School: Our Great Big World

I am so far behind in posting about our school weeks. This is actually for the middle two weeks of November.

We kicked off Geography to introduce Abi to the concept of Continents and different countries. Starting next year we will be picking a country every week or every month to learn more about.

We started out with the Oceans of the World and Seven Continents activities from SpellOutLoud.com.

These are so great and so nicely done.

We decorated the school area with children from around the world...

We began using the World countries workbook I picked up in the Target dollar section! Love that place!

We started out with the United States...

moved on to Canada...

Here is Abi using her Little Passports suitcase for our pretend flight...

Next was Mexico...

Then on to Australia...

We did some letter U activities as well...

Visited France...

Germany.... (don't you just love this tree she decorated? We learned about Christmas customs in each country each week and so we talked about trees this week. I loved her star, her garland, and especially that angel!)

We had so much fun doing this and it really got Abi interested in countries and languages. I can't wait to do more!

Thursday's Thirteen: 13 Historical places before 13

My parents always made an effort to stop at any and every spot of historical significance on our many, many treks across this country while I was growing up. In honor of the holiday tomorrow I thought I would list 13 of these places that I went to before I was 13.... in random order....
1. The home of Harry Truman(I had really dark hair then. Wow.)

2. The Hermitage: home of Andrew Jackson: this is one of my favorites. I loved it as a kid and I got these really great paper dolls there that I played with for years. I don't know what happened to them. The second picture is almost exactly 20 years later of Abi last October when my parents,Abi, and I went there again. I was able to get those same paper dolls for Abi!!

3. Home of Andrew Johnson

4. Lincoln's boyhood home- not the fancy place. That is built around his old log cabin.

5. Mount Vernon- home of George Washington

6. Mount Rushmore- not too historical but kind of is...and it's very cool

7. Monticello- home of Thomas Jefferson

8. The first pony express station

9. Washington D.C: all the sights

10.Bunker Hill

11.Home of Dwight D. Eisenhower

12. The Constitution and Declaration of Independance
(not pictured)
13. Liberty Bell and Independance Hall
(not pictured)

I believe that seeing these things is really what created my love of history. My favorite spots since 13 have been by far going to Gettysburg, the site of the Twin Towers, and the Statue of Liberty.
Places I still hope to go someday: Colonial Williamsburg!

Wordless Wednesday: Last fall in Nauvoo