Well, I feel like I've gotten zilch accomplished so far this week. I did get my hardwood floors scrubbed, as you'll see later on. Lillie helped me. I've printed her out a chore chart and now she helps me sweep and do Kitchen Duty. In return, I pay her and she can buy something uselful with it or save it. We've started studying famous people of the American Revolution and so far we've covered Paul Revere , Patrick Henry, and Emily Geiger. Okay, I have to vent a little. How in the world am I supposed to teach history when they change it every day. When you were in school, who were you told made the first American flag? Betsy Ross, right? NOpe, now historians say it is unlikely she had anything to do with it and that a man named Francis Hopkinson (a congressman from New Jersey) actually designed it. What were you taught about Paul Revere? He rode through the streets warning colonists that the British were coming, right? Well....I read an article the other day that said he never made the ride at all, that his two partners actually did! This is just two examples recently I've found , debunking what I was always taught in school. So, how do you teach history, when history is very uncertain? Betsy Ross's story is 50 times more interesting than what they say to be the truth. Paul Revere is so much more entertaining if you picture him risking his life on horseback to warn colonists of impending danger. Oh, well.
Click this link to see a short video on The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. Click here to go to a site that has some great short films of events and people of Early American History.
So far, we've read two Jean Fritz books as the basis for our study. "Where was Patrick Henry on the 29th of May?" and "And Then What Happened , Paul Revere" . Jean Fritz writes and illustrates great living books on history topics and my kids love them! Yesterday, we read a story of Emily Geiger from a book we got from the library called "Patriots in Petticoats." We will be studying famous women of the American Revolution for the time being before moving onto more notable figures. We will be making a Famous People book, as well.
Yesterday, we read about Emily Geiger who was a spy for the Patriot cause. She was captured while trying to get a copy of battle plans to General Thomas Sumter. While the British soldiers went to find a female loyalist to search her, she memorized the battle plans, tore the letter up and ate it. She was released and managed to get the battle plans to their needed destination. Pretty gutsy, I'd say. We attempted to write some letters using homemade invisible ink, but none of them worked. Here's the link for the recipe, maybe you'll have better luck. Throughout the week, we will be making different sorts of spy letters...should be fun.
Lillie and Jack have memorized five bible verses a piece and Lillie knows her OT books Genesis-Lamentations. I'm very proud of them both. We're reading about Gladys Aylward, a missionary to China and we added China to our Places I Know Folder. For math, Lillie continued working on counting nickels and the kids worked some Chinese Tangram Puzzles I got here, here, and here. I printed these out, lamenated them and cut the tangram pieces from craft foam. I let Jack lay the pieces directly on the puzzle, while making Lillie copy the picture onto a separate surface. They really like them. But let me tell you, I worked a couple online interactive tangrams and those suckers are HARD! Definitely not as easy as it looks.
Well, no post would be complete without some pictures, as I am a picture junkie to the core.
A Boy and His Dog...Hey! I told them to stop, but only after snapping a picture.
A Dew Junkie already...are you happy Pam?
Lillie is always saying how she wants to be like Cinderella...Well, who am I to deprive my child of a dream...
Not exactly what she had in mind. Hey, kid, Cinderella was a servant before she hit it big...Patience. Notice the fancy dress shoes.
Here's a pic I snapped at dad's last week on a nature walk. Of course I ran it through some filters, but I think it turned out very nice.
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