Building a House of Character

This year, the theme for our history group will be 'Building Our House of Character".  We got this idea from a talk by Bro. Dan Hunter at the home school conference in May and also from Little Britches by Ralph Moody  

"A man's character is like his house.  If he tears boards off his house and burns them to keep himself warm and comfortable, his house soon becomes a ruin.  If he tells lies to be able to do the things he shouldn't do but wants to , his character will soon be come a ruin.  A man with a ruined character is a shame on the face of the earth."

This year, we will identify different traits of character in the people and actions of history.

 We will be studying the events and people of history from 1850's to our present time.  Our first month is 1850-1900 events that happened in the US....except the Civil War....that is next month. November will be the same time period as now but on the world stage.

 To kick off our new school year Jen planned for a westward bound trip.  The kids were divided into three families.  At the first station they had to lasso their horse to earn the right to pick the supplies they needed from the general store.  The family who has everyone lasso the horse first, gets first pick of the wagons and supplies.

 Cailin, Beryl, Amber and Janet were the first family to garner supplies.

 Jared, Clarissa, Liam and Krystal were the next family to come shopping.

 Delaney, Jessica, Grace and Marshall will be going by handcart.

 A family photo  No smiles please.:)

 While on the trail the pioneers often had to forge and clear the path for them to travel.  At their first stop, each family was told to clear a path to help them get to their next destination.

 Cailin's hard at work.

 Thorns and briers didn't get this family down.  Now that they are out, Delaney and Grace take a bit of time to play.  They all enjoyed a wonderful water break too.

 Foraging for food was always a blessing for families who mostly lived on cornmeal mush (from accounts we have read).  Here they are picking up apples....which family is the quickest?

 Yeah, for Liam's family!

From a book that Jen has called "Don't Know Much About: The Pioneers": we learn that in 1876 Grasshoppers are declared Public Enemy #1 in Minnesota, and the government offers children up to fifty cents for every bushel of dead grasshoppers collected.

For fun, Jen gets 100 crickets for the kids to collect and the chickens get a feast afterwards.

 Our modern pioneers have overcome various challenges and are now ready to build their home and begin homesteading.

 There guys have enough time and supplies to even build a barn....way to go!

At the end of the events we took some time to process all that we have done and talk about what sort of character and faith it took to be a pioneer.
We had a great time.  This year looks to be a good one....