Wordless Wednesday

Learning about the "good ole days" - part 1

Recently two of our homeschool groups have taken field trips that have given us an appreciation of all the modern conveniences that we have in this day in age.  It's just amazing how much time would have been put into make a simple meal 100 years ago - no going to the cupboard and opening up a box of cereal and grabbing a gallon of milk from the fridge.  Oh yeah and the clean bowls and spoons sitting in the dishwasher waiting to be used.  No way at all - first you'd have to milk the goat or cow.  Gather the bowls made out of wood that took hours to make.  Spoons - guess I didn't pay enough attention to that part (what DID they use??).  Grind your own corn to make corn pancakes.  Chop the firewood to light the stove.  Syrup dripping from the trees out back to cook into a wonderfully tasting syrup for the pancakes.  Oh dear, my head is just spinning and I think half the details are wrong anyways - lol!!  I am super thankful God has planted me right where I am raising my family in the modern days.  There are drawbacks though...  two huge things that struck me were:  1) how easy it is for kids to get into trouble these days - there was literally NO time to get into trouble back then - far too many chores and responsibilities, and 2) the obesity levels I'm sure have skyrocketed in the last 100 years because hard labor for all genders is definitely a thing of the past.  When walking through one of the buildings, the beams were so close together, I even had to turn sideways to make it through!!  Eeeek!!  Yeah, there was too much work to be done just to survive rather than sit around and watch tv.  With all that being said, these two field trips not only opened up my kids' eyes to what things were like 100 years ago, but also taught the momma!  I absolutely loved them and as you can see in the pictures below, the kids did as well!!  The first "good ole days" field trip was to a local grist mill and afterwards, we visited a fish hatchery down the road.  Enjoy your trip "back in time"

Fone (blue) grinding corn

Melody (red) and some cousins and friends grinding corn

Mario (green) and a cousin and friend grinding corn

learning about the tools and hard labor

Mario drilling

Mario making wood shingles

my sweet niece pounding in nails

Mario, Fone and their cousin putting together a puzzle (much like building a wall)

Melody and her cousin's wood shingles

Melody - "heave!"

cousin - "ho!"

Fone and Mario working the 2-man saw

my turn with the 2-man saw

we did it!!! 

learning about furs....

....and skulls....

and more skulls!  Eeeeeek!

the map of the gristmill

belts in the gristmill

gristmill

furnace to produce steam (when the creek was frozen and not flowing, so that the mill could still be running)

furnace and steam

fish hatchery

 Thank you God for amazing opportunities like this to inspire a love for learning in my children!!

(and a huge thank you goes out to my mom who kept Max and Pookey, because this ended up being a long day, and also to my mother-in-law who joined us in these adventures) 

A trip to the apple farm

We have been enjoying the lovely fall weather with many field trips with our homeschooling groups.  The first of a bunch was to a local apple farm.  Here's some pictures of our fun, fall, apply day!  It was such a treat because my mother-in-law joined us - it's so precious to have that special time with grandparents!! 

hay rack ride

hay rack ride

hay rack ride

strutting like the chickens

apple picking gear

a bunch of sweet, giggly girls huddling in the ginormous refrigerator

boys dancing and goofing in the ginormous refrigerator (yes, that's Fone in orange)

I'm thinking this was the shiner???  (must not have been paying attention - doh!)

taste-testing

Pookey enjoying his first apple (uncut!)

Yummy!!!

the 6 youngn's and I! 

Captain America (Fone's sharing time)

All you Captain America lovers out there, I sure hope you are ready for the newest, comic writer- our very own, wonderful, 10 year old, Fone!!

He has been a writer since he was just learning how to form letters in his early elementary years.  I remember at such a young age having to spell many words for him just so he could put to paper what he was thinking and creating.  He started writing simple stories for himself, then for his siblings.  Around first/second grade, he wrote a series of Mr. Men books that were done so well and had an amazing sense of humor for such a little guy.  He also created his own character and wrote related stories - I gotta dig those out to remind myself what they were about...  During, his third/fourth grade years, he continued with his writing and did many Garfield comics (using a simple generator online where he chose the images and provided the words) and also a whole WebKinz series.  Well, he's just never stopped creating and writing, and amazes us day by day.  It's so humbling when you see gifts and talents that God has given your kids just explode.  And, all of this, was never done as an assignment, he just does it on his own.  He's always been our rabid reader and his writing has naturally blossomed from that.  He loves to read, and has developed a love for writing and creating.  Thank you God!!  <><

So, here's his newest and latest - a comic on Captain America.  (and just so you know, Neil took him and Mario this summer and after 10 minutes into the movie, I had to pick him up because he was too scared, so much of this comes on his own).  Enjoy!!! 

**you may have to actually click on each image to make it larger to view the whole text and pictures....