In the World the Founding Fathers Knew.......

I received a really neat book for Christmas two years ago and I really like reading it in small dosages whenever the urge hits me. The book is titled House of the Founding Fathers. It's really an interesting book full of great pictures of old historic homes and the history behind them. I highly recommend reading this book. Anyway on to the facts:

The average child had a roughly 50% chance of surviving to adulthood.

Slavery was legal in all thirteen states.

All the cooking was done in or around the fireplace.

Men and women were not created equal. Women could not vote or hold public office. And unless widowed could not own property in most colonies.

Travel was slow and uncertain. By water ships relied upon the wind for locomotion. By land a rider might hope to cover thirty miles in a day, the passenger in a coach just twenty miles.

Aside from sunlight the sole source of heat was fire, usually in an open fireplace. After sunset, illumination was either by moonlight or candlelight.

There was no indoor plumbing. The flush toilet, the bathroom, and the kitchen faucet would be nineteenth century innovations meaning chamber pots, outhouses, and buckets were a way of life.

Privacy was a rare privilege for most: people, including children at home and strangers at inns routinely shared beds.

Aside from a minority of city dwellers everybody was a farmer.

There was no anesthesia for surgery or childbirth.

Every household produced some, and in many cases all, of the candles, soap, foodstuffs, and clothing it required.

The medieval notion of the four humors still dominated medical theory, so bloodletting and purging were employed to restore the balance of black and yellow bile, blood and phlegm, and thus, presumably, good health.

Life, in short, was hard in the time of the Founding Fathers.

Kindergarten Plans

Math: Early Bird Singapore
Miquon Math
And possibly Math Mammoth 1

Science: k12
And science kits I find along the way.

Vocabulary: Wordly Wise 3000 K

Phonics: Bob Books
Explore the Code
And maybe some other program

History: Galloping the Globe (countries and continents)
Story of the World Middle Ages
And probably a few other things.

Handwriting: Handwriting without Tears K

Literature: Hans Christian Anderson stories, Brothers Grimm stories, Legends and Fairy Tales from other countries, Winnie the Pooh, Velveteen Rabbit, American Tall Tales and other stories we think we may want to read.

I think there are a few other things I planned on doing and I'll update as I remember.

2nd Grade Plans

History: Story of the World II Middle Ages
Cantering the Country (learning about states)
Also adding a few more things but I don't have it finalized at this point.

Math: Math Mammoth
Miquon Math

Science: K12
Some odds and ends that I might stumble across.

Grammar: Voyages in English 2

Handwriting: Handwriting Without Tears Grade 2

Literature: A mixture of all types of books. Charlotte's Web, Cricket in Times Square, 39 Clues series, The Great Brain series, The Wheel on the School, The Borrowers, Peppermints in the Parlor, The Family Under the Bridge, The Boxcar Children, plus many more.

Phonics: Finish Explode the Code
Read more Nate the Great Books and others we find and like.

Latin: Song School Latin

Still deciding on other areas but these are ones I am 100% sure we are doing. I'll add the others as we figure it out. Stay tune for the twins Kindergarten plans.

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?

We took the kids to the Riverdale RC Willey store to meet Spongebob. They also met Dora which wasn't nearly as exciting as Spongebob. Personally I think the whole thing was a joke but the kids loved it. We got there 20 minutes before it was suppose to start and were probably number 20 in line but it appears that everyone in front of us was holding a spot in line for an additional 50 people. As you can tell the kids were getting bored. They were letting you take your own pictures and they also had people taking pictures. Me being the considerate one and probably the only one there who was it appears had all my kids in one picture. Everyone in front of us had each of their dozen or so kids and themselves get their pictures done individually. Seriously they could have had more people go through if they had insisted on group pictures. After you moved on from pictures they gave you either a candy or a spongebob coloring book. My kids picked candy. Anyways they tell us there was free cookies and drinks on the other side of the store so while waiting for our free pictures we take the kids for the cookies and drinks. Let me tell you all those people in front of us treated this as a free for all. I think they loaded up their bags with 4-5 bottled waters on top of the ones they took to drink while eating the dozens of cookies they ate. No lie I heard one mom say to her kids fill up here for lunch kids. The way the whole thing was run was ridiculous. Oh well it was free so why should I complain!

We lost Nathan in the store. Course according to him it was my fault cause I didn't stay in the spot he had left me.