Fundraising

The kids love playing on the neighborhood play set, despite David's and my unease at the safety of the equipment (rusty, broken foot-holds, slide only partially attached, etc), and when one of the neighbors pointed out to us that the massive tree hanging out over the play equipment was split in two all the way to the ground, that was the last straw.  They're pretty bummed at the ban we've placed on the area.

So we got permission to raise funds for a new play set to be put in a new part of the neighborhood commons.  We (well, mostly I) made fresh homemade bread and jam to sell.  We practiced a speech with the kids, and off we went.  The first house was a flop (speech-wise, but the neighbors still so kindly bought), but it got better each time, and by the end I couldn't believe how excited they were to go up to the door and talk with the strangers.  What an improvement!

Prophetstown State Park

Today we took our first field trip of the school year.  We met up with our homeschooling comrades and enjoyed a day of exploration.

1920 Laundreyette washing machine

Supposedly this machine washes and dries your laundry...or at least dries it enough so that it's ready to be hung on the line.

1920s "cadillac" stove.  Funny how different stoves were 50 years later.  I should really take a picture of my own 1970s "cadillac" stove.

Games from the 20s

Thomas Edison records.  They were round tubes that you put on the machine.  I'd never seen anything like it before.

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What a gorgeous (hot!) walk through the prairie to get to the Indian village.

Council house, such as the one Tecumseh and his brother the Prophet sat in.

Ethan's sure this is a John Deer plow, because the dirt just fell off the blade.

On our way home we stopped by the battlefield.  Unfortunately, due to construction you couldn't get to Prophet's Rock.  Ethan was really hoping to see it, so we'll just have to go again sometime.

At the battlefield they had a small nature center.  This lady was a walking encyclopedia of everything nature related and native to Indiana.  We learned a lot just listening to her for the few minutes we had before leaving for home.

Dissecting Mushrooms

We're formally doing Science this year, and the kids finally got their first big science activity.  It still wasn't an experiment like Ethan is begging for, but it was still tons of fun to do.

U.S. Geography Fun

This year we're learning the regions of the United States.  When I was in 8th grade I remember our teacher having us make salt dough U.S. maps, and I thought it was a fun project then, and I still think it's fun!  So our first day of school we made our maps.  What a wild time! 

Making the dough.

This picture blessedly hides the drama that had just ensued.  Our "fun" project started out with one child flipping out over the feel of the salt dough, flinging arms wildly in the air, and socking the other in the eye.  So I ended up with one flipping out over texture, the other bawling in pain, and the only thing I could think of was "and this was supposed to be fun!"  At least I could laugh about it afterwards and everyone calmed down and finished the project.

Katie's map.  She did really well!  I like her cone-shaped mountains.

That's part of the fun of the project.  Each child's map was so different, but both were representative of the U.S.  Then the long task of waiting for the dough to dry...

A week later, we finally got to paint the maps.  Ethan's finished map.

Katie's finished map.

A Year...Oh My!

Well I'm determined to do better about blogging this year, so I logged on and saw that my last post was in July 2014. Oops! Have I mentioned I'm just not a blogger?

So begins our new year...and hopefully a new leaf turns over.