Journey to Excellence

A couple of weeks ago the kids and I went on a cool field trip to to the Arabia Steamboat Museum. In the 1860's, the Arabia sunk in the Missouri River while transporting goods and passengers. There were no casualties (other than a poor donkey who was still tethered when they excavated), but the goods sunk into the mud and soot of the Missouri where it stayed preserved for over 100 years. This is what took down the Arabia Steamboat, still lodged in it when they found it. The path of the Missouri River changed in that decade and in the 1980's a group of excavators located the Arabia buried in a corn field in Kansas, now on the opposite side of the river where it sank. What they recovered is nothing short of astonishing. Those are dishes I wish I had in my kitchen! All of these wooden clothespins survived a decade of submersion! Although the steamboat itself was in bad shape, and only one portion was able to be recovered and restored, the goods were s...

This blogging thing ... yeah, sorry about that. But I plan to do better. I really do. I'm gonna get you all wrapped up on school for the past month, and then I promise that I am going to get back into regular blogging. Because we really have been doing a lot of fun things that I have failed to share, like volleyball, the pumpkin patch, birthdays, grandbaby cuteness, and more. Over the last month we have moved right along in our school work, and even took a week off for Fall Break. We have consistently done all the basics. We get in our reading, grammar, math, spelling, copywork, cursive handwriting every single day. We are studying astronomy and Greek mythology. We are reading aloud out of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, finished The Man Who Planted Trees  by Jean Giono (and went to see the excellent puppet show based on the short story), and are now reading The Green Ember . We continue to have our enrichment class every week where the girls are doing some creative...

I am still having computer problems that make blogging much more trouble than it's worth. But I'm going to give a Wednesday Hodgepodge a try since it has been so long since I have participated. And I have missed it! What would you say is the best and worst thing about moving house? The best thing is definitely the purging that can occur. On our next move I am definitely only going to take with us what I really want! The worst part? All of the last little odds and ends that never seem to end ... those last bits in those last drawers and closets ... those final things you can't pack because you need to use them right up until the moment you move. What's moved you recently? Seeing all of the love our whole family has for Bennett warms my heart. He is just such a joy, and he lights up the faces of each of us when he comes into the room. He is a precious gift. Do you feel your life is moving forward, backward, or is on hold? How so? I feel like my life is m...

For the past few weeks we have been studying about all of the various countries who owned the Missouri Territory, about the Louisiana Purchase, the exploration of Lewis and Clark, and how Missouri actually became a state. France and Spain tossed the Missouri Territory back and forth for quite some time. The United States only included those states East of the Mississippi River, so Missouri was not part of the original United States. It was as if Missouri was living in another world. They were not directly involved in the Revolutionary War against England, other than the French loaning their resources to the United States to help them fight against the Brits. (I always wondered how life on the Little House on the Prairie was "peacefully" moving along while the Revolutionary War was raging in the East. This is why.) In the meantime, the Missouri Territory was becoming a strong fur trading area. The city of St. Louis was in its early stages and many towns were popping up al...

I have had such extreme computer issues lately that it has just been too much of a hassle to even attempt to blog. I think some things may finally be resolved so I'm going to give it a try. I am still having issues with photos, which completely irritates me, but I did manage to get some posted! We have been so busy the past three weeks and have accomplished much! I continue to be very proud of the progress of our school year. The kids are working so hard, and we are enjoying our lessons. There is much talk these days in homeschool circles about a Morning Basket, which is basically a way to start your day together in a special way. Although we don't literally use a basket filled with those items, we do have our "Morning Basket" time each day. The kids start with a simple spelling worksheet that gets their brains moving. Then they copy a verse from Proverbs in cursive handwriting. We are using a free printable. It only has about 30 verses so when they have comple...