Heart of Dakota: Bigger week 22

Boy this week went fast. It seemed like I woke up and it was Friday. This week seemed that it was an easier week for school. Hmmm, well, easier may not be the right word. More like a simple than normal week.

Our week started with learning more information about John Audubon. Most of the stuff we had learned already from reading the extension book in earlier units, but it was nice to touch on it again and relive the information we had learned.

Our character trait this week was diligence. Hmmm, this made me think of all us homeschool moms and dads. We are very diligent in what we do, otherwise we would either give up with the thought of it being too hard or our kids would not learn a thing. I like this trait a lot. I was able to use it in their chores and show them what diligence means when doing your chores to completion or leaving just a little bit left over because you decided to cut corners to make it go faster. They realize they have to do the chore all over again and that corner cutting was not worth it in the end.

Geography was interesting. We took a map and divided it into the first states owned by Americans and then the states purchased from France in the Louisiana Purchase. You know what, Mommy learned a lot from this too. You can see in the picture that we even divided it with different colors. I think that will stick a while for them.

Oh, but our History activity was so much fun. We did it in the house, and nothing got broken. Yippee! I had them get a couple of hats and we happen to have 2 bean bags and played target practice. I did not do the candle, well, frankly because I did not have either a candle that was not used or a candle that was not in a jar. Just take a look at the pictures. You can tell they had a great time.

OK, I have to tell you, my husband is actually just outside of the pictures. He watched patiently at them laughing and having fun then he asked, “What does this have to do with history?” Oh that was great. I plainly said to the children, “What are we learning here?” And they explained everything they had learned about John Audubon. My husband asked nothing more! Now I want you all to understand that my husband’s question was NOT a derogatory question nor is he against having fun in school, just was curious how this all fit in. Don’t you just love it when the kids can answer those types of questions for you?!?!

As far as art this week, we did not have our art class nor did we do the art in the lesson. I felt it was very much like the art we did for the Indian sand art and decided to not do it this week. Next week we are making rolled pots for our art class. I cannot wait to see how that all turns out. And we are having it here at my house…OUTSIDE! It has been raining the last 2 days, so if it continues we are not having 15 children with clay all over in my home! Yuck!

Have I mentioned I really love the Pioneer Sampler book? This is such a great book and this week’s science was FANTASTIC! We learned how a boat can stay a-float. How air is trapped to keep it dry and floating. I loved this experiment and the kids were wowed by it!

Oh, but nothing beats the butter making. OK, my hubby got involved with this one. So we took the buttermilk and shook it and shook it and shook it. When it turned into whipped cream, I opened the jar and had everyone take a little lick. Yea, I know there was no sugar added, but they got to see the first stage of butter making. Whipped cream. My husband was actually shaking it when it turned into butter. He said that it was light and felt as if there was nothing in the jar and then all of the sudden it went thump in his hands. The children were in AWWW! We shook for a bit longer and then poured it out. My son was grossed out by it, but once I added a tiny bit of salt and squeezed the buttermilk out he loved the flavor. OMGosh, DO NOT skimp of this science experiment when you get to it. It was so much fun, a lot of work, and worth every WOW moment the kids had throughout the experiment.

Of course we have our Notebook page. Nothing exciting to tell about there. We just wrote out Henry Longfellow’s poem. Good practice for handwriting for my son and daughter. And of course we have out timelines which we added too. All in all it was another fantastic week. I really enjoyed the ending to the week with our science experiment. So now, as I told you, next Thursday we are having art class at my house and the kids want to make mini Johnny Cakes and homemade butter for everyone. So we will be cooking on Wed.

Have a great week and see you for week 23. Only 11 more weeks of HOD Bigger. God Bless!

Pictures