Little House in the Big Woods Week 2

Week 2 is said and done! Everybody was out of town on Monday, so we only had 3 days this week.

Tuesday we went to George Washington Carver Park. We thought we could beat the rain. We were wrong, but it was still fun. We saw (I almost grabbed) a snake. After getting soaked on the trail, we went through the museum. It included animals, plants, and examples of furniture from that time. We got to go to a one room school set up in there too. It's very interactive and perfect for kids. Nobody was ready to leave, but when 2 buses of students arrived we left. We saw how big a little cabin would be and also a house about the same size as what the house in the Big Woods was. We talked about out houses, sleeping arrangements, the kitchen, and the living room. Bo's glad that his house isn't that small.

Bo's box this week was birds. The base is grass from the Dollar Tree. The nest we made a few summers back and the birds are from the Bird Toob.

Amelia's was a dog box. The base is dog food. The dogs are from a Dog Toob. Both boxes were very simple and they will trade next week!

Of course we did boxes and bags Tuesday after we got back home and dry.

While Amelia slept, Bo and I read chapter 3. This has the story of Pa and the owl. We watched a video on owls and then dissected an owl pellet. It was very exciting! You can find them on Amazon pretty cheap. Bo found a skull and lots of other bones.

Wednesday we started chapter 4, where Ma makes pancake men. I had never made pancakes, but they turned out just fine according to the kids.

It finally got sunny, so we played outside for a long time. Then it was boxes and bags again.

While the littles napped, Bo and I carved soap like Pa whittled Ma's shelf. We used Ivory soap because it's soft and not terribly crumbly. Using craft sticks we drew a shape and carved it out. I attempted a heart and Bo made a claw. This went very well. He loved it!

We also talked about our lungs. To show him how they worked I made a lung model. All the kids got a kick out of it. To make it cut a water bottle in half as you only need the top. Make it long enough a balloon can fit inside. Cut the stem off of a ballon and stretch it around the large hole on the bottom (my white ballon). Next tape another balloon (red) to a straw (blue) so that no air can escape and you can blow up the balloon. Stick the ballon down into the bottle. Cover up the opening around the straw with some play dough (yellow). Now blow into your straw. It was an excellent model, I thought.

This was Bo's page this week. We stapled in a baggie with everything we found in the owl pellet. We also watched a video on rabies (in the story of Uncle Peter's dog keeping the aunt from getting water from the spring it mentioned the dog going mad). Bo filled in what he learned about rabies from the video. It makes animals drool. You get it from getting bit. Humans can get it too.

Thursday it was finally nice outside. The children had been stuck inside together for too long and were arguing all morning. I decided that we were going to the park. We spent 3 hours there and had a wonderful picnic. They played in some water on the rocks and then again on a splash pad. They played hard all day and crashed when we got home. Everybody got some space away from each other and were in much better moods too!

While the kids slept, Bo and I tried finger knitting (Ma knit mittens in chapter 4). Bo wasn't a fan because it took too long, which I figured. We also made snow candy like Laura and Mary did. Since it's May in Missouri we had to use an ice shaver to make some snow. Then we brought 1/4 cup of brown sugar with 1/2 cup of dark molasses to 245 degrees. Then using a measuring cup we dribbled it on our "snow". Then came the taste test. We both agreed that it was TERRIBLE!