What We’ve Accomplished Today…04/19/10

Well, today was not an ordinary day... but that's not so bad :)

Bible: Genesis 38. This chapter was a bit awkward with my ds. Dd was disgusted to say the least. Tamar seduced Judah and conceived twins. I spent a while trying to explain, without too much detail because I don't think ds needs to know the details just yet. Anyway... We got sidetracked talking about Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth. Lee has a 'students' bible that was given to her by her youth group leader that has little blocks throughout the bible that explain some things in greater detail. Sometimes, like in Matthew, it is pointing out something interesting. This particular one mentions Tamar and the other women that are mentioned in Mary's and Joseph's lineage as it leads to the birth of Jesus. It refers to these women as 'black sheep'. I had never really thought of it that way. Of the women mentioned in the lineage, Mary is the purest one and she was blessed to be the mother of Jesus.

The Birth of Britain: (Lee) It's a good thing today isn't pop quiz day! I am having a difficult time remembering what we talked about today. Ah! There were two tribes left that were time consuming to the Romans- the Caledonians and Maeatae (spellings??). Dio Cassius describes these two tribes as primitive people that went naked and lived off of bark and roots. They had access to fish aplenty but did not eat the fish.

Well, that's about all I can remember from all we read *.* I have no idea where the rest of the information got stored in my brain... Aha! I went and got the book. I knew there was more we read! Anyway we are in Book 1: Chapter 3. Way behind for being in week 9... The Roman Province. As time went on in Britain, the Britain people became accustomed to the Roman influence. Britons began (or rather the tendency increased) to take on more of Roman traits and characteristics. Something that stood out to us while reading was the lack of heat. And baths! Churchill says that for a great length of time dirt and cold clung to these people. Makes me thankful for my shower :)

This Country of Ours: (Fox) We finished up chapter 69 with Tecumseh being very upset with his brother, the Prophet as he called himself- or Open Door, because of the battle of Tippecanoe. Open Door requested a counsel with Governor General Harrison (of Indiana) saying that he desired only peace. The governor did not trust the Indians and made sure that his men slept at the ready in case something unexpected happened. It's a good thing, too. Open Door sent his Indians down to the general's camp before dawn to slaughter the men. There were a lot of Indians killed and by daybreak the Indians were running into the forests, abandoning the village of Tippecanoe. The Americans burned the village. Tecumseh had wanted to unite all the tribes of Indians into one people to fight the white men. The defeat at Tippecanoe made it impossible now for that to happen and that was why he was so upset with Open Door.

We are going to be reading two chapters each time we have history to try to 'catch up' although if we do not make it, that's okay.

Abraham Lincoln's World: (Fox) We barely started on page 15. Didn't even complete the entire page! I'm not sure why at this moment but we just didn't 'finish' that task for today. Perhaps next time.

Complete Book of Marvels: (Fox) We left Fort Jefferson and headed to Veracruz by boat. Here we learned about the Aztec Indians. They were civilized and advanced. They were not like what most people would think when they hear "indian". Halliburton suggests that the word itself may conjure up images of hunters with bows and arrows that live in wigwams (I would have thought tee-pees myself...), but this is not what the Aztec were like. They had elaborate temples, palaces, and living areas. The major point against this civilization was that they participated in human sacrifice. Halliburton describes the three beautiful mountains in Mexico that he would venture to say are three of the most awesome; easily comparable to the Himalayas or Mt. McKinley. There is a photograph (in black and white unfortunately) in the chapter of two of the mountains. I am not recalling the entire names of these but we called them Popo and Istach (Is-tock) for short. There was one other that I believe was called Orizaba. Today instead of simply narrating, Fox drew pictures as I was reading and then told back what he drew. I liked especially when he was drawing the teocalli- he drew it nice and neatly then when we heard that over time the Christian Mexicans that built a church on top of it had let it crumble, he erased some of his nicely drawn slope to show the ruin. It is now (or then when Halliburton visited!) run over with trees and shrubs.

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy: (Lee) Starting with the author's disclosure- where he straight out tells that his view is one of liberty, free markets and international neutrality- we continued to read the Preface, A Note About Economics and the Smart poem by Shel Silverstein. I can't remember it word for word so here it is from the book:
SMART

My dad gave me one dollar bill

'Cause I'm his smartest son,

And I swapped it for two shiny quarters

'Cause two is more than one!

And then I took the quarters

And traded them to Lou

For three dimes- I guess he don't know

That three is more than two!

Just then, along came old blind Bates

And just 'cause he can't see

He gave me four nickels for my three dimes,

And four is more than three!

And I took the nickels to Hiram Coombs

Down at the seed-feed store,

And the fool gave me five pennies for them,

And five is more than four!

And then I went and showed my dad,

And he got red in the cheeks

And closed is eyes and shook his head--

Too proud of me to speak!

--Shel Silverstein

from Where the Sidewalk Ends

Lee: The Brendan Voyage; LIFEPAC Math; LIFEPAC Language Arts.

Fox: LIFEPAC Math

Then we went to the book sale for four hours where there were maybe 10 customers. I spent $10 however on a box full of books that if I had paid full price for would have cost me $49. I think the savings was worth it. I found a rhyming book that I thought Lee would enjoy. I was right; she snatched it up real quick with a big smile on her face.

It's been a long day.. time for bed and will do it again tomorrow...uh without the book sale part :)