Thomas Jefferson Told Me To

It turns out that Thomas Jefferson, in 1783, recommended a visit to Harper's Ferry.

We obliged.

Yes, I agree with the President.  This scene is worth a trip across the Atlantic, and it certainly was worth our ninety minute drive northwest.  Here's the view from Jefferson Rock. (We visited in November.  Imagine how brilliant the colours would look earlier in the fall!)

Harper's Ferry is a small town nestled in a valley where two rivers meet.  I'll borrow this summertime panoramic photo from Wikipedia, so you can see the whole thing.  The river on the left is the Shenandoah and the river on the right is the Potomac.  Neat place, eh?  (There's also a steep hillside on the right.)



And when you start learning about the history of this place, you get even more intrigued!!!  Yes, there was a Mr. Harper who established a ferry to help people cross the Potomac - somewhere around 1750.  You already know about Thomas Jefferson's visit.  George Washington stopped by in 1785 to check out a possible plan to establish canals here.  in 1796, Washington suggested Harpers Ferry as a place to build an armory that would produce and store small arms for the U.S Army.  In 1859, abolitionist John Brown attacked the armory, hoping to steal rifles and start a slave uprising.  His late-night plan was discovered, the church bells rang to alert the townspeople, and John Brown ended up hiding out in this engine house until General Lee captured him.  



That raid on the armory played a role in the onset of the Civil War, and became quite a famous story, actually.  Union soldiers sang about it - have you heard this song?  (click here to listen)



Harper's Ferry remained in the middle of things, changing hands between the Confederate and Union Officials fifteen times.  We walked to the Union General Headquarters, just up a bit from Jefferson's Rock.  

Soon after the war, this home became a college for freed slaves!  Storer Normal College.  It was also here in 1906, that the Niagara Movement held it's first U.S. meeting as a large civil rights group who worked toward equality for African Americans.  

We just loved wandering around, taking in all the beauty and stories and sunshine!

Some of the stone steps we climbed were set in place before 1865!

With all this rich history everywhere, we grew used to historical plaques on nearly every building and street corner.  We were especially fond of this one:

School At Home - What We Do All Day

We have only a few months of experience, but I'd like to share how homeschooling is working for our family.  I always wondered what it might look like.  We've been asked by some of you to describe our setup.  As I meet more homeschooling families, I sure enjoy hearing how they find their daily rhythms and routines.   

I'll admit that curriculum is one of my favourite things to think about (seriously. a bit of a geek.), so I hand-picked quite a variety of programs to incorporate into our year.  I especially wanted to use curricula that would conquer academic weaknesses and celebrate my children's strengths (i.e. let's find a thorough program to improve spelling (a weakness for all three) and also ways to enjoy lots of art (Linnea), writing (Marijka) and slurping up info through reading (Aidan)!).  I spent time studying the curriculum maps of our Seattle school and made my plans with the transition back to school in mind.  As well, I'll admit, I incorporated plenty of books, activities and programs just because I wanted to!  It's a one-year experiment for me to play with curriculum!

School starts around 8:30.  There's not really a scampering to be ready on time; it's a casual start.  We usually just all find ourselves in the dining room somewhere around 8:30.

We often start with a song or a prayer, and then we look at our morning schedules.  Each child has a list of what activities are scheduled for their morning session.

Our morning schedule briefly lists who does what and in which order.  This way I can balance when each child might need my attention.  It includes spelling (we really like 'All About Spelling'!), math, Bible, typing, journal writing, story writing, piano practice, singing lessons, and Aidan's junior high program (a mostly-independent, research-based history/science curriculum called TRISMS).  Sometimes I throw in some household chores like baking a batch of muffins.  The children might be all over the house (Aidan may be up in his room, reciting the Bible chapter he's memorizing, while Linnea is sitting with me at the kitchen table doing Math and Marijka is in the living room doing a typing program on the computer). 


Our morning session goes from about 8:30-10:30.  When a child is done working through their rotation, they can do spelling games, math games, write a letter, etc. until we're all finished.  (I don't allow reading at this point because it's so easy to get sucked into a story and not feel like coming back to reality.)  Once we're all done, we have a snack and take a break.

We do our one-on-one spelling program in our back room, which is also the laundry room.  :)

I really like how practicing piano can be a part of our school routine,
and not something that needs to fit into our evenings.

Sometimes everyone ends up at the kitchen table at the same time!

About twenty minutes later, we gather together for Geography.  This time we study all together.  We're learning our way around the world, with several weeks on each continent.  I found a variety of excellent resources!  One day we enjoy a read aloud of a great book  from 1929 that tells about the author's explorations around the world.  (It's fun to hear him say, "perhaps one day a man will travel to the moon", or "the population of the world might soon reach two billion!"  It sparks lots of discussion.)  On other days we do some atlas drills and mapping, or we make related foods or read biographies or plan an imaginary vacation.  It's a lot of fun.  

By now it's about 12:30.  We take a full break for lunch.  The kids play, read and check email.  I throw in a load of laundry, start some supper prep and take a quiet time.

It's a good time to practice ninja skills on the playground across the street.

Around 2 pm, we gather again for what we call Afternoon Studies.  These studies are thematic, student led (for the most part) and often involve projects and field trips.  For example, the children wanted to learn more about boats.  We see a large variety of boats every day, and we were naturally becoming quite curious about the different types, purposes, costs, etc.  The kids helped plan what they wanted to learn and how we would spend a week of Afternoon Studies learning it.  We went to the nearby marina, did some sketching, and spent one afternoon in a large boat shop, talking with a very kind and knowledgeable shop owner.  We have an ongoing list of topics we'd like to study in our Afternoon Studies, some coming from our school curriculum back home, some triggered by recent questions, some just for fun.  We're willing to take on guest speakers!  Want to join us?  :)

We have a few outside activities as well.  Aidan takes fencing classes; Linnea is on a basketball team.  Every other week we get together with another homeschooling family.  My friend has a brain for math, and she provides Aidan with a chance to talk the talk and grapple with challenging math ideas.  Kathy also sets out a fun math project for me to do with the other kids.  After math, I lead a writer's workshop for the group.  It's great to spark each other's imaginations and share our stories with an audience.

So that's what homeschooling looks like in this home.  Can you picture it?  It's not a Big Event, it's just normal daily life for us.  I've been in the homes of other homeschooling families now, and I know that each family's answer to this question will be very different.  That's the joy of it all!

cottage hospitality

There are many lovely things for you to enjoy when visiting our cottage.


1.  There's a good chance at least one appliance will be out of order when you're here.

Mom and Jon chatting over kitchen duty.... broken dishwasher!

2.  We provide a grand piano.  Plus an attentive audience.

Dad played a little sonata while waiting for us to all be ready to go somewhere...

One evening, we all stood around the piano, Mom, Dad, Jon, myself and our kids
and belted out the gorgeous hymn, "Oh, The Sweet, Sweet, Love of Jesus". 
It was one of my favourite moments ever. 

3.  You get to bring a lot of your own things!  The cottage coffee machine makes only three cups at a time.  If you think you'll want a refill, BYO coffee maker.  BYO slippers: the floors are hard and cold.  Coming with a baby?  You get to bring your playpen, high chair, plastic dishes and baby monitor!  Oh, and we don't have extra pillows.


 4.  This cottage promotes sleepovers!  No need to have a room to yourself - we'll provide you with constant company!  When Kim and Gord came for a visit, the lucky couple got to have a sleepover with two of their children!  Plus, couples receive a chance to really snuggle: a double bed!  (If you're over six feet tall, you also get the privilege of having your feet stick off the end of the bed!)

Marijka and Linnea enjoyed this sleepover when Opa and Oma were visiting.
Beth and Ali got to share this room when they were here.

Kids even get to share their bathtime!  Plus, as you can see, Amlelie was lucky enough
to sleep in the bath-bathroom.

5.   The cottage is just the right size for being able to hear everything that is said.  Never miss out on the great conversations!  The walls are thin.  There are vents connecting each downstairs room with an upstairs room, so you can always hear each other.  Beth, Ali and I were doing dishes together one night (see #1 - the dishwasher is still broken) and Beth needed to run upstairs for something.  Down the hallway, up the stairs, in a bedroom.... she was able to hear our conversation all the while.


6.  There aren't very many places to sit in the cottage.  So you get to share the couch.

(When we decided to watch a show with Beth and Ali, seven of us piled onto the couch, 'squishing our bum cheeks' as Marijka put it, piling people on.  The show was playing on our laptop (our only tv), and the sound was fairly faint, so we didn't dare make any sound!  All seven of us, packed like sardines and super attentive so we could hear the show.  Quite a picture, I'm sure.  But from my spot on the couch, there was no way I could move to reach the camera.)

7. Since this cottage is also our schoolroom, you'll probably get to trip over our school work!  Mom and Dad were given a lengthy and enthusiastic demonstration at Grandparents' Day.

Marijka recited a good many things she learned about elephants....

...and received her applause with a humble bow

Linnea showed Opa and Oma the Bible study she's been working on. 

(I don't have a good photo of Aidan, but he also shared...  Mom and Dad
certainly have a solid grasp now on what we've been studying these last few months.)

8. There are people in this house who bake recipes with wonderful instructions like, "Whip cream.  Spread attractively over pie."  Yum.  (Since there are no round baking dishes in the cottage, everything you eat will be in rectangles.) 

9.  We have a playground in our front yard.

 10.  We'll probably take you on a hike.

(We took Mom and Dad here, too, but once again enjoyed the
experience without a camera in hand.  Dad has some photos, though! 
If you email me a few, Dad, I can add them in!  You got some nice shots, I think!)

Perhaps we'll even go drop by the homes of a few of my friends....! 
(Three Knight Girls wandering the streets of DC?  Are you surprised
that we were stopped by the Secret Service?  Me either.)

11.  We will hug you tightly when you arrive! 

...and hug you tight when you leave.   Thank you so much for coming, all you lovely guests!!!!!

5K!

Our family has been training for a 5K since school started this fall.  The regular fresh air and exercise has been a welcomed part of our homeschooling routine.  Well.... I welcome it.  Jon loves it.  The kids merely tolerate.

Today was the day!  We participated in the "Run for Wildlife" at a local conservation area.  It was a gorgeous day with warm weather and brilliant fall colours!  Two of my sisters, Beth and Ali, were visiting this weekend (!!!!) and they participated too, enjoying the 3K walk with Marijka!  We didn't take any pictures until after the race, but hopefully these provide a glimpse into our fun day!

  

We all ran our personal best!  Jon won third place in his age category!

I'm hoping this picture gives you an idea of the landscape around us at the race.
I didn't take any better ones than this, unfortunately.  The path took us around
this property and through the woods... just gorgeous!!!

stroller battle

Ali and Jon.  (May I just say I love having my sisters around!!?)

More photos of our great sister-time coming soon for those dear family members wishing to virtually particpate.  (We missed you, Elise and Lauren.)  For now, I need to put my feet up.  

Searching For Shark's Teeth

The question "Shall we go searching for sharks' teeth?" surely deserves the answer, "Absolutely!"

My friend Kathy suggested we take our children, our sieves and a picnic lunch to Calvert Cliffs State Park, on the shore of the Chesapeake about an hour south.  We would hike through the woods, climb down to the water and then sift through shells, sand and rocks with the hopes of finding a tooth or two.

We were totally up for the adventure!  Our hike began in a picturesque place with rolling hills and welcoming woods.

We soon dropped down in elevation and the landscape changed.

a fascinating ecosystem

Our path became a boardwalk, and we could see that the Chesapeake was just ahead....

As we left the trees, the wind hit us full force!  The Chesapeake is a large, strong body of water, I tell you!  No wonder it was named the "Mother of Water"!

Off went the socks and shoes and into the cool water we went, sieves and buckets in hand.

There's one!  A shark's tooth!  Our friend Peter found one right away! 
(Did you know that sharks are constantly losing teeth and growing new ones?)

 

There are all sorts of fossils in the surrounding cliffs, and erosion is bringing those fossils into the water and onto the shore.  Remember this picture, from our visit to the Baltimore Aquarium?

Those teeth were found at this park, Calvert Cliffs!

When we were tired of sifting and tired of the wind, we headed back up the path to enjoy the large playground.  A few of us had sharks' teeth in our backpacks; all of us had some special shells and rocks.

And can I just show you a few photos of the quaint town we explored near the park?  It was a town I had wanted to visit for a while: Solomons Island.  We drive daily on a Solomons Island Road, and I wanted to follow the road to this town at the end of the peninsula!  I was so glad we did!  Can you feel how very quaint it is?  The town has several cottages and shops to the right, along the shore.

The Patuxent River ahead; it joins the Chesapeake just behind me.

Here's one of the churches.  The other one was named "Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church".




I love exploring!  What a terrific day.  These munchkins had a good day, too...