Tennessee Lessons

Chattanooga Choo Choo

NASA Visitor

Lookout Mountain Battlefield                                    

Incline Railway

Kayaking Lessons

Summer of History

My plans to work through math and foreign languages along with history didn't work out. BUT, we are finishing SOTW3 with a summer study of American Colonies and Revolutionary War. We listened to "This Country of Ours", "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin" (for the mommy), "Our Island Story" (pertenent USA chapters) from Librivox.org for free. We were able to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Then recently we visited the Freedom Trail in Boston.

In the later city, the USS Constitution was a hit! I was able to find Liberty's Kids videos at 40% off and we're watching them while waiting in Chicagoland for the next field trip. My kids are doing a valiant job coloring the Dover pages from Colonial and Revolutionary War books. We're reading dozens of books about the Revolutionary War. Lastly, our G2 is enjoying the Felicity books from the American Girl series about Colonial Williamsburg.(Pictures of 3 generations at Old North Church)


Stand-by travel is never free or easy, but useful while home educating these little people over the summer!

We Got On to Knoxville...

We were able to visit the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge on Thursday afternoon before meeting Gramma and Papa for a visit with old friends in the Chattanooga area.  We saw the Incline Railway and Lookout Point with the National Parks atop. The Choo Choo is still here and we found it, grand as always.  We also found a fresh dozen Krispy Krema Kruilers - JOY JOY JOY Down in my heart! Now for a hop out of Knoxville on Sunday. We'll just see where we are all going to fit. Details to follow because we want to end up in Boston Sunday night for Daddy's BIG BIRTHDAY. It's an expedition and we are up for it!

We love the element model at AMSE. It's been there since the Daddy was a kid. We were introduced to William Jennings Bryan on this recent trip. We will learn more about him later.

Lion by the Tail

Art lessons with Carol and Russell

Sit across the table from your subject and draw them without looking down to the paper and without lifting your pencil from the paper. Test your observation skills. It's not as easy as you think.

They are professionals, and you can tell they are practiced in observation.

Independence Day!

Church, brunch there and then sailing with the Daddy! Soon, Fireworks nearby