Colonial Days and The American Revolution Part 2 (Links, Book List, and More Activities)

I think I just typed my longest post title ever! :)

I'm getting ready to take down our reading list from my sidebar, so I'm putting it here for future reference. These were great books - especially for my younger set, and I'm sure that we will read them again as we re-visit this period in history.

Here are a few activities we did in conjunction with some of these great stories:

-read The Boston Tea Party and had tea time (I tried to convince everyone that we should boycott tea like the colonists did and have hot chocolate instead. Can you believe they rejected this idea and preferred tea for our tea time?)

-read Paul Revere's Ride and followed his and his comrades' journeys on the map in the back of the book (For some reason, the kids were fascinated with this map.)

-read Our Colonial Year and churned butter (I'm sure a lot of you have churned butter with your children and know that it requires some patience and perserverance. In the past we've used an electric beater to speed the process along, but this time I opted to be more "authentic", and each child shook a little jar of whipping cream and marbles. They soon got tired of churning and the younger ones lost interest, so we rolled our jars on the kitchen floor for awhile too. Finally...we had creamy lumps of butter. When the kids realized that their work (and Mommy's) had paid off, they were excited and ready to eat the results with some rolls (after adding a bit of salt, of course.)

-Superman came up with the idea of making a book about George Washington's Military Life. (I plan to take pictures of this and post later.)

-colored a map of the thirteen colonies (There is an excellent color map in the back of Our Colonial Year that they enjoyed looking at each time we read the book.)

-placed important people and events on our timeline

-Superman and I did a short chapter read aloud that he is still talking about. It's called Sybil Ludington's Midnight Ride. It's the true story of a teenage girl whose unsung heroism helped her father, Colonel Ludington, bring his troops together for an important battle. Some historians believe that this girl's bravery just might have helped us to win the war. I had never heard of Sybil and enjoyed learning about her myself.

Now for our book list and then a few links that I gleaned ideas from as I was putting our study together:
































Cindy's Colonial activities and projects that her kids made.

Homeschool in the Woods offers free sample lessons from their Colonial Life and American Revolution Activity Studies. (Click on the links and scroll down to the blue button that says "Download Sample Lesson Here". For both units it's in the left sidebar.) Amy Pak has been incredibly generous with the amount of material she offers in these free samples. If you've never seen her resources at Homeschool in the Woods, you've got to check them out. I love her beautiful artwork and fun, authentic activities. By the way, I'm not an affiliate, I just can't get over her neat ideas for making history come alive, and I wanted to share them with you. :)

Jennifer Steward's colonial unit study ideas

Another list of Colonial activities

Another homeschooling family's unit

Good links for crafts and books

Huge list of American Revolution links

A K-2 Lesson Plan for the American Revolution

Good candle-making info. and other "Olden Days" activities.

Ink-making

Whew...hope you find something helpful here. I have two more posts for this unit on the way. Thanks for sticking with me on this one!

Colonial Life and The American Revolution

When I sat down to write about our Revolutionary War and Colonial unit, I quickly realized it would take more than one post. What started out as a two-week unit, grew into a two-month study. This turned out to be a high-interest subject for Superman, and the girls had fun with it too. We officially wrapped it up this past Monday.

So, here you go...installment number one of our adventures!

One of my goals for this unit was for the kids to experience an authentic taste of Colonial life. The result was a very hands-on, project-based unit.

I found three books that provided a wealth of ideas and directions for some fun projects, games, and recipes:

More Than Moccasins: A Kid's Activity Guide to Traditional North American Indian Life (A Kid's Guide series)

Colonial Days: Discover the Past with Fun Projects, Games, Activities, and Recipes (American Kids in History Series)

Revolutionary War Days: Discover the Past with Exciting Projects, Games, Activities, and Recipes (American Kids in History Series)

We began our trip back in time the week before Thanksgiving with a brief look at Jamestown, Plymouth, and the Native Americans who welcomed those first colonists. You can see pictures and details of the Native American portion of our studies here.

After taking a break for our Christmas mini-unit and the holidays, we traveled back to the days leading up to and surrounding the American Revolution.




After the first few days of reading books about things such as the Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere's Ride, the writing of the Declaration, and Washington crossing the Delaware, it was exciting to see the kids wanting to act out these events on their own. This was a costume that Superman was inspired to put together after our visit to George Washington's home, Mt. Vernon. Since this is my child who hasn't matched up an outfit to wear in his entire life (and doesn't care to try), I was shocked when he marched into the family room one day wearing his Daddy's old uniform jacket, a tricorn hat, a pair of khakis rolled up to look like colonial breeches, and a pair of long white baseball socks with his Sunday dress shoes. He looked pretty darn authentic!




After we read When Mr. Jefferson Came to Philadelphia: What I Learned of Freedom, 1776 by Ann Turner, Superman crushed blueberries to make ink for a quill pen. (This link has good info. and directions.)




Trying his hand at writing the Colonial way. This turned out to be one of the kids' favorite projects. They stayed at the table almost an hour writing with their quills.




When there was time for games, most colonial families had to make their own. We made a gameboard for "Patriots and Redcoats", which is based on a popular strategy game of the era called "Fox and Geese". Constructing this gameboard provided us with some unexpected living math lessons such as measuring, constructing squares and rectangles, counting, and problem-solving. Oh, and it was a pretty fun game too!




Another entertainment for some colonial children, especially girls, was embroidering a sampler to practice their needlework skills. (Superman was comforted to learn that even some boys stitched samplers!) Samplers included various things such as the alphabet, inscriptions, perhaps the house the needleworker lived in, floral borders, and the child's name and age. The final product was usually framed and displayed in a place of honor over the mantelpiece. We read the book Our Colonial Yearby Cheryl Harness, and then Superman and Giggly Girl each embroidered the outline of their hand. The idea for our samplers came from Cindy over at Our Westward Journey. I thought this was a great idea for a keepsake project that will definitely be framed and displayed in a prominent place in our own home! (You really should check out the Colonial and Revolutionary War activities that Cindy and her kids have done.)



Also I highly recommend the book Our Colonial Year, which we read the day we began the samplers. It depicts various activities happening throughout the year in the thirteen colonies. The pictures are colorful and provide lots of details of colonial life that make for some great discussions. You see crops being harvested, newspapers being printed, children playing Colonial games on a village green, and a little girl stitching a sampler, among other interesting scenes. We actually read this book on several occasions as a jumping off point for whatever project we were working on that particular day. In one picture, a girl is milking a cow while another is churning butter. After one reading, we churned butter and served it during dinner. Another day we read this story, pointing out the candles we could find, and then we dipped our own. It also has a great map of the thirteen colonies in the back that my kids really enjoyed looking at. Can you tell that we loved this book?

I think that should do it for this first post. Part two will be up soon!
(Update: Part Two and Part Three are finished.)

Have a great week!

A Valentine Treasure Hunt

A couple of years ago I put together a Valentine treasure hunt for the kids, and they really got a kick out of it. So I decided we would do another one this year.

For that first treasure hunt, I had to read the clues for my little treasure hunters, but this year we have a bona fide independent reader...Superman! He was tickled to be in charge of reading the clues.
I handed him the first clue, which led them to the second, which led to the third, and so forth, until they came to the final one, which revealed their Valentine surprise!

It was fun to see them tearing through the house searching for each of the clues:

Clue #1: Look under the place where we eat lunch.
Clue #2: Go to the toy that rocks and flies.
Clue #3: Find something big and black that makes music.
Clue #4: Go to where you brush your teeth.
Clue #5: Go to the place where food is kept cold.

Giggly Girl finds clue #2 under the kitchen table.


Superman doing the reading honors.


The Treasure: They got to make Chocolate Heart-Shaped Lollipops....


And eat 'em too, of course!

Menu Plan Monday

Here is this week's lineup:

Sunday: Leftovers

Monday: Taco Casserole

Tuesday: Easy Excellent Ranch Chicken, Rice, Green Beans

Wednesday: Old World Sauerkraut Supper (in the crockpot)

Thursday: Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Broccoli

Friday: Salmon Roll

Saturday: Leftovers

I know that a couple of you kind folks have requested a recipe or two, and I promise I haven't forgotten you!
I really just need about two extra hours in my day to get around to everything I want to do on this computer. :)
I will try to get the recipes posted in the next day or so. Thanks for your patience! :)

To see more menu plans (and some recipes too), click on the button at the top of this post. Enjoy!

I'm Back With Some Odds-n-Ends

Hello everyone! We're back from a 10-day trip down South to visit family. We had a great time seeing our loved ones, enjoyed some warm and not-so-warm weather in Florida, drove home through high winds in Tennessee and Kentucky, and now we're conquering the inevitable post-travel laundry mountain.

Here are some quick things I wanted to share...

-I returned home to find out that Steve Lambert, publisher of Five in a Row, underwent surgery a few days ago to relieve pressure in his brain that was the result of a recent fall. The surgery was successful, and he is recovering well. However, the Lamberts are now faced with huge hospital bills they'll have to pay.
Steve and his wife Jane have been an integral part of the homeschool community for many years. I've had the chance to meet this sweet couple in person, and I've read so many stories of others whom they have encouraged and helped. If you've ever been interested in purchasing any Five in a Row products, now would be a great time to support this family who has helped so many people themselves. You can purchase and download their digital products at Five in a Row Digital or order hard copies of their products here. We are in our third year of enjoying Before Five in a Row and Five in a Row Volumes 1-3, and we've also used some of their digital Fold-n-Learns, which are beautifully done.

-Currclick is offering a terrific free resource this week - Continental Little Hoppers, Africa (PK-3rd). I liked this well enough to actually purchase it a few weeks ago. It's a nicely unit study with some fun activities, projects, and beautiful pictures. I'm not sure how long they're offering this, so you might want to click on over and download this one. Just to let you know, I'm not an affiliate, although I'm thinking about it. :)

-This weekend we'll be participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count. It only takes fifteen minutes of your time and can be a great way to get your family excited about honing their birdwatching skills. They have a great page of activities and information for kids here. Superman is excited about the idea that the information we gather will help real live scientists!

-We are working on our final project from our Revolutionary War unit. Hopefully I'll soon be able to post the photos and lowdown of everything we did in this very extended unit!

Until then, have a great weekend!

Snapshots

Some sweet moments from this week that I want to journal so that I'll always remember...

~Snuggling up with Sweet Pea for a nap...She wants to cover me with her blankie. She gets all situated and cozy and with a sigh of satisfaction looks up at me and says, "Mommy, I wuv you. You're my best fwiend."

~Giggly Girl's willingness to help Superman put on a magic show. Her serious attitude towards her important job as magician's assistant. That pleased smile, crinkling up her eyes and nose, as she basks in our applause at her performance. Then the shy retreat to Mommy and Daddy as she comes to us with a big, quiet smile and a hug.

~Superman hugging his Grammy as we left her nursing home today..."Bye, Grammy, I love you. We'll be back tomorrow."

Three unique little people, all with different personalities masterfully crafted by their Heavenly Father. But each has a tender heart and a loving and kind spirit.

Thank you, God, for the miracle and the blessing that is each of them.

The Homesteading Carnival #81: The February Celebrations Edition

Welcome to The Homesteading Carnival #81: The February Celebrations Edition.

When I think about the month of February, holidays like Valentines Day and Presidents Day come to mind. After doing a little Googling though, I learned that there are over one-hundred special holidays and observances during this month. A few of them are "homestead-ish" in nature, so I thought it would be fun to highlight them in this edition.

Gather up your family in the kitchen, and grab your mixing bowls and spatulas because February is Bake for Family Fun Month! Check out these entries for some great recipes, baking and otherwise, and memories that you can make with your family this month.

Amy at The Hughes Mob shares how blessed she is by her little ones as they make memories together outdoors and in the kitchen in A Brisk Walk.

Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers has a yummy idea for leftover mashed potatoes. (This recipe brings back memories from my childhood because my Grandmother used to do the same thing Kris does!)

Cindy at Our Journey Westward does some canning and uses the fruit of her labor to make a delicious Chicken Chili.

Stephanie at Stop the Ride braved an icestorm and power outage last week, and still managed to pull off a week's worth of meals! She shares her menu for the week at What Was for Dinner? The No Power Edition.

Sheri at Shades of Pink shares her recipe for Cranberry Bliss Bars. These look delicious, and Sheri's recipe for this Starbucks treat is budget-friendly too.

And while we're on the subject of budgets, Erin at Five Dollar Dinners offers us a month's worth of dinners that you can prepare for around five dollars in her January Meal Plan. While you're there, check out her recipe index for more economic and tasty dishes.

Want some tips on saving money on the ingredients you use in the kitchen? Then click on over to Mommy Snacks where Andrea gives us some incredibly helpful grocery shopping and couponing tips in A Beginner's Guide to Savings.

Of course it's always easier to prepare a yummy meal when things in the kitchen are easy to find. Sara at How to Me shows us a nifty idea for organizing our spices in How to Raise Your Cabinet's Spice Level.

On February 2nd, people everywhere anxiously await the appearance of that most famous of groundhogs, Puxatawney Phil. Will he see his shadow? Whether or not he does, it's never to early to begin thinking about a spring garden.

Dana at A Very Nearly Tea has already started dreaming about spring planting in Planning the Garden of My Dreams.

Kat from Homesteading and Homekeeping at Whisper Winds Farm teaches us the importance of using Heirloom Seeds in our planting. This is something I'll be taking into consideration when purchasing my seeds this spring.

Starting a compost pile is something else I'd like to try this spring. A Self-Sufficient Life talks about how kitchen leftovers enrich our gardens and gives us some how-to tips in Make Compost from Your Kitchen.

Children and gardening can't help but go hand and hand. Melissa from In the Sparrow's Nest gets us in the gardening mood as she shares a project she and her family completed last year in Raised Beds and Perennials. She also shares some great tips for gardening with your children!

Did you know that February boasts International Hoof Care Week? Also, the World AG Expo, the largest agricultural exposition in the world, is being held this month in California.

Carole from Fowl Visions gives us ideas for using household items to create Homemade Nest Boxes.

Want to see some cute new additions to Stephanie's homestead and the progress made on their pig barn over at Adventures in the 100 Acre Wood? Then you've got to head over there and read Snow, Ice, and Piglets.

What's the first thing that usually comes to mind when you think of February? Might it be love? In addition to Valentines Day on February 14th, the entire week of the 8th through the 14th has been deemed Celebration of Love Week. And what better way to show your love than to stitch it up in a special sewing project and give it to your loved one? There are some wonderful ideas here for projects that inspire even this non-seamstress to thread her needle and give one of these a try.

Homesteader Belle shows us how easy it is to use recycled material and do some sewing on the go in Making Quilts from Old Clothes.

Sometimes the best gift of love is time spent with a loved one. Our children bask in the quality time we bestow on them. Here are a couple of ideas for sewing projects you can do with your children.

Cindy at Our Journey Westward shares with us the how-to of a special, keepsake Embroidery Project that her children completed.

Stephanie's little girl has done an outstanding job on Her First Sewing Project that her Mamaw helped her to sew. Head over to Adventures in the 100 Acre Wood to see the pretty skirt she made.

If you're sewing-challenged like me and need a useful gift for the seamstress in your life, take a peek at these adorable Teacup Pincushions that Abi from the Lighter Side Just Had to Share. She has posted pictures of the ones her daughter made as a gift for her along with a link to directions for making your own.

I cannot mention February and Valentines Day without including the gift of chocolate. Josanne at A Chocolate Bouquet inspires us to make a pretty and tasty Valentines Day arrangement in Make a Chocolate Bouquet. I can't wait to try my hand at making (and eating) one of these.

Do you ever have a hard time finding the time to get everything done around your home? Well February is National Time Management Month, and Tracey at Glue on Her Fingers, Dirt on Her Toes, She Makes Laughter Wherever She Goes gives us some ideas and inspiring quotes for getting things done in Just Do It!

February is National Birdwatching Month, and although it may seem too cold to get outside in certain parts of the country, there are still lots of ways we can enjoy God's beautiful creation this time of the year.

Last winter we bundled the kids up and put some treats out as A Gift for Our Feathered Friends.

Barb at Handbook of Nature Study gives us some great ideas for enjoying nature this winter in Winter Nature Study: Taking It Inside.

I hope you've enjoyed this edition of the carnival. If you have a second, don't forget to leave these kind contributors a little comment love. :)

Next week's edition will be hosted by Miss Amanda at The Daily Planet. Click on the button below to submit your entries!