This was a fun week that culminated in a fun field trip!
I'd collected enough boxes for the kids to get out their box play connectors again.
Brianna made quite a structure for herself and Katie.
Who really IS having fun in there.
I found this Ancient History memory game on zulily.com (affiliate link).
From Aqueduct to Zeus, we had fun chasing people and places around the table.
Great Wall and Great Wall, it's a match!
Eli was dragging a bit as we started, but after some lemon oil, he perked up.
Brianna won with the most matches.
I was actually really surprised to come in second! My memory is lousy, so Eli was ahead of me during most of the game.
Checking out all the cards was a great conversation starter.
Eli got a new bundle of paracord. I talked about his obsession a bit HERE.
The new pieces inspired him to replace the tattered box he was using with this one and organize them in color groups. He made me a pink & red bracelet for Valentine's Day.
The weather got nice enough for us to do some of the outside activities we've been putting off in the rainbow science kit from Magic School Bus.
The kids looked for rainbows on bubbles.
We determined which card (black or white) would be warmer when left in the sun, and why that is.
And that shiny thing in Eli's hand is a blank disc. He beamed us all in the face with the sun, probably learning something about reflection in the process, and we looked for rainbows on the disc.
I let the kids have some time to just play with the contents of the science kit, which is outside my comfort zone, but was a good experience for us all.
Eli is reading aloud from his new spelling program. Review coming soon! Not sure why he decided he needed to read standing on a chair.
And Miss Brianna has a new piece of jewelry to show off!
When we were in China adopting Hannah, I bought her a pearl bracelet in Beijing. It got broken, and in the last 3 years, many of the pearls have gotten lost. Brianna has a friend in the neighborhood who is a jewelry designer, and she asked for some help recycling the remaining pearls into something she could wear. This lovely piece is the result.
There was a Chik Fil A fundraiser for Sam's school this week. Paul didn't want to take Luke out (I can't blame him; Paul spent most of his birthday outside the restaurant, walking Luke) so I took the 4 older kids by myself. I worry about how this is affecting our family.
Friday was our field trip! When we arrived, I discovered an extra blessing: The handicapped spaces in Old Sac are not metered! Both my girls have placards, and I suppose when Luke gets his wheelchair, he'll be eligible for one, too.
The sky was overcast, and we did get dribbled on a little, but I cannot complain, because California REALLY needs the rain.
Side view of the old schoolhouse. It's a recreation, built in the 1970's to resemble schoolhouses of the 1850's. Although there wasn't a schoolhouse like this inside city limits during that time period, there were several within the county. In fact, we learned that they usually placed schoolhouses about every 6 miles because it wasn't reasonable for children to walk more than about 3 miles each way for school.
We joined 7 other homeschool moms and their children for a trip back in time. You can see framed photos in the back. Many of them are class photos, others are photos of actual schoolhouses.
Girls sit on one side of the classroom.
Boys sit on the other.
The docent did a great job explaining everything from the wood or coal stoves used to heat schoolhouses, to the chores the children would have been responsible for at home, to the period clothing the students would have worn.
He had many of the students read aloud from McGuffy's 3rd reader, and even had them work some word problems on their slates. I was inspired by one of the lines the children read aloud, so I came home and looked up the readers online and discovered that they are available online at Project Gutenburg. This is the one we read from in class. My students will be doing their handwriting practice from there next week.
They also got to pull the rope for the school bell. I imagine the residents and shops nearby get pretty tired of school groups ringing the bell, but surprisingly, it was not as loud as I expected it to be. I'm guessing they've muffled it somehow.
After the tour, I snapped a few pictures, and then we went to the candy store across the street, where the children were given...
...chocolate covered crickets!
According to Eli, they weren't bad.
Adventurous. I did not try them.
After our group broke up, the kids and I walked around Old Sac for a while and stopped for photo ops in front of various monuments.
Somewhere, there's a picture of me and the 7 oldest kids in our family, when Jack was just a tiny baby, on this bench. Almost 10 years ago, wow.
For some reason, Jack kept thinking it was funny to hide behind his soda can during pictures. Color me unamused.
Ev-er-y time we pass this side street, the kids are compelled to point out that it was the hill where Child X biffed it while trying to Heely down the hill.
We walked past a bear made of Legos that had been entered in the fair. Something like 80,000 Legos, I think?
And from the other camera... What Eli built while I was reading aloud one day this week.
Bub is sporting the little cardboard cutout that comes in a pair of TOMS shoes. TOMS were on Zulily recently, and Bri needed shoes, so she got a pair. I like the way you can see his reflection in this picture.
Sam came home from school one day this week with a headache and proceeded to crash out in front of Veggie Tales or something that the little kids were watching. I covered him up after I took the picture because he looked cold.
And this was Jack Jack after walking around Old Sacramento Friday. Eli mentioned that Jack hadn't been feeling well, so I dripped some oil on him while he slept, and he came to find me a little while later saying his skin was burning. Oops. So much for not disturbing him!
Next week, we're going to learn about Solomon (I even queued up a movie from Netflix that loosely ties in) and about Elijah. I also have a St. Patrick's Day craft planned to try out.
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