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This was shared on the Five in a Row facebook page and I thought I would pass it along here.  

kiddie records  is a list of stories for your child to listen to.  Samantha loves audio books. I usually have them playing in the car or at bed time.  I enjoy it as reading out loud to your child is good for them but I love when I get to just listen too.  

I post about some of the books we do for FIAR and listed a show we watch Travel with kids and I was really sad to realize they no longer have it on hulu.  Its something I have used for geography when we are rowing a FIAR book to help her see what the other country looks like.  You can still access some of the episodes on Amazon Prime.  But we don't have Amazon Prime. 

If you click on any  of my links and they don't work please let me know so I can fix them or delete them.  Thank you

Family Fun Night at Heritage State Park

I love that the city is trying to do things for families this summer from movie nights to fun activities.  The city built a splash pad for the kids 3 new playgrounds in the last couple of years.  The nice new bike path.  

We went as a last minute decision to the Family Fun Night at Heritage State Park down on the waterfront.  It was hot, humid and rainy.  We weren't even sure they were still holding it.  I am glad we went we had so much fun.  

There was dancing to old time music,  games of yesteryear and crafts for the kids.  They also had their summer display of Fall River History.    Fall River was once a major textile city.  We had the leading number of Spindles in Leading Textile Centers         

I love when we can have fun and add some history to our lives.  

The history of our great city

The history of wool, cotton, knitting and textiles (this would have gone along great with many of the Five in a Row books)

Some fun for the kids,  Learning to tie nautical knots, Writing our name out in nautical flags, old time game fun.  This had the kids going for a long time.  To think with all the electronics we have kids really do enjoy playing simple games.  

The family photo

A Real American Girl

With the start of the new school year the first thing we will be studying in history will be Native American's.  Then on to other early American history.  We are excited for this.  I have been looking at places to go to further our studies.  

 A few weekends ago I took Samantha to a cultural fair.  There were people from all over with all their crafts.  I was specifically looking for Native American booths.  We found an amazing artist. Her paintings were beautiful and way out of our price range.  We bought a copy of one.  I asked her if there was a story behind the picture.  She tells me its her daughter.  Then goes onto tell me how her daughter was the American Girl paper doll in the Nov, Dec 1998 issue of the American Girl Magazine and featured in the magazine.   I wish they still did that in the magazines.  Her name is Jacqueline Moorehead.  I have tried to find a picture of the full doll but so far I haven't been successful.  

Here she is in the magazine

Here she is in her mothers painting.

American Girl asked her to be the model for the Kaya Doll her mom said that she had thought about doing it but then she thought it was creepy to have people playing with you as a doll.  

I bought Samantha that doll above and a visual as we learn.  I also bought the box set of the Kaya books.  She has read almost all of them long before we start school.  But that is ok I love how excited She is to start learning about Native American's.  

Summer field trip

On Friday we went to one of the Free Friday Events.  Every Friday there are at least 5 places free to go to. The Highland foundation pays for it.  Its open to everyone.  So we try to take advantage as often as we can of this.  Sometimes the places are so crowded its not worth it like last summer when we went to the Boston Children's Museum and it was at least 45 minute wait to even get in .  It was so crowded that you could hardly do anything once inside. Other friends of our waited 2 hours to get in.  Crazy.  Then there are times like the time we went to Plymouth Plantation and it was no busier then if there was a field trip going on. 

So 2 Fridays ago we went to the Pilgrim Hall Museum.  This is one of the places I planned on going in the fall. I was thrilled we could go for free.  

The museum did a great job they had a scavenger hunt for all ages.  Samantha needed to read each clue in order to find all the great works of art through out the place.  I was glad Daddy could join us on this trip.  He usually is at work during our field trips.

  

Sitting on a replica of a chair in one of the first families in Plymouth homes

Touching a piece of the "rock"  We have been to the rock many times and its really not that impressive.  LOL  But it was nice to be able to touch a piece of history

I love spinning wheels.  But a little fact  they really didn't have any spinning wheels in the early days of Pilgrims.  But I forget what famous painting had a Pilgrim at a spinning wheel and that soon became a symbol of that time

Samantha's favorite picture in the whole Museum

 Watching and educational video of the Native American's before and after the Pilgrims.  Nice picture of Daddy and Samantha

New School Year Excitement

So we are half way through the summer.  I am already getting excited about starting a new school year in the fall.  I thought I had it all planned out.  What we were going to use.  But ideas change and I have a whole new plan.

Why I changed the plan... Steve and I have been seriously talking about moving down to North Carolina next year so we can be closer to our grandchildren.  We do live in a great area for Early American History spots.  So we are going to visit Native American's to the Civil War Era this year.  We will hopefully be able to stop at some civil war historical places along the way down to visit Mike in the spring.  I want to make sure we get to all the spots up here in New England before we move.

Also science has changed too. Originally Samantha asked to learn about Human anatomy.  But now she wants to learn about about the ocean, ocean creatures, and beaches. Also in this study we she will be learning about live around a fresh water pond.  The ocean study because once we move down south the ocean will be about a 4 hour drive.

We will continue with our FIAR studies.  I had hoped to be finished with volume 4 but life got in the way so we will be finishing up volume 4 and then moving onto Beyond Five in a Row. I already have all of Beyond Volumes and the books.  Samantha loves FIAR so much she asked if she can finish the stories for FIAR volume 4 first.  I did purchase all the digital volumes too.  This should be shaping up to be a great year.

So the line up is:
Grammar- Rod and Staff
Math- Teaching Textbooks
History- Living Books, Five in A Row studies & Field Trips
Science- Living Books, Five in A Row Studies, hands on Experiments & Field Trips
Spelling- Spelling You See
Health- It's Great to Be a Girl! Finish this book from last year
Reading- Reading great books.

New School Year Excitement

So we are half way through the summer.  I am already getting excited about starting a new school year in the fall.  I thought I had it all planned out.  What we were going to use.  But ideas change and I have a whole new plan.

Why I changed the plan... Steve and I have been seriously talking about moving down to North Carolina next year so we can be closer to our grandchildren.  We do live in a great area for Early American History spots.  So we are going to visit Native American's to the Civil War Era this year.  We will hopefully be able to stop at some civil war historical places along the way down to visit Mike in the spring.  I want to make sure we get to all the spots up here in New England before we move.

Also science has changed too. Originally Samantha asked to learn about Human anatomy.  But now she wants to learn about about the ocean, ocean creatures, and beaches. Also in this study we she will be learning about live around a fresh water pond.  The ocean study because once we move down south the ocean will be about a 4 hour drive.

We will continue with our FIAR studies.  I had hoped to be finished with volume 4 but life got in the way so we will be finishing up volume 4 and then moving onto Beyond Five in a Row. I already have all of Beyond Volumes and the books.  Samantha loves FIAR so much she asked if she can finish the stories for FIAR volume 4 first.  I did purchase all the digital volumes too.  This should be shaping up to be a great year.

So the line up is:
Grammar- Rod and Staff
Math- Teaching Textbooks
History- Living Books, Five in A Row studies & Field Trips
Science- Living Books, Five in A Row Studies, hands on Experiments & Field Trips
Spelling- Spelling You See
Health- It's Great to Be a Girl! Finish this book from last year
Reading- Reading great books.