Homeschool Entrepreneur Fair

Jack, all set up and ready to go!

 In the beginning of December, our homeschool group hosted an entrepreneur fair.  The kids came up with ideas of what they could make and sell.  They had to stay at their booth and market their product and practice their speaking skills. 

Other families setting up

 Jack did really good explaining his product to people.  He made picture frames using old puzzle pieces and scrap cardboard boxes (all of my amazon boxes!) and a piece of ribbon to hang the frames. 

Jack's friend Adam.  He was a mobile joke booth.  Sooo cute!

Our little helper

The day was definitely a learning experience.  Jack spent more money than he made because he wanted to help his friends out and kept buying stuff from them.  But we got some Christmas gifts and I hope that Jack at least learned a lot in the process.

Laura Plantation

Just before Thanksgiving, we toured Laura Plantation with our homeschool group.  We toured another plantation last year, but this one was much more educational.  However, I was tending to Audrey and Ayden so I had a hard time focusing on the guide, so my summary will be spotty.















This is the main house.  It is  built in Creole fashion.  The houses were one story, and painted in these colors to let passers by know that french people lived here.  When they say something is "creole," they are saying that it is a mix of French, Caribbean, and African.

Our tour started in the basement of the house, where we learned about the family business.  Laura was a tenacious young woman who took over the business instead of her brother.  She married a Frenchman whose family had a winery in France, so the basement of the house came to be a distribution center of French wine.

I didn't take any pictures inside, but one interesting point was that Laura's office was in her bedroom.  When men came to conduct business, they had to go in her bedroom.  This caused (of course) a little American uproar.  Eventually, Laura allowed the side porch to be closed in and converted into her office, but she still required the men to pass through her bedroom to get to her office.  I found that quite interesting given the time period--her tenacity, strength and determination to not allow people to push her around.  

That dirt in front of those buildings used to be the kitchen.  It was a large two-story building.  They had to prepare a lot of food (I think it was for like 300 people), for the family members and slaves.

At one point, the home had two wings added on to either side.  They were destroyed in a fire, but they have left the foundation so you can see how big the house was at one point.  They will not rebuild them because it wasn't part of the original house.  The main house did not burn because of the brick construction.

There was a mini forest of these banana trees.

There are 2 slave homes left standing.  This road used to be 3 miles long, with houses lining the entire path.  Each home had a garden outside so that they could provide some food for themselves.  The plantation owners only provided breakfast and lunch for the slaves, so they made dinner for themselves with ingredient that they grew.

The dinner bell

This bell was rung at breakfast and lunch, to tell the slaves that the meal was ready.  One person from each home had to come to the kitchen to pick up the meal for the rest of the household.  I'd hate to live at the end of the 3 mile long road of houses!

This is how Jack is with every outing.  Right with the tour guide, asking questions.  That's my boy!

Once Laura retired from running the plantation, she had another house built on the property.  Evidently, she never truly retired.  They said she sat on the balcony (which deteriorated), and watched the slaves work all day with her binoculars. 

The little ones really enjoyed themselves!  This little boy's name is Jacob.  Audrey was always a couple steps ahead of him and saying "Come on Jacob!" 

Some other interesting info:  Fats Domino was born here.  The Br'er Rabbit stories were written here.  I also learned that slaves in Louisiana were actually allowed to retire at a certain point.  Basically, you were assigned a number relative to your age (a high number with a young age).  Each year, your number decreased.  When your number became 0, you were allowed to retire.  You could still live on the plantation, be clothed and fed, but didn't have to work.

How We Roll

Living in Louisiana, you really don't want to send the kids out to play bare footed.  We have friends that live on the bayou, so the kids needed boots to be really protected.  Trouble is, it is pretty much impossible to find boots for toddlers in stores.  I found these boots on amazon, and they are sooo cute!  Sorry the picture is kind of far away, Bryan was wielding the camera.

This week was "Living Literature" again with the homeschool group.  The kids pick a book to read, and then prepare a 2 minute speech about a character or scene from that book.  They are also encouraged to dress up and bring a snack that fits the theme of their book.  Jack read The Magic Tree House, Day of the Dragon King.  It is about the first emperor of China.  His hat is supposed to be a straw hat.  Our snack was birds nest cookies made with chinese noodles.

And to end this rolling post, here is a picture of our gorgeous little lady.  We had chili for dinner tonight, and goodness did she love it!!!!  The only thing she loved better than the chili was the toppings.  When she finished her chili, she was eating just heaps of cheese and sour cream.  Ohhh, pictures to save to show her boyfriends!

Zoo Field Trip

Audrey and Anna

Jack and Michael

Yesterday, we went on a field trip to the Audubon Zoo. It is one of the nicest (in my opinion) zoos that we have ever been to; plus we are members so every trip to either here or the aquarium is "free."

The focus of the field trip was the dinosaur exhibit. They have "life size" animatronic dinos that move, make noises, and one even spits. The kids loved it! Jack was in constant motion and the sun was really bright, so I didn't get any really good photos of the kids with the dinos.

After we viewed the exhibit with the group, the kids and I explored the zoo with our new friends Sarah (mom), Michael, and Anna. Michael is about 6 months younger than Jack, so they get along great. The pictures at the top of the post are the kids digging for Mayan ruins. They loved it so much that we had a hard time getting them to leave. It is basically a huge sandbox with huge"artifacts" hidden in it. There is a picture posted, showing what artifacts are hidden, so it's a neat activity for the kids to unearth part of the artifact and try to figure out which one they found. (The items are so big that it would take a very long time to unearth the whole thing.)

Living Literature

Yesterday, Jack participated in "Living Literature." The kids picked a book to read at home, and participated in a 2 minute presentation about their book-describing their favorite, scene, character, or a brief synopsis. Jack read a book about the Statue of Liberty, and did a great presentation! The amount of information he remembered was great, he looked at the audience the whole time, and didn't hem and haw. Maybe if all kids started public speaking this early, it would be easier for them as they get older. We shall see how Jack does with public speaking as he gets older. For now, I am definitely seeing improvement. When he presented his information about Germany, he was much more reserved and didn't look up a lot--but at least he spoke!

Here is a link to a picture of Jack and the other kids that participated. Oh, and they were asked to bring a snack that represented their book. We brought ants on a log (you, know, celery, peanut butter and raisens). We called them the ships of immigrants!

After Living Literature, Jack participated in PE, where they practiced for Presidential Physical Fitness. They practiced running, and ran in groups by age. Jack tells a very animated story of how he won in his group. They all started out together, pushing, then Jack and another boy got the lead, then the other boy was ahead of Jack. Jack tells of having a pain in his side (that's what happens when you eat right before you run) and he just ran harder and passed the other boy and won. Now he likes running. Lol, he must not be my kid--I hate running :o)

Bugs!

Yesterday, the kids and I had lunch at Pizza Hut with some of our homeschool friends, so that the kids could redeem their Book-It rewards for October. Jack reads at least 5 minutes a day. Both he and Audrey love books so much, that I usually find them sitting in a pile of books, reading by themselves. After lunch, we headed over to the gym for a Bugmobile presentation. A lot of you ask how many families homeschool. This is a "few" of the families in our group :o)

It was funny to watch and listen to the kids, they participated wonderfully and had a lot of fun. His presentation was about arachnids. He brought a rose haired tarantula, a hissing cochroach, a scorpion, and two other arachnids.

After the presentation, the kids got to come up and touch some of the spiders and ask questions. It was a fun day for everyone!

Home schoolers DO get out!

This morning, we had the opportunity to see a play with our Home Schooling Group. It was called "Petite Rouge." It was so much more than I ever expected! It was held in a theater in this tiny town (Westwego) next to our town. There were only 6 actors, they had amazing costumes, and they sang, dance and acted great! The kids totally loved it. This was a cajun version of Little Red Riding Hood. "Rouge" was a duck who lived in the bayou. The big bad wolf was, of course, an alligator. As I said, the music was great, and it was loaded with music. Audrey loved it! She danced, sang, and laughed the ENTIRE time. I wish I would have video taped it to share with you all. She really is a joy. Oh, yes, and Jack loved it too; although he was a little more subdued than Audrey, but he too, loved it.

Thoughts on Homeschooling

Many of you ask me how I manage to homeschool. I truly feel blessed to have to opportunity and gift to be able to homeschool my children. Not all days are easy, but what job doesn't have difficult days? I think it is making me a better person. I have become more patient and have learned to manage my emotions better. I was reading a blog today that spoke so closely to my own experiences, that I just had to share it. I couldn't have said it better. Click here to read the blog.

Jack's Geography Project

This month, the homeschool group that we belong to gave us the option to complete a geography project on a country. Jack decided to research Germany. We focused on using lots of pictures so Jack could present as much of the project as possible by himself. He had a lot of fun learning about the industry, culture, and animals.

He was the only little kid to actually talk and present his project. I am so proud of him! He really stole the show. Many of the other parents complemented him too. We also brought german potato salad and sweet and sour purple cabbage. Both dishes were a hit. When I brought the left overs home, Bryan attacked the cabbage. That is the best complement anyone could ever give me!