During the month of November, we made a Thanksgiving tree. When we thought of something we are thankful for, we wrote it on a leaf and taped it to the tree. Here are pictures.
Some of the things listed were:
Jesus, food, answers to prayer, Christmas, God, Healthy family, God's grace, God's provisions, Mom and Dad...
To finish off our Australia study, we talked about the coral reef, more specifically, the Great Barrier Reef off the east coast of Australia. We watched the IMAX version of coral reefs. Even though Alex was sick, he was able to participate by watching the film. We had cards of animals you can find in the coral reefs. As they were watching the film, they took out the card of the animals they had seen. Here are some pictures of the small lapbook we did.
We ventured into downtown Indy to visit the Soldier's and Sailor's Monument at monument circle. Under the monument is the Col. Eli Lilly Civil War museum.
Now, the monument:
William Henry Harrison
George Rogers Clark
View from the observation deck of the monument - you can see Lucas Oil Stadium - the home of the Indianapolis Colts in the background.
Here is the view of the statehouse. We will be visiting there in February when we study Indiana goverment at the Homeschool Day at the Capitol.
For Indiana history, we visited President Benjamin Harrison's home. It was hard to take good pictures, because we were not allowed to use a flash and it was very dark in the house.
This house, Benjamin and his wife lived in before he became President, and then returned after the presidency, where he later died. His first wife died in the White House and he remarried. We also saw some of William Henry Harrison's things, since he was Benjamin's grandfather.
Benjamin Harrison's wife, Caroline, was an artist. She was the only first lady to design the First Family's china.
After focusing on Australia last week, we moved to a study of marsupials this week. It was really quite extensive - kangaroos, koalas, Tasmanian devils, possums vs. opossums, and wombats. We watched a National Geographic video on Australian animals, which included more than marsupials - emus, platypus, flying squirrels, black stork and other birds. There was some subtle evolution in it, but it went right over the boys' heads. They were more interested in the video that what the man was saying. It even showed a kangaroo baby being born and finding its way to the pouch and then what it looked like inside the pouch.
We learned that kangaroo babies are the size of a lima bean when born, a koala baby is the size of a kidney bean, and 24 opossum babies can fit into a teaspoon.
We learned that all marsupials, with the exception of the Virginia opossum, live in Australia and the surrounding islands (New Zealand, New Guinea and Tasmania.) The opossum that lives in the US was named because their tails are similar to the possum which lives in Australia.
Here are pictures of the lapbooks. I didn't take pictures of the books opened because on the colored paper it is too hard to see the pencil writing.
Alex's
Nicolas's
It's very hard to see his drawing, but he drew a kangaroo.
For Indiana history, we visited the home of the "Hoosier Poet" - James Whitcomb Riley. The home we visited belonged to his father and is the home where James grew up with his friend Ally (whom the poem "Little Orphant Annie" was written after.) His father was a rich man who bought the land in Greenfield where their house currently stands, built a log cabin and then took 4 years to add on the portion that stands at the front of the house.
Eventually, when James became rich and famous, he was able to purchase the house also. Here are some pictures from inside the house.
His father's law desk - called a partner's desk because the other side looks exactly like this side and there is a small window where they can communicate.
Some of James' mothers jewelry.
A box that James' dad carved for his wife. He did a lot of woodworking and we saw it throughout the house - stair banister, trim around doors and windows, etc.
The bed where James would've slept.
Some old pictures of the family and pictures of "Little Orphant Annie".
Then we walked downtown to the statue of James Whitcomb Riley.
We finished up this spiderweb craft last week. We used Elmer's glue, black construction paper and pastels. The boys enjoyed it.
Nicolas's above. Alex's below.
Then, for co-op today, we talked about our skeletal system. They made these macaroni skeletons. I was also teaching a lesson during the time they did these, so I'm not sure if they enjoyed doing it or not - or even how hard it was.
Alex's:
Nicolas's:
Whether or not they enjoyed the craft, I think they look pretty neat!
