Hello, I have a few minutes this afternoon to tell you about our morning's lessons. We read from a book about where the forts came from that dotted the western part of our country. And that will lead into how important these forts were to the westward expansion.

For our hands-on activities today, I pulled out a couple of resources from my Westward Expansion kit from Hands and Hearts. We took out the items to pan for gold. Since we are in a drought, I was very cautious about how much water I allowed the boys to use. So we were outside panning with our pie pan over a small plastic bin of water. It was fun to watch their faces as the rocks and sand washed away, and they were left with small pieces of "gold." I am not sure of the metal used in the "gold," but it was heavier than the sand and rocks.

After that, we took our packs of marbles from the kit, and we played a game of marbles out in the dirt. The boys thought it was a lot of fun, and they want to play this game several more times during this study. They realize that the pioneer children did not have the toys and games we have today, and they are enjoying a sampling of pioneer games. We will be making a Jacob's ladder soon, and I think that will be a fun game for them to play as well.

Thanks for sharing in our day! I hope to take pictures of our activities, but I seem to spend my time keeping the little ones from eating rocks, dirt and marbles. So picture taking is not high on the priority list.

Have a blessed day! Tami