Tall Tales and Legends

Our first week of homeschooling we decided we had better get ourselves familiar with our local library.  There is a small branch just down the street from us.  Fortunately the Hennepin County Library has 41 branches and I can sit at my computer to order anything I want to be delivered to my local branch. I love how technology has innovated library services.

One of the first things I discovered at our local library was a series of videos produced by Schlessinger Media.  The videos I noticed were all Tall Tales and Legends.  I have since discovered there are a ton of different subjects covered by this company.  I snatched up all the Tall Tales videos I could spot and when I got home I ordered up the rest of the Tall Tales series as well as books about the same stories.  The last two weeks we have been discussing Tall Tales and Legends.  We have used them to discover geographical places and historical time periods that we have goggled.  We have compared and contrasted them.  We have mapped them.  JD has been using them for a writing and art project. 

I knew this was a topic we could expand as much or as little as we wanted.  I did not think at first about how well it would tie into our study of Pioneers.  We have studied 10 historical and fictional characters so far.  Tomorrow we finish up with Annie Oakley.   Some characters we have had only books for.   Most of them we have had a video for and also read at least one book or found their story on line. As I look at different resources about Tall Tales and Legends, I am finding that we could go on forever.  We have only done American Folklore after all and haven't even covered all of that.  I am ready to find something new to get excited about though so we are finishing up. Next week we will watch the final video of the series, "Creating a Tall Tale" and both boys will be writing their own story.

Some of the characters I had not heard about but they all gave us glimpses into American History and Geography.  Many of the characters had issues with progress in the form of the steam engine.  Schlessinger Media also had a video about steam power so that is going to be a science topic for us to look into.

I am grateful for library resources and grateful for google.  I don't know how anyone can homeschool without these fabulous tools.

Our Map Key.  JR learned what one is.

We have followed rivers and train lines with some characters.

JD is making a book with the characters in it. He made the cover with a picture of people telling stories around the campfire since most stories have been passed down orally.  I thought it was quite clever.

This is his favorite page so far.  He documents the characters, extraordinary happenings and his favorite part of the story, then he draws the picture.  I think his pictures are turning out pretty good.

Characters we have covered:

John Henry

Pecos Bill

Paul Bunyan

Mike Fink

Davy Crockett

Calamity Jane

Old Stormalong

Casey Jones

Mose Humphreys

Johnny Appleseed

Annie Oakley

Our Easter Weekend

Several years ago Erin and I attended a Passover Seder.  We really enjoyed experiencing what Jesus' last evening was like.  For a very long time after that I would remember parts of that meal during communion and it really changed the way I took it each week.  We decided that evening that someday we would start a family tradition of celebrating Passover but our kids were young and we did not feel ready to start. 

Two years ago I was teaching 2nd and 3rd graders at Bristol Road Church of Christ and as Easter approached I felt the desire to share the Passover experience with my class.  I decided to to it the following year.  Last year Erin and I did a lot of research and put together that Passover Seder for my 2nd and 3rd grade class which  I think they enjoyed and learned from.  I know my own son learned something because when we did our first family Passover this year he remembered much of the order and symbolism from the year before.

Thursday night we prepared and participated in our first family Passover Seder.  It brought so much meaning to what Jesus did in that upper room to follow the traditions he would have been sharing with his followers.  The boys and I set the table with their Great Grandma's table cloth and my china (which my children have never eaten from before).  I made a special meal and a cake made without leaven.  JJ was sure it was her birthday and when she came down from her nap she commented over and over that, "the table is pretty, mom".

Our Passover Table

We enjoyed the time together having a leisurely meal rather than rushing through to get to clean up and on to something else.  We also spoke a lot to our children about things that matter and were glad to take the time and be intentional in doing so.  We started about 5:30 and didn't finish until after 8:00.  The main time of eating the meal is toward the end of the Seder.  JR did ask many times, "So when are we going to eat?"

Having had an unemployed husband for the last two years, days off were something we no longer thought about.  Neither of us gave a thought to the fact that Erin would have Good Friday off.  He called late Thursday afternoon to say he was on his way home because things were wrapping up and he had the next day off.  What a nice, unexpected surprise.  We spent Friday night at the Knollwood Christian Church participating in their Easter Alive event.  We were assigned the station of the the Triumphal Entry.  Erin was Jesus and we spent the evening waving palm branches and being a joyful crowd shouting things like, "Hosanna", and "Our King is here".  JD loves the dramatic and quite enjoyed the evening.  JR was mostly bored but was glad to eat goodies during our breaks.  JJ was incredibly cute as she shouted, "Hosanna, Hosanna".

The kids did a great job of being quiet Saturday morning allowing Mommy and Daddy to sleep in.  We did the egg coloring thing.  JR was our master color mixer and managed to do two of his eggs in the time it took the other kids to finish all five of theirs.  We had some gold shimmer stuff to add this year and those odd colored eggs of JR actually looked pretty good once he added the gold.  I don't know why we color the eggs anyway, they just go in the fridge until I choose to make something from them.  No one ever sees the things.  I was going to make a centerpiece out of them for Saturday dinner but I forgot.  The kids had fun anyway.

JR put each egg in at least 3 colors before it was done.

JD has learned the art of coloring eggs.

JJ like to get her eggs in and out of the color quickly.

I put together Easter baskets Saturday night and put them in the kids' rooms.  JJ's was between her bed and the door and the boy's were next to their dressers.  I actually woke up before they did this morning and listened to hear what happened.  They all made it into our room without seeing their baskets.   I even sent JR back into his room for his glasses and he didn't notice.  I told Erin that the nice thing about having unobservant kids is you don't have to try too hard to hide things.  They found the baskets after I sent them back to find them and were very excited.  JJ was concerned about the Easter Bunny being in her room.  We all had new clothes to wear this morning which was nice. 

Since we do not have family here and we do not really know very many people yet we had a fabulous Easter dinner at Dairy Queen.  The kids enjoyed that a lot too.  I did buy a ham and planned a nice dinner for the evening but decided a nap was more important so the nice ham dinner will be enjoyed on Monday.  Why not spread out the weekend a little longer?

We had a great weekend remembering our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Experiencing a meal similar to his last.  Remembering the events of his last week.  Sadly recalling his harsh death sentence.  And rejoicing that he was not in that tomb on Sunday morning but that He Lives, He Lives, Christ Jesus Lives Today!

Had to add the sleeping baby girl.

Home is where you make it

My home is where my family is but questions brought to me tonight bring thoughts and memories of my Flint home that make tears fall.  I am thankful to be able to make my home for the next two years in a bigger and newer house but as I finish unpacking I miss more and more the ample storage of my old home.  My kitchen here may be newer but I miss my bigger and more powerful appliances.  The dishwasher in Flint may have leaked a little but it held much more and it got my dishes clean!  And my microwave popped popcorn in 2 minutes not 5-61/2 .  I miss the things we didn't get around to changing like painting and new carpet for the living room and under the cabinet lighting in the kitchen.  As it is it would have been wasted money so I'm glad we didn't spend it.

As spring gives us tiny glimpses of what's to come I miss my big backyard and large garden and the plans I had for both.  There was to be a strawberry patch and raspberry bushes.  Both things we never had the money to put in the way we wanted to.  My herb garden was just at the beginning stages of coming together.  Erin built it last summer and I would have started filling it this spring.  I will miss the deck and the fire pit, and boy I wish we had a shed here.  I will not be canning homegrown veggies this summer because I have no place to grow them.  I do not like the work of planting and harvesting and canning but I love the feel of feeding my family food grown of our own time and sweat.  Fortunately we did think to bring my Mother's Day lily from a few years ago.  Erin dug it up for me and it tagged along for the ride.

Leaving the place so quickly left little time to prepare mentally.  The last week I shed many tears doing mundane things like wiping out cupboards and vacuuming the basement.  Both things I had to do again when I moved here.  Upon viewing this house it was not evident how dirty it was.  I'm still finding spots on walls that need a good wiping. 

I will not again host a family gathering in our multi-purpose basement.  I will not stay up late putting together another birthday cake in my perfectly sized kitchen (enough counter space for multiple projects but not too much floor to clean).  I will not again fill the basement pantry full of bargain buys from doubling my coupons at Kroger.  I don't even have space now to stock up that well. 

I will make new memories and new routines in a nice new to us house.  I will host out of town guests in a guestroom rather than on an air mattress in the basement.  I will watch my children ride their bikes and scooters around a quiet cul-de-sac.  I will build a new life in a new place and try not to dwell on what is left behind.

The last two plus years have been hard ending with an abrupt departure from the life we knew and were comfortable with.  We will pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and look to a bright new Minnesota future.  But, if the opportunity comes, watch out Michigan, I'll be pushing hard for a return of the Haven's.

Making butter and biscuits like Laura and Mary

To start out we are reading Little House in the Big Woods for social studies and I'm "winging it" for things to go with the reading.  We have looked up Pepin, Wisconsin on the map and discussed many aspects of the Ingalls'  life. 

Yesterday we did two projects.  First we made butter like ma did.  The kids shredded carrot and we cooked it in some cream to color the butter.  Ma liked all things on her table to be pretty and she liked her butter to be yellow.

                                 The carrot cooking in the cream really did change it's color.
The kids shook and shook the cream in a small canning jar so we could observe the change.  Mommy shook and shook a lot too.

                                                           JR shaking the cream.
We got some beautiful yellow butter. (The kids ate the carrot that had been cooked in the cream which Laura and Mary had considered a treat.)  We decided to make some butter without cooking the carrot in it to see how different it was.  I decided to skip the warming step.  I should have known better.  We got whipped cream instead.  We decided to eat it on strawberries for lunch.  Pioneers might have had such a treat. 

                                              JJ enjoying her strawberries and cream.
One more try and we got white butter.  There really was a big difference in color.  Would they taste different?  There was a slight difference in taste just trying the butter outright.  We decided to have a taste test at supper time.

                                                        Our yellow and white butters.

For supper the boys made biscuits from scratch.  It tied in with social studies and reading and math.  They read the recipe and measured mostly by themselves and the control freak in me did step back and let them do it but it was difficult and messy.  They made beautiful buttermilk biscuits and we discussed some math concepts and baking concepts along the way also talking about the ingredients we used and that pioneers would have used.

                                                              JD cutting biscuits.
We ate our biscuits one half with white butter and one half with yellow.  On the biscuit it was hard to tell any difference in taste at all.  I was going to post a picture of one of the kids enjoying their biscuits but they ate them up before I had a chance to take one.

Today we read the chapter about Christmas and make vinegar pie.  Later this week JD will be following a pioneer recipe for Johnny Cakes.  We are learning about and eating like pioneers. (You know I am always about the food.)

Our new home

We arrived at our new home a week ago today.  The boys were on spring break.  The kids spent a lot of the week watching Disney channel, exploring their new backyard, and playing Wii.  The truck arrived with our stuff on Wednesday.  I have spent the week doing laundry and unpacking.  Boy, 91 boxes of stuff is a lot.  I am starting to wonder how much we really need.  I am down to around 20 to go.  I started reading Little House in the Big Woods to the boys last week.  It is going to be a big part of our social studies curriculum.  We have been noticing how little Mary and Laura had to play with and how the family didn't waste anything.  The girls even played with a pigs bladder blown up like a balloon on slaughtering day.  Laura's doll was a corncob wrapped in a handkerchief.  How much of this stuff I'm unpacking do I really need?  I look around and there are a few things I feel I can let go of but maybe I should take a harder look.  Maybe I could stop being a slave to so much stuff.

With the addition of all our stuff, however, this house is feeling more like home even if this place will not for some time to come.  I miss the people we left behind in Michigan most of all but finding my way around and figuring out how my life will be in this new place is also a challenge.  We will look into schools for the boys to attend in the fall but in the mean time as they adjust to a new place I am homeschooling them.  Finding my way around that is yet another challenge I am facing presently.

In the midst of all the unpacking, homeschooling, and general life living, here are glimpses of our new home.

                                                                            Our Living room

                                                                     Our front room

                                                                               Our Kitchen

                                                                          Our dining room

I have never had a living room so large and now I have two.  We have always had tiny little bathrooms and now we have one large one upstairs and a regular size one on the main level.  I may have been pulled out of my comfort zone but I have been blessed with a large home to live in and will enjoy living on the more comfortable salary of my husband.  Life is hard but God is always, always good.  Now, what am I going to do with those 20 more boxes of stuff?