Bigger Hearts for His Glory- Unit 27

We started this week with a kick off of the new blog site.  I hope that it is easier to navigate and full of useful insight as you follow our homeschooling journey.  What I originally intended to be a site for family members and a couple of  friends developed into a place to learn more about Heart of Dakota, compare projects, and check out our weekly arts and crafts activities!

Unit 27 ~ This week our character trait was bravery!  Our verse was Proverbs 24:10. 'If you falter in times of trouble, how small is your strength!'  So many times, I am uplifted by these simple weekly verses.  I almost think they were written just for me to get through each week!

John Muir Walks America

 

We learned about the naturalist, John Muir.  He came to America when he was eleven.  He was a botanizer and was very brave to travel walking 1000 miles from Indiana to Florida to observe nature in its' natural environment.  

The kids each chose a different state and drew pictures of some of the trees and animals you might find in that state.  They outlined the state with yarn and loved how the pics just popped right out of their page by cutting 3 sides and bending the bottom forward.  They labeled their pictures.

 

We had Tennessee with black bears, Smoky Mountains, streams, and oak trees.

We also had Georgia with swap land alligators and cypress trees.  

Last, we had Florida by my little artist.  He drew palm trees, black wolf, a panther in a tree, a pelican, and a vulture.

We learned John Muir helped found the Sierra Club to help protect the environment. 

 

Our Cattle (kernel) Drive

We learned about the great longhorn cattle drives from Texas to Wyoming on the Chisolm Trail.  The kids tried to keep their cattle (kernels) together  as they made their way across the table. 

Our cattle kernels scattered from a great hail storm!

We learned about cattle stampedes when the herd became spooked from coyotes, noises, or weather and how it was very dangerous for the wranglers as they rounded them back into formation.

We also read about Rosa Cristoforo who left Italy to come to America to live with her husband.  She endured many hardships but, made the best of her new life and became proud to be an American.  

We learned about longitude and latitude.  The kids were able to find different places around the world using this site:  http://itouchmap.com/latlong.html

Our vocabulary words this week were botanizing, wrangler, and immigrants.

We learned about the Spanish War this week too!  The American ship, the Maine was blown up in Cuba and the United States demanded that the Spanish Army leave Cuba.  When Spain refused, the war began.  Spain was forced to give up Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippine Islands.  This war united the North and South United States for the first time following the Civil War.
 

We read more about the Robinson family in our Pioneer Sampler Book.  The General Store was a good ride into town and they would often trade or barter goods.  We compared items that you'd find in an old pioneer store to items in a modern day store.  

We read that when a letter was sent, you could only receive it by paying for it.  It was costly and most people didn't have the extra money to spend.  It didn't take long for the pioneers to write in code on the envelope or simply send a blank page to get messages back and forth letting their loved ones know they were safe.  

We read about writing with quill pens and sealing envelopes with candle wax.  We wrote letters to our special family and folded one page into an envelope. 

We melted wax and dripped it onto our specially folded letters to seal it closed. 

We pressed the metal stamp design into the candle wax. 

The kids had fun with this but, of course I had to help them along the way because we didn't want to catch anything on fire!  A great experience to show them what it was like back in the day. 

We learned that pioneers didn't have heavy machines. We read that the Robinson family moved from their shanty of a home to their new log cabin.  They built their homes and worked hard on their farms using simple machines like rollers, levers, runners, and ramps. 

 

Rollers help move heavy objects. We rolled the book down the hallway with our rolling pencils. 

 

A fulcrum and lever helps lift heavy objects. 

This runner was used to skid heavy loads over grass or snow or icy roads. 

A ramp was used to roll heavy objects upward.
 

This week we read about many brave men and women who showed their bravery in different ways.  Some brave for a cause such as freedom, others brave to protect their families and some brave in order to survive.

 

We hope you had a great week!  I'd love to hear from you if you'd like to leave a comment below. 

See you next time!