The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Just finished reading "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett yesterday.

I really enjoyed the book, it was a fairly easy read,  and easy to "get into" the characters and their lives.  I enjoyed how it was written from different women's point of view, that I really felt like I was getting to know the character.  The Help had me reading more each day as I wanted to know what was going to happen.  Not sure how well a second book would do, but I'd be interested in "reading" what happened to all the characters after a period of time.
 

Vinegar ~ a natural wonder!

You know the stuff; plan, white, distilled vinegar.  We tend to buy in bulk from Costco, because I'd known it was good as a rinse for laundry to keep soap ding away as well as doing a rinse for wall to wall carpet.  I've used it to clean wood as well and help unclog drains with it's friend baking soda (also a good effect in home made volcanoes)!   Knew it made an effective weed killer as well.

Within the last few weeks, came across MORE homemade cleaning products on Pinterest.  These cleaning products are a combination of vinegar, Blue Dawn (and yes name brand counts here), hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol, and optional essential oil for scenting. 

So far I have tried the 50% Blue Dawn/50% hot vinegar mixture to clean our shower pan.  It works like a champ, the lingering vinegar smell is not nearly as harsh as bleach, and has worked WAY better than any store bought, pre-mixed cleaner.  I will be trying more of the various combinations I've found to see how those work as well.

Adding Blue Dawn Detergent to my arsenal of cleaning supplies.  Just about time to check my home made cleaning supplies and go shopping, but before I sign off today, I'll leave a few links to home made cleaners.

• hardwood cleaner
• home made clorox wipes
• Blue Dawn recipes

Happy Cleaning!

 

Life on the Oregon Trail

There is nothing quite like listing out what others have done to make you realize that your own life is fairly easy in comparison. Today, in Pioneer Unit Study, we took another look at "Life on the Oregon Trail". Here's what the boys found out:

· day began at 4:00 AM

· men first yoked the oxen or harnessed the horses; women and girls made breakfast (hot coffee, biscuits, bacon, and boiled beans)

· cleaned up camp

· hit the trail by 7:00 AM

· walk until noon

· “captain” would give the signal for lunch or “nooning”

· ate a cold lunch and rested for one hour

· 1:00 PM began to move again

· stopped for day at 5:00 PM

· Men took care of animals and made repairs to the wagon

· Women made supper, mended clothing, and gave lessons to children

· Children gathered firewood or buffalo chips

· After chores, they’d gather around the campfire, tell stories, read the Bible, or play fiddle or guitar

Average miles per day = 15

Speed of oxen = 2 miles per hour

Average hours walked per day = 9

Yes, my boys are happy to not have to walk for nine ours a day. I think Thing Two could handle it though, with all the energy he generally has.

Pioneer's Unit Study

We're now in week three of Amanda Bennett's Unit Study for Pioneers. It has been such an amazing study of part of American History. Thing One and Thing Two are enjoying it immensely. I was really impressed with the boys today and how they are tying everything together from the previous weeks ~ they're making connections in ways that I just don't have to lead them too. Totally awesome. Then, as I was reading from a couple web site links, the boys starting drawing on their whiteboards various pioneer scene ~ pony express, wagons, mountains, explorers, etc. I was also excited to read that that this study leads into the Civil War time in the US History (my mental calendar of historical dates is not so good). Totally stoked because that is the next unit study we're doing. It's just the way things worked out without trying. SwEeT!!!!!!

Thanks Amanda, for a well written Unit Study!

Pizza Party Review

Earlier this summer, I volunteered to help review some of Amanada Bennett's Download and Go Unit studies. The first for the boys and I has been Pizza Party, which we received for free for reviewing it. It's been a blast because I'd been wanting to use this one for awhile now. At our house, we've been making pizza on Friday nights for about 9 years. It really seemed like a great way to get some history, geography, and art into our lives based off of a food we already enjoy.

For me, I have enjoyed the amount of information that is put into this unit. There are many links to Italian cities, various individuals, video's on making pizza, fun science projects, and so much more. Another feature I really appreciate are the links take you to the pages for the lap book pages for the day and a link to take you back to the page you were on. It's so easy to move around the down load with these and to be able to print what you need when you need it ~ I generally don't have time to print out everything at one time, let alone figure out which pages I need more than one copy. Being able to jump around like this, is absolutely wonderful to me.

The boys most favorite parts have been a couple different things. For Thing Two, it's been the art work, he really enjoyed making his self portrait on Day 2. It was neat to hear the two of them working together (Thing One did some self portraits for Cub Scouts and was "coaching" Thing Two on how to make a good picture!). Thing One has been enjoying the history ~ learning about how pizza came to America, people like Marco Polo, Vivaldi, Galileo, and doing some map work.

I think when Friday rolls around this week, the boys are going to enjoy our dinner a bit more with more knowledge of their favorite food now. We so look forward to working through more of Amanda's unit studies.

Happy Eating,