My Day at Fort Atkinson

                                                         My Day at Fort Atkinson

                                                                  by Benedict

   Yesterday we went to Fort Atkinson State Historic Park in Fort Calhoun, NE. Established in 1819, it was the first U.S. military post west of the Missouri River. We all had a lot of fun learning things about the fort. My brother, sister, and my friends from our history co-op did a cannon drill. Then we went into each room in the fort and people dressed as soldiers, blacksmiths, and laundresses, etc. talked about the things in the room. We even got to try many activities including making and drinking homemade apple cider. We went on a hike to Council Bluff where Lewis and Clark met with the Oto and Missouri Indians. Finally, I enlisted in the army. It was a fun day.

The Apple Cider Press

Ephrem enjoying the cider

The blacksmith making a nail

Broom Making

Making Lace

   In a cannon drill there are 6 people who man the cannon. First, Man 2 worms the hole for leftover shells. Then Man 1 cleans the hole with a sponge. Man 3 holds his thumb over the lighting hole. Then Man 2 dries the hole with a dry sponge. Man 6 gives a cannon ball to Man 2 who puts it in the cannon. Then Man 1 rams it down with a rammer. Man 5 puts in the wick. Finally, Man 4 fires the cannon.

Cleaning the cannon

    In 1820, to enlist you had to be at least 10 years old. You had to swear an oath to the U.S. Military. In the oath an enlistee promised to obey orders and protect the United States. To enlist a commander and the enlistee must sign their names onto the contract, which was usually for 5 years. Then for enlisting a soldier get a $6 bonus.

Me with my 5 year contract. I've enlisted!

    My favorite room was the 6th infantry barracks and kitchen. In the barracks the soldiers had bunk beds and 2 soldiers shared each bunk. The bunks were smaller than my twin sized bed! Each soldier had one peg to hang his stuff. The kitchen had a table, a cupboard, a fireplace, and a wood stock. They would cook food in closed pots and pans. Soldiers always carried a musket, a blanket, a knapsack, a canteen, a haversack, a cartridge box, and a bayonet.

Inside the 6th Infantry barracks kitchen

A typical barracks kitchen

Heading down the bluff to the site of Council Bluff

                                                                                                 

                                                                      

Scratch Art

In my previous post I wrote about how much my children enjoyed the book Seven Loaves of Bread. One thing that makes the book so great are the scratchboard illustrations. Last week we decided to make some scratchboard art of our own. It's very easy to do!

First, gather your supplies. There are a few different ways to do this. Experimenting with new techniques is one of the funnest things about creating art. Here are two that we experimented with:

Supply List #1: white cardstock paper, crayons, black paint, liquid soap and toothpicks.
Supply List #2: white cardstock paper, markers, black crayons, toothpicks

The consensus was that coloring the cardstock with marker made for a brighter picture in the end. The black paint was easier to apply than the black crayon, but the black crayon was easier to scratch off. So... mix and match and find the way that works the best for you! Or come up with a new way to do it!

Now on to the next step:

Have the children color in the white cardstock paper completely with crayon (or marker). They can color it however they like, using as many colors as they wish! Just make sure they press hard with the crayon and that no white space is showing.

Next, pour a few drops of liquid soap into a dish of black paint. (This will help the paint stick to the crayon.) Paint the entire paper black. Set aside to dry.  Or color over the entire sheet of cardstock with a black crayon. Press hard to make sure it goes on thick and that the entire sheet is black.

Once the black paint is completely dry (or the paper is completely covered in black crayon), give each child a toothpick. They will use that to scratch out a picture.

 

Seven Loaves of Bread

Any mother of small children has certain books memorized because of repeat readings. Sometimes it makes one want to pull their hair out, and other times a mother is delightfully happy to read that book for the fifth time today, because, well, she likes it too. Seven Loaves of Bread by Ferida Wolf is one of those books.

Milly and Rose are sisters who live on a farm. Milly does all the baking, and Rose often wonders why she makes seven loaves of bread everyday. It seems like so much work. Milly answers, "Seven is as easy as one," and continues her work. Each loaf of bread is designated to a person or animal on the farm. When Milly gets sick Rose takes over the baking and decides seven loaves are too many and starts cutting corners. Unsurprisingly, Rose quickly learns that cutting corners only creates more work. By the end of the story Rose, "who only worked as hard as she had to," learned that seven is indeed as easy as one! The scratch board style illustrations are charming and go so well with the story.

"Seven is as easy as one." has become a catch phrase on our house. Our only copy is from the library and we have renewed it three times already! My four and six-year-olds especially love this story, I think partly because of the repetition and cadence of the tale. It certainly is worth reading at least once!

Toga Party!!!

This summer the kids have been learning Latin. We've met weekly with our friends the Larsons to watch the video and work on the exercises in the Prima Latina workbook. Since the dads of both families had the day off today, we decided to celebrate what we've learned so far with a toga party! As with all proper Ancient Roman parties, we made sure there was plenty of food for all. Since it was important to the Ancients Romans that everything look impressive we made sure to have a nice setup.

We made sure everything we ate was something the Ancient Romans would have eaten. On the menu were artichokes, a delicious bean salad, fruit salad made of apples, pears, dates (replacing figs which I couldn't find!), prunes and walnuts, and garlic bread made with olive oil. Corrine and I made an excellent dip for the bread out of olive oil, chopped Spanish olives, feta cheese and minced garlic. MMMM, I could eat it everyday!

Instead of songbirds, we ate grilled turkey breasts. For dessert we ate honey flavored yogurt topped with walnuts and cinnamon rolls. The adults drank wine, but the kiddos were content with grape juice. Since we had no slaves to send to the mountains for snow, we had to forgo the slushies.
We forgot to bring our own forks, as is only proper when one is a guest at another Ancient Roman's feast, but our hosts kindly overlooked our faux pas and let us use some of theirs. Everyone enjoyed the meal!

After a dip in the Romans baths,

everyone put their togas on and prepared for a game of Latin Pictionary!

The competition was hot as everyone guessed, "Regina?" "Laudo?" "Nauto?" "Stella?" "Caelum?"

So yes, we are doing a bit of school in the summer, but I think everyone agrees: Latin is fun! Valete! Goodbye!

Trains!

On Friday, we took a field trip to the Durham Museum with some friends from one of our homeschool groups. The Durham Museum was once Union Station, one of the busiest train stations in the country. After it closed its doors to passengers, it reopened them to visitors wanting to see a bit of Omaha's history.
Of course I forgot my camera, but I managed to get a few cute (if fuzzy) pictures on my phone. The "conductor" who led the boys and their friends through the museum was amazing! He made it so interesting for them. He finally had to leave, but I agree with one of the other mothers who opined that the kids could have happily followed him around for another hour. So here's to Mr. Johnson for making a great field trip even better!

 

There were many speaking statues throughout the old lobby who told us about the station and life in the 1930s and '40s.

 

The kids posing in front of a UP engine. Mr. Johnson said this engine brought people to the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in 1898. (At least I think that's what he said- Isabel kept running off right at the good parts!)

 "Riding" in a streetcar.

 

Finally, enjoying some old fashioned stick candy at the "original" soda fountain, where passengers could stop for a snack.

Happy Valentine's Day!

For us, it was more like Valentine's Week, but we had lots of fun!

 

I, er... I mean the boys, made their Valentine boxes. Emanuel wanted Spiderman and Ben wanted a monster truck. I think they turned out pretty well. Then it was off to the party with the Omaha Area Homeschoolers.  

 

Everyone had lots of fun eating too many sweet things, passing out valentines and playing games. Both boys made new friends and can't wait for next year's party!

Emanuel also had a party with his Preschool Storytime class at the library on Thursday. He was feeling so generous after that party that he gladly gave his cookie to Ben. On Sunday the boys made valentines and brownies for their abuelos. We had a great Valentine's Day 2010! Hope you did too.

A New Year

Wondering what we've been up to? Here's a hint: snow. It has been snowing and snowing and snowing. While the adults may be getting a bit tired of it, the kids are SO happy!

This picture was taken mid-December, when there wasn't much snow yet!

A new "semester" has started here at our little homeschool. Ben is making such great progress! He can count to 100, and also write and recognize numbers up to 100. This week we've started on addition. He's got the concept down so it's just a matter of memorizing the facts and playing fun addition games. We like games.
In reading Ben has learned the sounds of all the vowels and consenants and we are moving on to blends like ss, ll, and ck. He's excited that he'll be able to read more words- stories made up entirely of 3 letter words aren't very exciting. We've been playing a fun game in which I write subjects on one set of index cards and predicates on another set, then he mixes and matches them to make silly sentences to read. We all have fun with that one!
Handwriting is definitely his least favorite subject, but he's awesome at it. He's also very good at drawing which I think has something to do with his perfect handwriting.
In religion we've been alternately doing the Who Am I Kindergarten workbook (and the preschool one for Emanuel) and reading out of their children's Bible and saints books. Both boys really enjoy the St. Joseph Picture Books.
These are the subjects we do every day (Mon-Thurs). I am still working on a more regular schedule for science and history/geography. Luckily we have plenty of time for that!

Isabel has been busy terrorizing Ben while he tries to get his work done. She loves to climb on the table and knock all his supplies to the ground. Nothing makes her laugh harder than her brothers' reactions to her destruction. She's lucky they love her so much and are always kind and gentle with her no matter what she does. Her second favortie thing to do is play in the pantry. Who needs block when you have cans to stack, right?!
Tax season has started but I am working one day a week preparing returns. I enjoy it because it's a great way to get out and interact with adults for a few hours each week, but it still leaves plenty of time for family.  
Tito is still busy selling cars in spite of all the snow. We found out that he has never played in the snow before, so the boys have been lobbying to remedy that. Hopefully, they'll be successful in getting him outside and there will be pictures coming soon!
We're all looking forward to 2010. I'm sure it will be a great year. Happy New Year! 

Pioneers and Gingerbread

On Fridays our local Catholic homeschool group gets together for playdates, field trips, or service projects. This Friday was a field trip Friday, which we spent at the Mormon Trail Center Winter Quarters learning about pioneers and their journey west.
A pioneer tour would not be authentic without the proper attire, so everyone began at the dress up trunk where they chose their outfits.

Although the displays focused specifically on the Mormons' journey from Nauvoo, Illinois to Salt Lake City, Utah with their winter stay and the hardships faced at Winter Quarters (in what is now North Omaha, NE) much of what they went through was faced by all pioneers. The children were able to see a covered wagon and experience making choices about what to bring and what to leave behind. They learned about the weather conditions (and the MUD!) the travelers had to endure. Some of the earlier Mormon pioneers used handcarts which they pushed and pulled themselves, across all those thousands of miles. Emanuel had a chance to help pull one (and I didn't get a picture- grrr!). The children also got to fit themselves into the tiny replica log cabin that an entire family would live in all winter. We thought we  were crowded in our small apartment, but really it is quite luxurious compared to that cabin!

Emanuel loading a wagon with supplies.

After the pioneer tour, we went to the lower level of the Mormon Trail Center to see their gingerbread house display. Wow! There were so many great gingerbread houses. The kids all did a scavenger hunt through the houses, looking for certain houses on their list. Emanuel posed for me in front of his favorite gingerbread creation... a ship!

Photo of the Day

Lapbooking

We just finished making our first lapbook. Everyone had a lot of fun and learned so much!

Since Benedict is fascinated by Native Americans, we used In the Hands of a Child's Let's Learn About American Indians Project Pack to learn more about them. It was a great choice for our first lapbook. There were several pages of facts about Native Americans at the beginning of the book, along with a list of books we could check out from the library for extra reading. There were also several extra activities thrown in along with the little books and activities which went into the lapbook.
The boys learned what the American Indians ate, wore, and used to make homes. They also learned why they painted their faces and the most common meanings of the colors used in face painting. They made little model tepees, "turtle shell" rattles, and of course, headbands. It was a great unit, and we can't wait to make more lapbooks!

A New Twist on an Old Phrase

So, you've heard the phrase, "My dog ate my homework," right?

Well, after yesterday, Ben's version is:

"My sister ate my homework!"

His homework just looked really tasty, I guess. 

A Glorious October Hike

Yesterday there was a break from the cold wet weather. It was beautiful! The boys begged me to take them hiking, and I agreed. There's no better way to spend a day! I decided to fit Outdoor Hour Challenge #2 into the hike. So during our drive to our favorite local hiking spot, Platte River State Park, we talked about using ears to hear, eyes to see and hands to feel while we walked. We also talked about some of the things we might see, hear, or feel. They were very excited to get started.

The first sound we heard was chirping crickets. The loudest sound was crunching leaves as we walked over them. We also heard (and saw) a hot air balloon and two trains!
Benedict felt tree bark. Some was rough, some was really rough and some was smooth. He noticed that the tree with smooth bark was much smaller than the others and concluded that tree bark must get rougher as the trees grow bigger. Emanuel felt squishy mud under his shoes. He also got to feel something new and exciting. Under the leaves he found some soft, fuzzy green moss. Of course, they weren't just listening and feeling during our hike- they were using their eyes too. They saw many different trees and leaves, a daddy long legs, and of course, the hot air balloon.

For this hike, we decided to try a different trail than usual. We were so glad we did. It was beautiful! After hiking through the woods on a bluff above the Platte River, we descended the bluff and came out in a meadow filled with leaves! The boys rolled in the leaves and threw them at each other. It was a lot of fun! Then

we crossed a bridge and walked along the river and train tracks for a few hundred feet before heading back into the woods. We finally had to turn around and head back because the sun was setting, but none of us wanted to. It was such a beautiful day for a hike and a great location. We cannot wait to go back to explore this trail further! In the meantime, here are a few more pictures.