Hale's Happenings: Presentation Group, formally known as history group

This is our 4th year gathering with our friends; to hear a formal oral report about the different things they have been discovering.

In the past, we've focused the presentations on one specific subject or time period within history. However, this year, due to the different goals and emphasis' that we all have for our families, we've chosen to ditch this and open the playing field and let the child decide what they want to present.

During a piano lesson, Cailin learned a little about minuets. After some more research she learned that what she previously thought--which is, a nondescript name given to all music if the composer had no other idea what to name it-- really is. She's played many minuets in flute and piano lessons and couldn't tell why they were given that name. Now she knows...and she played one for everyone to hear. (Reason: minuets are musical arrangement that are in 3/4 time. During the colonial period in life in France and America, they were quite popular to dance too. They were also used to teach youth social etiquette and formally introduce them to the opposite gender. George Washington probably danced these type of dances.)

We will spend some time this year learning about key figures in our american history. This year we've learned about Christopher Columbus. Delaney shared with the others all she could remember from our discussions.

Amber and Krystal share about castles--what was inside of them.

Castillo de San Marcos. After spending 4 wonderful weeks traveling through the state of Florida with his parents, Daxton shared what he learned about this fort from the 1500's in our history.

I wasn't going to require Connor to participate in these gatherings this year, because of the big work load he has with CC, but he couldn't wait to share about his passion---SCIENCE! He shared with us all about Albert Einstein and his discovery of E=MC 2 and then about it formula itself. At the end of each presentation, the audience is allowed to ask question. He had none....dead silence....till a mother said, "Connor, the reason there are probably no questions is because this is over our heads...at least my head!" Mine too.

Janet shared about volcano bunnies and her big sister, Beryl talked about the Berlin Wall.

Jared shared his knowledge of medieval weaponry.

Liam, every spunky, got right up and without hesitation started reading a story about the letter T. He stumbled and I helped him, but he finished off the speech by telling all about the family tree he and Delaney had made.

Keagan shared with us about golden retrievers and introduced us to his new family pet, Ranger.

Clarissa's presentation was about medieval games--slipper, slipper, who's got the slipper...

Going through two arms of children, held up high like a bridge, the kids would run through until a song was finished and the arms came crashing down. The 'one' caught, would then choose with color team they wanted to be on for the next game. They would continue to all the kids had chosen a team and then it was on to the next sport, which for us was....