This Week for School

We took a trip to the Capitol and the Museum of History. I think we will be taking several trips to this museum now that we are back to American history. It's great to get out and see exhibits for the stories we are reading about. Not only is it entertaining, but it's free!

There is a new exhibit called The Story of North Carolina. We learned about many local stories such as Cary's Rebellion. Walking through it is like walking through a time warp. It's very well done. 

We also started the Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It's slow going, the boys aren't falling all over themselves to find out what happens next. Still, it's a good story and a great way to get some discussions on morality and the importance of separation of church and state.

It's been a pretty good week. Jeremiah started Hooked on Phonics. Reading is still his least favorite thing to do, but he's made lots of progress this week. We also found a box of Scrabble Cheese Nips. We had fun putting together words.

This Week in History

We have been watching PBS's Colonial House on DVD. I remember watching the show when it first aired. We've had some very interesting conversations about taking modern people and sticking them in the 1600's.

Virginia Bound is our current read aloud. I randomly happened upon this book at the library. It was a very good read. It fits our studies so well! I give it a hearty thumbs up if you are studying Colonial history.

We've read through A History of US series before. Currently are reading the 2nd book. I think this time around I'm going to just buy them one at a time. I found this one used at our local homeschool store. They are very well written and fun to read.

History Curriculum

I've found myself at an impasse with our history. We just finished with the Renaissance and Reformation. We are delving into the Age of Discovery (specifically we are in the 1600's). Mostly I'm putting the pieces together from what I already have from the first 2 times we've cycled through this time period. I'm hoping to have a more concrete plan before we get into the Revolutionary War. 

I've been using Mystery of History for the past 3 years. I enjoyed it in the beginning. I appreciated presenting Bible stories as true historical events, as I believe them to be.

Then we got into the Reformation, I really felt like the author went overboard on her personal interjections and beliefs. It felt out of balance. I found the evangelical message interspersed throughout the texts to be annoying. I don't feel a need to preach to my children through their history lessons. I found myself disagreeing with the author most of the time anyway.

I want them to view history through as many sides as I can present to them. I'm not concerned with being politically correct, or with conservative v/s liberal agendas.

My kids will know my beliefs from the way Leon and I live our lives out loud. I don't need history curriculum to teach them my values. We love people completely, even when they believe or think differently than we do. We teach our children to do the same. In my heart I believe that is the basis of my faith...love. I value some of my friends even more for our differences. I think it's fear that causes us to draw lines in the sand. Fear that we will be converted or that our children will be carried away from us with all that free-thinking. Fear that we might be wrong.

I find that my kids have always made more of a connection to time periods when I combine their history studies with plenty of relevant fiction books. I'm not a fan of textbook learning for history or literature.

I've looked into Story of the World, but it is intended for grades 3-8. I'm not sure how much my high school student would get out of it.  There is another series by the same publisher for upper grades called History of the World, but they haven't yet published a book for the time period we are studying.

So the great hunt is on. I may end up putting my own history together like a unit study. I'd be using the public library as our primary resource. This options is much more time consuming for me. In the end it might be more rewarding. I'd be combining history, literature, and geography in the same lessons.  Wish me luck!

Gnomeo and Juliet

We are currently on summer break from school. Usually that means we do math here and there, and cover some fun things we didn't get to during the year.

Right now we are studying William Shakespeare. We're going over Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and the Taming of the Shrew. All of which are my favorite works from The Bard.

I picked up Gnomeo and Juliet. I love garden gnomes and thought it looked cute. It turned out to be a fun movie, very charming. In many ways, it was like Toy Story.

There was a scene where Gnomeo ends up with the statue of William Shakespeare and they talk about the ending of the original play. Which was great, because this was a children's film and the story was softened for the sake of young ones. So while Gnomeo and Juliet was not a tragedy, I'm glad they at least talked about the ending of Romeo and Juliet.

Besides, who can help but love Sir Elton John in such fine ceramic splendor?

Surrender at Bennett Place

Surrendering Arms


Retiring the Confederate Flag.


This horse's name is Preacher. The "soldier" said it's because anyone that tries to ride him finds religion.




I'm pretty sure the duffle bag and cooler are 1864 issue, right?

History and Geography

We study history as a family. I have learned so much with the kids, and have enjoyed every minute of it. Our history lessons are my favorite time of day. This year's focus is on the Middle Ages. I use two different curriculums.

Mystery of History (MOH) is fun and engaging. We finished Volume I last year. I love the Christian perspective. It starts with Creation and teaches history from a Young Earth point of view. Our B.C. timeline is complete and we are moving on. (previous blog post about this time line)


I supplement with Beautiful Feet (BF). I love the literature base of this curriculum. I only picked up MOH because BF doesn't have a Ancient History series for young children. I understand and respect their philosophy (you can download a pdf of their philosophy here). However, I disagree and wanted to teach Ancient History to my crew. The writing assignments from BF are also challenging and good for my older kids.

For geography we'll pick back up Galloping the Globe. Once a month we'll "take a trip" to a foreign country and "spend the day there." This is just a fun game the kids and I play. We wake up and "pack" for our journey. We get on board "the plane" and watch our in flight movie (usually a travel video). Then when we land we have our passports stamped, read a few books, do a few crafts, have an authentic lunch, and learn some phrases. It's a day to break from the monotony of schoolwork. The kids look forward to it and will probably always remember it.

Some of my favorite geography resources are my maps from Geo Matters. They are laminated black outline maps. We usually write on them with wet erase markers. We've pulled them out for history and marked battle lines. When we studied WWI we marked off the Western Front and the trenches. For WWII occupying powers kept changing and it was really neat to be able to work it out together and see how the war progressed. These maps were worth every penny I paid for them.

For fun we've been working on Beautiful Feet's Geography course. The kids map out the stories of a few Holling C. Holling classics. So far we've finished Tree in the Trail and Paddle to the Sea.

Jeremiah Funny

Jeremiah comes up to me today and asks so seriously, "Mama, did the Confedruts get back their silver?"

"What are you talking about?"

He says, "from the Silver War." Like I was the one who'd lost their marbles.

So I'm a Little Neurotic with a Side of OCD

I made the last timeline and wasn't completely happy with it. So I started over.


If you are following along at home you will need:

a cardboard sewing board (from JoAnn's or a similiar craft store)
masking tape
markers
yard stick, ruler, or tape measure
double sided tape to stick your figures up with


I wanted the lines to "pop." So instead of drawing them (too blah) or painting them (too messy) I decided to just tape them off with masking tape.

I measured my rows to be 6 inches apart. There is less than six inches from the top row and the top of the board, I was okay with that.


Then I marked off each line every 18 inches. So each 100 years gets 18 inches of line.


Starting on the bottom row on the left hand side I started filling in the years starting with 2499 and ending the first segment with 2400 and so on for each segment.


I really like the finished look of using a stencil for my numbers. And this timeline does not end with 0. I may modify it later, you may want to modify it at home. It's okay, I give you permission. This timeline ends in the top right hand corner with 99BC.


So I left the bigger space at the bottom so I would have room to place our figures from Creation to The Flood.


Bottom Left; Creation:


to

Bottom Right; The Flood:


Here is our hand dandy timeline box. It has our gold and silver markers, timeline men, and some index cards for when we have to add more than just our little men.


I picked up the little men from the teacher supply store. They are made for a bulletin board. You can make your own out of construction paper.


I hope to post more pics as we use our timeline more. The kids LOVE it! They can't wait to add another man each week.

Our B.C. Time Line

This is the best part, so pay attention!

Now you see it:



Now you sorta don't: