History and Homeschooling: Part 2 Civil War Re-enactment

One of my favorite scenes from the movie Sweet Home Alabama is the one where Melanie goes to the battlefield to find her Confederate father re-enacting a battle from the Civil War. After seeing that movie I always wanted to go to a re-enactment but thought I'd never get a chance since we're not out on the east coast...but guess what? There are Civil War re-enactments here in California! Last weekend there was a small re-enactment real close to where we live at the Strathern Park in Simi Valley .

So since we recently finished studying about the Civil War I thought it would be awesome for History to literally come alive for Jojo. And thankfully, it was an amazing experience for us both.

When we arrived to the park he registered to join the Union and enlisted as a Yankee soldier.

Lincoln is telling the new recruits that they can join him after the battle in the parade to where he'll give the Gettysburg Address.

We also got to watch an artillery demonstration.

The Rebels told us about what it was like to be in the infantry.

Then there was the Gettysburg Battle re-enactment.

Old Glory still standing.

I found the whole day quite emotional actually. I even found myself tearing up a few times. I have so many pictures from the event and interesting facts I learned about the Civil War that I'll have to write another post!

History and Homeschooling: Part 1 Abeka American History

This year I thought I'd give Abeka a try for American History. I have to confess that I have a love hate relationship with this particular curriculum. That's mainly because they require so much! There are 170 lessons and since we homeschool on a 4 day week schedule it can be a bit stressful getting all the lessons in. I have learned to make it work though by doubling up or even skipping certain lessons that require a lot of review for tests. Even though the curriculum has been a bit stressful Josiah has been learning a ton. 

April of last year Josiah was "diagnosed" with Dyslexia. It's been quite a year for us especially since we homeschool I make all the accommodations needed for him to excel. On my part this means a whole lot of reading, writing on  our whiteboard, etc. I'm happy to do it...don't get me wrong. I realize that if he were in public school, even on an IEP, that he would not be getting the help that he can get by me being one on one with him. He is excelling so much more this year and is enjoying school quite a bit.

Josiah for the most part is a visual learner and so this year I've added more books, and even picture books. Jon and I both are reading a lot to him. He has amazing auditory skills and has no problem retaining what we read to him.  He's also enjoying thumbing through some wonderful picture books we get from the library.

Now that we have a homeschool room I am also able to hang things up. One of our favorites is the U.S. map which is hung 10 feet in front of him. He is learning his U.S. Geography simply by having this map to look at all day.

There are also great apps which I utilize almost daily for him. Currently he is learning the State capitals and this app in particular is helping him out quite a bit.

Strathearn Park in Simi Valley

Cute gazebo for taking pictures!

We found another gem not too far from our home while Jon's mom was here in December. I've driven by this park so many times and kept telling the boys that one day we needed to go there! I'm so glad we did. It's like a little piece of California history right in our own backyard. The Chumash Indians lived in this area before the Spanish settlers. Then there are the remains of an adobe dating from the late 1790's. I copied this from the park's official website: "Our Simi Adobe was built at the beginning of the Spanish period, likely soon after the grant in 1795, as the local residents had to have some place to live while they operated the rancho. A part of that adobe still exists and is the focal point of our historical park. This was a stopover place between the Missions San Fernando Rey and San Buenaventura. In later years there was a stage stop nearby as well. There is little doubt this adobe was on the main route throughout all those early years."

Another plus is that it's free to walk around the park. There are docent-led tours for only $3 each person so we plan to do that as a family soon. Actually, in a couple weeks there will be a Civil War re-enactment at the park which I hope to go to with Josiah since we just finished our study on the Civil War in American History.

Simi Valley's first barber shop, which opened it's doors in 1958.

The Colony House

Simi Valley's first library built in 1930.

My mother-in-law with a tractor just like one her grandparents had on their farm.

Presbyterian Church built in 1902

 

Gardens of the World

One of the fun things about living in a new town is finding all the new places to explore. When my mother-in-law visited in December we took her to Gardens of the World in Thousand Oaks. There is no entrance fee to these gardens which of course is a huge plus! The gardens aren't very large either so it doesn't take forever to walk through them. The only thing I didn't like is that you are not permitted to take pictures of people while you are in the gardens. They require you call them and get a special permit. Of course everyone does it but when you're trying to set an example for your children about following rules...well you follow the rules! I would love to go the gardens by myself to read a book and just relax. Maybe I'll sneak out one day soon!

Happy New Year

...well not such a Happy New Year!  On New Year's Day I thought it would be a good idea to get out to our favorite park so the boys could ride on their new scooters. Unfortunately, Jojo had a little accident. I won't win for mother of the year this year (again). I waited a few days before taking him in to the orthopedist. Thankfully the orthopedist was very gracious to me and said that this won't be the first nor last time that a mom waits a few days before bringing the kid in. The whole "trial" ended up being quite a great learning opportunity for all of us. I'm thankful to the Lord for these trials where we can walk in His truth and teach our kids why the Lord places trials in our lives.

In a cast for a ligament injury/sprain.

After 4 weeks the cast was removed but...

            

           ugh! The injury still has more healing to do.