Weekly Report: Week 4

We had a very busy week, which included a field trip on Friday!

Jake took his first math test and recieved a 97%! He is one smart cookie and loves math and asks to do extra days in the subject almost daily.

Jessica and Timmy were hard at work listening (yes, audio) to the Bible (Mark and Luke), for their "That's in the Bible" class at co-op. They both love this class and the teacher. They say his is very funny.

In Jake and Holly's art class, they learned about contour lines. These are the outside lines we see of any object. The kids had to look at the picture and have their hands move their pencil while their eyes moved along the outside line of the object they were looking at. When they looked at their paper, they were to stop moving their pencil. We didn't get this project finished this week, and will be completing it next week. So no pictures this week of their projects.

In Timmy's class, they learned about contour lines as well. A few of the students were models and the kids drew the contour lines of each child in different posses. Jake happened to be in that class with me (he wasn't feeling to well), and he was one of the models. Here is Timmy's completed project:

Here is a picture of Jessica hard at work at math. She uses Teaching Textbooks 7.

And she also completed the art activity Timmy did last week:

Here is a picture of all the kids working on their coloring page for Home Ec. This week we talking about peeling carrots and potatoes. They all got a chance to peel something through out the week. I never realized Timmy hasn't peeled anything before. Glad this came up in the course. But he will have to wait to peel until that cast comes off on Monday.

We also played some math games. Here is a picture of the kids playing math bingo:

For Zoology "Try This!" experiment, the kids had to find insects, observe how they move in the bug jar, place them in the refrigerator for a few hours and document how fast they move after being in the frig for a while. Since insects are cold-blooded, their movement slowed down. Here are the pictures of the bugs they collected and some of their work:

Also at Zoology, we played a mean game of Insect Trivia. The kids had a blast playing this game!

The highlight of the week is the field trip we took on Friday to Pioneer Farms! This was a wrap up field trip for our Time Travelers Colonial Life Study. We all had a wonderful time learning "Hands-On" about life on a pioneer homestead.

The kids went inside a real replica of a prairie school house. They lined up the way boys and girls would line up for school back then, ladies went first into the schoolhouse, and they sat on opposite sides of the schoolroom. We listened to a wonderful talk about a typical school day.

We also went into a real pioneer homestead house that was moved to the site a few years back. All the items were the original owners and many of the items were over 100 years old.

Then it was off to a large wooden home that is used for doing all sorts of hands on activities. They grinded up coffee, wheat, & corn, rolled dough, chopped veggies, whipped cream for butter, washed laundry on a washing board, and so much more! All of these things would have been daily chores on a pioneer farm. I don't think my kids could handle all that work...

After this we headed to the barn and learned about different types chores that needed to be taken care of on a farm. The kids were able to gather eggs, chase chickens, milk a cow, pet a pig, sheep, goat, bunny, and play in a hay loft! I just love this type of stuff!

Then it was off to the blacksmith shop. The kids actually got to stock the fire, bring out a horse shoe that was blazing red, and pound it flat on the mantle. They also played in the wood shop where they could pound nails in a board, and lift things with pulleys.

Oh and when we first arrived, they went on a horse drawn buggy ride. What a fun day!

Here are some pictures, but I will add more in another post when I get some from other fellow fieldtrip goers...

Time Travelers Colonial Life: Day 13

For Day 13 we did Lesson 22: Plantations & Slavery in Colonies and Lesson 24: Putting the Lapbook Together

Today we learned about different types of plantations colonist had: rice, cotton, tobacco, sugar, & indigo as well as the different types of slavery.

We talked about bond servants, indentured servants, and redemptioners. All of whom worked for an appointed amount of time for someone and then often given a piece of land for their own once the debt has been paid. But sometimes, they were forced into slavery. We also learned a little about a slaves life.

There were different types of houses on a plantation. The Manor House (the plantation owners home) and slave quarters a.k.a.: slave row. Some slaves worked in the main house and some worked in the fields. Those that worked in the masters house often lived in the home and were kept separate from the field slaves.

We learned about John Newton, how he was a slave trader with a heart with out God to a Servant of God that stood against the slave trade. We also sang Amazing Grace, which is one of many songs he wrote.

We made a lapbook fold on the different types of crops that were grown on a plantation.

Today was a WONDERFUL day because we put all the lapbooks we have worked on over this study into their file folders. Our lapbooks are now complete! This is our last "official" get together. I will miss this mini co-op gathering, but I am happy that I have created some wonderful new friends! And we are now doing zoology with these wonderful people and a couple other wonderful families! This was just the beginning of a new journey in our life.

Our last event will be our Colonial Spree, which we will be having in October, due to all our busy schedules. Once we have our spree (dinner) I will post about it on our blog!

Time Travelers Colonial Life: Day 12

For Day 12 we did Lesson 19: Holidays in the Colonies and Lesson 21: Crime & Punishment

Today we learned about different ways the colonist celebrated Thanksgivings Day, Christmas Day, Easter, and Valentine's Day. We also learned about the origins of each holiday. We made a Pomander, which was either used as a Christmas decoration or given as a gift. It smelled wonderfully! (hint: if you are making this with a large group, make sure to check out restaurant supply stores for large containers of cloves)

We also learned how the colonists dealt with crime and the punishments for different types of crimes. England was shipping off their criminals to America, therefore the colonies were dealing with an ever growing crime rate.

For lesser crimes, public humiliation was the common punishment. This could be anything from having to wear a sign around your neck, to being placed in the stocks (btw, this is a neat interactive site for a medieval castle for grades 1-3), to wearing a brank: a gossip bridle.

There were many serve punishments as well from branding, to having a limb removed, and more... You can do research on the topic and find about some other types of punishment if you choose.

We then created a picture of tarring and feathering and learned that this method of punishment was for those that supported England, aka "traitors".

And we even played a game of "Artisan Charades". Even the adults played along!

Time Travelers Colonial Life: Day 11

For Day 11 we did Lesson 17: Colonial Artisans Part 1 and Lesson 18: Colonial Artisans Part 2

Wow, so much accomplished for this day! I am amazed all the different trades that were within a community.

We learned about Apprentices, who are folks that learned from someone that was already skilled in a trade. Different types of trades we learned about where: Carpenters, Blacksmiths, Whitesmiths, Gunsmiths, and Glassblower to name a few.

Our activity for this day was to make our own tin candle holders. We filled out containers up with water and froze them. Once frozen we used the provided patterns and punched holes in the tins using a nail and hammer. The kids had a BLAST doing this and some did more than 1 of them.

We also copied "The Village Blacksmith" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and read this poem out loud. What an amazing poem.

We also created a file folder game titled "A Trip To Town". The the instructions to make and play this game is included in the study cd: Colonial Life. It was fun game and turned out beautifully.

Time Travelers Colonial Life: Day 10

For Day 10 we completed Lesson 16: Health and Medicine

We talked about how in years gone by that not all doctors were taught in universities and had a doctor certificate in education. That some of them learned from someone else in the community. A lot of people died back then from disease, child birth, etc. that we now have cures for and better educated people (Doctors, etc.) to help treat a medical problem, not the symptom.

They used many strange treatments from bloodletting: draining the blood out of someone trying to get the "bad" blood out of the patience system, to using leeches, or blistering: putting a hot poker on the skin and all the poisonous fluid will be drawn into the blister where the hot poker was placed, and lots of other interesting "cures" that I am happy they don't use today.

We also talked about the different type of plants and herbs that Apothecary shop would have to help fight against what ever would be ailing someone. The Apothecary acted as a pharmacies, doctor, & dentist.

Time Travelers Colonial Life: Day 9

For Day 9, we completed Lesson 14: Villages & Cities

We learned about how villages differ from cities and what types of stores you would find in each area. The heart of either community is the General Store. Here people would gather for church (if there wasn't a church building), have school (if there wasn't a seperate schoolhouse), purchase needed items, was the main gathering place, post office, and so much more.

We also mapped the 13 original colonies. We were puzzled at first that there were 2 Massachusetts on the map, thinking this might be an error, but as we read more, that was the way it was back then.

We also created postcards from 4 different areas; Boston, New York, Williamsburg, & Philadelphia. The assignment was to write a post card to someone back home as if you were visiting the location during colonial times. Or to write a brief history of the location mentioned on the postcards. Here are a couple samples from my children:

Jessica:

(New York)

Dear Grandma Marie,

We walked to the market today. I got some beautiful fabric to make a new dress. Can't wait to see you again.

Love, Jessica

Holly:

(New York)

Dear Mom and Dad,

We went to the general store and bought eggs. We fried them up and ate them. They were good.

Love, Holly

Timmy:

(Williamsburg)

~The Governor's Palace~

Building began in 1706 and was complete in 1722. It too many years to build due to the mounting expense. It sits on 63 acres on the cities north side. It had 3 floors; 3,380 sq ft. each, a cellar with 11 wine bins, & an iron balcony at the center upper window. 9 governors lived in the original house (including Thomas Jefferson). The original house burnt to the ground in 1781 & was rebuilt in 1934.

We were also blessed with a wonderful Show and Tell. Another family went to see some colonial ships that were in our area, and they brought back with them a Tea Brick. When the Boston Tea Party happened, they didn't dump loose leaf tea into the harbor, they dumped Tea Bricks. This is 1 section of a larger brick. If my memory is correct, there are 8 blocks like this one that makes 1 larger block, that is stamped with the mark from the company that made the brick. The larger block can provide tea for a family in China for an entire year. That is a LOT of tea!

How do you use this brick you ask? Well you put it in the pot of hot water and let the tea turn to the desired color you wish it. Then remove the brick and set it aside until you desire more tea.

As you can imagine, all this compressed tea must have made the harbor very tea'ie.

Time Travelers Colonial Life: Day 8

For Day 8, we completed Lesson 13: Colonial Pleasures & Pastimes

We had so much fun this day! We played all sorts of colonial games. Some of the games we played where:

Nine Men's Morris
Cat's Cradle
Made a "Fortune Catcher"

We Created Silhouette's as well. To make the silhouettes, some kids designed their own pictures from black construction paper, cut them out and glued them on the red paper so the pencil side didn’t show. And some children used the graphics provided in the study. I added my silhouette of Jake. Both Jess and Greg said I didn’t do it free hand, but I did!

We also talked about Bees (a little more in-depth then in previous lessons), Spree's, & "BEAUS" a.k.a. courting.

One of the interesting things parents did in regards to courting was to use a candle (known as a courting candle), to determine the amount of time a boy could visit with their daughter. If they liked the boy, they would sit the candle high in the candle holder so the candle took longer to burn. If they didn't like the boy, they would place the candle as low as possible in the candle holder so the visiting time would be very short.

Another tidbit (learned separately from the curriculum), about the candle is the phrase, "burning the candle at both ends". Yes, it could mean many things, but in regards to courting, sometimes parents would light the candle at both ends making the candle burn as quickly as possible to shorten the amount of visiting time. Amazing!

Below are some picture of our review board game. If the kids answer a question correctly, they would receive a candy. If they choose a bonus card, they would receive 2 candies for answering the question correctly.

And someone brought us Lemon Puff's, a recipe from the Book of Goode Cookery! They were so yummy I could have eaten the whole plate by myself. They were light like a marshmellow, but yet crisp.

And with Amy's permission, here is the recipe:

Lemon Puffs

Take a pound and a quarter of double refined sugar beaten and sifted and grate the rids of 2 lemons, and mix well with the sugar, then beat the whites of two new-laid eggs very well, and mix them well with the sugar and lemon peel; beat them together an hour and a quarter, then make them up in what form you please; be quick to set them in a moderate oven do not take off the papers till cold.

(A Modern Translation) Thank goodness for this!

1/2 c. sugar

grated rinds of 2 lemons

2 egg whites

1 tsp. lemon juice

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Beat egg whites with mixer in a separate bowl until it forms soft peaks. Beat in one-half (1/4 c) of the sugar and continue on high speed until it forms stiff, firm peaks. Briefly mix in the lemon joice. Fold in remaining sugar and lemon rind, being careful not to overwork the mixture. Place by the spoonful on parchment-covered cookie sheets, or place spoonfuls on oiled brown paper bag on a cookie sheet. Place in oven and cook for around 40 min. or until delicately golden. Allow to cool completely before removing.

Time Travelers Colonial Life: Day 7

For Day 7 we did Lesson 11: Faith in the Colonies- Part 1 & Lesson 12: Faith in the Colonies- Part 2

We took a little deter from the lessons plans and made Salt-Water Taffy, which was an activity from lesson 7. I had a little problem getting the taffy quite right. Thankfully another mom was familiar with the taffy making process and helped me with getting the taffy to the right temperature. My candy thermometer wasn't working quite right, so she just guesstimated on when it looked finished. Boy did it smell and taste soooo good!

The kids were AWESOME Taffy-Pullers. The two mom's that tried it, weren't so hot. It kept sticking to our hands. And then a kid would say, "Give it to me and I will fix it for you." And wouldn't you know, they got it back to the way it is suppose to be. Lucky Kids!

We took a lot of pictures of the taffy-pulling because the kids were having so much fun! It was hard to pick and choose which ones to use, so I used them all! *Ü* Just click on the arrow to go fast through the pictures. Enjoy!

Another deter we took (seems this day is full of deters), was showing the kids examples of some Cast Iron Cookware. We showed them spoons, egg cookers, pans, trivets, iron rester things (don't know what they are officially called), and more. Another neat thing a mom brought was an original 1800's apple peeler, corer, & slicer! The kids enjoyed watching it work and tasting the apples it peeled, cored, & sliced. *Ü*

Ok... Now onto the Lesson of the day. Today we created timelines, learned about different types of religion (Lutherans & Deists to name a few), The Age of Enlightenment, and The Great Awakening. The kids created a lapbook titled, The Great Awakening: Men of Faith. They worked on this at home and brought it back the next co-op day and shared what they wrote about each men of great faith. In the next day's posting, I will share photo's with you and share some of what they wrote. Here are some photos' of what we did:

To close up this days studies, we ate Molasses Gingerbread with Homemade Whipping Cream! It was so YUMMY! This was one of the assignments a family completed from the Book of Goode Cookery!

Time Travelers Colonial Life: Day 6

For Day 6, we covered Lesson 9: The Colonial School

We learned about the "Old Deluder Satan Act". When I first read that title, I was a little puzzled. What could this one mean? It ended up being something different then my original thoughts. Unfortunately, I won't be letting you know what it actually means. This would be a great opportunity to do a little research of your own, or better yet, purchase the study. *Ü*

We also talked about the different types of schools a colonial child could attend, how a schoolhouse was set up and what types of material children used to do their schoolwork on, what children learned in school, as well as how they were disciplined for misbehaving or not completing their schoolwork. Boy were punishments pretty harsh back then...

We did learn a little about a man named Christopher Dock (1698-1777 A.D.), who help change the discipline "policy", for a lack of better word, and thought children should be praised and motivated in a positive way, rather than the harsh forms of discipline that were so common of those days. While reading about him, Anne of Green Gables came to my mind. *Ü*

One tidbit I found interesting was that in the winter months different families who had their children enrolled in the school would be responsible for supplying the wood to heat the school room. If a parent forgot to bring the wood, the child would be punished by having to sit in the coldest part of the schoolhouse.

We also researched more about the horn book. We learned that a horn book had a protective layering that was over the written words that was made from cow's horns. They would peel it off one layer at at time, place it on the wooden horn book and that was what protected the paper. AMAZING. I wonder how some people think of trying these things out for the first time.

Below are some pictures from the lapbook horn book, notebooking page of the horn book, and a rebus puzzle the kids worked on. Enjoy!

And here are some funny ones of my son. He doesn't like to have his picture taken. But our wonderful photographer got these series of pictures of him. They tell the tale of his picture being taken saga perfectly...

Time Travelers Colonial Life: Day 5

Today we did Lesson 7: Colonial Food & Lesson 8: Family Life

In these lessons we talked about how the colonist preserved the food they gathered from farming and/or hunting. They would need to preserve it in order to have food for the winter months.

We also learned about the different types of cookware you would find in a colonial kitchen. I thank God for the modern day convinces we have today!

One of the vegetables they would serve is pease porridge. I never tied the nursery rhyme to what it actually meant. They would warm it up and serve it hot. They would let it cool by the night fire and in the morning they would have it cold; hence the phrase "Pease porridge hot, Pease porridge cold." Pease porridge was served for SEVERAL days at a colonist home; hence "9 days old." YUCK! The kids didn't find that appealing either.

One of the activities was to put together "A Book of Goode Cookery." This is filled will all sorts of recipes from the colonial era. I made Bread Pudding during class, letting the kids see the mixing process. I put in the oven and 50 min later I pulled out a yummy smelling treat! It tasted as good as it smelled!



One of the kids homework assignments was to make something from the cookbook. My kids wanted Chicken Pot Pie. Below are some pictures of Jessica making the pie.

Over the next few co-op days, different families brought in different things they made from the cookbook. I will post pictures and details when we get to those days. *Ü*

Another fun thing we did was have a honey tasting event! Another mom purchased a variety of honey, bee pollen (yes, you read correctly, bee pollen that is gathered on their little legs) honey sticks, and honey candy! The kids loved tasting all different types of honey. We found the darker the honey, the more bitter it tasted. The types of honey's we had here were: Colver (2 types: 1 from the store & one from a bee keeper), Raspberry, Wildflower, Blackberry, & Sunflower. They even tasted the bee pollen, which BTW didn't get the Best Taste Award. *Ü* Enjoy the pictures below of our honey taste test.

After our taste test, we created another booklet for our lapbook titled "BEES". Nope it wasn't all about the insects, but it was about different types of "BEES: the colonists would participate in. For each "BEE", the colonists would gather together and help each other with what ever task needed to be completed. There were Apple Pulling Bees, Threshing Bees, Husking Bees, & many other type of "BEES".