The Southwest!

Well, we have arrived. Here we are in the southwest and studying it like crazy these next couple of weeks. We are mixing in the Easter unit as well so to say our plate will be full is an understatement. Yesterday, we went to the zoo and had such a great time. We arrived before regular opening and enjoyed the peacefulness of the zoo, watching the zoo keepers care for the animal habitats, and being able to view the new orangutan exhibit with very little competition. We meandered through the rain forest area and headed to the southwest ( AZ Sonoran Desert) part. I have always enjoyed this part as all these animals are still fairly exotic to me. I love seeing the desert tortoise, rattlesnakes, coach whips, and gila monsters ( and yes I yelled Gee-la monster when I first arrived as well as JAH-valena and Sa-GUA-Ro_) Lord, have mercy!

We also observed mountian lions, a bob cat grooming itself, the rare Mexican red wolf, pronghorn, as well as prickly pear cactus blooming, prairie dogs and the sonoran toad. The desert is so beautiful right now with all of its blooming. Wow God, you are amazing! When you look at a desert, many people see cactus and brown but when you see how God dressed the cactus with a blooming period where they burst with vibrant pink, orange, yellow color...it's amazing. The wild flowers and poppies blooming at the base of the mountains is simply breath taking.

We also visited a railroad park! What a great experience. We had heard so much about it from others and were very impressed with the affordability of it, for a family our size, and all that he had to offer. We rode the train around the park, the kids rode an old fashion carousel equipped with a coach ( the younger kids and I rode in this) and Jay rode the horse behind us. Disney music from Mary Poppins and other older movies played beautifully around the carousel. It was so much fun! We also toured an old train that was like stepping back in time through the train station, seeing how the cars were organized with the guest quarters, the area where Franklin Roosevelt gave speeches and had held meetings, how the food was prepared, where they slept, went to the bathroom.

We also toured their newest addition, a model train building where the most extensive model train sets that I have ever seen were created and still being created. This opened 10 weeks ago and is free for the first year, fyi! The kids loved chasing the trains around the track and they rode in an old fashion trolley too!

Finally, we ate a picnic lunch when we first arrived and played on two different play structures. One was designed as a western saloon/general store/jail house. The kids loved running around it putting each other in jail, breaking free and making a run for it on the jail house roof. I even chased the kids with Hannah in tow around and around. I was laughing when Riah wanted me to crawl into the smallest hole with her. Many things I can do Miss Moriah, that, now that is now one of them. However, the three of us girls slid down the slide together and had a great time. It was hard to go but I think that going to the zoo will now equate making a stop at the train park too. It just makes sense considering how close the two are together and how far the zoo is from us.

We enjoyed reading and learning about the transportation that AZ used back in the late 1800s to early 1900s and how much has changed since that time. I enjoyed reading that Phoenix had quite an elaborate trolley system and for much of its earlier stages this is what helped develop and transport people back then, first by mules and horses and then by electricity. Overall, we had a great day- finished it off with a java chip frapp and made the drive home listening to Adventures in Odyssey all the way. I love homeschooling!

California

Phew, today was the last "catch up" day for our states. Tomorrow, we will be doing a short study on Hawaii and then taking 2 weeks to focus on the Southwest, which I am really excited about since we live here and have some awesome field trip opportunities, scorpion hunt anyone? :) But as for today, we focused on California. We have had the privilege to go to California about 5 or 6 times and I prefer northern over southern, mainly due to the congestion....but they both have beautiful things to offer.

Today, we ate some " sardines" tuna and talked about how they canned sardines along the coast in Northern California, we made comic strips of Disney characters and talked about Walt Disney; we also watched a movie on Disneyland. The kids loved seeing all the rides they went on last year and reliving the fun. WE also talked about earthquakes, what you do if you are caught in one as well as what is actually happening. We used two pillows to visualize the earths crust hitting each other and moving one plate under the other.

Surfing, who hasn't envied those surfers who spend hours in the sun and waves. We will be practicing our skateboards later as there are definitely no oceans near us but for the time being, we stood on pillows and surfed back and forth, watching out for incoming waves. I even threw out a lovely Australian/surfer accent- it was impressive let me tell you! :) We also discussed more aspects of the Redwood trees and now, even though I do not care much for California, I would like to drive to Yosemite and a little south to see the Sequoias, they look so breathtaking! On to Hawaii tomorrow!

The Pacific Northwest!

So we took the entire day yesterday and jam packed it with fun lessons geared towards Washington, Oregon and Northern California! What was so fun about these lessons is that we had just been to Oregon and N. California this past fall so the kids vividly remembered the landscape, culture and of course, the Redwood trees. 

We started the day off reading books on the states mentioned above, talked about apples, tall tales, volcanoes and Paul Bunyan. We loaded ourselves up with science experiment equipment, heavy "logger" attire ( and might I add this was an insane idea given it was 88 degrees yesterday) and made the long trek " through the woods" to the logger camp, aka: the park. 

What a great time we had playing logger games: shimmy up trees, arm wrestling competitions, "chopping" logs and having a log( child) rolling contest. Oh how the personalities of my children come out when the word contest or " on your mark, get set, go" are stated. Austen, is so competitive that he is known to walk away and sulk if he does not win. So, we dealt with character and , oh my , cooperation as well. Funny how I mentioned that we were still on cooperation...well, I felt a little better looking at how long Konos gives to work on it and it was 30 weeks....so I guess that would be about a school year...thank you Konos now I don't feel so slow! 

We also built a mountain out of sand and brought a bottle filled with baking soda, started off with 4T of baking soda but then Hannah, some how amidst eating grass, leaves and other odds and ends dumped over the bottle and spilled probably half of it...oh well, I was able to salvage most of it and our experiment was a success. It was fun to talk about Mt St Helen erupting when Nana was only 19 years old- the kids thought that age was really funny on Nana :) 

We came home, ate applesauce in memory of Washington apples that are actually the apples that we receive here in AZ and took naps. What a great day! Oh, and we didnt' die of heat stroke either in spite of our heavy logger shirts.

Verse we are learning Romans 12:18 As much as it depends on you, live in peace with one another. ( Cooperation)

Riah rolled down a grassy hill, full speed ahead on her pink and purple bike, hit the curb, flew forward and landed on her face all in about 5 sec after arriving at the park

building our volcano

Mt St Helens

log rolling contest

Alaska!

I have always wanted to visit Alaska. It looks so beautiful and breath taking, so dangerous and enchanting all at the same time. We visited Alaska, this past week, as apart of our Konos study. We read a lot about polar bears and their differences and similarities to brown and black bears. We located on a map where they live and how they hunt. THis week, we are planning on going to the pool to swim and pretend to be polar bears and seals. The boys, especially, are excited about this game!

Due to family coming into town and really needing to stay on schedule due our pending trip and considering that we have been on this one character trait ALL YEAR, we are making a couple of the states studies shorter than a week. We made an igloo out of ice cubes which was hillarious considering it was 100 degrees outside! The cubes melted faster than I could say "frozen". Jay also learned that the Inuits used seal intestines to create sunglasses for themselves so we cut out of an old cereal box and made slits to make our own Inuit sunglasses. I also gave Jayden a block of soap and we discussed out the Indians felt the ivory that they had "spoke" to them and they carved it creating faces of different things, etc. Jayden created a bear face on oneside of the soap....my goal is to do a sled race to the pool with Riah being the person and Jay and Austen the dogs....our next stop is Oregon and Washington! Phew, I'm getting tired!

Rocky Mountains!

Well, I haven't updated in awhile due to our large amount of family that came into town. WE were so busy enjoying eachother and hiking that I had no time to sit and blog. We had great visits but I am happy to be back into a routine, as well. The first two pictures are of a rare, rainy day in AZ. My son, loving rain and praying for rain went outside and created music on his own but placing different objects under our patio roof and sky so that when the rain drops hit them it created a very cool sounding rhythm!

 

We finished up the Rocky Mountain states. It was fun to set up the tents in our backyard and pretend to camp, eat hot dogs and smores, and read about beavers, grizzly bears and badgers. Due to our long "sergenti" grass back there, I did feel as if I were in a field at the base of the Rocky Mountains. We talked about how to keep a clean campsite, what types of equipment to bring along, etc. We also talked about Smokey the bear and hibernation. On to Alaska!

Great Lakes wrap up

We finished up our study with the Great Lakes States by enjoying some cheese, making a lego assembly line, talking more about Henry T Ford and doing reports on three different kinds of cows. Jayden drew pictures of three of his favorite kinds of cows that he read about and wrote two sentences on each explaining their different characteristics: The Angus, New Jersey and cannot remember the third at this moment in the morning, forgive me.

yes, these were taken on a toliet as I have very LIMITED time to myself and Ben was sleeping, Hannah was sleeping and the kids were quietly playing in the living room....so, I went into the only room in the house that was not occupied to turn on a light- the bathroom, your welcome.

This summer, when we actually visit the Great Lake state, we will enjoy swimming in Lake Michigan, rolling around on the sandy beaches, tromping their woods and eating apples all while spending time with our precious family whom we miss so much!

Midwest States

Today, we dived into our midwest states. I went to the library and pulled a plethora of books relating to covered wagons, out west expansion, farming, buffalo, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, N and S Dakota and Missouri. I am really, REALLY looking forward to all that we have planned for this upcoming week. Some of the things that will be covered is singing Home on the Range, reading about traveling in a covered wagon and what that was like, pretending to be cowboys and cooking a cowboy dinner of beans, bacon and cornbread. Making whole wheat pancakes and discussing where the majority of our wheat and corn are grown as well as soy beans. We will also be making soybean bean bag and playing some games to go along with that.

Ben and I also watched a very interesting National Geographic on the American Serengeti that I will play for the kids. It is all about protecting and bringing back the plains with the buffalo, prairie dogs, bears, ferrets, wolves, etc. in North Dakota. We will be listening to Little House on the Prairie as they make their migration to Kansas. Jayden will be doing a report / diary entry of what life is like on the prairie as a child. I will be adding a few more ideas but I think this will be enough to get us started. I am really looking forward to heading west and all the sights, sounds, smells and adventures that lay ahead. Happy Travels!

Seasons of Love, Beauty and the Beast and Hair

We finally finished up our study of the Atlantic States: New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  Above, is not only our resident teacher assistant Hannah eating her brain building sweet potatoes, but also, a pile of the books we used for the Atlantic states series. To the right, is a Kids Broadway CD that we borrowed from the library. That was a lot of fun! I put it on in the morning and we did our school to the background of Rent, Lion King, Hair, etc. The above books that states, " G is for Garden State...." are awesome books to accompany any state study as it goes through and lists things specific to that state and gives very interesting information as well. We talked about the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I would love to go and visit these places soon, even without the kids but take pictures of them to bring back. To wrap it up, we discussed the Amish and their presence in Pennsylvania and Jay took a sharp nail and made a design out of a tin loaf pan. We are moving on to the Great Lake States- my home territory and I am excited about incorporating lake studies, cherry pie, apple butter and Henry Ford to our studies!

Atlantic States- Pennsylvania

What have we been up to lately? We are on the Atlantic States in our Cooperation Unit with Konos. The many books floating around our home are about Ellis Island, The Statue of Liberty, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and of course Milton S. Hershey! Yesterday, the kids and I had a lot of fun making Hershey Chocolate Fudge. We've learned a lot about Mr. Hershey from the two biographies we have been reading. Did you know he started out as an apprentice for a printer and hated it! Then, started apprenticing for a candy maker, loved it, started on his own and failed miserably over and over again only to finally perfect his first delight- caramels! From there, his business skyrocketed he focused on the now famous Hershey chocolate bar and became a philanthropist. It was a very good example to the boys, especially, about what happens when we keep trying and are passionate about something. The kids, below, adorned with make shift chef's hats and aprons measured out the milk, sugar, cocoa ( which we all tasted to see how bitter it was), butter and almond extract. We used a candy thermometer and waited until it read 234 degrees and followed the remainder of the recipe. I found, while they were napping, that a spoonful of peanut butter and fudge was the most perfect of treats. Mmmm!