Panama Canal

 Additional Resources:
YouTube - I like this one. However, it can only be seen on YouTube.  It is short and to the point.
Geography About
Canal Museum
PBS

Book of Marvels - Fort Jefferson

This was the coolest chapter!

Civil War just ended.  Lincoln is shot by John Wilkes Booth.  Dr. Mudd sent to prison at Fort Jefferson because he 'set' Mr. Booths broken leg!  What?

The U.S. Government felt that Dr. Mudd was a conspirator to the crime of killing our President Lincoln.  He was sentenced to life in prison and sent to For Jefferson which at the time had the most evil reputation of any prison in the country.  Dr. Mudd's wife worked for four years to get him pardoned - pardoned for a crime he did not commit.

Fort Jefferson

30 foot moat to the portal

Inside the walls is a ground as large as 20 football fields!

Over 50 million bricks used to build the structure.

Largest mass of unreinforced masonry ever raised by Americans.  All brick and stone. Not held together by any steel or concrete.  

Additional Resources:

Boothiebarn

 

101 Places

I checked out the book 101 Places You Gotta See Before You're 12! from the library the other day.  As we looked through the book we became excited because we had been to many of the places.  Yahoo for us - we were not even trying!

1.  Lighthouse.  Well, we looked at one across the Bay by Lake Superior.  Does that count?
2.  A Skatepark

 3.  A Working Farm

4.  An Animal Rescue Center - Hayward WI

5.  A Waterfall
6.  A Swimming Hole
7.  An Art Museum
8.  A Wind Farm - We drive by these all the time in MN and IA

9.  An Aquarium - Georgia Aquarium

10.  The House Where Your Parents Grew Up

11.  A Famous Field

12.  A Big Cave - PA

13.  A Wildlife Refuge
14. A Farmer's Market
15.  A Pigpen
16. A Repair Shop
17. A Place of Worship

18. A Fort - Fort Snelling, MN

19. A Dinosaur Site
20.  An Archeological Site
21.  Hall of Fame
22. A Courthouse
23. A Subway

24.  An Airplane Hangar or Collection

25. A School That Is Different From Yours
26. A People Watching Place

27.  Space Places 

28. Marvels of Engineering 

29.  A Battlefield

30. Famous Road -Washington DC Mall

31. Places Where They Make Cool Stuff (Hershey PA)

32. Cemetery - Gettysburg

32. Cemetery - Arlington

Book of Marvels - Yosemite

Our second stop is Yosemite to see the Highest Waterfall named Bridal Veil.

Please preview the YouTube, what is fine for my family may not be for yours.

Book of Marvels - The Golden Gate Bridge

We are using Richard Halliburton's Book of Marvels for part of our Geography this year.  As we move along the book I thought I would document some You Tube or pictures that we view along with each chapter.  It just might help someone else.  Just remember, review the YouTube before hand.  What is fine for my family may not be with yours.

Our first stop is the Golden Gate Bridge in CA.

Curriculum 2011-2012

I am posting this now because I am finding that I would like to purchase more items and I have to keep reminding myself that it is DONE.  I can relax!  The crazy part is I actually like researching different school curriculum.  Don't you?

The boys want to study American History and after much thought we decided to try a new curriculum. Now don't get me wrong...we loved Story of the World and Mystery of History, both of these made history come alive! I just felt for what the boys wanted to learn we needed to switch it up.  We decided on the literature approach curriculum, Beautiful Feet. 

We have been doing a little bit of Geography with Beautiful Feet this summer.  When reading Mom's Mustard Seed's Blog she mentioned she was also doing the Geography this coming school year.  BUT, she had a writing resource to go with it.  I was like a kid in a candy store!  Right away I purchased the ebook and said, 'DONE'.

I also added Total Language Plus. TLP is a literature based program.  Thing 1 will start out by reading Charlotte’s Web.   While Thing 1 is doing TPL he will not be doing his other Grammar items because with TLP you are given spelling words, spelling rules, copy work, parts of speech, drills, enrichment activities, comprehension and vocabulary {hopefully I am not missing anything}.  Now, in all honesty, we did try this last year. However, this program was too hard for a child who did not have much comprehension.  After spending a year working on his comprehension, I think he can take this on and be successful at it. 

Both Boys Together

Bible~ How to Study Your Bible for Kids by Kay Arthur

History ~ Early American History (Beautiful Feet)  We will also supplement with lessons from Lesson Pathways and GuestHollow

Geography ~ (Beautiful Feet)

Writing ~ Beautiful Feet and Institute for Excellence in Writing put together a writing program to go with the Beautiful Feet Geography.

Science ~ R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey - Chemistry

                 Human Body

Art ~ Artistic Pursuits

Electives ~    Sign Language

                    English from the Roots Up

                    Music Lessons

                    Spanish 

                    Character Sketches (this is a bible/science/character study)

                    Vocabulary

Thing 1 (5th grade)

Math ~ Teaching Text Books

Grammar ~ Spelling Power 

                    Total Language Plus

                    Writing with Ease

                     Language Lessons for a Well-Trained Mind 

                 

Critical Thinking ~ Reading Detective

Thing 2 (3rd Grade)

Math ~ Teaching Text Books

Grammar ~ 

                    Language Lessons for a Well-Trained Mind 

                    Language Lessons for Little Ones {review}

                   Pictures in Cursive Primer

                    Learning to Spell Through Copywork

                    Writing with Ease

                    

Road Trip 2011

Day 2

Well, we didn't get far.  The first day was a hard 9 hour drive so we could get half way to our destination.  Now, the motivation isn't as strong as it once was!  I really do not have to be in GA until Wednesday and it is Tuesday.  Technically, I could make it to GA no problem.  I just don't feel like driving that far today.  So, we go half way, again.

We pull into Nashville, TN.  Hey, why not go to the Grand Old Opry?  What! Sold out on a Tuesday night?   No worries...Lets go ride the Go Carts!  Thing 2 is actually tall enough this year to drive his own.  So excited.  Such a good mom, forgot the camera for this HUGE moment in his life.

Back to the hotel.  We decided to watch the finality of American Idol.  Tomorrow we will wake up early and head to GA to see my sister!

We might not be taking many pictures - but we are collecting rocks from each state.  I know, very exciting.

Stay tuned for more adventures, maybe!