July -->> History -- The Middle of the East

This week in our history study, we turned our attention to the Middle East. We took a quick look at the different nations that have occupied this part of the world (our history book encouraged the kids to chant this poems:
Assyria, Babylon,
Persia, Alexander the Great!
Seleucids, Parthians,
Sassanids, Islamic Empire!
Ghaznavid Turks, Mongols,
Safavids -- now we've come to Abbas the Shah!) Quite a mouthful -- but with our help all of the kids chanted this poem and earned a chocolate chip:)
The picture above shows our attempt at making an arched bridge (to help us remember that Shah Abbas is famous for his "Bridge of Thirty-three Arches" that crosses the Zayandeh Rood river -- it still stands today in present-day Iran).

July -->> Because we blog...

Okay... the kids know that I take alot of pictures and some end up on this blog site. Now everytime that Ben builds something or make a wonderful creating he wants me to take pictures!! So these pictures were taken because we blog...

July -->> Delaware

Our first Wednesday back from vacation we got together with the Williams for a study of Delaware. We read about some Delaware facts, did a bit of notebooking, mapping and wrapped it all up with a cooking project. Because Delaware imports more bananas than any other state, we had a banana themed cooking project! Taylor, Ella and Beatrice made banana-strawberry smoothies, while Abby, Ben and Helena tried their hand at banana-strawberry shortcakes. We all happily devoured the treats:)

July -->> History -- The Spread of Slavery

Back from vacation and back to our history study. This time we learned about tobacco in Virginia and John Rolfe's role, indentured servants vs. slaves and how slavery spread in and around Jamestown, and learned a bit about Queen Nzinga of Angola. The kids are displaying their attempt at traditional west African stamp patterns. We ended the day with a yummy African style stew (made for us by the home school mom that we are studying with). We are enjoying our history studies:)

July -->> Fourth of July

We had a great time at the Poissants. They have an awesome downstairs -- decked out with a Foosball table, ping-pong table and various games and toys (Taylor and Abby were lost downstairs one day playing with Chantal's Polly Pocket collection).

Veronica and Jay went all out and had a wonderful 4th of July party!!! My mouth still waters when I think of the yummy salsa (homemade) and chips that started the festivities. We had steak and corn grilled on the BBQ. Katie and Nolan drove up to spend the day with us. We ate, played outdoor games, ate, played indoor games, and ate some more:) Thanks Jay and V for a wonderful memory!

July -->> Visit to the Windy City

Here we are at Nolan and Katie's place in downtown Chicago. We picked up pizzas in Wisconsin and baked and ate them in Illinois:) After a feast at the Panneck pad we headed on a whirlwind walking tour. We saw the Sears Tower, the "bean", river traffic, American Girl Store, Lake Michigan, chocolate milk at a Hershey's store, etc. (I'm sure I'm missing something). We all had a lot of fun (unfortunately my camera battery was low and I did not take any downtown shots). The pictures above show the kids enjoying Uncle Nolan's cowboy boots!!

July -->> Bye-Bye ND

On July 1st we bid farewell to North Dakota. We stopped by the Olsen's (Stacy's sister) in Hillsboro. All three kids stayed with Aunt Stacy, Uncle Jeff and cousins Josiah and Ezra. They had a great time and it was sad to leave.

We drove over 700 miles that day to Burlington, WI and had to find the Poissant house in the dark (it was great to hit the hay that night).