Joan of Arc and Pow Wows?

making a flag with fleur de lys on it

Yes, you read that right. We traveled back a couple hundred years earlier today at our local Pow Wow and then we traveled 700 years back to learn about Joan of Arc. This morning was a lot of fun. We visited our local Arts Center and were surrounded by hoards of school children. I was laughing to myself thinking of how, when I was in school, I would have looked at us and thought, " Why is that Mom and Dad with those kids". Hannah definitely stood out in the crowd. She was entertained for about five minutes of the performance and then I had to keep going in and out as she kept calling out, " Mama!" at the most serene moments of the Apache Indians story telling.

I was thankful Ben was with the other three kids as if you read our previous post of the 12 Dancing Princesses, where I had to keep leaving the kids. Anyways, the men did hoop dances and an Eagle dance which was very cool to watch! The kids really enjoyed the beat of the drums and the rhythm of the music. Overall, a really good experience for them. The best though, for those of you on my facebook, was my five year old's very innocent political incorrectness. After all of our prepping him about what we should and should not say, we were walking out, surrounded by a crowds of Native American students and Austen yells, " Was that man an Indian because he had long hair?"- Ohmigosh Austen!!!! You are going to get me in trouble one of these days!!!

We arrived home and enjoyed some Annie Macaroni n' Cheese "Arthur" style and then we started in on our Konos lesson. The book and theme we have next week is really exciting so I'm trying to stay steadfast with our study of Courage. We read a book on Joan of Arc and talked about her courage in the midst of war and death. I would like to learn more about Joan of Arc. This link, Joan of Arc biography, has a lot of painful information to read about a young girl who "screamed the holy name of Jesus" as she was burned at the stake. Again, I was never enlightened on this historical character and it just shocks me and makes me rethink the definition of courage and if I would have it in that moment, I truly believe I would- my prayer is that my children would also.

We created a flag that Joan held by gluing on the fluer de lys ( lily flowers) that symbolized the trinity. The flag is hanging in the boys room as a reminder, that as with anyone in the Bible or throughout history that trusted in God, the battle is the Lord's!

The Courage of Sarah Noble and the Matchlock Gun were two more books we read a chapter out of. Both of these books again, reinforce courage and display to my boys, especially, how courage looks in different situations. I asked the boys questions like, " Is it courageous to lay in a sleeping bag full of rattlesnakes? or go in a barrel off Niagara Falls...." to show the different between daring and foolish and daring and courageous. Finally, I shared with them a couple of experiences in my life where I needed to show courage. Spanish ended the day and robot creating at the library ended our night! Thank you God for rotisserie chickens and sweet potato fries! Off to spend the evening with my husband!