Monday, February 14, 2011

Week In Review Feb 7-11

I often find myself stretching outside of my comfort zone with Homeschooling.
This week however I was totally "in the zone"
We started our Native American block this week.
Yes I attempted Native Americans last Semester, but I think there were too many subjects involved with too many distractions and a Momma's unforgiving desire to make "perfect lessons" really got in the way.
Things are better this go round. With a base from our Curriculum (love love love!!), and a few fun books from the Library we are all enjoying this block.
Because we have lived in three very different areas since joining Mike on his Coastie Career, I thought it would be nice to look at the Native Cultures from those areas.
First up: The Cherokee Nation
Our book this week was "If You Lived With The Cherokee" and it was a nice tie-in with all the stories we have gone through.
The week was spent listening and reading and illustrating various legends facts about the Cherokee and locating them on a map.
We learned about discipline, work, houses, food, and ceremonial dances.
To better illustrate the meaning of the dances I pulled up some videos on Youtube and we watched them. We also "acted" out our own little hunting dance to get a better "feel" for it.
Cornbread muffins were the kids baking activity, and Jakob and I made God's Eyes as well.

In preparation for Valentines day the kids painted and made their cards for friends and family. We made coffee filter hearts and also took toilet paper tubes and pinched them into hearts and did a little stamping for decoration. I was inspired by Filth Wizardy on that one long ago but can't find the actual post now.

This was the first year I have encouraged Jakob to totally make his cards own his own and he became quite frustrated when he couldn't decide what to write.
When I suggested a poem he almost burst into tears at the thought of coming up with one on his own.
We had been reading a little Valentine's Day Poem book and I told him to write some of those down or use them for inspiration. Well let me tell you he has been a poem writing fool since!! He really likes the ones that start "Roses are Red Violets are blue..." but has branched out a bit. Its wonderful to see his imagination and creativity take hold and not get the better of him!
We also talked about acrostic poems this week and he made one for the word Valentine.

Thursday was our Library Day and Jakob needs one more history requirement filled before he receives his Bear Badge. I am planning on taking him to a museum, but his Den Leader suggested we visit the archives as well just in case we cant make it.
So we went to the "grown up" side of the Library and he asked to see old Newspapers and historical documents from our area. The Librarian was great and grabbed a few microfiche for him to look through. I thought he was spacing out while she was explaining what they were and how to use the machine, but the moment she left he looked up at me and said, "This is the coolest thing EVER!!" He spent over an hour looking at newspapers and was intrigued mainly by the weather of the day... and the comics. We were sent home with a few good books on Pawtucket and should definitely be able to finish up the requirement this week.

Hazel had her own fun this week. While waiting for Jakob to finish his written work we usually read and then do an activity. I wanted to make some bread for the soup we were having that evening but she wasn't interested. I asked her if she wanted to wipe down the sliding glass door where we had decorated with Crayola Window Markers and it had been smeared from the days activities.
No Mama, I need to wash the floors.
Huh?
I need a bucket of soapy water and a wash rag please. I need to wash the floors.
Really? OK.

So Momma got her the necessities and she washed the floors. The whole time I was torn between two thoughts..
Ohh how sweet she's just like Cinderella
and
Weirdo.

She did a great job though!
Next week, on to the Iroquois Nation!

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