Living History

I've long been a believer in living history. I feel that the more you can actually experience the easier, and definitely more interesting, history is. So this is something I strive for in our school. Experiences and/or reading an account of experiences are an invaluable tool!

Last week, Megan, Nick, and I have been reading about Christopher Columbus and his desire to find a sea route to the Indies, China, and Japan. We read that he died thinking he was in the right area and never knowing he had actually landed on an entirely different continent! Sad! After reading about it I thought a field trip was in order!

We are lucky to live in an area with so many resources. We headed downtown to see a full size replica of the Santa Maria, Christopher Columbus' flagship!

We stopped on the way to get a picture here:

 We walked right past a statue of Chris himself!

Then came the main event:

 The cook stove. We learned so much about how and what they ate.

 The kids had fun helping our tour guide (who was fantastic, by the way!) with the cannon. We learned some pretty interesting things about that too like they couldn't aim it...it had no wheels!

 Megan got to steer :)

 The view from the captain's cabin:

 Inside the captain's cabin:

When our tour was over, the sweet tour guide allowed questions and was very sweet about answering all of them.

It was a great way to wrap up our first week back to school!

Learning Biology

This past school year, Brandon took biology. We have chosen Apologia for the majority of our science classes and biology was no exception. It's a good fit for us.

It worked out great that there was a mom in our co-op who also uses Apologia and was interested in teaching it to our group! We did all the book work and tests at home and the kids did all the lab work at co-op. What a great experience!

They did lots of microscope work and also, Brandon's favorite:

 dissections!

 I was just happy I didn't have to do it here at home ;)

At the end of the year, his teacher also scheduled a field trip to Dawes Arboretum. It was fantastic! They had a lecture on bird identification then a lesson on how to use binoculars and a walk around to put their new information to use.

 

 Even the tag-alongs had fun :)

This class was definitely a hit! We're so thankful for such a wonderful group that we get to have these experiences with!

Mining

Even though we were on a summer break, our kids did not stop learning. Do they ever?? I certainly hope not! Their learning was self-motivated and all I did was sit back and encourage and occasionally help by providing materials or opportunities to fuel their passions. Summers are exciting for us in that way. We can go on whatever  learning bunny trails we want!!

Brandon has always been so interested in science. He was a very early reader and almost always gravitated to science books. I now have a lot of science-type books ;) Now that he's older, he's allowed to use the internet (somewhat supervised!) to help satisfy his unending curiosity about nearly everything science related. This summer has revolved around chemistry and geology for him :) I have to say that last one surprised me. Geology? Really? The study of.....rocks?? But oh how he loved it! He spent quite a bit of time this summer learning all he could. I love that!

A couple of weeks ago, Kristen gave me a brilliant idea. I got up at 4:30 in the morning to see her off on her vacation to the beach. They were leaving a day early to stop at a gem mine at about the half-way point. After she left, I couldn't get back to sleep, so I looked up gem mines to see where they are in Ohio and guess what I found?? A gem mining experience stuck right in the middle of beautiful Hocking Hills! There were others too and maybe we'll get around to visiting more, but this one is pretty close and has the added bonus of having other really cool things to see, which we took advantage of ;)

We didn't tell them where we were going, and you know what? They went anyway! Our kids LOVE to go places; field trips of almost any kind are always exciting and always are at the top of the things they want to be included in our homeschooling lifestyle. Even the old favorites like the zoo, COSI, and the park; they love them all! Anyway...they were so excited when we got there and told them what they were going to get to do!

We all went inside and the very nice lady took us to the shelf that has the different containers of sand/gravel to choose from. We chose the family bucket, then we headed outside to the sluice. They could hardly wait!

 Todd gave each of them a scoop and they got down to business.

 Beautiful gemstones already!

 This is the way I saw them mostly: heads down, concentrating. Intense little miners!

 Todd went through a scoop himself but quickly realized his job would be refilling their trays ;) and that was more fun for him anyway :)

 And, of course, we spent lots of time delighting in their finds!

 The lady inside told us we might have a geode in there, and we did!

 As well as some arrowheads and other fossils.

 Check out that loot! They were thrilled with their beautiful gemstones :) My favorite part of this picture though? The hands. They are Nicholas' and they are still little and soft with a tiny bit of "baby" pudge. I know it won't be that way  too much longer so I'm loving this reminder that he's still little(ish). In the blink of an eye, his hands will be big, strong hands just like his dad's.

 And, oh, the sweetness here! Loving that I still have a tiny 1st grader :)

 Inside, the guy behind the counter put our geode in this and cracked it for us.

 The kids are loving this ting!

The kids had an amazing time! As soon as we got home, they each took their bag to a table and sorted all their pretty rocks. The lady at the mine had given us a card with the more popular gemstones on it for identification purposes (brilliant!) so we spent time that evening looking at each stone.

And you know what? When they got up this morning, the first thing they did was pull out those stones :)

Animals on the Farm

We also had fun seeing all the animals on the farm! This is a real, working farm set in the 1800's so all the animals are "free-range" which is a very sweet environment for both the animals and the visitors :)

 The big draft horses were magnificent and gentle. Megan wanted to bring one home ;) So did I.

 The boys headed outside the barn to where the ducks were roaming around. I followed because I knew exactly what was on Nick's mind...chasing them!

 I don't know what it is about chasing ducks and geese that fascinates him so, but he soon had everyone else doing it!

 They gathered quite a following when they started shelling corn for them. Then they turned and chased those poor ducks and geese again laughing out loud when they got honked at!

They helped fill the watering trough too. Little animal lovers :)

 Then it was off to the pig pens. UGH! It stinks there even in the winter!

Kristen and Jon:

 Caleb, Stephen, Nicholas, and Brandon:

 Megan was telling the pig to eat her corn cob first, that it was the best one ;)

 Nearly the whole gang visiting the turkeys:

It was so much fun! I can't wait to go back!

Swingers

One of the things that the kids love about this farmhouse is the toys! There are lots of old fashioned, 1800's style toys outside to play with. It's so interesting for them to see what kids played with once upon a time. A favorite is the swing which cracks me up because we have swings! Of course, they like their own swings too, but this one is wood and hangs from a tree which makes it very cool :)

 As you can see, even the big kids had fun with it! I can't believe how long these kids stayed outside swinging as cold as it was! I think I might need one of those hanging from the tree in my backyard ;)