Heart of Dakota BLHFHG ~ Unit/Week 8

What a fabulous day for Homeschoolers at Colonial Williamsburg! The weather was incredible and we enjoyed walking where our great American Patriots walked before us.  Have I mentioned how blessed we are to be living in this part of the country as we study and learn all about it?!?!  Thank you, US Navy!

Colonial Williamsburg was very hands on for the kids and they enjoyed each of the activities from watering the garden, playing Colonial games to watching the blacksmith and the cabinet maker at work. 

I'd highly recommend a visit to the Virginia area. With Jamestown & Colonial Williamsburg near each other,  it would make a great homeschool field trip or family vacation. 

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Our memory verse for this week was 1 Thessolonians 5:11

This was a helpful verse for me as I reminded the kids daily of these words when I overheard their sibling disagreements. 

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In Art, we observed the leaves falling off the trees and made a season appropriate watercolor painting with fingerprinted leaves.   We started raking leaves outside this week too so, that is a painted leaf pile beside the tree. 

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In History, we learned that it was difficult for the pilgrims to say goodbye to their friends the Hollanders. We learned that they trusted God, had faith that he would watch over them, and went forward on the 'Speedwell' to England.  They met their friends in England and planned to start sailing with both 'The Speedwell' and 'Mayflower.'  The 'Speedwell' had leaks that couldn't be repaired. They returned to England and set sail again with only the Mayflower.  Some pilgrims  had to stay behind.   We learned that the weather was sometimes rough with storms and John Howland was tossed overboard during one storm.  He was pulled to safety after he grabbed onto a trailing rope. In winter, the deck became icy and cold and the children had to stay below. To keep them busy, they told stories and played games. We also learned that 2 babies were amazingly born on their journey.  

Our writing included this cute idea making pilgrim suitcases from file folders that they could open.  We added construction paper handles.  The prompt was, "If I were going to a new land, I would pack..." 

They both put the obvious necessities of barrels of food, water, and clothes. 

A few of their funny answers were:  Dry bananas, lovie blanket, pizzas, doll, crayons and paper, and of course... UNO cards.

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In Math, we are trying a new way to learn multiplication tables with this special offer from 'Times Tales'.   Times Tales Free Trial 

I had heard great things about the program and it is reasonably priced.  I sat my ds down at the computer to try out the free trial.  To my surprise just from one 15 minute video, he learned the first set 3's and 4's with simple stories about the numbers. It is very visual and I was sold with the results. We ordered the product and I think I will even start working with my dd on these as well.   Can't wait to get started!  If you have a little one trying to memorize with boring flashcards. This might help them too! 

~ Science Exploration ~

We tried using the bags as seen on the left that were recommended by HoD and found it difficult for the kids to observe so we repeated the experiment again using a jar. 

We combined oil and water in the jar and learned that oil is lighter than water. We added food coloring for a dramatic color effect.  The food coloring slowly fell thru the oil and the droplet burst into color into the water.  We did this several times * tip* start with lighter colors first.  Next, we added salt and observed that the salt made the oil heavier and it sank blending all the colors as seen below.  It was much clearer in the jar and the kids enjoyed the rainbow colors. 

The kids recorded their results onto their Science Exploration sheets. 

We also talked about the orbit of the earth & sun and experimented by spinning a gluestick on the floor. The gluestick was able to spin many times compared to the kids.  This helped the kids understand that the earth completes a revolution on its axis every 24 hours but it takes much longer -365 days- to revolve around the sun. 

We held a flashlight to represent the sun and demonstrated with a globe.  The area that was shadowed showed night time and the area in the flashlight beam showed daytime.

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To carry on with our adventure reading 'The Twenty-One Balloons', we have each been captivated by the oddness of this book.  I may have to read during Storytime at school and at bedtime to get it completed on schedule as there have been many questions and explanations needed as we go along.  Overall, I think the kids are enjoying it and we decided they should make a movie out of this crazy story. 

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We finished the week with a celebration! 

We went to see Disney on Ice and the kids loved it. 

Love being able to see their faces light up with the simple childhood joys like princesses skating or even as they experiment and learn new things.  It's so much fun being their mom and teacher! 

Be blessed!