50 States: West Virginia

We decided we'd like to take the kids to all 50 states before they leave for college.  We're collecting shirts, too, to turn into a quilt for each of them to take with them.  We started last week with a trip to Wisconsin.

Because I still get tired so quickly, we decided we'd start easy and go to West Virginia to see my godmother, Beth.  It was so nice to get a visit with Beth and her husband David.  Typically, we come out for big events they have for all the cousins in their family, and we don't get to spend a lot of time with them one-on-one, so this was special.  We went to a place called JayDees, which was a combination waterpark/Chuck E. Cheese/putt-putt and they also had a nature center, which was like a fantastic children's museum and was only $5!! The kids had a ton of fun walking around to each of the rooms, although we could only spend an hour because the nature center closed earlier than the rest of the facility, and then we took a short train ride on a mini train so the kids could "pan" for gemstones, which is always a huge hit with Logan who's my little collector.  After that, we went to see Despicable Me 2, which the kids really loved, especially the boys.  The adults all had fun, too, as it was a cute love story without being too lovey-dovey :)

Beth and David were so kind and hospitable, and we enjoyed being with them.  They've totally changed their diet over to organic and mostly fruit and veggie based, and we really enjoyed all the yummy food they had for us.  My kids chowed down on berries, grapes, tomatoes, broccoli, and of course the roast turkey they fixed us for dinner.  We left early in the morning, but we had a great little visit and it was such fun to have Beth and David all to ourselves :)

50 States Before Graduation
2 Down (Virginia, West Virginia)
48 More To Go!!

The 5 Kingdoms/Classification

Classical Conversations Cycle 1 Science Week 1 and Week 2 cover the classification of living things and the five kingdoms.  

Riley has an assignment to do a poster on Orangutans this week (which is great because it lines up with a cub scout achievement!), but in addition to that, here's what we did:

 These were our in-class projects.  We divided a paper into 5 sections, copied the words down from the board to label each of the 5 Kingdoms, and then pasted pictures from the computer and magazines to show examples.  Monerans are readily available in medicine ads- especially Neosporin :)

 Then we enjoyed our first field trip of the year with our CC group! We planned a trip to the National Zoo.  My plan had been to bring a 5 Kingdoms scavenger hunt, but I left the papers at home.  Sigh.

 When you look at the various writings on each animal, you can point out the binomial nomenclature, which gives a latin name with the genus and the species.  Similar families are grouped together, and houses are usually done by class or order, depending on the size of the zoo! God made all creatures, and using the similarities, we can group and order them.  We see evidence of God's order in the universe, even at the zoo!

I love this guy! He was cheesing for the camera and looked almost happy to see us! (I'm sure if I'd stuck my hand in his terrarium, he'd have been happy to eat it, though!) 

Here's our little crew after making it all the way to the Flamingos (our friend KM has to do her report this week on Flamingos).  It was warm, and we had a little mini-emergency when a fellow CC mom had 2 of her kids go rogue and enjoy the reptile house alone ;) but we found them, and all was well.  This was a great field trip to fill in some real-life with our memory work pegs! It's always amazing to me how diverse life is! I especially love the poison arrow frogs, they look too tiny and intricate to be real, but they are!

In Which the Kotlii Go to Richmond

Studying the states and capitals this year, we were so thankful that our friend, Delegate Rich Anderson, was named "Rich" because it helped us remember "Richmond"! You were a visual aid, Delegate Anderson!  3-ish years ago we first met Rich, who did not laugh me off when I showed up in the GOP offices in Woodbridge wanting to help with a campaign with Savannah in a Moby Wrap, Logan in a stroller, and Riley holding my hand.

He's a brave man.

As it turns out, I was able to help with Facebook, and Riley loves knocking on doors!  The children were delighted to go down to Richmond for a tour of the grounds, and, of course, to see their friend Delegate Anderson.

 Riley and Delegate Anderson had a lovely chat about current events, including several of the homeschool bills that have hit the house floor this session.  Delegate Anderson also patiently answered Riley's questions about the page program, which Riley has decided he's "definitely definitely doing" when he's old enough.

 I took somewhere around 30 of these pictures of the kids and Delegate Anderson, this is the best one.  It's tough to get all 3 kids to look cute and in the same direction!!  The picture Riley is holding is of him and Delegate Anderson in our kitchen after the polls closed when he was first elected.  On the other side is a crayon drawing of Riley and "Mr. Rich" knocking on doors.  Riley, then 6, told him that he could only keep the picture if he won.  He's apparently kept it on his desk this whole time.

 We didn't want to take up too much of Delegate Anderson's time, but he kindly helped us arrange a tour of the capital, which is both lovely and designed by Thomas Jefferson, who is the love of my life.  (Sorry, Austin) Our American History memory work served them well.  The first thing we saw (not pictured) was Henry Clay, which prompted a song, and then when we came upon the statue above (of a pair of brothers, one Union and one Confederate who found each other after the war) the boys were happy to rattle off their knowledge of the Civil War including dates, battles, and the surrender at Appomattox Court House.

Our tour guide was fantastic and gave outstanding history along with being very patient of the children's questions.  The large doorways, for example, are so wide because the underlying stone is 4 feet thick!

 Apparently when they renovated the building (adding a new underground portion to add several thousand square feet of usable space, one additional renovation was done adding what are now the chambers), they uncovered this old elevator shaft.

 The marble used to make the checkerboard floors is FULL of fossils! The kids were crawling all over having a blast finding them! We found mostly ferns and snails/mollusks, but it was exciting!

 It happened to be that the Sergeant at Arms was carrying out the ceremonial mace to begin a session of the House of Delegates. Apparently, we used to have a silver mace, sent from England as a reminder that we were ruled by the king.  Following the Revolutionary War, the silver was sold for scrap and the mace lost.  Later, it was decided that we should have another mace as a reminder, and a gold one was commissioned.

 After our tour, we had seats reserved for us in the gallery above the House of Delegates so that we could observe a session.  Riley was so excited by the voting boards (which hang to the right and left, but cannot be seen in this picture) because you can see the vote tally changing.  We saw one bill pass, one bill be defeated, and one bill narrowly be defeated by 1 vote.  Savannah and Logan were less impressed and more hungry, though, so we headed down to the main corridor to grab some lunch and head out.

Again, getting all three of my children to smile and look normal in any one picture takes an act of Congress.  And God.  Apparently both of them were busy, so this is the best I've got.  On our way out the tour guide commented on how well-read and behaved the children were, which made my day.  She rewarded them with some coloring books and posters, which made their day.

We're very thankful for all of the people we've been able to meet in our adventures, and appreciate it when they remember us! Delegate Anderson was very kind to allow us to interrupt his day and ensure we'd have a lovely tour.