Daniel Boone Unit Study Part 2

OK, so we have just finished the second week of our Daniel Boone Unit Study and it is going very well. This week we learned about animal tracking, some vocabulary and covered wagons. Here are the details.

The first activity kind of presented itself to Rebekah ans me at the beginning of the week. We were out for a walk, when we saw some different animal tracks than we were used to seeing around our place. So, we got our camera and took some pictures of the tracks. Then we looked up animal tracks on the Internet and found that rabbit tracks are the closest to what we found. So we believe we have a rabbit living under our granary. This can be part of our unit study because Boone was a very good hunter and animal tracker. We had been trying to pretend to track animals in the snow a couple of weeks ago to pretend to be Boone, but this was even better. It was fun trying to figure out just what kind of animal has been on our property.

The second activity we had this week was learning some 1800's vocabulary. We looked at the poem we had printed off at www.homeschoolshare.com and I took some words that I knew my kids would not know the meaning of. Then I looked then up in a dictionary from 1828 at www.1828-dictionary.com/ to find the definitions. I printed out the definitions for Ben and Jacob to cut and paste, but Rebekah had to write hers out. We used Daniel Boone note paper also form www.homescoolshare.com for this assignment. I picked the words; vales, kin, kith, unhewn and rove.

Our last activity for the week was to make covered wagons. I found this idea at http://www.lessonpathways.com/Pathways/Detail?path=%2F03_History%2FYear_1%2F13Daniel_Boone This was a lot of fun. Making the wheels was kind of finicky, but that's OK. Instead of gluing the wheels on, we used paper fasteners (?) so that they will turn.

Rebekah had hers hitched up to horses with passengers in no time.

Daniel Boone Unit Study Part 1

This Christmas I bought Daniel Boone Season 1 from 1964 for my family, hoping to find a good show we could all watch and enjoy together. We are really enjoying it. It is full of history, and so interesting. My kids were so excited about Daniel Boone, that I decided to do a unit study on him. So this is Part 1 of our journey through American history centered around Daniel Boone's life. I will put the references for material at the bottom.
We started, of course, with a title page Then I printed off an easy overview of Boone's life (not shown) and lastly we included a poem about Boone. Which we will learn some vocabulary from later. This was day 1.

On the 2nd day, we started to focus on the 13 Colonies, because Boone was born in Pennsylvania in 1734. So we are going to spend 2 weeks talking about Colonial times. To begin with, we included a map of the 13 Colonies and coloured the states Boone lived in, and we started a timeline of his life.

Then we learned about hornbooks. Which was how children learned how to read back then. The kids made their own hornbooks. But the exciting part was, later that night, when we watching Daniel Boone on TV, Israel (his son) was using a hornbook to do his lessons. It was just cool to see what I learned in a book portrayed in real life.




We are learning about what the children did for fun as well. So to begin with, Rebekah and I have been making these absolutely adorable rag dolls. I found the pattern on a blog and it is so easy. There is no sewing involved and now that we know how to make them, it only takes about 5 minutes to complete.

Of course, the boys really want to act out what we're learning, so here is Jacob below with his Daniel Boone attire. We went to the thrift store and found a real suede vest and a red shirt like Fess Parker wears in the show. Rebekah put her leather purse around him like a trappers bag. And the final touch, the popping gun he got for Christmas. Rebekah did his hair the same as Fess Parker as well.

Now we know the TV show is actually a completely different portrayal of Boone and his life, but it is full of actual historical events, such as the wars and the fight for the land they were on and seeing how people lived in the 1700's.

Resources;

Title page: http://www.gutenberg.net/ The Life & Times of Col. Daniel Boone by Cecil B. Hartley

Overview: http://www.gutenberg.net/ Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans by Edward Eggleston

Poem: http://www.homeschoolshare.com/ search Daniel Boone

13 Colonies map: http://www.lessonpathways.com/Pathways/Detail?path=%2F03_History%2FYear_1%2F13Daniel_Boone Click on the link for 13 Colonies

Timeline information: http://www.fortboonesboroughlivinghistory.org/

Hornbook: Same link as 13 Colonies

Ragdolls:
http://rhythmofthehome.com/archives/winter-2010/no-sew-rag-dolls/

Daniel Boone Season 1: www.christianbook.com ($20)

Quick Meal Recipes

I just wanted to share some of the quick meals I've prepared recently. I know that I get stumped for ideas for meals on a regular basis and thought maybe these recipes might come in handy for someone.

This first one is so great, because it uses ingredients I always have on hand and it also uses the crock pot. Another great thing is I used frozen meat. Around 1pm I wondered what I would make for dinner one day. I went to my freezer, pulled out a bag of drumsticks and had supper ready in 5 hrs.

EASY HONEY GARLIC CROCK POT CHICKEN

Ingredients:

Cut up chicken (I used drumsticks)

1 can Tomato soup

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/3 cup honey (or you can use apricot jam or brown sugar)

2 crushed garlic

salt and pepper

From frozen, thaw chicken on defrost in microwave until you can just break the pieces apart. Put into crock pot. Mix other ingredients in a bowl, then pour over meat. Set on high for 4 hrs. You can baste the meat with the sauce as it cooks. Now my trick was, while the potatoes were cooking, I took out the crock pot insert and put it in the oven uncovered at 325 degrees. Once all the veggies were ready, the chicken was ready too.

This next recipe I got from 2 places on the Internet. A few weeks ago I was watching 18 Kids and Counting on DVD. In this one episode, they were making pizza for lunch and boy did it look good! So I went on their website to see if they had their pizza dough recipe and they had a link to a really great recipe. This is the link;
http://highschoolhomeschooler.blogspot.com/2011/03/homemade-pizza-in-40-minutes.html

(This blog is done by a homeschooled teenager, really cool.)

I have tried many homemade pizza dough recipes and this is by far the best!

Then I got got another idea from Crystal at Homemaking on the Homestead. When she makes pizza crusts, she makes extra for the freezer and that is what makes this a quick supper. I had already made pizza crusts and froze them according to Crystal's directions at this link;
http://homesteadinghomemaker.blogspot.com/2012/01/pizza-crusts-for-freezer.html

I made a freezer pack of the leftover cheese, toppings and sauce the last time I made pizza, so the other night we had pizza in about 20 minutes. Here is my freezer pack below.

And here is the yummy final product. A deluxe pizza. (Actually we had 2)

And if you are wanting a fast dessert and maybe watching your caloric intake, try this spongecake. It is ready in about 35 minutes and you can do so much with it. We have had it with strawberries and whipped cream (I make it in a bunt pan for that) or this time, we actually put chocolate icing on it. But, to tell you the truth, it was SO much better after it had been completely cooled in the fridge and eaten cold. This recipe is great because there is no butter or oil, only eggs.

I found this recipe at this link;
http://www.recipes4cakes.com/sponge_cake/bestsponge_cake.htm

I have even calculated out the dietary info;

1/8 of the cake

182 calories

3.2 gr fat

I didn't calculate the fibre, but it probably isn't that much.

Free Magazine

I really wanted to pass this on to those of you who do not have a subscription to The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. They have just gone digital and they are offering the January issue free to everyone. So if you can get comfortable with your computer and have some free time, take a look. They have really encouraging homeschool articles and it is a great resource for materials. Just click on the link below to view.

http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine-digital.com/thehomeschoolmagazine/freegift/#pg1

Fun In School

It seems with two young boys, we never have a lack of humorous things happening around here.

For our school bible time, we have been learning two bible verses regarding a certain character quality each month. Last month we were learning about wisdom. Our second memory verse was from James 3:17 and says,

"But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy."

Now, every time we tell Jacob that it says "first pure", but what he thinks it says is " 1Peter" because one of our memory verses on self control was,

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." 1 Peter 5:8.

So, instead of saying "first pure", Jacob says "1 Peter 5:8". Usually he can say the hard words at the end on this video, but I guess he was having a hard time that day.

A Must See Documentary

Larry and I had the opportunity to watch this video at a friends house last night and I really wanted to pass along some ideas about it. As homeschooling parents this movie, IndoctriNation, completely affirmed all the reasons why we homeschool. It really is a must see for all Christian parents. We all should know what is happening in our public schools nowadays. If you are thinking about homescooling, this movie could be the tool God uses to help you know 100% that you should start as soon as you can. Damage is being done to our children and their souls in the public schools.
I like some points they said in the movie. Such as; Jesus said "He who is not with Me is against Me and he who does not gather with Me scatters". Luke 11:23. Our public schools are not for God, so, of course, they are completely against Him. They teach things all day that go absolutely against the word of God.
They also used "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." 3 John 1:4 This bible verse tells us that we should have no joy as great to know that our children are following the Lord. This means if we want joy, we need to do everything we can to make sure we teach our kids about God and to help them in their walk with Him. When they are out of our care for 12 years for more than 1/2 the day learning everything that goes against what we are trying to teach them at home, they will have conflict in their hearts.
What an awesome blessing it is that we here in Canada still have the freedom to educate our children at home. I hope that a lot of you will be able to see this movie and as you look to God for guidance that He will direct your paths for your family.
You can go to www.indoctrinationmovie.com for more information and to see a trailer.

The Best Start To Our Year

I just want to say "Happy New Year"! I know this is a bit late, but I have been trying to upload videos on this post and it just isn't working. So, I just have to post these pictures of how we celebrated our new year. On January 1st, my brother, my mom and another pilot flew 2 helicopters (from Prism Helicopters) all the way from the West Coast to our farm!!! Yay! It was a last minute thing and we couldn't have been happier. In the picture below, you can see Larry spray painting heli-pad circles just on the other side of our driveway. The rest of us were watching with total anticipation.






In this picture, Jeremy is landing with my mother on board and the other pilot, Tom, is coming in for his landing.




Here is my wonderful, awesome brother going to open the door for my mom.

After we spent a great night with our guests, having a bon fire, eating supper and just visiting, all my kids and Larry rode in the helicopters as they flew down to Red Deer in the morning. This is Rebekah in the back seat and Ben in the front.

Here, below, you can see little Jacob with Ben in the front seat and Jeremy making sure they are all secure.




This was such a great experience for my family and it was so good to see my mom and brother. The next day, my cousin and her family came for the night on their way home to Saskatchewan and that was a time of sweet fellowship. The night after that, we drove my mom and brother to the airport to fly home and that was the end of our visit, but what a blessing it was!

OK, I finally was able to put on one of our videos. Unfortunately, it's just a short one of the helicopters flying away with my family one board.
(Jan 16) I got another video on! The one on the bottom is of the helicopters taking off with Larry and the kids on board.