Rockin' Thru History

At our recent Homeschool Group meeting we had the pleasure of meeting and listening to the teacher, musician, songwriter and homeschooling dad: Damien Drago! We were treated to a live performance of his Rockin' Thru History songs.

picture credit: Rockin Thru History

His current songs are all inspired by The Revolutionary War. The songs start off with Powder Your Wig (just the name makes me giggle) and the last song is Five Fantastic Fabulous Founding Fathers. Each song is fun and educational.

The reason he created each of these special songs was to teach kids about History in a interesting way!

He has a great website called Rockin Thru History. On his website you can listen and purchase his songs. There are lyrics for his songs, resources and even more material you will find very helpful.

At our live performance we were treated to some of his new songs, which he is currently working on. These new songs are inspired by the Civil War. So be on the lookout for even more fun and  make sure you take some time to check Damien Drago out at www.rockinthruhistory.com.

This post is linked up to:

found at Hip Homeschool Moms.

Around the World-Australia


For our 200th post I am going to take you on a trip to Australia! Not for real, but you can pretend like we did! Sit back and enjoy our journey to the Land Down Under!
We have been studying American History and Geography for the past couple of years, so we are ready for the World! I'm not sure how we are going to go about studying all of the continents, but we started with Australia. It is Pie Pie's favorite and small one, so it worked out quite well.

source
 

I bought each of the girls an artist notebook which has in it, wonderful blank pages. The girls can draw, write or paste pictures in them. They will be our Geography and History workbooks for the year.

I started out by looking up Australia on the Internet. I found a great and free lapbook at Homeschool Share. Then I went to the library and looked up videos and DVDs. Some of the DVDs we found were:

 Families of Australia,

The Barrier Reef and Northeast Australia,

and Australia-Destination.

 We really enjoyed the Families of Australia because the girls got to see how kids lived in a different part of the world.
We found a lot of wonderful books at our local library too.

The books we used in our study were:

 Wonderful Animals of Australia by National Geographic,

Look What Came from Australia by Ken Davis,

Endangered Animals of Australia by Marie Allgor,

 Welcome to My Country: Australia by Peter North and Susan McKay,

 Koalas by Susan Louise Kra,

 Emus by Julie Murray,

and Foods of Australia by Barbara Sheen.

The girls also drew lots of pictures of animals in their notebooks of all of their favorite animals in Australia!

We finished up our study with an Australian feast!

We started our meal with Damper. This is a bread usually made over a fire. Bread is not one of my specialties. It was very sticky so I added a lot of flour which made the bread kind of dry. I'm sure it would taste better if you are a better bread maker than me. It was pretty good if it was warmed with lots of butter.

  

For our main meal we made Toad in the Hole. This is a meal with sausages in a bread, egg, and milk mixture. They use lamb sausages, but we used regular ones. It was okay. We added some cheese to the top to make it more tasty. We love cheese!

For dessert we had Lamingtons. These were definitely the highlight of the meal. These are very easy to make, but very messy! All you need is cake, chocolate and coconut. 

 

All of these recipes can be found in Foods of Australia by Barbara Sheen. 

Our next continent is Africa. I have no idea how we are going to break that up to make it easier to learn about. I have a little time to figure that out because we are doing a Science Unit next.  Tornadoes!
I hope you enjoyed our trip to Australia!
There is lots more Princess fun to come here on our blog!

A Month Into the School Year

I was counting how many days we have done for school recently and was happy to notice that we have 25 days finished already! Pie Pie and I like to know how much we have accomplished! I am also pleased with the progress we have made and would like to share some here.

Reading 

Pie Pie and Pants have done a lot of reading. I love reading and will do anything to encourage them to read. They each read enough books for about 36 tickets (5 books per ticket) in the Library Reading Program this Summer. I'm not sure the actual total because I lost track, but that is a lot of books. We have particularly enjoyed reading Carolyn Haywood books.



We are currently reading

These are some of my favorites from when I was little and I am so glad Pie Pie can enjoy them now. Pants and I are reading through the selections in Before Five in a Row. We have, so far, liked all of their choices.

Math

We are currently in our third chapter in Math which should be finished up tomorrow. We are just getting started with some new lessons, but Pie Pie is sailing right through. Pants is still working on counting and writing her numbers. They both like to build with our Math blocks.

History

For History we are currently in the 1800s of American History. We just finished up the Constitution and learned about the Bill of Rights. We are looking forward to the War of 1812  and then we are going to read about the American Girl from that time period, Josephina.

Science

We started off with a couple of different topics. We learned a little about the Ocean and Butterflies. Now we are currently on The Human Body. We are learning a little more about what our body parts do and how to take care of ourselves. Our next topic will be all of the animals that are in Animal Jam. This is their favorite Internet game. Pants is learning about different animals and the Five Senses.

Geography

We just finished up our second Which Way U.S.A. book. This is Pie Pie's favorite subject right now. Whenever I ask her what subject she wants to do, she always says Geography!

Language Arts

We just started our Grammar book this week. We have also been working on Handwriting. I am also hoping to start a Spelling Program very soon! We are going to be starting a Literature unit all about the Roman and Greek gods and goddess.

Bible

We are doing daily devotions and just started AWANA, which  is a Bible Club for kids. Both of the girls participate and it is at our church. They learn about the Bible, play games and get prizes. This is where they recite their Bible Memory Verse for the week.

Pants

Pants has been very fiesty lately so we have been going really easy with Pre-K. We are reading and I have been trying to get her to focus for longer periods of time on a task. She is going to be starting Ballet next week and I think that will be a good physical outlet for her. She loves to draw, color and play.

There's lots of other things going on for us too. We have been busy! I just wanted to give a little update to anyone who likes to read about us!

More to Come!

P.S. I am linkink up with iHomeschool Network's Mother's Journal.

 

Daniel Boone Homestead

We went on a Field Trip with Lighthouse Learning Christian Homeschool Co-op. We visited Daniel Boone's Homestead. The outside of the house has changed, as the family grew the house grew. The house's inside was set up just like it would've been when Daniel Boone had lived there. I thought it was neat that we had a chance to view a house from history.

Kitchen

Dining Room

A Bedroom

Pie Pie and her friend enjoying her favorite spot in the house.

It was a little ledge they could climb up and sit on.

This was my favorite room, the Spring house. You can't see it very well in the picture but there was an actual spring. I know what you're thinking, Obviously! But I thought it was pretty cool! 

Pants and her friend checking out the sheep.

When the tour was finished we headed out to find a good spot for a picnic. Any spot would have been great if we had remembered bug spray. It was a beautiful weather day, it just seemed the bugs were heavily enjoying it too.

This was our view while we ate lunch.

When the kids were done eating they started figuring out ways to play with the water without actually being in the water.

Look what we caught!

It was a great day with even greater friends!

We are looking forward to the rest of our field trips this year!

Pie Pie and Pants indulged me with a picture of them together!

Our beautiful girls.



Weird Science Fair

We had the opportunity to participate in Lighthouse Learning Christian Homeschool Co-op's Science Fair. (This is a Co-op we joined about two years ago. We always have fun with these homeschool friends!)

First we had to pick a scientist. Pie Pie picked a Roller Coaster Designer. (I whispered it in her ear first!) She loves Roller Coasters so I thought this would be a great topic to learn about. She agreed with me so the next time we went to the library I ordered lots of books and movies. Then we went to the craft store to get a Roller Coaster model. We were on our way!

I already showed a picture in this post of the progress Pie Pie was making on her model so here is a finished picture!

It was very interesting learning all about Roller Coasters. Here are some of the questions we answered while we were learning.

Where did Roller Coasters start?

In Russia in the 1400's or 1500's as ice sledding. They would sled down 70-foot hills that were very steep and covered with ice.

When did the first wheeled Roller Coaster open? 

In Paris in 1804. It was named the Russian Mountains after the country where the sport had originated.

When did Roller Coasters come to North America?

In the 1870's on paper in the form of blueprints. The first one built was the Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway at Coney Island in 1884.

When did Roller Coasters really get popular in North America?

In the 1920's about 1,500 coasters were built.

When and why did their popularity decline for awhile?

In the 1930's and 1940's due to the Great Depression and World War II. They needed the supplies for the war and people did not have money for fun rides. Over 1,000 coasters were torn down in this time period.

When did they gain popularity again?

Walt Disney opened up the first steel coaster in 1955. It was called the Matterhorn Bobsleds.

How many types of wheels does a modern coaster have?

They have 3 wheels. The road wheel, upstop wheel, and guide wheel. They are all important for safety to keep the car on the track.

Why does the first hill have to be the highest?

So the coaster will have enough energy to make it through the whole ride.

What do designers think about when designing a coaster?

They think about engineering, physics, safety and creating an unforgettable experience.

How many types of coasters are there?

The classic, racer, figure 8, inverted, out and back, suspended, shuttle loop, stand-up, trackless, enclosed, twister and launch. 

Some of the resources we used were:

the Internet

Roller Coasters by A.R. Schaefer

Roller Coasters or I Had So Much Fun, I almost Puked by Nick Cook

Popular Mechanics for Kids Rip-Roaring Roller Coasters and All Access to Fun DVD

The Science of Disney Imagineering:Gravity DVD

The night of the Science Fair we had a lot of fun sharing with our friends what we had learned. We also enjoyed learning from the other projects!

I'm looking forward to our next Family Night! Get out your measuring spoons,mixers, and don't forget the chocolate! We're going to be baking up a storm for Top Chef! You will not want to miss that!

History Stop: Mayflower and Pilgrims

We did a couple of things for this time period. Not much because we have done a lot with Pilgrims in past years. I wanted to do a little so we could work it into the timeline. We read some books and did some crafts.

We learned about the Mayflower and how the trip was not fun.  It was actually pretty gross. (Sorry, but I am a girl and I can not imagine being stuck in the bottom of a boat that long without a shower or a bathroom!)  We learned why they came to America and what they took with them.

Pie Pie decided she would bring her Webkinz, clothes, blanket, pillow, notebook and colored pencils. Pretty good choices!

Some of the books we read were:

Food and Recipes of the Pilgrims by George Erdosh

This is the Feast by Diane Z. Shore

The New American Colonial Times 1620-1689 by Betsy Maestro.

We used History Pockets.

We also watched a video called Dear America: A Journey to the New World. The Story of Remember Patience Whipple.

Here's another craft we did that showed the girls how the Pilgrims dressed.

We are slowly making our way into the Colonial Time Stop. I'm trying to figure out how to transition into that time period. There will be a lot more fun when we get there! We're gonna make a quilt. A little one, but it's still a quilt!  See you at the next stop!

History Stop:Jamestown

Pie Pie and I are learning about American History this year. We started out with the first Americans, the Native Americans and are currently working on the first successful American settlement. If you haven't figured out what that is, it is Jamestown. Pie Pie was very interested in making a project which I will feature on this blog post.
The project she picked is a land map of Jamestown. We got the idea out of a book, I'm just not sure which one. First you start off with a large piece of wood. Then you paint it. The land is green.

Add blue for water and brown for Jamestown. Jamestown was a triangle-shaped town. With only 3 sides it was easier to defend and it quicker to build the walls around. 3 walls instead of 4 equals less building!



Then Pie Pie added on the white roads.



The clay came next. Pie Pie built a wall of clay around Jamestown. She also built a canoe and some houses.

Then we got the paint back out. She painted the wall brown. She also painted her houses and canoe.

We added some trees and horses to the final product.

Pants had fun painting and playing with Play-Doh while Pie Pie worked on her project.

This was a project Pie Pie picked out and was very excited to accomplish! She had a lot of fun while working on it and was very proud when she finished!

In What Direction Are You Headed?

This past week has been a little difficult at our house. God blessed us with a lot of rain last weekend, which caused sewage to back up into our basement. This has actually happened to us before, but it has never crept it's way across the entire basement floor. We, unfortunately, did lose a couple of items. Our poor little worms were one of the casualties. There are many items that did survive which is actually what caused all the difficulty of the week. We had to empty the basement so they could clean and sanitize the entire space. The basement was our main storage area so we are living among boxes. Our house is on the smaller side so it has been cramped quarters!

This is our dining room.

This is our playroom.

I have also made the decision that the boxes are not going back down to the basement. These boxes hold mainly baby necessities. I have been holding onto them just in case we have another baby. It is hard to let go of these items, but I feel it is time. This is not to say we will not have another baby, that is up to God, we will just  have to replace things. I just can't risk putting all of those items back downstairs and have them ruined too. I want them used by someone who needs them. I am happily gifting the clothes to my niece, a friend's daughter, and a soon-to-be-born baby. The crib and some other baby items are also going to that new momma!
Even though our dining room, where we usually do school, is covered with boxes and bags. I have still been doing school with Pie Pie and Pants. We found a way using clipboards and a travel writing desk. We spent two days learning about Christopher Columbus. The second day of our study I gave Pie Pie a compass to decorate. This was just a little project I thought she would do in a few minutes. She actually got into it and spent a fair amount of time on it. I was fixing lunch and she kept asking me how to spell different words. I started to get excited to see her finished project. She turned it into a Compass/Map. So neat! Never thought a little project would make my day brighter.

I can't leave out Pants! She came over to me and sang The B-I-B-L-E! Which prompted me to sing back to her. Smiles all around!
So even though the events weren't the plans or the direction I would have chose for my week the Lord reminds me His way is best. We need to find Joy and Happiness in any and every situation!
"A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." Proverbs 17:22

P.S. I'm off to Squirmsville!