PowWow with Dad

Last Saturday, Ken was at an overnight men's retreat, so the girls and I met my dad at a nearby American Indian festival. Usually we go to this on Mother's Day weekend, but this was the first year they held another one in November. I wouldn't have known about it if Dad hadn't told me, and I think he only knew about it because he's friends with the guy who organized it. This "Veterans Pow Wow and Warrior Salute" began with a prayer, then an opening dance that included veterans from many wars carrying flags, led by the United States flag. I loving hearing prayers in other languages; part of the prayer was offered in the Sioux language.

Any veteran, anyone who ever served in the military or still does, every police officer, firefighter, etc., were all invited to join in. Then those who wanted to honor a loved one who had served were also invited. I considered joining in to honor my Grandaddy, but I decided to stay where I was and just take pictures.

At first, Kathryn was a little un-nerved by what she called screaming during the singing. I explained that it was just a celebratory sounds, like us saying, "woohoo!" She got used to it after a few minutes, and enjoyed the rest of the music and singing (as long as we weren't too close to the speakers; she doesn't like anything loud).

I always love watching the dancers.These girls were in the "fancy dancer" competition:We visited Thunder the bison, but he only wanted to lie down and munch hay. Not exciting. We browsed the craft booths, and all found things that we liked, but I had left the checkbook at home, which was actually probably a good --or at least frugal-- thing. My favorite thing was a little cornshuck doll made into an angel and wearing a pale-colored buckskin dress. I want to learn to make one.

Dad bought us all some fry bread, which is like a flat funnel cake if you sprinkle powdered sugar on it -- yum! Lindsey ate boiled peanuts. (I do not share her appreciation of them!) I snapped this photo when Dad and Lindsey were laughing at me because when I stick my lens cap in the pocket of my jeans, apparently it looks like I have a snuff can in my pocket. N-I-C-E.
Kathryn couldn't resist a pony ride (she takes after me in my love for horses!):I consider this family fun that counts as a field trip. Isn't that one of the great things about homeschooling? The lines blur between "school" and "life." I could never have a blog JUST for homeschooling because I don't always know where that ends. And that's exactly how I like it.

If you'd like to see more photos from the festival, pop on over to see them in my flickr set here.

Field Trip: Pioneer Fall Harvest

We've been a one-car family since we sold Ken's Jeep (affectionately known as "Sarge") back in July '08, so field trips don't happen as often as we'd like. But we are very blessed to have friends and family who homeschool, don't live far away, and are interested in many of the same field trip things as we are! On Thursday of this week, we went with our homeschooling cousins to the Atlanta History Center for their monthly homeschool day. This month's focus was on food and fall harvesting traditions of pioneer families.

This was Lindsey's first field trip with us. She expected it to be BORING, but when Ken asked her about it later, she admitted that she enjoyed it. I figured she would, because she enjoys hands-on things, and because it got us out of the house and doing something different than our usual routine.

There is always much silliness when the young cousins get together. We tried for one somewhat un-silly photo, and this was as serious as the boys would get:
So then we just went for total silliness and Lindsey joined in the mix...
Kathryn has talked about candle-dipping since the last time we were here, so she was eager to make another candle. This time she wanted it much bigger, but with a line o kids having to take turns, it takes a long time. We really should just have a candle-making day at home. Hmmmm -- sounds like a great crafty thing to do soon...This time a loom to make rag rugs was set up by the slave cabin. These were called "friendly looms" because you could sit and chat while you worked on it. Lindsey and Kathryn (and I!) thought it was great, and want one of our own now! It really wouldn't be hard to make, and you could make it much smaller. Kathryn said it reminded her of a harp.We learned about picking cotton, and how hard a job that would have been. The girls each had a chance to remove the seeds, and when they didn't get every bit of cotton off the seeds, they were told about how slaves who did the same would have been in trouble because wasted cotton was like throwing away money.We also learned that we could not take any of those seeds home because planting cotton is against the law in Georgia without a license! The reason is because of the boll weevil eradication program; boll weevils destroyed Georgia's cotton crop back in the 1920's, and great care must be taken to insure that doesn't happen again.

Inside, the kids made "leather britches," which are string beans threaded together, then hung to dry, and could be cooked later, after they'd turned brown like leather; they are suppose to taste just like they were fresh out of the garden. Each of them made a pickle, too, as well as a recipe book with the recipes we'd picked up along the way outside. We might even use one of our new recipes when we make Thanksgiving dinner!

PhotoWalk

Today Ken and Lindsey and I took part in the second annual world-wide Scott Kelby PhotoWalk. The walk we participated in was in historic Roswell, a town square near here. Ken and I have been there several times, but have mostly visited the area near the waterfall, river, and pedestrian bridge. This time we ventured in and around historic homes. The weather this morning was just beautiful, nice and cool in the shade, with a lovely breeze. We don't get very many mornings like that in July, so it was sooooo pleasant!

Lindsey used one of our back-up cameras, and we gave her a little crash course in using it; last night, she and Ken even went on their own little neighborhood photowalk. I brought only my camera and one lens today. No flashes, no big honkin' lens, or any of that. I just wanted to enjoy the morning, not lug around a heavy load of stuff. Besides, I like to challenge myself to get good shots without the need for an armory of fancy gadgets.

This photo cracks me up: Lindsey and I walking past a "Do Not Enter" sign. Hee hee! (Obviously Ken took it!) Lindsey has a rather silly side. Which means she fits into our goofball family just perfectly. I had no idea she was doing this behind me. When I saw it, the first thing that came to mind was how I was joking with friends about giving birth to a teenager (when they congratulated me on our new daughter). See, this is what happens when you give birth to a child larger than yourself: arms and legs sticking out in all directions! We loved this grape arbor at Barrington Hall. Interesting light, and a wonderfully cool long tunnel of grapes: Did I mention that Lindsey has a silly side? (This is in the grape arbor, too.)We learned a bit about the history of this place, and Lindsey thought it was cool that the grand-daughter of the original owner was adopted. After her death, the home changed hands several times, and is now owned by the City and open for tours.

I liked this summer bath house/ice house/creamery. This part, the creamery, makes me think of a Vermeer painting. There just needs to be a pretty Dutch girl in there.On the way to Bulloch Hall, the childhood home of the woman who would become Teddy Roosevelt's wife, we saw this beautiful Victorian style home. Yes, obviously I added soem effects to this one, but that's just fun sometimes. I love this house! Just needs more flowers. Wouldn't it be a wonderful Rose Cottage!?

Hmmm... learning about history, architecture, photography, and even getting a good dose of exercise... I think this counts as Lindsey's first homeschool field trip! {grin}

Fun at Biltmore

A couple of months ago, my cousin Jonnia emailed me a link to the Spring Homeschool Festival at Biltmore Estate, with the brief message, "This would be a great field trip!" She was mostly kidding, but when I replied saying I wanted to go and would talk to Ken about it, we all got excited! My maternal grandmother is from Asheville and I've grown up hearing about Biltmore, but I'd never been, and this educational opportunity sounded like the PERFECT excuse to go! Ken was up for it, so he took the time off work, and I made the reservations. Jonnia's husband couldn't get away from his job, so she asked her mom (my aunt Beckie, one of the house-swappers) to come along.

We drove up on Wednesday, and Kathryn was very excited to visit North Carolina for the first time ever. The drive was beautiful, and so was the weather. Growing up, my dad's road-trip philosophy was: "Vacation doesn't start til you get there!" That made for some grumpiness and uncomfortable bladders! Prior to our first vacation together, Ken and I decided that our road-trip philosophy would be, "Vacation starts as soon as you leave the driveway!" It makes for much more enjoyable times, with plenty of time for potty breaks and meal stops when necessary.

Kathryn had never stayed in a hotel before, so that was one of the many things she was excited to do. Our hotel was on Tunnel Road; not surprisingly, there was a tunnel on the way to the hotel, and she thought that was extremely cool. She discovered she likes pumpernickel bread when we ate at Outback that night (her first time there--we don't go out to eat often). She loved being the official elevator button-pusher for us, too.

Thursday was non-stop fun, beginning with breakfast at the very fancy Biltmore Village McDonald's. (Did you know they have cafe lattes & cappuccinos at McD's now?) We met up with Jonnia & gang at the entrance gate to Biltmore at 9AM. Our first stop was touring the Biltmore home. Beckie rented headphones for us all to use on our self-guided tour, and I highly recommend that if you ever go; you learn ever so much more that way! I can't possibly pick my favorite part of the home, but I was very impressed with the library, and loved the thought of having tea in the tapestry room as the piano player provided live music! I was quite amazed by the technology, too, like sycronized clocks throughout the home, in-house telephone service, and a heated/lighted indoor pool! I also loved the servant's quarters--quite nice! In fact, I just learned from my mom that my great, great aunt (my grandmother's aunt) was a household servant at the Biltmore home! I need to find out her name and see what else I can learn about her.

After our tour, we had lunch at the Stable Cafe, and then headed over to the area where the homeschool activities were going on. In this photo, Kathryn is helping Cullen lift a 1000-pound log using an elaborate system of pulleys.There were some great demonstrations and activities for many different subjects. Kathryn & Cullen made a compass and learned about orienteering (using a compass & map); they watched a fun erosion demonstration; they helped churn butter and then got to sample it (yum!); learned a bit more about bees and observed bees at work in a cross-section of a hive; and saw birds of prey including a turkey buzzard, a red-tailed hawk, a screech owl, a horned owl, and a barred owl (all have been injured too severely to ever be returned to the wild).

After all of that, we headed to the farmyard, where we got to pet goats (love them!), two big Belgian horses named Bert and Ernie, a chicken named Emerald (iridescent black/green feathers), and hold baby chicks. The chicks were Kathryn's favorite part.Everyone at every part of Biltmore Estate was so helpful and friendly. When talking to the man who was keeping an eye on the kids holding the chicks (so nobody squashed one!), I mentioned that Kathryn wants to have chickens and be in charge of collecting the eggs, so he sent us over to the man in charge to ask if she could gather the eggs. We asked, he said yes, and Kathryn (and a few other kids) collected the nine eggs currently in the laying boxes. I learned that eggs have a natural anti-bacterial coating that allows them to sit out safely for about two weeks, but once you wash them, you must refrigerate them or they'll spoil. Even though I had chickens when I was a little girl (very little), I never knew that!

The barn was our next stop. Back in it's day, the estate included a dairy farm, and Biltmore Creamery sold milk, eggs, and ice cream. In honor of that, we all bought big ol' ice cream cones and sat down to rest while we ate them. Mmm, mmm, mmm! Before we left there, Kathryn and Cullen played on an old wagon, pretending to sell us vegetables. I think they could've entertained themselves with that game all day.What was once a dairy barn has now been converted to a winery. We took a tour there which concluded with a complimentary wine tasting, where I rediscovered that I really don't like wine at all. However, wine crackers are another matter entirely and go GREAT with tea! (I bought two boxes!) Kathryn and Cullen sampled what Kathryn said was the best, sweetest grape juice ever. (I'm guessing that's because it wasn't watered down like we do at home!)

Finally, as it neared sunset, we went around to the walled garden. I think heaven has quite a few places like this. It's too early in the season for much variety to be blooming. Some of the azaleas had just begun to bloom, as well as the dogwoods and a few other flowering trees, but the breath-taking display right now is the TULIPS! We walked up the hill to see the Biltmore home at twilight. Amazing. On the way out, a couple of deer leaped across the road ahead of us. It was totally dark, and we had spend nearly twelve hours at Biltmore Estate! We did see all that was there, but to really experience it fully, I think you'd need a few days, so we'll definitely go back someday. I'd love to go when all the flowers are in full bloom! Autumn would be gorgeous as well.

We headed back to Georgia on Friday morning, and took our time driving home. We'd all gotten a bit sunburned the day before because the 35-degree morning fooled me into thinking we wouldn't need sunscreen. I forgot that the medicine I was taking for bronchitis said to avoid sun exposure, and after the itchiest day and night I've ever had, now I know why! For future reference, aloe with lidocaine is a gift from God, and works better than lotion, vinegar, or ice packs on horridly itchy sunburns!!!

Nature Study: Moss, Lichens, and More

Ken was out of town all week on a business trip and got in very late Wednesday night (actually Thursday morning!), so he decided to take the day off yesterday to relax. Since it was such a gloriously beautiful day, we decided to go for a nature walk and enjoy a picnic lunch. We went back to the same trail at Kennesaw Mountain National Park where we went with friends last spring for our Nature Study: Picnic.
There are still quite a few of Barb's "Outdoor Hour" nature studies we have yet to do, and though we didn't specifically head out with any intention of getting one of these done, we kept noticing moss and lichens all over the place. I remembered that one of the nature studies we had not yet done was on Moss and Lichens, so we paid a bit more attention to these so we could read about them later at home. (We did that today.) Since Ken was with us, he manned the camera; therefore, I'm actually in some of the photos!We saw so many lovely things on our walk! There was one tree I haven't identified yet. Across a grassy field, we noticed it because it is red. When we got close, we saw that it had these bundles of red "helicopters" (as we call them). It was still a little cool to go wading in the creek this time, but Kathryn floated some leaves away in the current like tiny boats. We saw two lizards on a tree, some type of sapsucker or woodpecker that was just too far away to properly identify, and some beautiful bloodroot flowers. Kathryn asked what a big vine was that was growing up a tree; we weren't sure but when I said it may have been wisteria, she remembered from her Junior Ranger information that wisteria is a "pushy plant."We ended our nature walk with a picnic in a grassy field, one of the old Civil War battlefields at the park. We all agreed that food just tastes better after some good exercise and fresh air!

This Week's Fun

This week has been productive and fun. We completed the week's Ambleside history readings by Wednesday, and had time to do plenty of free reading. Kathryn read Brighty of the Grand Canyon and The Story of Doctor Doolittle, and now she's starting on a few more Little House books from the Caroline years. We're happy that our local library has had many of the things we've been looking for lately!

Math has continued to be tear-free, and even done cheerfully. I've praised Kathryn greatly for that. We're doing 3 or 4 lessons each week, depending on what else we have planned. We are finally doing poetry again, and have taken turns reading poems to each other at lunch. We've discovered that we talk differently after a good dose of poetry, and entertain each other greatly when we do so.

The weather is nice today, so I hope to get outside to do some sort of nature study. We have been noticing signs of spring in the behavior of our avian friends. We watched a pair of red-tailed hawks spiral down together from a tree to the ground, but they were behind some bushes when they landed so we couldn't see them; at first we thought they were fighting, but then we decided it was more likely they were mating. We also noticed a chicadee doing a little dance to impress another chicadee, so we're pretty sure he was trying to impress the girl.

Two of Kathryn's friends, and our neighbors, joined a brand-new Brownie Girl Scout troop a few months ago, and we thought about joining, too, but we were still having rehearsals for "Anne of Green Gables" then, and would have had to rush from one to the other. Rushing around like that is something I will not do. It's easy so want to do all sorts of neat activities, but hectic schedules are not part of the home-sweet-school environment we want to have. Since our schedule is now less hectic and they still have openings, we've decided to join. The meetings are right after school, and within walking distance, so transportation won't be a problem (since we're a one-car family). Kathryn's very excited, especially after her friends have told her that their first real field trip will be somewhere to ride ponies!

Yesterday we did a field trip of our own. We went with my cousin Jonnia and her son Cullen to a new science museum, and the kids had a great time! (The photographer in me must give a disclaimer about poor lighting in the museum, and I was just using my little pocket-sized camera.) The kids were SO excited when we walked in and saw the huge apatosaurus (formerly known as a brontosaurus). Although the skeleton is a re-creation, they do have a real fossilized bone for each creature in a display case nearby, with a diagram of where the bone was located in the animal, and a map showing where this particular specimen was found. For the apatosaurus, they had the femur, and it was 60" long! In the fossil gallery, they had a smaller t-rex sort of dinosaur called an appalachiosaurus, meaning "appalachian lizard" because it was found in the Appalachian Mountains -- the tyrannosaurus of the South. There was also the jaw bone of a gigantic shark, the megalodon, that's said to have been larger than a school bus. In the lobby when we first walked in, there is a huge 260-pound brass Foucault pendulum that demonstrates the rotation of the earth upon it's axis. In a 24-hour period, it will have made a complete circle. Some of these types of pendulums have sand below them to show the circle. This one had domino-like wood pieces set up in a circle, and every now and then it would knock one over. I'd never seen one of these before, and found it interesting and rather hypnotic. The Mineral Gallery was interesting, but the kids most enjoyed the part where they panned for gemstones; Kathryn found several small pieces of quarts, 2 or 3 pieces of tiger's eye, and some type of red stone we didn't identify. In the same area of the museum, they got to go on a "fossil dig" and could keep their favorite fossil. Kathryn and Cullen both chose to keep a shark's tooth from some type of now-extinct sand tiger shark. In addition to the real but tiny fossils, there were also some fossi replicas built into the "dig" area; in this photo they are uncovering some kind of trilobites.Photography wasn't allowed in the Science in Motion gallery, but I enjoyed seeing the old types of automobiles, like Ford's quadricycle, as well as some things from the space program, including a replica of the Apollo 1 space capsule.

My Big Backyard is a very hands-on, kid-friendly section. In it, there was a "greenhouse" dedicated to learning about light, prisms, shadows, and reflections (including silly fun-house style mirrors). Jonnia loved the part about sound waves, and the kids spent quite a while playing in a section about electricity and magnets. I loved this giant "tree" with some interactive nature-study types of activities. I wanted to explore the inside of the tree where we could learn about weather, but Kathryn did not like the thunder so our time there was very brief.

We didn't plan accordingly this time, but on our next visit I'd love to see the planetarium show about the stars over Georgia and the stories behind the constellations.

Fun With History

Yesterday we went with our homeschooling cousins to The Atlanta History Center for homeschool day, with special activities and demonstrations of how things were done in the "old days." One day each month is set aside for homeschoolers, and each month has a different focus; this time the focus was on 19th-century skills. We learned about woodworking, blacksmithing, wool-spinning, wool-dying, cooking, pottery-making, candle-dipping, and more! After a lesson on pottery-making, the kids all made their own small bowls. They also made their own candle, although ours were made of wax, rather than pig fat as they would have been back then. Here the kids are watching a wood-carving demonstration, which also turned into an interesting lesson about shoes worn in the 1850's; I think Kathryn remembers more about the shoes than the wood-carving! Be sure to read her perspective of our day, too.A main part of the history center is the Tullie Smith Farm. Although moved from their original locations in other areas in Georgia, all of the building are authentically old. The Smith House survived Sherman's march to Atlanta in the Civil War, and was moved to it's current location in 1969; the barn was moved from Bartow County (northwest of Atlanta). I'm not sure where the others were originally. A few sheep and chickens live here, but since it is within the city limits of Atlanta, the farm obviously is not as large as a real farm. As I was standing in the midst of this 1840's farm, I was amused by the odd juxtaposition of skyscrapers looming over the (small) corn and cotton fields. I knew that yards in those days were swept clean (no grass), but I had never really thought about why. We learned that it was so snakes didn't have a place to hide, and to make room for all the work they had to do in their yards, like laundry and hog-butchering. I enjoyed the old-fashioned flower and herb gardens surrounding the home. The kids get pretty silly when they're together, but I did get one mostly non-silly photo of the three of them. They are staggered in age and grade: Walker is exactly nine months older than Kathryn, and is in 3rd grade; Cullen, who just turned six last month, is in 1st grade. Kathryn will celebrate her 8th birthday this month, and is in 2nd grade. Those little blue things are the tags we wore in lieu of carrying around a ticket.The inside of the museum was fascinating as well. The horse-drawn fire wagon (below) was one of the first used in Atlanta. Somehow in living here all my life, I missed the fact that Atlanta had a major fire in 1917 that burned more than 50 blocks of the city! After that, more emphasis was given to the fire department, and laws were passed against the use of wooded roof shingles. I found this link to the original "Report on the Atlanta Conflagration". The museum also had a copy of a telegram sent from Atlanta to other cities requesting help after the devastating fire, as well as an aerial photo of the Great Fire. I just love old photos. Unbelievably, only one person died as a result of that conflagration. ("Conflagration" is one of my favorite words, but I seldom have the opportunity to use it! I know, I know--only "quirky" folks like me actually have favorite words.) We enjoyed the old clothes and furnishings, and a model of a "shotgun" style house. There were so many neat things to see; we'll have to go back again to try to catch some of what we missed. It was a bit overwhelming to take in all at once! Kathryn wanted to know how to dial the number on this old phone, so I had to explain about operators. Behind her is an example of how old plaster walls were made. You know, when we made the decision to become a one-car family, we knew it would be inconvenient. One of the sacrifices I expected to make was in field trips... but we already have more field trips planned this year than we did last year, even when we did have two cars. Thank you to Windee for driving yesterday, and to Jonnia for orchestrating this field trip! Another sacrifice I thought we'd be making was in participating in group classes; but class schedules worked out so that Kathryn will be able to take the class she most wanted to do: drama class, beginning this week! God is so faithful, even in the small things like field trips and drama classes.

Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield

Saturday, Ken suggested we go hike up Kennesaw Mountain; Kathryn and I agreed that would be a fun way to spend the day. First, however, we fueled up with a yummy Ken-cooked pancake breakfast (Kathryn says he makes the best pancakes!).

The hike up the mountain is only about one mile, but it sure does feel farther! We were on the lookout for critters, but on Saturdays, the park is pretty busy, so mostly we just saw lots of other hikers, including some of the canine variety. We heard birds and saw butterflies, but mostly just enjoyed the somewhat cooler-than-usual August day, and the lovely shade along the trail.

We like Kennesaw mountain; it's where we went for our fun picnic day with friends a few months ago. The very first time Kathryn hiked up the mountain was when she was three. As we drive around, we sometimes see Kennesaw Mountain peek out among the trees and she kept asking what mountain that was, and if we could go there. At the time, she was crazy about Dora the Explorer, and wanted to climb a big mountain like Dora. At the mountain top, Kathryn said she "could see the whole world!"

After our ascent on Saturday, we all had a snack (and lots of water). I took a little break while Ken and Kathryn explored a bit. We were called for a NILMDTS session, but wouldn't have been able to get home to get the rest of our equipment and take Kathryn to my mom's in time for this family, so we had to request that the coordinator for that hospital find someone else. I hate to ever have to turn down a call, but there's no way to know when our services will be needed.

Kennesaw Mountain is also a National Battlefield Park. It was the site of a major Civil War battle. Just as we were reaching the bottom of the mountain, we heard drums and realized that they were beginning a presentation on Civil War soldiers. We had no idea they would be doing this, so it was a wonderful surprise! A day of nature & family time ended up including a fabulous history lesson, too! We learned about the daily life of a Civil War soldier and the Union Army's uniform, had a lesson about marching maneuvers, and saw a demonstration on musket loading and firing sequences. Kathryn remembered a lot about loading the gun from reading about how Pa did it in "Little House in the Big Woods." She didn't much like the loud gun sounds, but when they began a playing some of the bugle calls and authentic songs from the Civil War, she liked that much better. I always think of areas like Boston, and especially over in Europe, as having a rich history to learn about, but I realized Saturday that we have a lot to learn right here. I've lived in Georgia all of my life, but there is so much I still don't know about my own home state. We're focusing on Georgia history this year, and will be learning more about American Indians as well, and I'm excited about it. Splendid days like this get me excited all over again about how blessed we are to homeschool. I'm guessing there are quite a few fun educational things to do where you live, too; I'd love to hear about them!