Week five under our belts

This week was pretty busy with different activities.  Monday and Tuesday were normal school days and Wednesday we went to Oxbow Zoo and Park to see the animals and play.  They don't have many animals there; about twenty different kinds but its fun to view them.  We arrived right at feeding time so it was fun for the kids to see the different kinds of animals and what they eat.  They also have a nice sized buffalo herd and it was fun to see the animals up close.  Last time we were there, they were off in the distance and it was difficult to see them.  I of course, forgot my camera.

Thursday was gymnastics and library for the littles.  The big girls stayed home and did their assignments. Friday we went to the Mankato History Fest.  They have re-enactors from different time periods.  It was a ton of fun.

It is very important for your dragon to also have armor during medieval times. 

This guy was the best.  MN's own Captain Jack Sparrow.  He was absolutely fantastic with the kids and put on a neat show.  He's a historian at heart and gave us a ton of information about pirate history.  Makes me want to run out and get a book on pirate history to read.

Captain Jack and his wife took a picture with the girls

Civil War-they shot off the cannon several times.  Very loud and smelly but neat

Trying on some chain mail

Princess was arrested when trying to enter the saloon.  It took this poor boy quite a while to get those handcuffs on.  They have to be screwed in. 

They hauled her off to jail and I told them to throw all the kids in.

Civil War cannon is very loud!

And we had to get a little face painting in.  We waited for all the school buses to leave and we pretty much had the place to ourselves.  It was great.

 It was freezing yesterday when we went but warmed up a little during the day.  It was in the 40s/50s the whole time we were there and the sun was blowing but it wasn't too bad.  There were a few building so we could come in and get warm at the stoves.

The re-enactors spend Wed through Friday night at the campground; camping out in old fashioned tents.  The frontier men were literally laying in the ground with a clothe over top of them held up by a few sticks.  It poured the night before we went, almost an inch of rain, but the frontier men said that they were dry.  Everywhere they were cooking over campfires for their meals also.  Smell of campfire smoke everywhere.  It was great and we will definitely head back there next year.

History plans Grades 6-8 Industrial Revolution through the end of the 21st century

History lesson plans Grades 6-8      Industrial Revolution through end of 21^st century including a study of Native Americans

I am currently working on a master’s degree in history.  I wanted an inexpensive program that teaches history utilizing fiction, non-fiction, and biography while exploring maps and projects.  I do recommend getting Christine Miller’s All through the Ages book.

I believe in teaching history chronologically.  I know, you’re looking at this list and going well, the first few weeks are about American Indians and Immigration in the United States.  I know but these are topics that I didn’t think we’d sufficiently covered.  I wanted my kids to have a good overview of different regions of American Indians and also some important treaties, leaders, and wars.  Immigration plays a very important role in the latter half of the 19^th century and early 20^th century so I included a separate study here.

**My goal is to develop a plan that is inexpensive and utilizing books, lapbooks, notebooking pages, etc that I already have or can purchase inexpensively.  Any books can be substituted out here.  I just list the ones we have for my own records; it doesn’t actually mean that we will use them or even all of them.  Use books from your own shelves or go to the library.  I love history but there are so many books out there that it would be difficult and expensive to have an extensive library at home. 

Week one through week three-Native Americans

This is an overview of the Native American tribes within the United States.  The Northeast, Southeast, Great Plains, Northwest, and Southwest Indians are discussed.

Books used:                       North American Indian Stories by Gretchen Will Mayo

                                                Southwest Indians by Mir Tamin Ansary

                                                …if you Lived with the Sioux Indians by Ann McGovern

                                                …if you Lived with the Cherokee by Peter and Connie Roop

                                                …if you Lived with the Iroquois by Ellen Levine

                                                The Encyclopedia of Native America by Trudy Griffin-Pierce

** I know the If You Lived Series is geared towards younger children but they do have wonderful information for research

See the attached lesson plan called Native Americans grades 6-8

Week four-Immigration

Books used:                       Immigration by Peter Benoit (Scholastic-Cornerstones of Freedom)

Week five-Industrialization Revolution

Week six-Industrial Revolution

Week seven-Topics covered:  Spanish American War, Boxer Rebellion, US President McKinley assassinated, Wright Brothers, Panama Canal, San Francisco Earthquake, Triple Entente

Week eight-Balkan Wars, Russia: October Revolution and Tsar Nicholas II,

Week nine-WWI

Week ten-WWI

Week eleven-WWI

Week Twelve-WWI ends and League of Nations formed

Week Thirteen-US Prohibition, Palestine, Europe: Mussolini, Soviet Union established, West Germany occupation, Stalin rises to power

Week Fourteen-Charles Lindbergh, US stock market crash triggers Great Depression, Pluto discovered

Week Fifteen-Great Depression

Week Sixteen-1920s survey of music, crime….leading up to Al Capone’s imprisonment

Week Seventeen-FDR New Deal, Europe, Hoover Dam

Week Eighteen-Hindenburg, War of the Worlds, WWII begins

Week Nineteen-WWII

Week Twenty-WWII

Week Twenty-one-WWII

Week Twenty-two WWII

Week Twenty-three-US Marshall Plan, NATO, Israel, Germany and Korea

Week Twenty-four-Cold War begins, Korean War

Week Twenty-five-Korean War

Week Twenty-six-Elizabeth II, climbing Mt. Everest, US: Segregation ruled illegal

Week Twenty-seven-Rosa Parks, Warsaw Pact, US Civil Rights struggle in South, US and Russia launch satellites into orbit

Week Twenty-eight-US: Alaska and Hawaii introduced as states, Fidel Castro established as dictator in Cuba, Berlin War, Bay of Pigs

Week Twenty-nine-Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK assassinated, MLK: I have a dream speech, South Vietnamese government overthrown by coup

Week Thirty-Vietnam War

Week Thirty-one-Vietnam War

Week Thirty-two-MLK and Robert Kennedy assassinated, Northern Ireland tensions, space race

Week Thirty-three-space race, Roe v. Wade, Watergate Scandal, St Helens erupts

Week Thirty-four-Space Shuttle’s first flight, Gandhi assassinated, Gorbachev becomes Soviet leader

Week Thirty-five-Challenger blows up, Mir Space Station, Chernobyl explodes, Berlin Wall comes down

Week Thirty-six-Persian Gulf War, Waco Texas

Week Thirty-seven-World Trade Center explodes, Mandela elected president to South Africa, Rwanda

Week Thirty-EU formed, 9/11, tensions in gulf

For a printable version of this go here.

Weeks one through three: Native Americans

Native Americans Grades 6-8

This is an overview of the Native American tribes within the United States.  The Northeast, Southeast, Great Plains, Northwest, and Southwest Indians are discussed.

Books used:                       North American Indian Stories by Gretchen Will Mayo

                                                Southwest Indians by Mir Tamin Ansary

                                                …if you Lived with the Sioux Indians by Ann McGovern

                                                …if you Lived with the Cherokee by Peter and Connie Roop

                                                …if you Lived with the Iroquois by Ellen Levine

                                                The Encyclopedia of Native America by Trudy Griffin-Pierce

** I know the If You Lived Series is geared towards younger children but they do have wonderful information for research

Week one

Vocabulary terms:  treaty, compromise, wampum, clan, surrender, reservation, warrior, squaw

Study the Northeast, and Southeast Indians in detail.  Make notebooking pages or lapbooks answering the following questions:

            What were their traditional dwellings?

            What were their family/clan relationships like?

            What were their clothes like?

            What did they generally eat?

            What were their customs in warfare?

            Name five different tribes that is located in this region

If you have the Enclopedia of Native America read the following:

            Northeast: pages 27-32

            Southeast: pages 49, 55-59

There is a Iroquois lapbook here:  http://www.tinasdynamichomeschoolplus.com/exploring-to-revolution/iroquois-lapbook/

Read aloud: North American Indian Stories

Activities:        Plan a Native American meal

                        Make a cornhusk doll

                        Design a village for the Northeast or Southeast Indians

                       

Week two

Read Aloud:  Soft Rain

Watch:  Dances with Wolves

Study in detail: Plains, Northwest, and Southwest Indians.  Make notebooking pages or lapbooks with details such as

            What were their traditional dwellings?

            What were their family/clan relationships like?

            What were their clothes like?

            What did they generally eat?

            What were their customs in warfare?

            Name five different tribes that is located in this region

Activities:        Make a dreamcatcher

                        Make a diorama of an indian village from one of these regions

                        Make a todem pole

There is a lapbook here for the Plains Indians:   http://www.tinasdynamichomeschoolplus.com/exploring-to-revolution/plains-indians/

Week three:

Project week!

1. Pick two of the following people and design a notebooking page or poster with information about their lives such as when/where they were born and died, what tribe they were with, what interesting thing they did in history, and any other facts that you find interesting.

                        Tecumseh

                        Crazy Horse

                        Red Cloud

                        Red Eagle

                        Powhatan

                        Pocahontas

                        Squanto

                        Sitting Bull

2.  Pick two of the following wars and write short reports regarding the details of the war, who is was between, the years, the outcome, any treaties that were made as a result, and what eventually happened to the treaty.

           

                        Wounded Knee

                        Red River War

                        US Dakota War

                        Ute War

                        Little Big Horn

Watch:  History Channel Code Talkers

*****When doing research online, DO NOT use Wikipedia.  It is a bad habit to get into. Anyone at any time can go in and change any information that they want on this website.  Colleges generally do not allow usage of this website so do not start using it.  Use websites that are .edu or .gov; .com websites are generally not sourced and not confirmed.  Always be sure to be watching your child while on the internet to ensure that they are not connected to a website that is questionable.

                       

 For a printable version of this Native American study, go here.

Week four-Immigration

IMMIGRATION

Day one

Read Immigration by Peter Benoit (Scholastic-Cornerstones of Freedom) pages 6-19

Day two

Read Immigration pages 21-43

Read about the first person to arrive at Ellis Island  http://www.ellisisland.org/genealogy/Annie_Moore.asp

Day three

Read Immigration pages 45-49

Interactive Tour of Ellis Island   http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/tour/index.htm

Day four

Look at immigration data:  http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/immigration_data/

Watch the virtual field trip of Ellis Island   http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/webcast.htm

Notes from the reading and study guide for quiz:

1.       What did U.S. President John F. Kennedy call the United States? ____________________________________________

2.       Define immigrants: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3.       Define indentured servant: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4.       What were some of the reasons that people immigrated to the United States?

a.       _________________________________________________________

b.      _________________________________________________________

c.       _________________________________________________________

5.       Define ethnic enclave:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6.       Define refugee: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7.       Which continent has the greatest number of immigrants to the US? ______________________

8.       Why do you think that nation has the largest number of immigrants? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9.       Which decade in the 1900s had the most immigrants? _________________________________

10.   Why do you think that is? ________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________

11.   Why do you think that there was such a decline in immigration during the 1930s and 1940s? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

12.   Where is Ellis Island located? ______________________________________________________

13.   What was the purpose of Ellis Island? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

14.   What years did Ellis Island operate? ________________________________________________

15.   How many immigrants were processed during those years? ____________________________

16.   The Statue of Liberty was given to the United States in _________________ by _____________.

17.   Engraved in the base of the statue are lines from Emma Lazarus’ poem “The New Colossus” which reads:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

18.   Who was the first person to arrive on Ellis Island?  How old was he/she and where were they from?  ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

19.   What did that person receive when they arrived on Ellis Island? _________________________

20.   In what year was Ellis Island opened as a park? _______________________________________

 For a printable version of week four immigration, go here.

Medieval History

Our small church is blessed with about 25 families.  Ten of them homeschool and over half of the children in our church are homeschooled.  We have a wonderful time at our co-op.  We have 36 kids, so we split them up into three groups; ages 4-5, 6-9, and 10 and older.  This term I spent eight weeks teaching a medieval history class.  We are blessed that one of our homeschool moms has a cousin and her husband that teach about medieval history and do festivals.  They were more than willing to come and talk to us.  We split the kids into two groups, with an hour presentation for each group.  The kids all really enjoyed it!

Showing the little ones some clothing

Showing the girls some dresses

Chainmale
 

Making chainmale

View from the top of Bug-a-bug's medieval castle

View of the great hall



Our next term doesn't start until March as we are trying to get through the winter months without having to cancel too many due to weather.  We have one family that travels an hour to get to us so we like to be cautious with them. 

Enjoy a wonderful weekend!

History and Science weekly wrap up

Its been a busy week here.  For science, the girls split up and decided to study different things.  Bug-a-bug is studying birds and then trees.  Princess decided she wanted to learn abut the ocean.  I downloaded two really nice units from Currclick: Simple Schooling: Birds and Simple Schooling:Oceans to start off our study.  Both were only $5 each.  They worked on several units and really learned alot.  It was aot of fun.

TL is working on finishing up his Survival Skills notebooking unit that I got from Hands of a Child.  He's enjoying learning about surviving in different types of weather conditions.

For History this week, we worked on a quick review of the first three presidents on our start into the first decade of 1800.  We watched the Presidents video from the History Channel and then I downloaded President information sheets and President layer books.  They are located on the same link as above, just a little further down.  I opted not to make them as books, but use them as a notebooking page. 

On Thursday, we started discussing the French Revolution.  I make an information page for TL to fill in after reading the information on the Hands of a Child unit.  The girls did the lapbooking books.  We covered about six of the topics on the French Revolution.  Next week, we'll finish up the French Revolution and discuss the Louisiana Purchase; moving forward into our study of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

I hope to place some of my order for next year this week.  How's your  next year coming along?

Map Trek

I just found this awesome resource on Currclick. Its called Map Trek and its make by Knowledge Quest.

 I absolutely love geography.  This year, as always, my kids are doing a seperate geography course to learn more about geography and I sprinkle it into their history lessons also.  Map Trek takes all the work of mixing it into your lesson plans.  I love that you can purchase each unit or together in a bundle.  If I'd realized how awesome it was, I would have done the bundle. 

Each topic has three lesson plans.  One for grades 1-4, 5-8, and 9-12.  And the best part is that all the answers are located conveniently on the teacher's page.  Sometimes with TL's program now, we have to really dig and although I don't mind the digging, it would be nice to be able to verify the answers.

The teacher's map is colored and has all the answers for you.  The black and white map is for the student to complete with the lesson plans that are given for the topic that your working on.  I purchased the New World book.  Here are all the topics that are covered:

World Map (Landforms)

Elizabethan London

James Towne

African Exploitation

Renaissance Italy

North America (map 1)

North America (map 2)

Native American Tribal Groups

Plymouth Colony

Thirty Years' War

Australia Discovered

King Philip's War

Ming/Qing Dynasties of China

The Mughal Empire

The Original 13 Colonies

The Iroquois League

Puritan England

Restoration Colonies

The Kingdome of Prussia

New England Colonies

The Middle Colonies

The Southern colonies

The Seven Years' War

The Explorations of Daniel Boone

Early Battles of the Revolutionary War

The American Revolution

The Expansion of Russia

The French Revolution

Napoleonic Wars

Lewis & Clark Expedition

Independence for Latin America

European Composers

European Inventors

England - Industrial Revolution

War of 1812

Growth of the USA (map 1)

The Growth of Australia

Growth of the USA (map 2)

Trails of Expansion in the USA

Goldrush in California

Westward Expansion/Mexican War

The Pony Express/Telegraph Lines

European Revolutions of 1848

I can honestly say that I never considered doing a map for Daniel Boone.  Or how about the Pony Express and the Telegraph lines?  I can't wait to dig deeper into this set.  

And did I mention the curriculum integration guides?   The author has taken some of the popular history programs such as Story of the World, Ambleside, and Truthquest and labeled which maps are to be used with each lesson.  What a treasure!

If you sign up for their newsletter, you can download a free Map Trek sampler.

Enjoy!

History

 I still haven't found a history program that I like that is affordable so I'm designing my own.  I'm too picky I guess.  I want to read awesome living books on history and study it chronologically.  So, we're going to use this as our spine:

Christine Miller has done a fabulous job of dividing history into manageable chunks.  Each section has lists of books divided by age and then by fiction, nonfiction, biography, etc.  At the end of the section is a very nice timeline.  I've decided to pick and choose events from the timeline and cover them with books and activities.  Some events, such as Lewis and Clark, we'll be using lapbooks from Hands of a Child.  Those topics are covered very nicely and a little more in depth.  Hands of a Child is also making notebooking pages for all of their lapbooks.  With over 400 in stock, it will be a while before they get them all done, so I may end designing some of my own for TL.  He definitely doesn't like lapbooking anymore. 

I'm also utilizing my cd from Heritage History on American History.  This awesome and inexpensive resource gives you copies of living books that are an invaluable resource to all homeschoolers.  You not only receive access to awesome books, you are able to keep your bookshelves clear for more books to purchase for other subjects 

The Heritage History makers have other wonderful collections, including Greece, Rome and a new release of European history that I am eagerly anticipating.  I can't wait to see what treasures are located on this new cd that I can incorporate into our homeschool.  The books are broken into a book list and color coded according to reading level, which makes it easier to find books for your child's reading level. 

The list of books on the Early America cd is quite helpful.  I probably don't even need to go to the library to get a book that I can use.  My son is enjoying all of the books that he is reading on this cd.  We absolutely value all the books here!

 

I'll be posting our current lessons and ideas for projects, activities, books, and resoures as we go along.  I will also be designing some of my own notebooking pages for the kids to follow along as we go through this.  Another thing I plan on doing is making a review sheet for things that I really want the kids to remember.  I haven't been making the kids review enough of their history. 

Have a wonderful week!!!!

Heritage History

How many of us love history?  And really great living history books?  But, we can't afford to buy every single volume out there, especially because alot of the great ones are out of print and hard to find?

At the recent curriculum fair, I found an awesome company: Heritage History.  For a very reasonable $29.99, I purchased a CD of Early American Classical Library with over 65 books on it!!  The topics covered are U.S. History, Colonial Children, American Negro History, Military History, American Indian History, Regional History, Statesmen and Authors, and Exploration and Invention.  The books are broken down into Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced.

Also available are Young Readers, Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, British Middle Ages, British Empire, Spanish Empire, Modern Europe, Christian Europe, Intermediate Readers, and Advanced Readers.


My question was, how do I find readings on Benjamin Franklin without sorting through all of these books?  Ask, and ye shall receive!!  On her website, the author of this program has graciously listed every major historical figure here. (you can access this by following the link for historical figures on the sidebar).  Once there, you locate the figure that you're looking for.  It will list a short bio and have a link to follow that lists all the stories that the character is listed in. 

She also has images, wars and battles, and maps listed the same way on the sidebar.

Another great thing, is that she has directions listed to download the books to your e-reader!!  Now, its super easy to read those books! 

And if that's not enough, she's also put together some fantastic study guides for you to use along with the books:

Heritage History provides notebook-ready Study Guides to accompany each of its Classical Curriculum CD's. Each Study Guides include a printed version of many of the study aids found on the corresponding Curriculum CD. These study aids include historical maps, outline maps, timelines, era summaries, character lists, and era specific reading lists. (taken from their website).

I have to say that I am thoroughly impressed with this inexpensive library.  Its perfect for my family, especially since we'll be living in our camper for about six months.  Its lightweight and easy to use and doesn't take up valuable storage space or cost a bundle.  I encourage you all to check it out!!  I can't wait until the fall when her new cd comes out!

Its a mess

This weekend I asked the kids to clean up their desks.  This is what I went into yesterday morning:

They worked all day on those desks.  I have no idea how they got anything done at all.

And with a one and three year old this is what the floor looks like during the day:

Mom had to get involved and I cleaned off the desks at the end of the day.  I couldn't take it anymore.

Thank all of you for your concern for Shadow.  He's not had another seizure.  I have to go this week and get his medicine.  We were sick for over a week and then down to one car.  We should have new tires on the other car Wednesday or Thursday. 

Continuing with our colonial studies, we may baked apples last night:

 They were pretty yummy.  We enjoyed them, but we're huge apple lovers here.  Here's a shot of Little Miss Trouble.  She likes to pose.  I need to get a shot of Monkey cause her nickname fits her well.  She's climbing everything.  I walked in yesterday and she was standing on top of the kitchen table.  She's giving me a heart attack.  I try to keep an eye on her, but sometimes, I turn my back and then she's on top of something. 

Hope you all have a wonderful week

I'm still here....

We ended up with the sickies here.  Fevers, runny nose, and sore throats.  Its taken several days to run through this and now the big kids are hopefully getting over it.  That's good because I'm exhausted and need some sleep.  I've continued nursing the Little Monkey only so she'll have my immunities.  She was the hardest hit.  I was hoping to be done by now, but that didn't work out as planned.  I may just continue the next two months to get through the flu season.

We've been working on the colonies.  The girls are learning to hand sew and are making a blanket for their baby dolls.  We'll be quilting them as well.

Since we've been studying Colonial Times, I ordered the PBS series Colonial House and we've been watching it.  I've really enjoyed it.  We have enjoyed watching how they really lived back then, and how difficult it would be for one of us to step back in time and exist in the 17th century.  I highly recommend watching this if you haven't already.  They also have Frontier House and 1900 house.  I only had one issue with the program, and that was the amount of bleeping on it.  One of the gents they got to do it is from England and apparently cusses like a sailor.  They bleeped over it all, but its quite a few.  Also, during the second episode one of the families finds out that their son and future son-in-law was in a car accident and the son-in-law didn't make it.  Its quite tragic, so I wouldn't recommend this for younger viewers.

I plan on getting Frontier House next, even though we're a long way off from Homesteading.  It's my favorite time period, and I'd love to see how these families carve out their lifes on the 160 acres that they are given.

Civil War

I have two final exams next week adn should be studying. That's okay because Deadlist Catch distracted me last night too. And we're in the middle of birthday week-daddy's was on Monday. TL's is on Friday. Friday is also the day that our Japanese friend sends her 12 year old son to stay with us for a month. Tacty is a wonderful boy and good friend to TL. TL can't wait to see his buddy.

We're full of hosting. My inlaws, brother in law and two nieces arrive the week after and when they leave in August my dad comes to visit. When dad arrives, we're going camping in Cle Elum, WA which is 3 miles from Roslyn, Wa-which is where they filmed Northern Exposure. Can't wait to eat at the Brick, take my photo in front of the Roslyn sign and see Ruth Ann's grave. yippee!

My real reason for this post is that I received my September issue of Family Tree Maker Magazine today. In there is an article about the developments that are endangering Civil War battlefieds. The most endangered are:

Camp Allegheny, WV
Cedar Creek, VA
Fort Stevens, Washington, DC
Gettysburg, PA
Picacho Peak, AZ
Pickett's Mill, GA
Richmond, KY
South Mountain, MD
Thoroughfare Gap, VA
Wilderness, VA

You can go to their website for more information. Their website is also a huge tool for lesson plans and such. Look around a bit, I was amazed at all the information regarding the Civil War. Looks good for my Civil War class starting in a few weeks.

Enjoy!