October

October was a loooonnng month. I'm not complaining because time goes by way too fast these days. Unfortunately, November decided to fast forward. I can't believe we are already half way through!

We packed a lot into the month. One weekend we headed to High Bridge Trail State Park in Farmville. 

High Bridge was built in 1854 to cross the Appomattox River and connect Petersburg with Lynchburg. The upper level held a railroad and pedestrian walkway, while the lower level was for wagons. 

In the last days of the Civil War, Confederate forces attempted to destroy the bridge after crossing it to prevent pursuing Union troops from being able to cross. After the Battle at High Bridge, Robert E. Lee told every man that destroyed the bridge to go back and rebuild it. The last train crossed the bridge in 2004. 

We really couldn't have picked a better day. The weather was warm with a cool breeze and the leaves were changing. But the bees!  It was like a bee convention on the bridge, with so many bees you had to dodge them. In fact, if you look really closely at the last picture, you can see them on the railing. 

We ended our time in Farmville with lunch at Macado's. I love that place.

We also took a family field trip to Jamestown. 

The kids love going across on the ferry, so we went a little out of the way to ride the ferry across. 

We had just finished learning about the first settlement in the new world in our history. 

Kristen loved learning about Pocahontas and comparing the real facts with the Disney movie. They had an exhibit about Pocahontas. 

The highlight for the girls was the Native American Village. Kristen said she wished she could live like the Indians because the are so self sufficient. I agree. It would be nice to do everything ourselves. 

Here, the kids are grinding down corn to make meal. Tougher than you would think. 

They also got to scrape off animal fur, which is what the Native Americans did before the made clothes, satchels and other things. It was kind of gross, since the fur was flying off sticking to their clothes. Maybe I'm a little glad I get to buy my clothes instead of making them. I'm sure cotton is a lot more comfortable than deer hide. 

They were able to help scoop out a canoe. I'm not sure how long this would take the Native Americans, but I'm sure it wasn't a quick construction.

They also got to see someone weaving baskets. 

The highlight for Dallas was the ships. It's hard to fathom that people lived on these ships, that really weren't very big, for so many months. No wonder they all became sick and most died once the landed in the New World. 

We also got to see how Colonial life was during that time. We went in houses and saw a church. The pews were very straight and very hard. 

Kristen and Lauren in the pulpit. You couldn't see Dallas, so he was trying to climb down. The preachers back then must have been very tall.

We also got to see the blacksmith make some nails. They actually use the nails he makes to build and repair the buildings. After every nail he made, he said, "Nailed it". The kids thought that was hilarious.

We saw guns and armor. The armor was very heavy. We also got to see them "fire" a gun. 

Another lady was sewing dish towels. Lauren loves sewing!

It was a great field trip! We are very fortunate to be surrounded by so much history.

Lauren had to write a minibook for her writing. It could be on any topic, so she picked Jamestown!

We also got together with family and did our annual Halloween get together. Dallas picked out the most complicated mummy pumpkin ever....then said, "I didn't come here for the pumpkin carving. Just the food and running". So, I was left (with Paul's help) to finish it up. Kristen did her own this year with no help from us. We ate chili, went on a "hay" ride and made s'mores. 

Lauren had her Girl Scout bear for 2 weeks. She had to do something fun with Eleanor and take a picture and write about it. We haven't wrote about it yet, but here's her picture.

And we can't forget Halloween! I bought pj's for the kids because this year I was determined to buy something they would wear more than once. Kristen went as Eeyore. Lauren was Poppy from the movie Trolls. Dallas was Maui from Moana. He didn't keep the wig on.

But Paul did rock it!

 

For Halloween we took the day off from school. I made ghost and bat pancakes with ghost bananas. 

And Meme and Papaw came up to do some fun activities with us.

We also celebrated two birthdays. Meme's and Aunt Kelly's. So thankful for both of them. I am very blessed to have such an awesome mom and sister. 

We did some fun things in school this month. But first, let me just say....school has been a struggle for Lauren from the beginning. For me, there didn't seem to be light at the end of the tunnel. We were always taking two steps forward and 10 steps back. There were times I felt like pulling my hair out and seriously questioned if homeschooling was right for her. I'm not sure what happened, but this year is like teaching a different kid. She is focused. She gets her work done, and she is working independently on a lot of things. 

She has NEVER completed her reading working by herself, but she's been doing them consistently on her own for a few weeks. And getting them right!

She learned how to add and carry over and picked it up after the first example. 

She still is a very literal girl. Her worksheet said to put a circle behind the mouse. So, she turned her worksheet over and put a circle behind the mouse.  

It also said to put a square in front of the dog. So, she put it in front of the dog. I did not count these as wrong, by the way. 

I am so proud of her and very thankful that school is a lot easier for her this year.

We had a monster day where we read Do Not Build a Frankenstein. 

We were scared by a very scary werewolf.

We also made blow monsters. 

And played roll a monster while listening to The Monster Mash.

Here's a picture of their crazy monsters.

We also learned about Space and made some Galaxy playdoh. They created space things. My hands stayed a purplish/black for a week. 

Kristen made a planet. 

Lauren made space Mickey.

Dallas made a rocket ship. 

Speaking of rocket ships, we did do an experiment in setting off our own rocket ship, but it failed. All three attempts failed. But we did make galaxies in a jar and played Space Bingo.

One of Dallas' weekly units was on feelings. We read some great books and talked about our feelings.

I found some Lego printable feeling cards and he loved them. He would change it to tired when we went to bed. Every mood he had was reflected on his door. 

He created his mood with playdoh.

 And he made mood monsters.

Let me just say, this particular day was a very moody day, as is reflected in his expression. I don't think his Lego man said happy all day. In fact, I think he declared it the worst day ever. Why? Because when he colored one of his monster faces with a marker, the monster's face had a hole in it. Oh the problems of a five year old!

We watched a DVD about the rainforest then read a very educational and interactive book.

The kids painted Toucan's with watercolor paints.

We read some books about fall and scarecrows and made some scarecrow out of felt. 

Dallas colored his "fall"ing into numbers worksheet and played his "fall"ing into reading with site words game.

There was bring your teddy bear to school day.

And baking day where the kids made breakfast. Or, actually Kristen mostly made breakfast. Dallas and Lauren were a bit wild this morning. 

Our character building unit was about Truth and how we should always speak the truth.

We did some science experiments. We learned about emulsions. How oil and water doesn't mix, until you add an egg yolk to it. 

Is milk a liquid or solid? Can you make milk into a solid? We did by adding vinegar...and it was gross.

What a great...long....exciting....month.