Elements of a Story

We will be finishing up most of our subjects in about 2 weeks! Alex is taking both an online history and an online writing class and those will not finish until mid-June. But, I have been busy making plans for next year. One thing I realized we need to study (though we covered it some last year in Classical Conversations) is the elements of a story. So, I started by going to Google Reader so I could look through the blogs I follow. This always turns out to be so useful! My first 2 "hits" were a post by Free Technology for Teachers (yet again!) and Jimmie's Collage.

Free Techonology pointed me to a neat site by Lerner:

http://www.educationalrap.com/song/characters-setting-plot.html

The Cost of the 12 Days of Christmas

Will True Love cost more in 2010 than in previous years?


I found a cute online pop-up book that shows you what the cost of giving the presents in the 12 Days of Christmas would be in 2010. Evidentally, PNC has been doing this for quite a few years. They go through each day and tell you if the price went up or down since last year and then give you a total cost for the gifts. What makes this even more fun, though, is that you actually get to use your mouse to make the pop-up activities work! There are also lesson plans and some games, but I think we'll be sticking to the pop-up book this year.

A Date That Will Live in Infamy

This video is a clip of FDR's famous Pearl Harbor Address. I also plan on watching this documentary narrated by Tom Brokaw entitled Pearl Harbor: Legacy of Attack. It is a National Geographic film. I have only watched the first few minutes, but it looks good.

Remember Pearl Harbor

Tomorrow is the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. CurrClick is offering a nice mini study about Pearl Harbor by "The Whole World Publishing." It is only $1! I'm going to buy it and read the story to my daughter tomorrow. It also includes pieces to make a lapbook, coloring pages, and questions.

Half Marathoner!!!

I'm in a posting mood tonight! This is my 3rd post in the past hour.

 

Anyway, I ran am now a Half Marathoner! I completed my first half marathon almost two weeks ago in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I ran 13.1 miles in 2 hours 57 minutes and 10 seconds. And, it felt GREAT!!! I am already preparing for half marathon #2 (in Fort Worth, TX in February) and #3 (in St Louis, MO in April). I love running and I love being an athlete for the first time in my life!

Homemade Christmas Cards

Today Alex and I went to the first of FOUR Christmas parties this week. This one was for our church's homeschool group. We started the party by singing Christmas carols at a nursing home.

Each family was to bring some homemade Christmas cards to give out to the residents after we sang. I got out my old scrapbooking materials and put these 5 cards together after seeing a similar card online. I thought they turned out cute and had to post them!

After the nursing home, we went back to the church for the second part of the party - a gift exchange for the kids and then some yummy treats for us all!

Christmas Around the World

CurrClick has chosen 10 bloggers to take us on a trip to view Christmas Around the World. The first stop is China with Jimmie at Jimmie's Collage! I really enjoyed reading about some of the unusual Christmas traditions in China. And the second stop is England with Cheryl at Crispy, Not Crunchy. I have not visited Cheryl's blog before and really enjoyed reading her post and learning about Christmas Crackers, Christmas Pudding, and Boxing Day!

You can follow CurrClick's posts on their blog and travel around the world this week. Oh... and each of the 10 guest bloggers is having drawings to give away free goodies! So, travel the world, learn about Christmas, and you might even win something, too!

Mental Math and "Around the World"

First of all, Blogger notified me yesterday that I've reached my limit on photos! 1 GB! But, I was able to buy more space (20 GB) for $5 a year. I'm just waiting for it to get 'approved.'

I was searching for some Mental Math worksheets that I've used at a co-op before... and I found them here!  They have daily sheets for 1st through 8th grade. Here are some samples from 5th grade:

100 X 10 = ?
How many feet in a mile?
1/3 of 30 = ?
1/4 of 28 = ?
70 X 80 = ?

In our co-op, I will use these to play Around the World. To play around the world, you have 2 students stand up. You ask one of the questions, and whoever gets it wrong sits down. The winner moves and stands next to another student who then stands up. You ask another question and the 'loser' sits down while the 'winner' moves on. The winner must win against every other student in the class! I know my last co-op class enjoyed this game, and I hope this one does, too!

National Museum of American History

We really enjoyed the National Museum of American History. One of my favorite exhibits was about Lincoln. Here is Lincoln's hat! Here's what the sign said: At six feet four inches tall, Lincoln towered over most of his contemporaries. He chose to stand out even more by wearing high top hats. He acquired this hat from J.Y. Davis, a Washington hat maker. Lincoln had the black silk mourning band added in rememberance of his son Willie. The last time he wore this top hat was to go to Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865.

 Here's Alex's hand next to a cast of Lincoln's hand.

 Alex's online history class studied quite a bit about the conspiracy theory in the murder of Abraham Lincoln. These are the masks worn by the 8 people who were executed for Lincoln's murder.

 The original Teddy Bear which got its name from Theodore Roosevelt!

 Kermit the Frog!

The museum has some 'living' times were actors/actresses appear as people from history. This young lady was teaching us about the Greensboro Four Sit In. We, the audience, were new to the passive resistance movement and learning how to act and about what we might expect. It was an amazing lesson! We even learned a song that we could use at a sit-in or other protests.

Washington Monument

Part of our trip included research (sent by the Carolina Homeschool group leader, Dianna) on some of the monuments and memorials we would be seeing. This really helped make our visit special! So, I'm adding some of what we learned beside our photos.

The Washington Monument was designed by Robert Mills. His original plan called for a "large structure, built of columns and housing a number of statues, with a 600-foot obelisk rising from the center." They basically ended up building the obelisk.

Construction was started in 1848 and completed in 1884.

 Construction was suspended for about 18 years because the money 'ran out' and the Civil War.

 The walls are composed of marble and the color changes about one third of the way up. When construction resumed after the Civil War, the marble that they were able to get was a slightly different color.

The monument is 555 feet 5 1/8 inches tall. It is estimated to weigh 90,000 tons.

Along the stairs (which are no longer open to the public) you can view memorial stones contributed by various states, civic groups, private organizations, and others. On the way down the monument, the elevator slows at several places to allow a brief view of some of these amazing memorials.