a 'dig'.
Making 'Earth Balls' for lunch. Hmm. Actually this may not be 'earth balls', it might be Aunt Jane's cake balls. Oh well, they looked very similar.
Studying salt crystals.
Experiments to see if our riverbed has a high concentration of clay.
Early Settlers:
Making wattle and daub walls
John Smith disciplining the troops for swearing, with water up the sleeve, when they were asleep.
The Revolutionary War:
This is a demonstration/discussion of Liberty vs. Freedom, and then our efforts to break free.
Sometimes just a letter of 'protest' helps secure our freedoms. If it's done with a quill and homemade walnut ink, it works even better. So I'm told.
Here we're having a 'brewing' contest to see who the best Sam Adams is. I think Calder won.
Once we had our brew we took it outside to hear speeches under the 'Liberty Pole'. Bert was easily the best at riling us to revolt.
A prelude to the 'real' tea party.
First we drank, then we scruffed ourselves up for our trip to the dock.
One of our field trips luckily coincided with a modern day Tea Party. Here is an email excerpt from our trip to one.
"The Tea Party was interesting. I don't think any of us said one word, we were too busy LOOKing. Except Pal who was goofing off with Marshall. They can't hold still long enough to enjoy people watching. Were we staring at extremists? Were we staring at backwoods America? Were we staring at Texans? Were we staring at a good mix of everyday people? Hard to tell. It was sensory overload. My three favorite signs were;
*Taxation without Reservation
*The answer to 1984 is 1776
*Save Trees. Stop Printing Money
The last one was held by a Mennonite in full regalia.
Justin was asked if he wanted to make a comment on the local channel. He had Hydn sitting on his shoulders at the time. He declined. We stayed for approximately an hour. We sent letters off with our tea bags, signed the books, listened and clapped, and then made our goodbye's. We were smart enough to realize that we couldn't criticize the speakers. Until we learn more/enough to feel confident enough to speak, or say what WE think needs said, to lead, we should not critique those who have the courage to do so now. We need to get moving...."
When none of these measures worked, we went to the drawing board and brought out the real guns.
Then we tried our hand at making them. A cannon that is. Bert doesn't even have to act to portray Henry Knox. (JUST KIDDING BERT)
Maddie stands ready with the secret ingredient for our canon.
Maddie decided regular old reports of the Revolutionary War need a little 'pizazz'.
Calder stuck with the tried and true method to tell us about the Battle of Cowpens.
And our last pictures are of Team A - The Serapis
Vs. Team B - John Paul Jones "I have not yet begun to fight!"
The battle was hot and heavy, and unfortunately history was not exactly relived when both boats were sunk.
Happily a few survivors floated back to the top and were rescued.
Fun unit
The Constitution:
"The younger kids and I are learning about the Constitution. Today was the Legislative branch. Yesterday we divided M&M"s by color and used them as our states. We formed a Senate with an M&M from each color and we formed a House with a representative from every ten of the M&M's of the same color. We did a lot of talking about how this was the "Great Compromise", and also about the powers of Congress. Today I had a sign in the school room that said, "HOUSE". A sign in the dining room that said, "SENATE". And a sign in the office that said "PRESIDENT". We called the older kids into help us form a House and then they began to suggest 'bills'. They struck down quite a few, but finally passed five. They were;
1. M&M's mom used for congress should be divided for kids to eat, according to age.
2. Mom should do a front flip on the trampoline.
3. An episode of Man vs. Wild should be watched during the lunch hour.
4. Cache should change the next dirty diaper of Hydn's.
5. Calder and Maddie need exercise and will run around the house ten times each.
Then we excused the older kids and only the younger ones went to the Senate. Number one was NOT a popular bill among the younger kids and was unanimously killed. Also Calder and Maddie needing exercise failed. Then they brought the bills into the president. Me. Bill number 3, and 4 were easy to pass. We traveled to the Rose Garden where extra pens were laid out and I signed them into laws. We even had a photo op. (If I were talented enough I would add one to this email. It's one of my better ones.
However, ...I'm not.) Bill number 2. was not popular with the president and I used my Executive power of VETO.Whereupon the bill was immediately taken back to Congress where a 2/3 majority, roll call vote was taken. (I suggested the roll call so I knew who needed lavished with presidential favors and who did not). It made it past the 2/3 vote and they brought it back to shove under my nose. BUT, I was able to remind them that without the executive branch they were going to have an awfully hard time ENFORCING that law. They did their best and got me to the trampoline despite my possum pose. They forced me into a semi roll and called themselves successful. All in all, one of the days I call great. They are sometimes few and far between and it was good to have one today."
(Rose Garden in background.... seedlings for garden were all we had at hand)
We took a trip to our own state capitol. (That's us, itty-bitty at the bottom)
We saw our constitution (and had to laugh when they remarked it was the worst of the 50 states, poorly written in every way).
We stopped by the Senate.
And took some random photos.
Then we dropped by a history museum on the way home.
That's all I've got of the big units. But I promise that occasionally we did add some math in there.
We also had odds an ends of other things, like book reports and research.
Some were just because we wanted to. Like Calder learning to skin and tan,
or Cache learning the in's and out's of goat herding for money.
We took some field trips just for fun too. Like the one to Eisenhower's birthplace,
or Fort Washita. A local Civil War fort.
All in all, Bert and I just feel lucky we get to learn with our kids.
And now, I promise, I'm done. I wish I'd have documented more. (Right about now you're wondering how much more there could possibly have been! If only you knew how much like Anne with an 'E' I am... "If you only knew how much I wanted to say, but didn't...." Next year. There's always next year. This year, I'll just have to trust that it was a good one.
