Hello dear ones! Columbus Ga has a beautiful River walk. There are historical sites in downtown right above the River Walk. Our family (including my mom and stepdad) explored the area including Heritage Park. Enjoy the pics!
Columbus, Ga was a center during the Civil War. There are cannons and other neat historic markers on the sidewalk above the River Walk.
Then you can take the stairs or a ramp down to the actual River Walk. It’s a great place to ride bikes, and there are a couple amphitheaters. We had a preacher invite us to church at the outdoor amphitheater. Sadly, we didn’t get to go.
Michael finally got better at his bike this year. So we let him ride along the River Walk.
Here’s me carrying Leeland.
After, we walked across the road to the Heritage Park. It’s near the Columbus Coca Cola Space and Science Center. There’s a replica of Columbus’ dam and several statues honoring Columbus’ different industry workers.
Coca Cola
Textiles
Iron works
River Boat
I think this is a doctor.
This looks like a farmer.
Family pics
A flower in Papa’s memory (my dad)
God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
Hello dear ones! Do you have resolutions for the new year? I’d love to read them in the comments. We had quite the year in 2014. Last New Year’s I skipped the bucket list, but we still had some bucket list moments despite that. I was able to mark off a few things from my 2013 Bucket list, and there are things that I would’ve never put on my 2014 bucket list or expected. They happened anyways. God is so full of surprises. His plans are better than mine! The whole year is a testament to the goodness of God. The fact that he’d take someone like me who deals with chronic pain and was declared barren…then allow me to have this adventure…is just amazing. He took my anxious heart and gave me boldness when I needed it. I could not have done any of this without God’s hand. Nothing is impossible with God!
See my husband graduate from college. Support him as he starts a new job.
Pass Michael from 4th to 5th grade in homeschool.
Have more dates & couple time with my hubby.
Have margin (breathing room) in my finances, relationships, and time.
Have a deeper intimacy with God & understanding of the Bible.
Simplify.
Practice contentment with Godliness.
Meal plan better, save on groceries, and prepare healthy meals with more variety.
Commit more to my book and to bettering my blog.
Volunteer again and give more.
Be surprised by God and follow wherever he leads. Enjoy the journey.
Well, this bucket list is smaller and less detailed. Lord willing, God will fill in all the details. If we are given the future, our family has many changes coming. I have no clue what adventures are coming our way. I just know that God’s plans are far better than mine and they always blow my mind.
I pray you have a blessed new year! Please leave me some comment love if you will. God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
Hello dear ones! How are you? Last month we began our Pilgrims, Patriots, and Pirates study with Draw and Write Through History. We also started Book 3 of Story of the World. Here’s how we did week 2 of the 1600’s a.k.a 17th century.
We read about New Amsterdam which later became New York. It was a Dutch colony in the New World. Peter Stuyvesant was the Dutch governor until the English took it over. Michael colored two Dutch children and we made a tp roll windmill.
We read poetry by Alexander Pope. We also learned about Thomas Savery, the inventor of the steam engine. Trains use steam engines so we made a thumbprint train and a candy train.
We listened to Bach. I found musical games online. I’ll include links at the bottom of this post.
We read about slavery in Africa and the African Queen Nzinga. She held back the slave traders in her area for awhile. She was a fierce warrior. Michael made an African mask and necklaces. We read about the colonies and the Mayflower. Michael drew a pilgrim (not pictured). We read about Abbas I, Shah of Persia.
We made a salt dough map of the Americas and painted the territories. Michael read “Who Was Magellan?”
We learned about the 30 years war between the Catholic King Ferdinand II and the Protestant German princes. It later became a fight with Denmark, Sweden, and then France. King Ferdinand riled everyone up when he started persecuting the protestants. Everything worked out in the end but only after years of bloodshed. Michael tried the German art of paper cutting and made beautiful Easter rabbits.
Meanwhile, Japan closed it’s doors to Christianity and the rest of the world. Christians were persecuted and Buddhidsm became prominent. The Manchu took over in China causing the Han Chinese much frustration. I had planned on doing a Bonsai tree craft but we never got to it.
Well, God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
In our second week of studying Rome we learned about the gladiators and the rise of Christianity in The Story of the World. Michael drew a gladiator and lion from his Draw and Write Through History book. We read about the different gladiator types in 500 Things You Should Know About History. Then Michael had to dress the gladiators appropriately in this interactive game:
We made the sword and trident out of cardboard, the net is packing paper, and the helmet is made out of a milk jug, paper, glitter, a tp roll, and feathers. Lastly, Chris and Michael had a “fight” in the arena living room. I was the emperor and I gave the thumbs down or thumbs up. I did both so Michael would remember what they mean’t. We were goofy but I did have a serious talk with Michael about how bad the arena was and Christian persecution.
God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
In this post: Crafts, food, and fun for ancient Babylon and Persia. This is just what we’re doing in History/Geography. Fall crafts etc will come in the next post.
Hello dear ones! I’m splitting my posts in two again. We’ve been learning about Babylon and Persia the past two weeks in homeschool. I combined the weeks because we really didn’t do much with Babylon. We read about Nebuchadnezzar in The Story of the World and we talked about his place in the Bible.
We talked about Daniel, Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego. It was Nebuchadnezzar that put Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. It was also Nebuchadnezzar that thought he was the king of the world. In his pride he claimed he was a god. The true God (our creator and the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) humbled the prideful King by giving him the heart of a beast. King Neb. literally went on all fours and lost his mind for months until he was humble enough to admit that there is one God and it wasn’t him. An idea that we never got around to trying is eating like King Neb. Pretend you’re an animal and eat a salad.
There is a legend about King Neb. They say he made these fantastic hanging gardens to remind his Persian wife of her home. There is much debate if the hanging gardens ( one of the 7 wonders of the Ancient world) was actually in Babylon.
We broke out our second “Draw and Write Through History” book and Michael drew and painted the Hanging Gardens with water colors. We also watched a documentary on the gardens.
We watched SuperBook dvds on Daniel in the Lions Den and also the fiery furnace. During Persia week we watched Queen Esther. I love this series that my Mom buys for Michael. New episodes are always coming out. The kids in this series travel back to Bible days and they learn lessons that help them with present day moral issues. As a kid I remember watching the almost anime version of Superbook. I like the new ones better.
I finally made my Bible chart that shows where the Bible was during history. We are learning how the Bible came together. I made a time line then taped a “Bible” onto a clothespin. The old testament is still coming together right now.
It’s a long line. It’s exciting to teach Michael the details so he will be grounded in his faith.
While old Neb. was living in the wild his kingdom went downhill. His son (some say grandson) Belshazzar, was a drunk that used gold from God’s temple. Neb. was given a dream about the kingdoms that would come after him. You can find it in the book of Daniel. We see that God’s words came to pass. A finger without a body appeared at Belshazzar’s banquet and wrote on the wall. Daniel interpreted the writing and told him Bel. that his kingdom would be taken that night and he would die. Sure enough the Medes and Persians took over Babylon and Belshazzar was killed.
Neb’s dream goes like this: There is a statue with a gold head, silver chest and arms, bronze belly and thighs, iron legs, and iron mixed with clay feet. Each part represents a kingdom.
I glued an action figure to a piece of wood. Then I painted him and marked on him with Sharpees.
Here’s how most interpret the dream: Gold for Babylon, Silver for Persia, Brass for Greece, Iron for Rome, Iron and clay for a future Rome in the last days. After the last kingdom, there will be no more kingdoms ran by men. God will set up His eternal kingdom.
We added people to our History tree. There are going to be so many leaves by the end of this year!
Persia! Darius the Mede takes over Babylon and he is the same one that put Daniel in the lion’s den. Right after him came Cyrus and Persian rule. King Cyrus was a beloved king because he allowed the Jews to worship their God.
We used the same method for our Persian tile. These tiles came along later in History but we made them anyways. I printed out tiles and Michael colored his favorite. Then he made an impression on a clay slab.
Voila!
The clay tile dried over night. I painted it white so the colors would show up nicely.
Then Michael painted the tile the same colors he had colored the day before.
We talked about Queen Esther and King Xerxes.
We made a mini Persian rug. This was a family effort. I ended up doing most of this but Chris and Michael did help some. It took forever to make this rug. I can only imagine making a big one!
I love this blog and will (Lord willing) be using many of this lady’s ideas.
We started out wrong but this is a cute pic of Michael.
1. Cut ten notches on the top and then ten on the bottom of a piece of cardboard. Take your first bit of yarn and skip a notch as you wrap it around.
2. Take your second piece of yarn and wrap it in the notches you skipped.
3. Tape the loose threads to the back.
4. Take more thread and loop it through horizontally. This is how I did it. I looped it over the blue and under the other yarn. Then when I got to the end I switched it and went back the other way (over the other yarn and under the blue yarn). It’s really not hard. You just have to do a lot of it.
5. Alternate thread for different designs.
And you have a Persian rug!
We had a bit of fun by watching The Prince of Persia (which is of course fiction) and eating camel shaped corn bread.
We’ve been eating lots of sweets so I didn’t want to make cookies. I cut out the cornbread after it baked. We ate it with my turkey and pumpkin vegetable soup. The recipe was on yesterday’s post:
This week we’re starting 3 weeks of Greece. I can’t wait! Be looking for my Fall crafty post later this day. God bless and remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
Last Week: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/09/30/crafty-monday-troy-all-the-way-to-goliath/
Next Week: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/10/21/crafty-monday-greece-week-1-down-at-the-farm/
Hello dear ones! I wanted to split up today’s post between fall crafts and what we’re doing in school. Here’s what we’re doing in school.
We’ve been majoring in Ancient China and minoring in other early civilizations. I’ve started using “The Story of the World” to add to our history lessons. We are still using “Draw and Write Through History” for art and the basis of our main historical studies. Michael drew a Panda from his art book on watercolor paper. Then he painted it.
During snack and lunch time I read to Michael from story of the world. First we read about ancient civilizations. Then we went on to China, India, and Africa.
It was amazing to learn Chinese history. I had never heard of it before. I don’t know about your school experience but I believe mine was very Eurocentric. My husband knew a bit about other cultures because of college.
I think I’ve said before but all people come from one of Noah’s three sons. The Chinese and my ancestors come from Japheth. It’s awesome and makes so much sense learning history according to the Bible and creation science. World events aren’t confusing….everything fits.
So Michael and I both learned about the silk worm and the legend of how the first Empress Lei zu discovered silk when a cocoon fell in her tea cup. We also learned about the first emperor Huang Di and his discovery of medicine. Then we went on to the Shang dynasty and their use of bronze.
We’ve been putting famous people on the leaves of our tree.
We made Chinese pictograms. I glued foam cut into Chinese letters and put them on a bottle cap. Besides leaving a circle, they work :).
The symbols rain and mountain.
Michael and I watched a video on the Chinese tea ceremony. Then we had our own Chinese tea party.
While Michael did book work I played traditional Chinese music in the background. He was interested in the Chinese’ dance style. So I found a video of traditional dance that we watched. We also watched a video of Chinese Christians getting their first Bibles. It was beautiful. You can find both of those videos on my Pinterest here:
We ate at a really nice Chinese restaurant the Sunday before. So it’s more American food than actual Chinese but the atmosphere felt Chinese :).
Secondly, we finished “Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH”. If you recall, last week we made a stuffed rat. This time we made a couple simple machines. The rats in the book are super intelligent and use simple machines to move things around. I found this kit at Barnes and Noble.
Michael continued to answer journal questions and we watched the movie yesterday actually. We went through the book quick but I didn’t want it to go into our Egyptian studies. We’ve got several books to read this coming week. Here’s a picture of the movie “The Secret of NIMH”.
Here’s what Michael does during school ;). Nah, he wanted me to take this picture.
Playtime
Our group took a trip to the planetarium. Michael wanted to sit with the boys. They danced and acted silly through most of the show. Boys will be boys. As the group gets older you can see the genders splitting up.
Michael playing from the new piano book. He’s also been writing in his note speller and theory book. I think he’s finally ready to really progress. He enjoys practicing these days. The new book has easier songs but more of a selection for him to play.
Big news! Michael lost his first tooth! We put it in a bag and he got a dollar. It happened so quick. It was loose one day and then out just a couple later. Michael’s ready to make more money :).
Michael’s really been progressing on Guitar Praise. It’s kind of like Guitar Hero except it’s Christian music. I’m glad we got this instead. He’s already singing the songs and I wouldn’t have wanted him to sing the songs on Guitar Hero. Plus it’s neat to play songs we really enjoy…like “Jesus Freak”. The game isn’t made anymore which is a shame. I’m glad my computer can play it.
Here’s a super duper site for spelling games. You just put in your spelling list and then those words are in all the games.
In this Post: The golden age of the 50’s, the 60’s and being hippies, and a Hawaiian party. Several crafts and fun ideas.
Hello friends! I hope you are well :). Last week we did our third quarter study of the twentieth century. We set the time machine for 1950 thru 1975. I was very excited about this era because it has some of my favorite music.
It just so happens that segregation ended and the civil rights movement occurred during this time. Also, we were able to study this during Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. So they went hand in hand. Michael watched “Perfect Harmony”, a sweet family movie about civil rights. This week Michael read a “Star Trek” book since it came out in the 60’s.
One of my Mom’s favorite cartoon/claymation characters became popular in this era, Gumby.
We bought a Gumby model and Michael made his own Gumby with play dough. He also watched the cartoon.
This is Gumby on the Moon. He was given to Mom (Nana).
I made a timeline of Disney movies. Michael stacked the movies in the order they came out from the 50’s.
Chris used the globe to talk to Michael about the Korean war.
We ate at a diner and then Michael and I put together this classic fast food sign. We used tissue paper for the lettuce and rice for the sesame seeds.
I may frame this. I love it!
We watched videos of Elvis and listened to 50’s music all day. We talked about the history of Rock n’ Roll and the pros and the cons. Michael drew this guitar with my instructions.
Michael listened to this video of my grandmother (Dad’s mom…my Mema). She talks about when her Dad came home from the war and also when she met Elvis after winning a dance contest. Remember Email subscribers, please come to my blog to see the links 🙂
Video of Mema and her life in the 40’s and 50’s
So “The Cat in the Hat” came out in 1957, the year my Mom was born. Pardon my scary morning face. I just had to read the book in my hat.
So then came the 60’s! Michael watched clips from the movie “Hairspray” (newest one) because it showed how people marched for civil rights.
video- “Welcome to the 60’s” from Hairspray
Chris and Michael put together this model car.
I stayed up late the night before Tye-dying Michael’s shirt. He made our beads that morning. I think we looked far out :).
To show Michael hippies, I let him watch “The Wonder Years” season 2 episode 14 “Bright Wing”. It’s about Kevin’s sister who is a flower child. Michael and I discussed what the hippies stood for (some good and some bad). We also learned that hippies were called Flower children because they sometimes would hand out flowers for peace.
Speaking of flowers….we listened to and discussed the song “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” It shows the cycle of war. We talked about Vietnam and why people protested it. We listened to another protest song “Hey stop, what’s that sound?” We watched The Wonder Years season 2 episode 10 “Walk Out” about students protesting Vietnam.
Wednesday we talked about the founding of N.A.S.A. and the first man on the moon. So we did this trick I’ve seen on Pinterest. It wasn’t as glorious as we thought it’d be. Michael colored a paper into a rainbow. I painted it with black paint and then when it dried Michael scraped a picture into it.
It’s a rocket ship on the moon.
The Big Mac came out in 1968 so we split one. I think it was Michael’s first one. He said it was awesome lol! In 1969 we got the first man on the moon. We took a trip to the Space and Science Center. It just so happens that Sesame Street also came out in 1969. We had planned on watching it and by providence the Space Center was playing a Sesame Street movie in the Omnisphere theater. Big Bird and Elmo taught us about the Moon and Stars! 🙂
Pics from the Space Center
Our “groovy” Scooby Doo tattoos…
Hawaii became a state in 1959. So for our party we used a Hawaiian and Rock n’ Roll theme. Michael made a Hawaiian flag which was actually his idea. We found Hawaii on the map.
The decor was easy. I bought Luau & 50’s stuff from Party City. I just hung up these plastic pictures and Michael was impressed :). Mommy score!
I had no idea what to use for the party until that day. But I thought Hawaii is tropical so something fruity would be good. So I bought what we needed to each make our own banana pudding. I prefer to do the pudding this way (pudding cups, vanilla wafers,whip cream & banana slices). Then I got Hawaiian Punch and V8 Splash Smoothies Tropical Colada . We got into the 50’s & 60’s candy we got from Cracker Barrel. The boiled peanuts just looked good so I figured they’d add something salty.
Michael, Mom (Nana), and I cut out flowers for leis. Michael wore a straw hat and Mom got to wear the grass skirt. She didn’t know that when she stopped in from work that she would be drafted for a party lol.
I just found a flowery skirt to wear.
Me and Mom.
Boiled Peanuts and banana pudding with whip cream….yummm
Michael and Nana enjoying the dessert.
So we put on 50’s music. I tried Hawaiian radio first but it wasn’t fun enough. Michael is doing the “Monkey” and Mom is doing….ummm I’m not sure what it’s called….swimming? surfing?
I’m doing the “Monkey” and Michael is doing the “dive”.
Don’t you just love crazy hair moments!
Michael was SO hyped up on sugar!
Nana caught sneaking more pudding!
After dancing I pulled out a glass coke bottle. We played “Spin the Bottle” first by blowing kisses or kissing on the cheek. Then Nana changed the rules and whoever the bottle landed on had to answer a question. I threatened Michael if he ever played the real spin the bottle with a girl lol! I like Nana’s version better.
Then we got bored and tried a new bottle game…who can toss the dime in the bottle. Yeah, Michael cheated and it was hard…so we moved on.
Limbo!
Limbo!
If you want to see our time lines and craft inspirations please check out my Pinterest at this link:
Next week please come back to see our last Time Machine study 1975-2000.
God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover
Welcome! My name is Amber Dover. I am a homeschooling mom, happy wife, and a devout follower of Jesus Christ. I am also a writer. I am currently working on "The Truth Seeker's Chronicles" (an inspirational fantasy/allegory). You will find everything from craft ideas to writing tips on my blog. So please pull up a chair and hang out :)
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