thanksgiving history

bubba really enjoyed learning more about the first thanksgiving this morning. i can't recall where i saw a link to this website, but i did and i recommend it too.

The First Thanksgiving

as a teacher, i really like how they discuss historical myths and how historians determine what may have happened based on primary source information. there's also a teacher's guide with some nice extras. i think it would be worthwhile to any parent who wants their kids to have a more accurate understanding of the first thanksgiving and what really happened then.

is it really friday already?

it's hard to believe i haven't posted since election day. i'm not going to post my opinions of this election. i'm just going to say how thankful i am that it's done now and we can begin praying for Barack Obama as our new president-elect.

it's been a rather busy week around here.

wednesday morning one of my hubby's sisters came over with her youngest daughter. we had a really nice visit and even enjoyed most of a game of Quiddler before lunch. maybe next time we'll get in a whole game! then we did our schoolwork in the afternoon and bubba had Awanas in the evening.

yesterday morning we learned about Old Fort Niagara with our local homeschool group. one of the families had recently visited there and thought it was something the rest of us might want to learn about. it was very interesting. i've never been to Niagara Falls, so i was glad to learn (and have my son learn) about the history of the fort and the historic significance it holds. the family who organized this class did a wonderful job. they had lots of pictures from their visit to the fort displayed on posterboard with descriptions, a model of part of the fort they had made with rocks glued together and toy soldiers, Lincoln Logs for the younger kids to "build a fort" with, and a 30 minute educational video about the fort with a quiz for the kids to see how much they could remember afterward. they gave out a packet to each family with a little book about Old Fort Niagara as well as a copy of the Declaration of Independence and a copy of the Constitution (these had to have been purchased and are a really nice resource that i'm sure we'll use later since we've begun studying american history this year). and they also gave out a few really nice door prizes too! amazingly, our family won first choice. (we rarely win anything!) bubba chose the Lincoln Logs--the same ones they had for the kids to play with...all i can say is woohoo! cuz i know those aren't cheap and my boys will really enjoy them. after the class, we came home, had lunch and then did our regular schoolwork in the afternoon.