~ Historic Brattonsville, 1840's School House Field Trip, Friday, October 1, 2010 ~

This is a program in SC designed for 3rd graders to correlate with the SC 3rd grade curriculum...
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ658252&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ658252 

Held at Historic Brattonsville in McConnells, SC.....http://chmuseums.org/brattonsville/index.php

Historic Brattonsville Academy: Schooldays of 1840
3rd–4th Grade
"From the minute the school bell rings, students become scholars in an 1840’s academy. They walk, talk and play as children did in the 1840s. This highly immersive program shows students, first-
hand, what school was like before the Civil War. Lesson includes: ciphering (on slates), grammar, quill penmanship, spelling, geography and games."



Program Length 9 am–1 pm, Max 25 students (2 adults allowed)
$10 per student

Standards: Social Studies 3-1.2, 3-1.3, 3-4.1, 4-3.7 English & Language Arts 3-3.1, 3-4.2, 4-4.2 Mathematics 3-1.1, 3-1.3, 3-1.5, 4-1.3, 4-1.5 Physical Education 5-1.1, 5-1.2, 5-1.3, 5-5.6, 5-6.2


***Pre-Visit activities Sam did are as follows:
Assemble & Decorate Copybook, Previewed lessons in copybook: Nouns, Verbs, US Presidents as of 1840's
Read & Discussed: Letter from Martha Bratton
Discussed & Completed: Activity Sheet – Trading Places
Read & Discussed: What Will it Be Like at Brattonsville Academy?
Read & Discussed: What Will I Learn at Brattonsville Academy?
Read & Discussed: School Supplies in 1840s
Read & Discussed: Brattonsville Academy Glossary
Viewed & Discussed :Pre-visit video: Quills, Slates, and Graces
Read & Discussed: Classroom Rules, How to Address Teachers


Sam was extremely interested in and excited about everything we did pre-visit, and never became distracted once.

Sam's 'copybook', name written with 'quill pen', design decorated with water colors.

Sam practicing 'roundhand' of the letters O and C.

The 'Scholars'

The 'Scholars' meeting the 'Mistresses'

Recess

Recess

Recess

Recess

Meeting the School Mistresses

Getting into uniform.

Hmmm...is this why Unschoolers are usually considered evil? ;)

Boys in the back of the class!

Boys working in their 'copybooks'

View of inside 1840s classroom

Boys working on their 'copybooks'

Girls using the 'quill pens' for practicing 'roundhand'

Boys using 'quill pens' to practice 'roundhand'

Sam using his 'quill pen' to practice 'roundhand'

School Mistress teaching them to labor so Satan won't get them in trouble!

Sam really enjoyed this! He says the School Mistresses told him he could come back to their 1840s school anytime he likes!

~ Graffiti Party, Friday, October 1, 2010 ~

Sam & Kailey plotting points.

Bridger!

Enoch

Enoch

Lorie

Josiah & Kitten

Jen's Special Spices

Remus

Free reign over spray paint? Somebody pinch me so I'll know it's for real!

Jen's Spicy Bloody Mary

I have the coolest friends in the world. Basically we were invited over to spray graffiti all along miles of the inside of my friend's new privacy fence. She rocks. My boys wish to move in with her now.

~ Tuesday, October 5, 2010 ~

Art Day

Art Day

Art Day

Art Day

Art Day

Art Day

Movie Time at Art Day!

Cub Scouts - Simon Says!

Josiah slept on my arm all night last night, so it was aching all day today. The boys and I had to leave a little early for Art Day, because Sam's shin guards fell apart in the washer, and we had a game tonight. I do despise Walmart (have I mentioned that before?), but we were short on time and I knew they would surely have the shin guards. We were pleasantly surprised to find that Walmart now carries our favorite Organic brand of pop-tarts, and we also found some Starbucks cofffee in Cinnamon & Caramel, all natural flavors....sooo, it wasn't so bad after all. We were even able to pick up some new pumpkin carving tool sets for our Art Day project: Carving pumpkins! We had Starbucks for lunch, and found the cutest Halloween coffee mugs! Nice, and not very expensive...check them out! Art Day was awesome as always, hanging out with our favorite home school peeps. I tasted a new dip today that I absolutely LOVE and must get the recipe for...cilantro, egg plant, jalapenos, etc, and my friend gave me a jar of organic wasabi mayo! Yummy! Our first soccer game of the season (Mike coaches, Sam plays) was at 530pm, so we were able to make Cub Scouts tonight at 7pm. The Bears had a blast playing Simon Says, and would have played all night if they could. Mr. Mark is a fantastic leader, I am glad he gave in and did it!

Half Time

Josiah's Sideline Pal

Post Game 'Talk'

I am super behind on my blogging.

~ Thursday, September 30, 2010 ~

Sam brought to my attention that we have sunflowers blooming! (What the boys didn't chop down with their swords or the what the dogs didn't ramble over and mow down playing hide n seek n pounce...)

It's Make Guacamole Day, because...my organic avocados are ripe. I make some some damn good guacamole if I do say so myself, it's more like Guacamole Salsa. Organic: avocados, red onion, garlic cloves, tomato, cilantro (my GOD I LOVE cilantro!), juice of lemon or lime, a little sea salt to taste. It's a salty, cilantro-y delish treat for Josiah and I, as no one else around here eats it. (Josiah is my rabbit. He eats so many carrots, his poop is carrot orange.) I love to make a dark green salad with cucumbers and sprouts and smother it in my Guacamole. I will be blowing people away with red onion/garlic breath for a few days now.



Sam & Josiah re-discovered the Just Dance Wii game. I MUST get a video of Sam doing I Like To Move It. Too cute!



Josiah is absolutely addicted to the "I Spy" type books now. After we did the Highlights one TWICE, I remembered that we own a couple of "I Spy" books. We have cuddled together 3 or 4 times today to do them. One is a classroom dinosaur exhibit, which included a clay/cardboard model, that he wants to do. I already have a volcano and a dam on the list of models to make. He is just like me. I LOVE miniature models of things. But it does stress me out when I think of diving into one. I remember a clay model I did when I was in school, I think of a ?Pueblo Indian village?, and I remember being totally overwhelmed by it. Why? Because I want everything to be perfect. It's obsessive-compulsive, so, many times instead of just taking chances and doing my best, I end up doing nothing at all.  


Since our reading the article about turtles in the Highlights magazine, Josiah's turtle passion has been rekindled. I am looking for a very nice, detailed play set of a variety of turtles, including hatchlings.


We read about Blackbeard today in our new pirate book, Lives of the Pirates: Swashbucklers, Scoundrels (Neighbors Beware!) . The Illustrations in this book are FANTASTIC!



The boys were having some passionate disagreements today, so I pulled out an oldie from the Cassidy Home Schooling Days, Don't Rant and Rave on Wednesdays!: The Children's Anger-Control Book . My witty boys were quick to point out that today is, in fact, Thursday, not Wednesday. After three pages, though, they were so amused by the book that they forgot why they wanted to kill each other ten minutes ago.





Mike and Sam went to soccer practice, Josiah and I went to the library. I got some more Sue Grafton books: A, B, and C. Josiah got Tsunami books and other natural disaster books. Shocker ;) I grabbed a Bunnicula book for Sam, one we haven't read yet. Sam LOVES Bunnicula.

 Josiah and I then went to Goodwill in search of a white, long-sleeve shirt for Sam. No such luck, but Josiah found a NICE set of dinosaurs, and an army tank. We were able to easily find the white shirt at Kohls. We made it to Earth Fare and got Sam a plum, ham, and some apple fritters to add to what we already had at home: a slice of raw milk cheese and apple....all for an appropriate 1840's school lunch. We picked up It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown DVD at Walmart, the store I hate with a burning passion.






Sam water-colored his copybook, watched pre-visit video, went over glossary/terms/classroom rules. He is really excited about writing with a quill pen and using the privy (out-house bathroom ;) He's such a good sport. How much you wanna bet he will be about the only boy tomorrow?




My husband made a very wonderful gesture today, of what I will not say, but he really scored high with it, and I love him more now than I ever imagined  I could. He is a real man, and some of the morons who have the opportunity to associate with him should take notes.