There is only a few weeks left of school. I still cannot believe we are on week 27. This week we learned about John Muir. OK, I say this every once in a while, I had no idea who he was. He was kind of like Audubon, but he did not kill the animals to study them. Or at least no one said anything in any of the literature about it. He also WALKED 1000 miles. Man those must have been comfortable shoes!
We also learned about the Chisholm Trail. Now I have heard of this one, but I did remember the name of it until I heard it again. We had so much fun learning about this and the History activity that went along with it. We got a whole bunch of popcorn kernels together and tried rounding them up like the cowboys would round up the cattle. The part of this activity they enjoyed the most was when I started shaking their tables and made the popcorn go all over the place. Trying to round up the cattle during that was hard. Just like a stampede. Fun activity. If you are about to get to wee 27, DO THIS ONE! The kids will laugh and laugh and laugh! Oh and learn how hard it was for those cowboys and how they risked their lives doing this for a living!
We also learned about the Spanish American War. My kids are so smart. Since we have learned about the Spanish War, as well as the current war, they asked why we go to other countries to fight for our freedom. Hmmm, great question kids. I love when you study things and it inspires questions from them. So we had a nice conversation about how we fight in wars. I think they have a much better appreciation for our boys in the military. They always had some appreciation since their Daddy was a military man, but this really brought it home for them I think!
Our character study was about Bravery. This was helpful for my daughter to learn to be brave at night with the darkness. She learned that Jesus is there always watching and taking care of her, And that having strong faith in God would help her through these times!
I have to admit that sometime Science does not feel like science. We have so much fun with all the experiments. This week one of them was to figure out the difference between Modern stores and Pioneer stores. So of course we went shopping. Well, we had to anyway. But the making of the ink and the sealing of the envelope activity was fantastic. The problem, I forgot to take pictures of the ink making. Bad Mommy! Oh well, I got the envelope pictures. You would think fire and wax would be no biggy, OMGosh! The kids enjoyed that so very much. Every day they have asked to seal something with wax. Thanks HOD! LOL!
In Geography we learned all about latitude and longitude. I think this was a little abstract for my daughter, but she kind of got the hang of it. She’ll get it again in later years I am sure!
We have really enjoyed learning about the pioneer days. Can I be honest here? The years of 1700 to about 1900 all kind of mashed together for me. I really never knew exactly what came first and what happened next and really where thing fit in, wars, slavery etc. This year using the timeline and learning things in chronological order, which I did not learn that way in school, was very helpful for me to figure out the timeline of US History. Even my kids really have a great understanding of how things in the timeline go. I really have enjoyed learning about our past. Now if only our current Government could LEARN from our past! Oh, that is a whole other post. No politics here!
Well we are onto week 28. Have a great week ya all!
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