October Catch Up...

I am getting behind on my blogging!  Here is what we've been up to the last few weeks...

Native American Day at Cal State San Bernardino

I heard about this event a few years ago and knew I wanted to go when it fit into our curriculum.  It was about Native Californians, but I figured it still gave the kids a better idea of what life was like for all Native Americans, even the ones on the East coast that we've been learning about. 

We started off listening to a Native American storyteller, listening to music, and watching a Serrano Village come to life.

 We made our own rope, just like Native Americans would have done...

Then we broke up into groups and went to 3 different stations.  The first was learning about theSerrano Language.  Only 2 people still speak it fluently, so they are trying to revitalize the language so that part of the culture won't be lost.  The presenters did an excellent job with the kids.

 Our second stop was to learn more about the music and dancing.  These men taught about how they made their instruments, sang for us, and taught us a dance.

Tanner is really getting down during the dance!

In our final station, the kids learned about tools, clothing, and daily life of Native Californians.  They past around artifacts like this shoe Hunter is holding... 

At the end, all the groups met back together and kids got to come up to the stage and help the village come to life with various activities.  Here is Tanner doing a stick and hoop game...

 It was a fun, free, and educational day!

The Peddlers Wife

Colonists used to have Peddlers travel around selling goods.  The Peddlers Wife visits our house every "fortnight" and sells goodies that the kids can purchase with the shillings that they can earn throughout the two weeks.  The boys really look forward to what she is going to bring!

General Conference

We enjoyed a break from everything else and watched General Conference last weekend.  It is always so uplifting and motivating to hear from our Church leaders every six months- and so nice to cuddle up with these cute people for two whole days!

Ben and Me Book Club

Since our theme for school this year includes a lot of fun children's books, perfect for Tanner's age group, we are doing a Revolutionary War themed book club.  The first book was Ben and Me, about Benjamin Franklin and his good mouse Amos.  We had fun learning about Franklin's Maxims, inventions, inventing our own handy devices, and sampling a variety of cheese.  The boys seemed to have a good time!

The Pilgrim Ship

This week we took a tour of the Pilgrim Ship in Dana Pointe.  We purposely got there early because I love that harbor and wanted to spend some down time there with the kids....

Check out this cool 7 year old...

In fifth grade, I got to spend the night on the Pilgrim for a field trip and loved it, so it was fun to revisit one of my favorite childhood memories.  We didn't spend the night, but still had a good time!  It was a rainy day, and Tanner was hoping it would be pouring while we were on the ship so we could feel like real sailors in a storm.  I am happy the rain held off and it didn't pour until after we got off the ship!  Our Able Seaman was a great tour guide and very good with the kids.

Learning about how the ship is steered...

A real cannon on board!

 All the kids on the "poop deck"  with our tour guides

The Head Mast had a carving of a Pilgrim holding the Mayflower Compact, not that you can see it in this picture, but it emphasized to the kids the importance of that first American document allowing freedom.