July 24th 2013 Butterfly pix

July 24th 2013 Butterfly pix--

We still have a Black Swallowtail hatch here and there--and I take a few pictures before releasing them into the wild.  This little lady got part of her tail broken off while she was flying around---but she is still beautiful!!

The Lincolns 5 Generations of an American Family exhibit July 29, 2013

Here is the exhibit we saw on Monday, July 29th, 2013

 

Indiana State Museum’s Lincoln exhibit opens

5 Generations of Lincolns-- 

By Scott L. Miley The Herald Bulletin

INDIANAPOLIS — When Lincoln is mentioned in Hollywood circles, it’s all about the film’s 12 Oscar nominations.

At the Indiana State Museum, however, the Lincoln buzz is all about its newest exhibition: The Lincolns: Five Generations of an American Family, which premiered Saturday.

The Indiana State Museum is the only venue for this ground-breaking exhibition that will run through Aug. 4.

Visitors through March 2 can also view a rare copy of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which ended slavery, and a signed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation. Because the fragile documents cannot be exposed to light for long periods of time, they are rarely on display.

The 13th Amendment, of course, was the focus of the Steven Spielberg-directed movie that details the 16th president’s tumultuous final months in office. The Indiana State Museum exhibition, however, spans five generations of the Lincolns, who first came to Indiana in 1816. The museum wanted to offer a different, more personal perspective, said Dale Ogden, senior curator of cultural history.

“There is no one person more mythologized than Abraham Lincoln,” Ogden said. “This exhibition will help break some of the myths, while also giving visitors a greater understanding of the very complex Lincoln family throughout five generations.”

More than 150 objects will be on display, including handwritten letters, photographs, Tiffany jewelry, candelabra and other family keepsakes. The Indiana State Museum has one of the world’s most important collections of Lincoln artifacts - The Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection - given to the State of Indiana in 2008. Objects from this collection will be joined by about 40 artifacts on loan from several of America’s leading historical institutions.

Highlights of “The Lincolns” include:

• The Sum Book is the star of the show. With less than two years of formal schooling, at age 15, Abraham Lincoln carefully assembled sheets of paper and created his own book on which to practice math problems. Over the years, the pages were separated, but the Indiana State Museum has five pages on display. It is the largest grouping ever shown in one place.

• A cabinet designed and crafted (c. 1818) by Abraham Lincoln’s father, Thomas. Not knowing its history, a Newburgh, Ind., man bought the cabinet – then painted green – at a sale. He used it to store nuts, bolts and other items in his garage. In 2009, his son read an Evansville newspaper article featuring Steve Haaf, a South Spencer High School teacher, who restores and makes replicas of Thomas Lincoln’s furniture. While Thomas Lincoln is often portrayed as a ne’er-do-well, this cabinet demonstrates he was a true craftsman who used intricate designs and overlays in his work. This detail is especially impressive considering the rudimentary tools with which he had to work.

• Mary Todd’s Meissen porcelain figurine (c. 1835). Mary Todd Lincoln was a prolific collector of the figurines, which were made in Meissen, Germany. Moviegoers may have noticed these on the big screen. To a historian, the collection demonstrates Mary Todd’s elite upbringing. The exhibition also features a tea set crafted by a London potter, who also worked for Queen Victoria. Mary Lincoln used the tea set to serve coffee, tea and hot chocolate to guests at the Lincolns’ Springfield, Ill., home.

• Toys the Lincoln boys played with at the White House, including a toy cannon Secretary of War Stanton acquired for the youngest son, Tad. Knowing the boy was rambunctious (the two youngest sons were known to race their pet goats in the White House), Stanton disabled the fully-functional firing mechanism.

• The insanity verdict following Mary Lincoln’s trial in 1875. Sally Field’s portrayal of the former First Lady in the movie showed glimpses of her instability. For 10 years, Mary Lincoln struggled to cope with the death of her children and her husband. Her oldest son, Robert, had her arrested and charged with insanity. She was convicted and remanded to Bellevue Place sanitarium near Chicago. Historians for years have been at odds over Robert’s motives for having his mother committed.

• Photographs of the last documented Lincoln descendants, siblings Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith and Mary “Peggy” Lincoln Beckwith, who were great-grandchildren of Abraham and Mary Lincoln. They were raised at Hildene, the family estate in Vermont.

 

July 21-25th, 2013 SL- Core E- Week 32- Beatrix Potter Week

I will add more pictures in later~

July 21-25th, 2013

SL- Core E- Week 32-

Beatrix Potter Week

We did something SUPER FUN this week, and very different than anything we have ever done before.  Thanks for the family we worked together with!!!! We had so much fun!! We combined with another hs family to do a "Unit Study" together on the fabulous Beatrix Potter.  

Here is a link to the other family's blog--with their pictures of our week together:

Blackberry Rambles

(you can click on the above "Blackberry Rambles" to go to her blog and see her pictures!)

She titled the post "Beatrix Potter Summer School" July 30, 2013

Each day had different things set up to do--here is a run down of our unique week:

Monday:

Slide Biography (with Tea!) on the Life and Times of Beatrix; focusing on her early years.  We read aloud: Peter Rabbit, Squirrel Nutkin, Tailor of Gloucester, and Benjamin Bunny.Art time to draw and/or paint. Then we all went to Eagle Creek Park- Nature Center- and saw TONS of great things there! Frogs, Snakes, bugs, trees, plants, rocks....you name it---bee's, skinks...GREAT day!



Tuesday:

Slide Biography(with tea!) on Beatrix's Life and Times, focusing on her young adulthood, art, and holidays.  We read aloud: Tale of Two Bad Mice, Mrs. Tiggywinkle, Pie and Pattypan, and assigned Mr. Jeremy Fisher for homework.  Then we went to the "Secret Beach" at their neighborhood creek!  She pictures below!!!  Too much fun!!  This part was Dd's FAVORITE part of the whole week, btw!

Wednesday:
Slide Biography (with tea!) on Beatrix's Life and Times, focusing on her getting her books published and getting engaged!! (to Norman Warne) We read aloud (while the kids did artwork): Tom Kitten, Jemima Puddleduck, Samuel Whiskers, and saved Fierce Bad Rabbit and Miss Moppet for our homework.  Then we drove to the IMA to celebrate Beatrix and David's birthday's.  We went to the Oldfields House at the IMA, and enjoyed gardens there that I didn't even know were there.  We had an Easter Egg hunt like Victorian's would have at their parties, and played croquet too!  It was a great afternoon!!! Below is a few pictures of the MagNiFicent MOTH I had the pleasure of Holding for a Brief moment!!

(IMA--is the Indiana Museum of Art)
The pictures show our time in the gardens playing crochet, egg hunt, and picnic lunch.  Then we went to the Oldfield home--which was turned into a museum.  This house was to show what it would have been like for Beatrix Potter, who rented houses like this during her summer months in the country with large tracts of property and gardens..during the Victorian period.

 

Crochet game

Trading candy from the egg hunt--the eggs were plastic eggs filled with candy!

 
 This is the Oldfield home--really beautiful!

Thursday:

Slide Biography (with tea!) on Beatrix's Life and Times, focusing on the Lake District.  Then we read aloud while the kids did their artwork: Flopsy Bunnies, The Tale of Ginger and Pickles, Mrs. Tittlemouse, and we left the story of Mr. Tod for homework.  Then we had a MAJOR Victorian party meal!  Too amazing to imagine-- Cornish Pastries/pie, a whipped airy dessert thing that was a bite of heaven with whipping cream on top and blueberries on top of that, and a mixed salad with all sorts of things in it, and green beans, a potato and yellow squash dish with olive oil and cheeses and tyme---that was delicious!  heavenly tea on the side---3 different kids!




Friday:

Slide Biography (with tea!) on Beatrix's Life and Times, focusing on her later years.  Then while the kids did their art work we read aloud: The Pigling Bland, Appley Dapply, Johnny Town Mouse, and saved Little Pig Robinson for homework.  Then we had another Victorian meal that was amazing!!  A Roly Poly dish--it was a bread that she put homemade Whipping Cream and Yokes cooked and then cooled quickly and wisked--what does that make--is it a "Curd"?  Oh, boy!  That was delicious!  It was similar to having ice cream on top of your cake!  Very good! This dessert, had flour and fruit jam in a bread roll that was intended for children to eat in the Victorian time period.  The meat dish was called something special---but, I can't remember what--very British--a steak with grilled mushrooms in a heavy, dark brown, rich sauce and a crust over the dish.  The crust was amazing, the meat was amazing, and the mushrooms were amazing--each element was by itself fantastic; but then when you put them all together it was a symphony in your mouth!  R.L. made a cake called Dunder Cake, that had dried fruit in it, and almonds on top of it.  There was a dish of cherries, and a dish of grapes, and a dish of shortbread cookies for the younger children.  Oh, and I must not forget the peas!! The peas were very good!

After the fantastic meal---which I could have ate and ate and ate on----but didn't!!!  Then we went to watch our movie: 

Miss Potter Starring Renée Zellweger, Ewan McGregor, Emily Watson, et al.

"Miss Potter"!  It was good to watch that movie and see what they deemed important to put in, and what they didn't put in as well!  Poor brother Bertram didn't even really show up in the movie besides a quick shot when they were littles.

And this concludes our Unit Study with our friends.  I have pages and pages of notes from I took from the other mother, and I have pages and pages of notes I took for my presentations about all the books I presented and read about each day.  I may come back and give some of those details later; but not tonight!  Thank you so much to our friends for such a great week!!!!


Our Lessons:


Bible:
Starting Strong: Never too Small For God: Chapter 6: COMPLETED this Book!

Math:
 TT 5 (Teaching Textbooks) for math this week.  
Lessons 35, 36, 37 and a Quiz.


 Reader:  
The Seventeenth Swap

Seventeenth Swap by Eloise McGraw

History:
Story of the USA, Book 3: Chapter 12 & 13: COMPLETED this book!

Family RA:
Tree of Freedom by Rebecca Caudill: COMPLETED!

Tree of Freedom - Newbery Honor Books by Rebecca Caudill and Dorothy Bayley Morse

July 15-19, 2013 SL- Core E- Week 31

July 15-19, 2013

 SL- Core E-

Week 31

Day 1



Day 2

Completion!

This week was our church's VBS!  And unlike last year; Dd did NOT get pneumonia!  We didn't have to take her to the hospital for an extended stay!!!  This year was MUCH better for us!!!  I had my classroom downstairs, and could go in to the church early and set up ahead of time which was so much better than last year---SO MUCH better!!! 

Our church's theme was Kingdom Rocks and the setting was a medieval castle.   You saw the posters we painted for my room.  We arrived at 4-4:30pm and arrived home at 9:20-9:30pm each evening, Monday through Friday.

Then on Saturday we had our July "Christmas in July" party in southern Indiana.  We were glad to go down b/c Giz had been having a horrible week and needed her garden veggie's picked and we were glad to do it for her.  The Christmas party was a small turn out; which made Dh and I very happy b/c that made for great conversation.  The party was at one of my favorite parks--which was great!!!!  I love going there!  Dd got to play with her cousins---they played "Spoons" and other card games.  I saw MANY Tiger Swallowtail butterflies that seemed to love goose poop---go figure.

Dd, Dh and I helped Giz & Grampy out in their huge garden.  We picked this and that---okra, green beans, zucchini, cucumbers, banana peppers....

While at Giz's house, Dd had a good piano lesson!  They enjoy their lessons together!

Dh and Dd got to go swimming twice (or 3 times) together.  I stayed in the garden picking or talking with Giz so they could have time alone--just the two of them--having a blast!

Dd finally decided what to do with her Christmas and Birthday money that she had been saving---and boy was she one super, super, super, super HAPPY kid with this present.  We have only bought Lego's at yard sales before, and she bought a brand new kit from Amazon.com!!!!  She put the whole thing together all by herself!!!  This was really Christmas in July for her!  She decided to get this instead of her other option; which was a new bicycle- since she is outgrowing her old one.  But, she figures she can still manage a few more months on her old (small) one.  Here is the kit she bought:

LEGO The Lord of the Rings 9474 The Battle of Helm's Deep by LEGO Lord of the Rings

Well, you get the idea of all the fun we had---but now for our lessons:

 

Bible:

Apologia: Who Is My Neighbor? pg. 182--203

Monday--We studied the David from the bible.

Tuesday-We studied Queen Esther story.

Wednesday- The story of Nehemiah

Thursday- Jesus and the story of Gethsemane- Mount of Olives--Book of Luke

Friday-Story of Josiah, Book of 2 Kings

Language Arts:

Explode the Code 7--pg 1-16

Art:

Poster making for VBS

Reader:
The Seventeenth Swap

Seventeenth Swap by Eloise McGraw

Math:

Math U See, Worksheet generator for Epsilon, lessons 22 & 23

daily M-F

Family RA:

The Freedom Tree by Rebecca Caudill

Fun Book:

Graphic Novel: Wrinkle In Time

Dd did a LOT of reading this week---but I really don't know what all she was reading!  I know she read a lot; but I was too busy to write it down.

Audio's:

Do Hard Things by Harris--disc 4 & 5 COMPLETED!  Great Audio!  We highly recommend!!

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis--discs 3-5--COMPLETED!  (We have listened to this repeatedly before.) 

Geography:

Kindle: Dd had this 'Flags of the World' game that she loves and has been playing with Dh at night on my Kindle---and advancing through the levels.

Library:

Teen Program with R.L. to see The Pirates of the Caribean movie with Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom...the girls had a great time at the program.

Chores:

This week, since I was spending hours each day painting on the posters--guess who had to step up and do a LOT more chores than normal???  Yup, Dd!!  She cooked more dishes than normal and did so much of the hanging up and taking down of the laundry on our lines.  She really did a great job of helping out this week with extra chores!!!!   


The "bummer of the week":
Dd got stung by a bee while watering Giz's flowers on Sunday--her foot was so swollen for over a week!!   Poor kid!  There is a big line across her foot from the sting. 


PICTURES:

Dd took some pictures from our garden and some pictures of the Black Swallowtail we released this week: 

 

We have been eating from our garden; but with things so busy this year I haven't done a good job taking pictures of our harvest!!  Things will soon slow down and I'll be able to do a better job....

 

July 8-12, 2013 SL- Core E- Week 31

July 8-12, 2013 

 SL- Core E- 

Week 31

This week Dd was invited to her friend GG's VBS at Westlake Community Church.  So we did our lessons after their VBS.  It was not very hard; b/c *I* didn't have to do anything at their VBS!  She had a really, really great time at this big church, that really knew how to put on a MAJOR EFFORT VBS.  I have to say, even I was totally blown away...It was, by far, the most organized, professional, VBS I've ever seen!

Our Lessons:

Bible:

Starting Strong: Never Too Small For God: Ch. 4 & 5

Isaiah 54

Daniel 1:3-21

Genesis 37: 2-8

Math: 

MUS online Worksheet Generator

Fractions-Subtracting & Adding Mixed Numbers 

Hardening this process by daily review

Skip Counting--"8 Family" this week

History:

The World Wars: pg's 228-238

Landmark History of the American People, Vol. 2:

Chapter 29

The Story of the USA, Book 3: Ch. 11

Daytime Read Aloud:

Miracles On Maple Hill-Ch. 9-14

Oxford Illustrated Book of American Children's Poems

Language Arts:

Grammar Ace-Lesson 11-Verb Tense

Science:

Apologia: Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the Earth: Bats: pg's 112-116

Composer of the Week:

Franz Liszt

Artist of the Week:
Paul Gauguin

Getting to Know the Greatist's Artists by Mike Venezia

Audio's:

Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris--disc 3

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader-by C.S. Lewis--disc's 1 &2

Night Time Family RA:

The Freedom Tree by Rebecca Caudill

Service:

Thursday Dd and I worked at our church's food pantry--The Giving Tree.  We filled ordered and restocked the shelves with food that our church had bought; but hadn't put away.  We worked hard!

Kitchen:

This week Dd and Dh made CHEESE from SCRATCH!  They had a good time doing it too!  They made it out of milk and limes.  I liked the taste of it; but Dd wasn't very fond of the bland flavor.  But, they did it the old fashioned way with cheese cloth and that is always good to do!

Nature:

I had brought in a caterpillar and had been feeding it a variety of leaves since I didn't know which it preferred.  It didn't take long for it to curl up and cocoon itself.  Well, this week it hatched!!!  It was a very beautiful, brown bark looking MOTH!  We had never raised a MOTH before!

DVD:

Forgiving Dr. Mengele

This is a movie about the lady we met a few months back when we went to the CANDLES museum in Terra Haute, IN.  She is a survivor of Auschwitz Concentration camp.  Dr. Mengele was a Nazi doctor, that performed medical tests on twin children during the war b/c he had access to all the twin children brought into the camps.  Eva Kor, is the woman we met, who runs the CANDLES museum, who the movie is made about---and the movie is about her forgiving the Nazi's and the monster doctor.

VBS Posters - July 2013

VBS Posters - July 2013

Our church held VBS last week.  I volunteered to do "Chadder's Royal Theatre.  My church didn't have a poster with the specific "Buddy" and the Bible verse and Bible point for me to use in my lesson; so I made my own posters for the classes.  My SL friends (Christie, Annie, Joy, and Kendra) asked to see them; so here they are ladies!!!!

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

 

***my Dd made this one!!***

Thursday

 Friday

...