Buffalo Bill, and more Wild West

Well we circled back around to Western Expansion and the Wild West again in our studies of American History.  Mainly we focused this time on the Indian Wars and the West after the Civil War ended.  

Since we cover most of the Wild West before I gave Dare-Devil Boy the choice on some things about the west he wanted to learn more about.  The result was as fallowed: Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill Hickcok, the pony express, the Indian Wars and the Tall Tales that came out of that time. 



So here is some of the things we did this time around for our learning on the Wild West and the added stuff we did.  Also here is the schedule for the the things we I planed out.  It also has lots more books, activities and other things that I've added.  Click here for the schedule.


Books:




Crafts:

Covered Wagon
Wanted Poster (here is a picture)

 

Lapbooks/Notebooks & other printables:
Western Ho! (from Dynamic 2 Moms)

Oregon Trail (from Lapbook Lessons)

Pony express coloring page


Videos:


We finished up the mini-series Into the West.  It the series really helped out our learning about the Indian Wars that we learned about this year.  
Episode:

• Casualties of War
• Ghost Dance

There are a few fighting scenes that your young children might not like.  My children didn't mind.  In our house those scene were what really brought home the reality of how unfair it was.  It became a great way to talk more about what happened.  

Also here are a few of the other clips we added.

John Henry part 1 & 2

 Frontier House part 1

There are more clips and videos we used.  You can find them in the schedule up above.  Hope you enjoy some of the things we added.
 

Covered Wagon

This year we are took a trip back to the Wild West.  Most of it was a review of what we learned last year, but we managed to learn some new things. One thing we did this year, that we didn't do last year was make a covered wagon.  

Last year I bought WinterPromise's Early American Trades & Crafts Kit.  This kit has lot of different craft kits that are already pre-made for you.  One of the crafts was to make a Covered Wagon.  We never did it last year, but this year Dare-Devil Boy really wanted to make one.  


So I went searching for the kit and pulled it out to make.  My husband did the main building.

Dare-Devil Boy paint the covered wagon.  

With the help of Wonder Girl

And I had the task of hand sewing the cover onto the wagon. Which took a lot longer then I thought.  There is the final product.  Hondo wanted to get in to the picture.

Not sure what to do with it now.  My husband plans on making it into a lamp.  But as for now it'll be sitting up a high shelf so it doesn't get broken.

Civil War Unit-War Between the States

We finished our first 6 weeks as we continue our study of American History.  We have gone back to WinterPromise using their American Story 2.  We just finished our study of the Civil War and the Underground Railroad. Which was a instant hit with everyone.  Here are some of the things we added to our Civil War study.  These are just a few things of we added. 

If you want a more full schedule then you can download it here.  It is only of the first 6 weeks that covers Civil War for now. But it has all the videos, books, coloring pages and other things I added for Civil War.


Here are just some of what we added for you to preview.


Books we used:

Some of the Videos:

There are 6 videos for this.  Here is the first one.






Lapbook & Notebook Pages 

You can find the link to the lapbook/notebook i made here: Last Safe House
Here is how it looked like when completed.

Civil War Lapbook I added.  I added lots more and you can find all of it in the schedule I made.  The link is up above.

Projects:

Confederate Flag

Biscuit & Gravy with Strawberries

(Civil War time period meal) 

Two Layer Cake with Strawberry filling

(another Civil War time period meal) 

Fort Sumter Flag

Making Homemade wrapping paper

Well I hope you enjoyed all the added things we did.  The schedule I created I'm sure can be used for about any other American history curriculum, but it was made to be used as an add on for WinterPromise's American Story 2.

Flags and Wrapping Paper

Two weeks ago we started into our study of the later haft of American History.  We have picked up were we left off last year with learning about the slavery and the Underground Railroad.  

Dare-Devil Boy has expressed that's he's enjoying the books and the subject covered this year so far.  Even though it has been the first two weeks.  A huge improvement over the previous years when he looked at the books and wanted nothing to do with them.  I'm so glad that we've changed into a program that he loves and has great books that he enjoys.


In the last two weeks we've learned about the Underground Railroad and have gone into learning about the Civil War.  Like every year we've done some great projects that help in our learning.  It takes a lot more planning on my part, but learning is more fun for my hands-on kids.
 

Fort Sumter Flag

Here is Dare-Devil Boy making homemade wrapping paper.  We would use it to wrap gifts a few days later.

Beyond doing hands-on projects, games and other things one thing my family enjoys are the period style meals.  I try hard to find recipes from books, the web and friends that will fit with whatever time period or unit we are covering.  In the course of doing so my family finds meals or things that they like and I get to add in something new to my menu of cooking. 

Sausage & Apples with Hoppin' John.  It was one of the best meals yet. 

Homeschool Curriculum 2011-2012

This year I am going to be schooling both Dare Devil Boy and Wonder Girl.  Hondo will be sitting in on both in their schooling year.  This year my kids will be in 3rd grade and in Kindergarten.  Here is what we are planning to use this year.


Wonder Girl (Kindergarten)-


Language Arts: This year we are using WinterPromise's PreK/Kindergarten: Basic Phonics.  Its more of a hands-on program then what I used for Dare-Devil boy when he was in Kindergarten.  Something my little super hero in training needs.  The program uses Jumping Right into Reading, Get Ready, Get Set, and Go for the Code workbooks.  It also has a Hands-on Activity Pack and Phonics Card that go along with it that you can get from WinterPromise.  Its not in the picture because I forgot to put it in the picture. Click here if you want to take a look at it.  There is samples you can try out.  I added in A Reason for Handwriting-K and Sonlight's K Readers.

Math:  This year after almost a year of researching and going back and forth between several programs I finally decided on using Saxon Math K. The reason is because I needed something hands-on for her that went at a slower pace them Horizon did.  (Which I used in the past for Dare-Devil.)  Wonder Girl is so excited about starting.  Mostly because she wants to play with all the manipulates that go along with the program.  Which I got from Rainbow Resources.Click here to see it.

Dare Devil Boy (3rd Grade)-



Language Arts: This year I've thrown out the boxed curriculum and instead put together my own Language Arts curriculum for him this year.  I did lots of research and looking at all my catalogs, but finally came up with what I think is a good complete program.

• Language Lessons for the Very Young 2.  We are using this as a base for the our LA this year.  I liked the Copywork and Writing exercises in this.
• Phonics- Modern Curriculum Press Phonics C.  
• Handwriting- A Reason for Handwriting: Transition 
• Spelling- All About Spelling Level 1 and 2.  We need more spelling and something that will teach rules to spelling that I can't answer.
• Grammar- Easy Grammar 3 with workbook.  I've heard great reviews with this program and I like the way it teaches students.

Readers:  This year like most of our homeschooling years we use Sonlight Readers.  This year we will be no different.  We will be using there 2nd grade intermediate readers, now called 3rd grade readers.  Of all the different books we read Sonlight's readers have always been the ones that we use the most and my kids keep coming back to read.  I know that Dare-Devil Boy is exciting about reading these books this year.  He's moving into short chapter books and he's starting to read aloud to all of us.


Math:  Teaching Textbook 3.  Dare-Devil Boys are more excited about this then I am.  He's been wanting to do it since he did the demo online at Teaching Textbooks website.  Its a good mix of teaching on the computer (which Dare-Devil Boy thinks he's playing a video game.) and then workbook learning.


For both:

History:  WinterPromise's American Story 2.  We finished American Story 1 last year. It was a great year of learning and everyone in the family had a great time  learning along side Dare-Devil Boy.  We did lots on hands-on projects, lapbooking, and eating food of the time periods we were learning about.  (This was my husband's favorite part of last year.)  I have lots of extras and other stuff about our year doing American Story 1 that you can check out here.


This year we will be picking up where last year ended.  Right before the Civil War then up to present day.  It will be another year of learning, eating and having fun.


Science:  This year we are trying out to WinterPromise's Rock Around the Earth science program.  It'll be something different for us from our year's of doing Sonlight sciences.  But we are wanting to do something that will cover science more like a unit study and something that I could do all in 1 or 2 days instead over a week.  But still not feel overwhelmed.

Art & Music Study:  I've have always wanted to add in an Art & Music study into our learning.  But never seem to have the time to do it or sometimes to find something that both the kids and I would like.  Well I found it this year.  We will be using Harmony Art Mom's The Summer 201o Art and Music Appreciation: Featuring Vincent Van Gogh and George Handel Ebook.  This is summer program, but I'm stretching it out to do one painting per month.

So that's what we are doing this year.  Its full of fun, learning, and discovery.