Lewis and Clark: Following in Their Footsteps Lewis and Clark What an amazing journey! My boys and I spent far too long studying Lewis and Clark this past year. That’s what happens in our home when mom falls in love with learning about something… We camp there a while. I never paid attention in school when we learned about the Louisiana Purchase and Jefferson’s desire to know all about America’s new land. It wasn’t until I picked up the book Undaunted Courage that I became enthralled. This book intermingles the journals of the explores with “just the right amount of narrative” to draw you into the expedition. I loved every word. To top it off, my husband thought it would be fun to explore some of their actual journey. Since we live a few hours from the Columbia River, we planned our vacation as a retracing the footsteps of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. What a delightful trip! Here’s where we explored: The Dalles. This is now home to a great Dam, but at the time of the expedition was a treacherous stretch of the river that was riddled with waterfalls. Clark was appalled by “the horrid appearance of this agitated gut swelling [water], boiling and whorling in every direction.” (They couldn’t spell) It was such a dangerous stretch of water that they sent all the men who could not swim by land carrying all the heavy and less valuable items with them. This was a Class V rapid, meaning it could not have been run by modern experts. The natives of the area were sure the white men would die and so they lined the banks to watch them fail, ready to scoop up all the abandoned equipment. To their astonishment, the Americans made the run without incident! We stopped at the Dalles Dam/Museum and enjoyed learning all about the dam as well. It is interesting to see the river today. The dam quiets the rapids quite a bit but you can imagine the torrents of yesteryear! Discovery Center Museum There is a fantastic museum that we explored which included quite a bit of information and some artifacts from the expedition. Fort Rock Camp We visited the site where the expedition spent three days regrouping- repairing canoes, drying their gear, and hunting. It was surreal to stand where they stood! The Columbia River We drove west along the Columbia. I was stunned that there were over 70 waterfalls! Nursing a foot injury, our family only explored the more famous falls which were easy to access from the road. Multnomah Falls was my favorite. Vista House Up a windy road we found the Vista House. At the turn of the century, this area was declared a wonderful excursion spot for motorists in the “horseless carriages”. The roads were groomed for pleasure driving and the vista house was a destination for travelers to take in the incredible view, picnic, and simply refresh themselves. Stunning view!! Before leaving the Columbia, we stopped at the Bonneville dam to see the hatchery and the giant sturgeon. Worth the detour! In the main building we could see into the fishladder (bypass which keeps the fish safe as they swim upstream). It was incredible to see the amount of fish fighting their way upstream! We then travelled west until we reached the city of Seaside. Seaside is the place where the expedition first reached the Pacific Ocean. They also set up a salt harvesting team there as well. Fort Clatsop After exploring the west coast for a place to camp for the winter, the captains decided to build a fort with the Clatsop Natives. There were plenty of trees and resources and the hunting was good. Our family loved exploring the recreation of the winter camp. The original camp was long gone, having rotten away from the elements, but the recreation is considered to be very close to the original. What a fun family adventure to walk in the footsteps of famous explorers! Preview of the Heart of Homeschooling God’s Way Master Class. We need to STOP measuring success by grades, achievements, awards, and worksheets.
Teaching the U.S. Constitution Teaching the U.S. Constitution Confession. I was not excited to teach the boys about the Constitution. I have never been interested in this precious document. Terrible, I know. Funny how your heart changes as you study something… We have fallen in love with this document as we read and discuss our Constitution and the power of what was written. This past week, we were studying t and foche first few sections of the Constitution and have focused on the fact that the founding fathers kept journals of all their meetings. My boys keep journals, so I thought it would be fun to dig back through the House of Representative and Senate Journals. What a treasure! I had the boys choose a period of time in our country’s history that interested them. (They chose the Great Depression) We then searched the journals to see what was going on in the legislature at that time. Things the boys discovered: Just a few… The members of the legislature had to wait until a voting majority arrived before discussing any governmental business. (It took weeks for them to assemble enough voting members) Most of the action items we boring everyday necessities: Like budget. You can glean what was happening at the time by reading through the journals: The need to improve highway safety Death penalty revisions What a treasure to dig through historical documents with the boys! I would highly recommend seizing opportunities to dive in deeper with your own kids: regardless of what you are studying together. Do you want to browse the journals of the House of Representatives and Senate? Follow the links and see what you can discover about our nation! United States Journals
Homeschooling: Step Three- How Do I Homeschool? When I looked over my first stacks of teaching materials I panicked. “You mean I have to teach this stuff?” Photo by Jon Toney Curriculum- “those stacks of learning materials we rely upon to teach their kids”, can freak out the best of us. Over the last two decades, I have learned to approach curriculum very differently. I no longer feel chained to this page or that lesson. Instead, I rely on what I call the covered wagon approach. The Covered Wagon You can also call this style of teaching/learning: thematic learning, or unit study. First: We choose a focus for the current period of study. I call this choosing the ” Golden Thread”. An example of a Golden Thread: Study Native American History for North America. Second: I need you to look at the picture of the covered wagon. Use your imagination with me. This wagon is on a journey to some destination. There are 4 wheels solidly on the ground to help the wagon make it to its destination. The wagon is steered and controlled by the grown-ups or older children. There are extra horses to facilitate quick side trips. Lastly, notice that the wagon itself is full of supplies and activities to occupy the travelers. How you Teach Using this method We first choose a destination (In this example: studying Native American History). This is where we decide what our final project will be to present what we have learned. Need Ideas for Projects? I have a Unit Study Idea Sheet for you at the end of this article. Second, we look down and see our 4 foundational Wheels: History, Science, Math, and English (Language and literature). We will look for ways to incorporate each of these subjects while teaching about Native American History. History: learn about the main native American groups. Focus: for each group of Native Americans learn: where they lived, what was the climate, what kinds of clothing did they wear, what they ate, did they worship a god? Science: Focus: examples: study weather. create graphs of your local weather, compare that with weather in the areas that the native tribe you are currently studying lived. Study Native American weapons. English: Focus spelling and vocabulary around the tribe you are studying. Choose 5-20 words a week to learn. Choose books to read together and independently about Native Americans. Complete daily copy work about Native Americans, weekly narration about Native Americans, and weekly dictation. Math: Estimate the distance from one tribe to another. research whether each tribe had a way to record numbers and record data. Complete word problems focus on Native Americans. The 4 Wheels of History, Science, English, and Math are your foundation. Just like the wheels of a real wagon would be on the ground every day, these subjects would make up your core learning. Third: Remind yourself that the wagon is “controlled” by older children and adults. A 5-year-old will not necessarily determine that they want to study Native Americans, but an older student might. Remind yourself that you are ultimately responsible for your destinations, but there are almost no wrong places to study! You choose! Fourth: In the picture above there is a lone rider on a fresh horse. With the Covered Wagon Approach, you need to be ready to break free from the wagon when a spontaneous learning opportunity presents itself. For example, maybe your student becomes fascinated with the Appaloosa horse of the plains nation. Take a side trail to study the Appaloosa and other breeds of horses. Look for ways to incorporate Math, Science, English and History while you are on this side trail. Once the burst of Inspired Learning fades, go back to the wagon. Fifth: The covered wagon. Just like the picture shows a wagon full of supplies and activities, you carry into your teaching an endless supply of activities and field trips to supplement your child’s learning. This is where art, music, dance, technology and things like theater fit in. Where can you go, what can you do, how can you see, taste, smell what you are learning about? In our Native American Study you could research and explore Native American Art and learn how to reproduce things like beaded bracelet’s, you could download Native music, attend a POW WOW in your area, visit the museum, watch History Channel Movies (or even Disney Movies), research YouTube videos, interview a local Native American and more. The Covered Wagon Approach means you jump into a golden thread and focus all your learning in that direction. You choose an historical focus and design, plan or purchase programs that incorporate all of those 4 foundational disciplines into that particular area of learning (You really do not need a specific curriculum to learn/teach this way: With the exception of math where you will learn from a math program of some sort. This can be as free or expensive as you desire!) Download your FREE “Unit Study Ideas” {Printable} Join us for the Heart of Homeschooling God’s Way Curriculum has nothing to do with homeschooling success Showers are optional and overrated No amount of knowledge looks beautiful on someone with a terrible attitude Coffee is one of the major food groups Children’s shirts have four clean surfaces: Front, back, inside front, and inside back Feeding kids chicken nuggets and corndogs don’t make you a bad mom The Lord will lead the way in raising and educating my kids
History for Homeschoolers History resources, deals, tips, and encouragement. This page is continually updated with new resources! Why do we teach history and geography? History repeats itself! We want to equip our kids to make wise choices based on history. By studying cultures, events, and people of the past we can teach our children to pattern their lives, “based on history”. History gives us an endless supply of examples of wise and stupid decisions of people that have walked this world before us. Let’s teach our children to look for examples in the lives of those who have gone before us. More Important than studying any ONE particular person, event, invention, or time period, is teaching our kids to be natural investigators of the past. “Do you know about the Pony Express?” After asking all four of my sons the same question I beat myself up a bit. It turns out that NONE of them knew anything about this piece of history. I began thinking about all the different things, people, events, and inventions I haven’t made sure my kids have learned. And then I remembered the BIG truth. It doesn’t matter if we miss events, people, and inventions from history… It matters if we don’t pass on a HUNGER for historical knowledge to our kids. I’m not saying we should neglect teaching history. My kids NEED to know about the Pony Express, who wrote the first epic novel, and random and weird history like Knockers-up. Before there were alarm clocks, there were “knockers-up”, who were hired to shoot dried peas from a blow gun at people’s windows in order to wake them up in the morning. We can learn a lot from history! But we have to ask the right questions! {Click here for Free download} Short List of History Subjects: Biblical History Archaeology Ancient Civilizations (They were brilliant!!) Medieval History Renaissance Dark Ages Colonial America Civil War American Revolution Industrial Revolution Cold War World War I and II Native American History Westward expansion Geography! This world is a fascinating place! and more, much more Get your free History Topic Ideas and Questions to ask when studying History before you go… My Opinion: God is the ultimate historian! Read your Bible with your children and research history mentioned. There is so much to learn about God and the character of a follower of Christ wrapped up within the subject of history. You could spend an entire lifetime studying any one area of history. When exposing your children to important historical events, be prepared to pause and dive deeper into an area of interest! Anything that is important to God is important to us and therefore worthy to teach to our children.