American Patriot's Almanac...

We are reading thru our American Patriot Almanac book with our year-long study of the American Revolution (William J. Bennett and John T.E. Cribb...ISBN: 978-1-59555-267-9)

On this day, August 7, 1782:

George Washington created the Purple Heart, America's oldest military decoration. He called the award the Badge of Military Merit. See http://www.thepurpleheart.com/history/  

"The General, ever desirous to cherish the virtuous ambition in his soldiers as well as foster and encourage every species of military merit, directs that whenever any singularly meritorious action is performed, the author of it shall be permitted to wear on his facings, over his left breast, a figure of a heart in purple cloth or silk edged with narrow lace or binding. Not only instances of unusual gallantry but also of extraordinary fidelity and essential service in any way shall meet with due reward."

The badge permitted the wearer to pass sentinels without challenge. Only three soldiers -- Elijah Churchill, William Brown, and Daniel Bissell Jr -- are known to have received the award during the Revolutionary War.

After the Revolution the badge fell out of use. In 1932 the military revived the decoration to help celebrate the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birth. The Order of The Purple Heart is now awarded to members of the armed services who have been wounded or killed in action. The modern medal has a bronze heart bearing Washington's silhouette in its purple center and the Washington coat-of-arms at the top.

Why did Washington choose purple? No one knows for certain, but for ages purple had been the color of royalty. In Washington's eyes, the common soldier who sacrificed for his country deserved as much respect as any king. As he wrote in his order creating the decoration, "the road to glory in a patriot arm and a free country is open to all."

Also On This Date:

1789.... Congress establishes the War Department, no known as The Department of Defense.

1942.... U.S. troops land at Guadalcanal, marking a shift by Allied Forces from defensive operations to an offensive campaign in the Pacific in World War II?

1959.... The U.S. launches Explorer 6, the first satellite to photograph Earth from orbit.

1998.... Al-Queda explodes bombs at U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing 224 people, including 12 Americans.

Gearing up for the new Term

We have changed up the plan a bit again this year, not in terms of our Core/Spine, but in our approach to everything else in our school day. We have taken on a fairly CM style to our schooling, and it suits us quite well. Our Core remains with Rod & Staff...using their math and English curriculum, and occasionally other subjects blend in. 

Where we have departed from traditional textbook curriculum is in everything else in our daily routine. We read for every subject, we add in lap books and note booking components where the interest is, we do projects every few weeks, or plan a longer range project, to coincide with our area of study, and nature plays a big role in our school planning. Having 20 acres of timber, a varied homestead of animals, and plenty of places within a day trip distance is a big plus.

Yes, I have multiple 'grade levels' here, ranging from beginning levels to high school. We work together in our studies for most areas, with some adjustments, of course. While everyone is on the same 'chapter' in terms of open study...this year we enter into the Colonies and the American Revolution...we maintain different levels of our core (math, English) and free reading varies according to the level of understanding. 

I don't actually label my children with a "you are in grade X" and if you asked them, they'd probably look at you like you're talking Greek, LOL. We strive for a complete understanding of each concept being learned, a high level of mastery. Of course not each child is an 'A' student as understood by traditional grade scale tags, but they are an 'A' student in terms of their working to their best ability on each area. We work a math and English concept until it is fully understood, and can properly be applied in a variety of work examples. Science, American, and World History...these areas are repeated every few years, and with an increasing reference base and reading cycle, so these areas will also have a deeper understanding. If a child has a particularly strong interest in an area, we seek out additional resources for them. I'm not stifling the next Madame Curie :-)

This term, much like our adventures into the Middle Ages, will revolve around living books, lapbooks and notebooking components, arts, and crafts focusing on the Colonial and American Revolutionary War era. The resources available are wonderful. It was hard to choose the 'need to buy' list this year! (Another plus to homeschooling and a living books curriculum is the building of a great home library!)

I did try to schedule the coming terms on our calendar. Whether or not I stick to that exact time frame will be decided as we go along, but in general, it's a plan I believe works well. Each Term is 8 weeks long, and there is a 'free' week as a project week, a field trip week, a week of completing any assignments still open, etc. 

Term 1....August 5th - September 27th

     Break September 30th - October 4th

Term 2....October 7th - November 22, and December 3rd - December 13th

     Break after first part for Thanksgiving, November 25 - November 29th

     Break for winter holiday following the 2nd part, December 16th - January 3rd

Term 3....January 6th - February 28th

     Break March 3rd - March 7th

Term 4....March 10th - May 2nd

     Break May 5th - May 9th

Term 5....May 12th - July 4th

     End of this cycle, summer break July 7th thru beginning of August

**if I tallied right, we have 41 weeks of 'formal schooling' and 7 weeks thru the cycle for breaks, as well as most of July for a summer break.

Like I said, that's the plan ahead...but life is what is is at times, and I'm not chained to paper schedule here. It's a goal to aim for, but we are very flexible. Our breaks will hardly be idle times without learning...life is what it is...you simply can't shut off learning just because the books are closed!

If anyone is still lurking about here, despite my hit and miss posting, I'd love to hear about your coming school cycle, your plans and schedules. Please do share your blog links in the comments!

Mega Link Round-Up...

More than likely I have many of these posted already, but I'm clearing out the saved bookmarks on the iPad,a and just to be on the safe side, I'm posting (again) so I don't lose any of them. This is a collection of all sorts of goodies I've stashed away for use in our schooling...crafts, Middle Ages, Revolutionary War, etc.
Sorry if you've gathered these and I'm just clogging up your blog reading ☺

Kings, Queens, and Castles collected links

Story-based History Tool, DIYHomeschooler

Middle Ages via About.com

H.E. Marshall, Baldwin Project

Paper Toys....all sorts of fun here!

U.S. History Pages

America's History Pages...a great, useful collection from the government of all places :-)

TOG year 2 forms, Highland Heritage Homeschool (so many great forms shared, definite bookmark worthy site!)

Discovery Education, free Kindergarten-5th grade varied lesson plans

Some Magic School Bus on YouTube

Bible for Children, OT and NT

Around the World in 80 Days interactive site

Around the World in 80 Days, vocabulary

Michael Palin's modern day journal of Phileas Fogg's trek

Knights, Castles lapbooks at Homeschool School

Make a Shield for your Medieval Times study

Armor of God, DLTK sheets

Build a Castle!

Teacher Resources...Life in the Middle Ages

History for Kids, Middle Ages Projects

A Book in Time, Middle Ages book list

A to Z Kids Stuff, Middle Ages links

Britain Express, Medieval England

Medieval History in The movies

Middle Ages, Chivalry, etc.

Beacon Learning Center Middle Ages interactive

Historical King Arthur

The Lady of Shallot, Alfred Lord Tennyson

Mr Donn's Middle Ages...well worth bookmarking, he has many other pages

Learning Adventures blog page, collected Medieval links

Mattman's Arthurian Resources

Paula's Archives, Supplemental Literature for History

Book lists for great unit study beginnings

Vikings Lessons

King Arthur interactive quest

Astronomy unit, Easy Fun School

Castle coloring pages

Katie's Homeschool Cottage, great unit study ideas, book lists, etc.

Ancient Civilizations, Egypt and more, Mr Donn's pages

Archaeology links

Ancient Worlds

Social Studies for Kids, American Colonies part 1
American Colonies, part 2
American Colonies, part 3

John Adams lapbook, HomeschoolShare
American Revolutionary War, HomeschoolShare Connections

Calico Bush unit study

Lewis and Clark, HomeschoolShare

Ancient Egypt, Discover the Nile

Simple papyrus craft, Crayola

Egypt for Kids, Fast Facts

Egyptian coloring pages

Plant and Animal Life along the Nile

Peas in a Pod blog post on Ancient Egypt

Neferchichi Ancient Egypt lesson plans

Discovering Egypt, Heiroglyphics

Ancient Egypt, Pharaohs Mask craft

That's several. I have a tendency toward saving anything and everything that even looks potentially useful :-) Hopefully there are some of these you will find useful as well!

- Blessings from Abundant Blessings Homestead!