A Late Crafty Monday: The Time Machine:1900-1925

In this post: A homemade time machine and studies of the early twentieth century. We are breaking the twentieth century into quarters.

*Note: This is a 5 part series with links to the next post at the bottom. Parties are on the other links.

Hello dear ones, it’s a “late” Crafty Monday. As you know, we’ve been recovering from illness at the Dover household. Last week I unveiled our Time Machine, hand crafted by myself. We took a trip to the early twentieth century and we are still there. We didn’t move on this week because we needed a break to get well and to organize the homeschool room.

I wish I could say that I’m doing well with my bucket list….that I’m simplifying school and de-stressing life. Maybe I am this week but I over did it…again last week…to start this project. My mom, who is usually right, told me it wasn’t worth my health but I pushed ahead with our studies anyways…though I knew I didn’t have time to get it together.

You see I’ve been planning our studies on the twentieth century for months. I’ve did a lot of research and I spent hours preparing during the holidays too. So when I told Michael that we would have a Time Machine last Tuesday I was determined to see it through…even if it mean’t stressing myself and those around me out….then staying up all night and falling asleep on the school room floor. It’s not a surprise that I got sick after that and barely enjoyed the whole week.

I would’ve been wise to stick to our normal studies last week and to have given myself an extra week to work on things. So please learn from me and my wise mother…..almost nothing is worth stress and bad health. I think Michael would’ve rather me be in the moment than have a time machine and an ill mom.

Moving on, I learned my lesson and we did have some fun moments last week anyways.  It may not look that fancy but I had a hard time figuring out how to make a “time machine” that felt and looked real. This is what I came up with.

I took the cardboard poster thing that people use for science projects and I folded it to make a little nook. Then I glued a foam poster to the top. I added our dry erase clock and set it to 1900:1925. Chris had several wires sitting around so I punched holes and looped them through to make them look useful. I added a jug to the front and put the wires in it. The jug is labeled “plutonium”. The popcorn box is to hold tickets. Michael had to finish his normal school work before taking a ride on the time machine. Each work book was worth a ticket. There’s a colander on top with wires running to it.

You can see the colander more here. I added Christmas lights. Inside I pinned up old news articles from that time period. They were really neat to read. The center has a window where I put a picture of a city in the early 1900’s. I also pinned pictures of the presidents at the time and listed the inventions of the time, toys, and vehicles. I got the great newspaper articles here:

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/

Chris lent us his sound board so Michael could have switches to flip.  The foil was extra :).

Monday the time machine wasn’t ready so we prepped. Chris was still home. We took a trip around town to find things for the different time periods….a disco ball….party stuff etc. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey came out in the early 1900’s. So we celebrated with a circus party. Michael made a paper circus and we ate animal crackers off circus plates. This is when the tickets came in to play. Michael and I went to see “Cirque Du Soleil” in 3D. It was very interesting. Surprisingly it kept Michael’s interest though there was little talking and mainly music & circus tricks. It was very unique visually. We geared up for our Time Machine by watching “Back to the Future”. I gotta say, I was very disappointed. The movie was not family friendly like I thought it would be.  Anywho, now Michael knows what a Delorian is….which our Time Machine does not imitate. We do have the plutonium.

Tuesday Michael finished his school and earned enough tickets to ride on the time Machine. I had it covered.

I told him the machine was dangerous without a teacher. He didn’t want to accidentally get lost  with dinosaurs or something ;).

So for the first day I dressed the part the best I could. I pretended to be from the 1920’s and Michael had to dress the part to travel with me. He was cracking up and loving how I was pretending.

We were limited with our outfits.

We cranked up the machine and I turned on the lights. The first day we found out the Titanic had crashed. We also learned about the Wright Brothers and the death of the Russian family (Anastasia & the other Romanovs). We later watched “Anastasia” for fun but I told Michael the real story about her.

Michael watched one of the first films, a silent black and white movie. He also watched one of the first cartoons.

Here’s Michael reading about the Titanic and he also watched a video showing the actual people. I acted like the events were really just happening. So we both read the book in that way….like we were discovering current world events.

Michael and Chris had some fun with a styrofoam airplane. Over the weekend they went to Warner Robins Aviation Museum but I did not tag along. I was feeling bad. I’ll post pictures from that, Sunday.

I had planned on having a scavenger hunt at a toy shop that claimed to have old toys. The shop was very limited and my nose would not stop running. So we ended our trip with Sweet Frog’s yogurt (taste like ice cream!) and Gigi’s cupcakes. So it wasn’t time machine related but still very neat. Sweet Frog has a row of levers on the wall where you can sample the many flavors. I’ve never spent so much on a cupcake before but Gigi’s makes special cupcakes ;).

My American Girl Dolls have finally found purpose. We brought Samantha back on the time machine one day. Michael has been reading “Meet Samantha” which talks about women’s rights etc….the way it was to live in 1904.  We left Samantha to guard the time machine. I told her not to touch it but low and behold! she brought back a dinosaur while we were gone! Michael had to return the dino. You can see Samantha in the back pretending to innocently read.

We didn’t do too much for math that week. Honestly, I’m still figuring that out. Michael has already went through two second grade math books and we’ve done a lot of hands on. I’m praying about where to go from here.  We did however do some early multiplication and easy addition. Back in the day, it cost 10 cents to go to the movies. Our discounted modern movie ticket was $8.50. We figured out that we could go to the movies 85 times in the early 1900’s for what it costs to go these days.

We later learned about the roarin’ twenties and World War I. We didn’t get a chance to learn the Charleston but hope to this week. We did take a trip to the infantry museum. Michael is only six. I don’t expect him to learn all the facts yet. He’s simply getting an overview. Unfortunately, the sad truth he learned at the museum is that every time period has some kind of war.

Picture of the soldier statue beckoning “Come, follow me!”

The words of the infantry.

The values of the military. Most of the pictures were too fuzzy to post. We were not allowed to use flash.

There was a section dedicated to military families. It was very touching and meaningful….esp since Chris deployed twice to Iraq. Michael probably doesn’t remember much from that time.

The Trenches

You can see a picture from the 20’s to the left.

So as I said, we are taking it easy this week…just doing our normal studies. We may finally have our Teddy Bear Jazz Ball. The Teddy Bear came out in this time period and of course jazz was big. So maybe we will learn a few dances and have our 20’s ball. Next week should be interesting with The Depression and World War II. I pray that I’ll be healthier and prepared. My American Girl doll Molly will get to come out. I just need to find her books. I have a few crafts in mind and  a museum or two.  Michael can’t wait for us to have our disco party but that will have to wait. The nineties are going to be fun for me :).

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

The Time Machine: 1900-1925 Part 2:

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/01/14/crafty-monday-snowflakes-the-teddy-bear-jazz-ball-the-homeschool-room-mural/

Check out our Story of the World history study (Creation through the 1800’s):

First post: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/08/27/crafty-monday-creation-the-flood-and-personality/

The Renaissance (start here):

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2014/03/06/the-renaissance-week-1-the-reformation-great-artists/

The Middle Ages (start here):

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/middle-ages-week-1-celts-anglo-saxons-king-arthur/

Rome (start here):

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/11/25/crafty-monday-our-julius-caesar-party-rome-week-1/

Greece (start here):

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/10/21/crafty-monday-greece-week-1-down-at-the-farm/

Egypt

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/09/16/crafty-monday-part-1-ancient-egypt/

Last post: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2014/07/21/the-1800s-week-6-heading-west-the-final-week/