CHRISTEPHI

I started the week by sorting a whole bunch of library books I got for the next couple weeks.  I love our library!  And so far this year I've only had to pay less than 50 cents in library fines.  Considering I consistently have over 50 books checked out at a time…that's pretty good!  It helps that I can manage our books, due dates, holds, and renewals online!! We learned about the Santa Fe Trail, Oregon Trail, and the Gold Rush this week.  Many people in our area made a lot of money outfitting wagon trains headed west.  William M. Paxton, who recorded the history of this area 150 years ago, said that of the many people who left our county with gold fever, most were never heard from again.  Very few returned, most died, a small handful made it rich and stayed out West.  He lamented the loss of so many of the county's fine people. We have two student desks, a child-sized table, and a spacious kitchen table…yet Miss M consistently choos...

Hello again!  We're glad you're joining us on our adventures!  This week we traveled from Iowa to Wisconsin and then on to the California Gold Rush! We had a fantastic time marching around the kitchen singing "You're a Grand Old Flag" and listening to "Stars and Stripes Forever."  When I first started marching, the kids looked at me like I was nuts , but it wasn't long before they joined in on the fun! In science we learned about atoms and molecules.  Frankly, I think the whole concept went a little over Miss M's head, but she had fun anyway.  We built H2O molecules out of marshmallows and toothpicks and filled a cup with them. A "water molecule" made of 1 large hydrogen marshmallow and 2 small oxygen molecules. Then, when Hubby came home, Miss M presented him with a glass of "water."  It was quite a hoot! Friday was a nice day with a whole string of hot days in the forecast, so we made sure to take a nice ...

When two small children wake up in the morning and ask for a tea party for breakfast, sometimes their mama just has to say yes. Our Monday morning lessons were attended by a feathery visitor, this beautiful young oriole.  It was content to stay there for 15 minutes or more! Last week at the museum we got to see a telegraph machine and this week in history we learned all about Samuel Morse!  We also learned about Florida and Texas. Miss M got a new Bible verse this week and learned that Jesus is the Lord of lords and the King of kings.  To honor His position as the authority over all authorities, she made a royal crown.  To prepare for this craft, she made a whole bunch of glue dots with Elmer's school glue on an aluminum foil covered cookie sheet. We let the glue sit until it was completely dry, about 24 hours.  Then Miss M colored each dot with Crayola markers.  I wasn't at all sure this process would work, but it came off witho...

Our week for studying Missouri finally arrived!  Along with it: Maine, Arkansas, and Michigan.  We skipped the taste testing scheduled on Wednesday in favor of some character training due to bad attitudes (both kids' and mama's).  She did it before in 1st grade anyway, so no big loss. Somehow, I managed to get through the whole week without taking a single photo!  Not sure how that happened…but to make up for it, I brought my camera along on our field trip to the Pony Express Museum in St. Joe, Missouri.  (It's actually St. Joseph, but no one around here actually calls it that…not if they're natives anyway!) We listened to Adventures in Odyssey on CD on our drive to St. Joe.  Everyone, even Hubby, got caught up in the story.  When I was about 8, we didn't have a TV at our new home in Florida.  We didn't know anybody and didn't have any neighbors.  There certainly wasn't any internet to entertain us then either.  I remember lis...

We learned about Robert Fulton this week, an engineer and inventor who is credited with developing the first commercially used steamboat.  He also invented the first submarine and marine torpedoes.  We would have liked to take a trip to the Steamboat Arabia Museum , but it didn't happen this week. Maybe soon! We usually do our spelling words verbally, but since our list this week was comprised of words that must begin with a capital letter in order to be spelled correctly, Miss M did them on the marker board! Another exciting thing happened this week.  It was the one year anniversary of Hubby being sworn in as a U.S. Citizen!  We celebrated with red-white-and-blue streamers and cheesecake decorated with tiny American flags! We spent a lot of time at the local library this week!  First, we attended a special showing of Pecos Bill or How the West Was Fun.  The kids had so much fun watching this cute vaudeville show. An Elvis-inspired ...

This week started with day 1 of a week long science project.  Although our intuition tells us that seeds won't grow without water, we are scientists and we mustn't say so until we test our theory!  Miss M put 10 unpopped popcorn seeds on a paper towel on a plate and covered it with aluminum foil.  Then she put 10 unpopped popcorn seeds on a paper towel on a plate and added enough water to fully dampen the paper; then she covered it with foil too.  Each day she opened the two foil covers to observe what was happening to the seeds. On Tuesday, Miss M sorted and rinsed a pound of red beans.  Then she put them to soak in a large glass measuring cup. The next morning she drained and rinsed them and put them in a pot of water to cook.  She cut up an onion, a green pepper, and some andouille sausage. Why did she do this, you ask?  Because we were learning about the Louisiana Purchase, of course!  We ate Red Beans and Rice for supper that ...