Photo Perspective

For school this year, we are doing a whirlwind trip through U.S. history. We've studied the Native Americans and what life was like before the America's were discovered by the Europeans and now we are studying the colonial time period.

So we took a field trip to our local Landis Valley Museum thanks to a free family pass available at our local library. We packed a lunch and on our way, we "dadnapped" dad from work. :-)

We started with the leather working shop. An artisan dressed in period clothes was creating a box for storing things in. He also showed us a pair of straight shoes that he had made. "Straight shoes" have no arches and can fit on either foot. People would typically switch the shoes regularly in order to give them even wear.


As we walked along, we examined the different types of fences. S wasn't so sure about petting the lamb.

We learned the different steps to creating thread and fabric from flax.

We got a chance to lay on this bed. This one has two "mattresses". The top one is full of feathers, the bottom full of rye to keep the bedbugs away. Typically the parents and grandparents would sleep in this bed. The children under 5 would sleep in the trundle at the foot of the bed. And that pot under the bed? I'll let you figure that out. :-)


This was about 3/4 of the way through. We were all starting to get tired out.

Talking to a lady knitting sleeping socks outside one of the houses from a later period.

Outside of a one-room schoolhouse. The kids posed for me on an old hitching post. V was particularly fascinated by the thought of riding a horse to school every day.


The last stop of the day was the Gunsmith Shop. Everyone else was tired and hungry, but V? Let the expression on his face show you his emotions. He even got to fire an old pistol.

After 5 years, it seems God has called Pete back into full-time ministry. Almost two months ago the elders of our church approached Pete requesting that he apply for the position of Interim Children's Ministry Director. After the application and interviewing process, the elders agreed to officially offer the position to Pete, and he accepted. The announcement was made during church this morning.

Personally, I look forward to having Pete home a bit more often. He was working 55+ hrs at his job plus putting in numerous hours this summer working with Junior camp, VBS, planning for this fall's AWANA program, ect. On the flip side, Pete's new more fluid schedule will be a change for our household.

So now that I have our school books for this year chosen and ordered, I'm facing the daunting task of scheduling our days. I was getting most everything done last year - schooling two kids, cleaning, cooking, ect. but not nearly as well as I would have liked. I wasn't often free of my to-do lists to just relax and enjoy my time with the family. This year I am teaching 3rd grade AND kindergarten AND have a very busy little girl to keep track of.

Now if I can get this all figured out in time to catch the free laminating at Office Max, I'll be set!

Children learn from role-playing and role-play what they learn. This afternoon my kiddos are pretending that they are missionaries chased from their home by mean guys burning their house down (Missionary Stories with the Millers). They have run with their horse into the wolf-infested wilderness (Little House on Rocky Ridge). Their names are Katie, Matt, Patrick, and the smallest one is Tom (The Littles). :-)

This morning I cleared the school/office desk off in preparation for our day and thought, "I'd better get a picture while it looks so neat." We are thankful for the large desk we were given and can easily fit several of us around it. It fits just perfectly in the space next to the stairway in the basement. We have not completed the finishing of the basement yet, so we just try to ignore the insulation between the floor joists above us. Someday, Lord willing, it will be finished. :-)


If you look closely you can see our blue timeline on the wall. We are using the CD from Homeschool in the Woods that has various versions of hundreds of timeline figures and events. We are still working on the beginning of World History, so our line isn't very long yet. The kids will color a timeline figure while listening to their history story, Bible lessons, or other literature. I'll color a miniature figure printed on Post-it paper, and stick it up in its place on our time line. I'm hoping the kids will get a better feel for the big-picture of history this way.

On the right side of our homeschooling space, you'll see a map hanging on the wall. The flip side of the map has a zoomed in map of the U.S.A. The whole thing is laminated so that we can use white-board markers to indicate locations of what we are studying in history or reading in our literature.

I wish I could figure out how to get these pictures next to each other here like they will be in K & V's scrapbooks, but for now you'll have to use your imagination. The top will be on the left, the bottom one on the right.

The journaling is pretty much cut and pasted from my last post. I'm finding that to be an added benefit to blogging about my pictures. Then when I'm ready to put them in a layout, the journaling was already done when the event was fresh in my memory.

Ooops, just realized I forgot to put the date on these. I'll have to add it before I get them printed.