History Days -- 2

Last week we gathered for our second WW II study. I just can't tell you how much fun we are having. Remember the passports we made last time? You had to have one to get in.

(Who said boys can't have as much fun dressing up as girls?)

First we made timelines. When they are opened up they are 4 ft. long. The timelines are accordion books, really simple to make and they don't take up a lot of room. We added a few "beginning of the war" dates with pictures and will continue adding information as we study at home.

This time the kids each gave reports. Abbey talked about hobos in the US prior to our entering the war. This was fascinating. Did you know that hobos were not tramps, they were willing to work. They had a secret code that they used to mark your home to indicate whether you were friendly, had work, a vicious dog or had a place to sleep etc?


Anna helped. They served us Mulligan stew for lunch. It's kind of like stone soup. The hobos would put in whatever each of them had----- to come up with a meal.

Robby gave us a history of the war's beginning and told about the planes. Kids made hundreds of thousands of model planes so that those folks who were spotters could practice identifying them.

So the kids put together model planes.

Matthew's was a Spitfire!

Matthew's report was on spys and their equipment.

He had, for each of the kids, a secret message that could have been hidden in a regular deck of cards.

They had to assemble that message.

I believe it said something like: "Time to consume our daily ration of sugar". (snack time)

We had a wonderful time. I learned a lot and look forward to our next event. {October's gathering is going to be a doosey!}


PS I'm still trying to catch up with posts from our trip.

Jaimie's Birthday

Last week was Jaimie's birthday. She wanted to wear her beautiful blue dress so the girls all gathered for a luncheon tea.

Jaimie loves animals, especially dogs.

Her gift from several of us was rather small in size. What fun is that? Don't you get really excited and curious when given a huge package? I still do. In keeping with our gift giving traditions, we wrapped this gift in two different packages inside this big box.
;-) Like to keep Jaimie guessing.

The girls were all so lovely.

They didn't plan it but Ahna and Haley were definitely color coordinated.

Happy Birthday Miss Jaimie

The Kittens

Thank you to our friends who gave us these fiesty kittens. Just so you can see how they are doing we took these pictures.

They came from different families, but have bonded with each other very well.

This little orange one (Opal) will not let the other one (Purrdeeta) out of her sight. When they get separated she meows until they find each other.

It is so much fun to have kittens around. Can't wait to see what they think of the pumpkins!

Our trip to New York

The first leg of our trip took us on a little adventure. Instead of turning south out of our driveway we headed North to Milwaukee. There is a Lake Express (ferry) that goes across the Lake to Muskegon. The kids had never been on a ferry before so off we went.

The Milwaukee harbor.

We wondered if Andrew was out sailing that morning. It was so beautiful out.

Looking back at the skyline.

The guys wondered the deck as we were departing. Look at what they found! You may have to enlarge it to see . . . . . TRANE roof top units! "grin"

This was the cabin where you could travel away from the weather. It was very comfortable.


When we arrived at the Michigan side the Coast Guard met us and escorted us to the dock.

We had to travel this channel and into a large bay area beyond.

There were beautiful homes along the channel. . . . . . . . . .

and a museum with a sub. Ooooh.

Matthew noticed the gun on this Coast Guard boat parked along the way.

The cars were carried on a lower deck. You could only go down there as the ship was docking.

We drove in one end and then proceeded out the other.

It was so much fun and we missed all the Chicago traffic. PTL It felt like we'd gotten a jump start on our trip. From here we worked our way across Michigan and into Canada for the night.

Come, Ye Thankful People Come!

Come, ye thankful people come,
Raise the song of harvest-home:
All is safely gathered in,
Ere the winter storms begin,
God, our Maker, doth provide
For our wants to be supplied:
Come to God's own temple, come,
Raise the song of harvest home.




All the world is God's own field,
Fruit unto His praise to yield:
Wheat and tares together sown,
Unto joy or sorrow grown.
First the blade, and then the ear,
Then the full corn shall appear,
Lord of harvest grant that we
Whole-some grain and pure may be.




For the Lord our God shall come,
And shall take His harvest home:
From His field shall in that day
All offenses purge away:
Give His angels charge at last
In the fire the tares to cast,
But the fruitful ears to store
In His garner evermore.



Even so, Lord, quickly come
To Thy final harvest home:
Gather Thou Thy people in,
Free from sorrow, free from sin;
There, forever purified,
In Thy presence to abide:
Come, with all Thine angels, come,
Raise the glorious harvest home.
by Henry Alford

We're Home

It's so great to be home! You know the routine, unpack, do laundry, clean up, grocery shop and cook.

Well Grandma Glenna blessed us and made dinner for us so we wouldn't have to cook. "happy grin"

It was absolutely delicious and beautiful. The beef stew was so good. She used allspice in it for the first time. I'm going to try that. Also notice the fresh sliced tomatoes from their garden.
WOW YUMMY

Nate served. ;-)

Thank you Lord for such wonderful Grandparents. Thank you Mom for your thoughtfulness and the delicious supper.

Coming soon are posts about our trip.

Rolling, rolling, rolling . . . . . . . .

We are off!
(all except Nate who happily has to stay home and work "grin")

We head out today for New York to the National Leadership Conference. Spirits are high and who knows if we have everything?? Please hold us in your prayers. See you next week!

History Days

This year we are studying WW II. I love to do history as a hands on unit study and the Konos curriculum (love it) taught me how to do this.
We formed a small co-op with 3 other families who we meet with monthly. {We've tried the big co-op thing and found that creativity and interaction was diminished and the kids don't learn nearly as much} We are also planning all our field trips together. We each continue our studies at home as desired but then come together for reports, activities and projects. This was our first get together.











We began our background information with stories, discussion and map work. (Yes as I prepare I am learning as much or more than the kids !)

We made passports.

At home we are busy gathering all the things for military uniforms for the boys. So far I've found some really great stuff. The girls are researching clothing trends and hair styles for that time period. You know the fashions changed to reflect the shortage of cloth. Then they will sew/gather and put together their outfits. (Were do you find nylons with a seam up the back?)




So what would you have taken with you if awakened at 2 AM and given an hour to leave your home with your family?






Matthew and I are reading A Father's Promise aloud together. It's written about a young Jewish boy and his father living in Warsaw during Poland's take over by Germany. Good stuff.


Susan was our first boarder guard as we were leaving for the museum. She stamped each child's passport.

Anna was so cute/serious. She was thinking about all that we had talked about to explain passports and check points etc. Susan asked her if her name was Marie Something-or-other. Anna stood there for the longest time trying to figure it out and finally told her full name with a huge sigh. Our "boarder guard" then said it was a good thing that her name matched the info in her passport. Now she could go with the others on the field trip. =)



You just can't imagine the fabulous books, videos, pictures, tapes and materials out there about WW II. "drool" (Andrew, do you remember when you studied this listening to speeches from that time . . . . . . . . .over and over again ?)

Haley is about to read Never Give In: The Extraordinary Character of Winston Churchill. I thought this quote from Henry Kissinger about Churchill was particularly poignant for today.

"Our age finds it difficult to come to grips with Churchill. The political leader with whom we are familiar generally aspire to be superstars rather than heroes. The distinction is crucial. Superstars strive for approbation; heroes walk alone. Superstars crave consensus; heroes define themselves by the judgment of a future they see it as their task to bring about. Superstars seek success in a technique for eliciting support; heroes pursue success as the outgrowth of their inner values."