Such a Novel Idea

One of the homeschooling activities we participate in is a book club. This year all the books we're reading are based on the history time period we are studying. Thus, this semester, the books are all on the westward expansion and pioneer movement in America.
We recently finished reading the book "A Cabin Faced West." by Jean Fritz. It's about a family and their experiences moving west in Pennsylvania (this book is based in the late 1700's, when people were just begining to move west.) We read of Ann Hamilton, a 10 year old girl and how she adjusts to the loneliness, despair and hardships of pioneer life, all the while longing for life back east. However, she meets General George Washington and his words strengthen her courage and she comes to love the land and her new way of life.

In the book a terrible storm comes and ruins the garden Ann worked so hard to tend. To save the peas, she rushes back and forth from the garden, to home, carrying all the peas she could pick in her apron before the storm raveges the garden. Here our group is playing a relay race of carrying black eyed peas from person to person using only their apron. While one team was more quick than the other team, the other group of kids would have eaten better, they kept more of their peas.

Cailin dumps the peas in her apron into David's apron

Another fun activity was making log cabins out of pretels and frosting. They all enjoyed eating their cabins....I'd say more than even making them. They also had the opportunity to create 'diary-journal entries, just as Ann did.

Ann loved to write and kept a diary. While we were reading about a time that she loses the diary, Delaney stops me and askes "Why does she want to keep diarrhea?" I had a good chuckle and explained to her that 'diary' is another name for a journal. She loved to write in her journal and that was what she was looking for.

The boys were more interested in playing outside with the dogs, and when you think about it, that is where the boys were in the west--outside with the cattle and tending the fields. Huummmm I should have given them shovels and put them to work getting the garden boxes ready to plant in.

All said we had a really great time and look forward to our monthly get togethers with our other homeschooling friends.