I'm hoping to keep track of our homeschooling journey here.

I am currently homeschooling Daisy, age 9 and in 3rd grade, Pepper, age 7 and in 1st grade.  Banana Boy is 5 and in preschool and Sunshine is 2.5 and into everything!  Rose Bud, age 12, is in 6th grade public school this year and loving it!  We have been so please with her effort and attitude and with the 6th grade team.  She is having a great year!

At home, we are studying American Indians, which we differentiate from "India Indians" since the two boys were both born in India.  Until Christmas, we were studying world history, but all of us were bored to tears.  Per the girls' request we've jumped ahead to American history, beginning with American Indians.

So far we've explored the lives of the Woodland Indians and have read-aloud Sign of the Beaver.  This is our second week studying the Plains Indians and yesterday we finished Om-kas-toe.  We are also reading The Book of Indians by Holling C. Holling.  Because the girls are only 1st and 3rd grade, we are hitting on the main points of four major Indian groups: the two mentioned and also the Southwest and Northwest/Pacific Coast peoples.  We may also take some time to peek into the lives of the Inuit (or Eskimos, as we grew up knowing them).

In studying the Woodland Indians, we read the above-mentioned books in the first week.  The second week, we did some hands-on projects including making hominy, building a model longhouse, learning about Indian trade beads, and drying fruit.  The girls are also making lapbooks to demonstrate what they have learned.  We loved the book Projects About Woodlands Indians.

For the Plains Indians, we spent the first week reading the above-mentioned books.  This second week we have made Pemmican, built a travois (for both a dog and a horse) and made a "hide" purse.  A great resource has been Projects About Plains Indians.

Here, for your viewing pleasure are two pictures drawn by Banana Boy.

Buffalo Hunt (see the Indian with the bow and arrow lying on the ground?  I think that's why the buffalo is so happy!)