Week 30 - American History

I think this was one of our best homeschool weeks of the year!  We were so busy and the kids were super interested in our topic for the week.  In case you didn't already pick up on it, Big K is crazy into learning about the states.  We've studied maps, individual states and capitols, time zones, all sorts of map related learning.  Lately he has been asking questions about how our states were formed so we thought it would be interesting to throw in some American history and learn about the Revolutionary War.  This week we talked about the original 13 colonies and how they originated from England.  We also learned why a lot of the settlers were angry about being ruled by King George III.  We even did an activity using smarties candies to help us understand what taxes were, and why the colonists thought the taxes they were required to pay were unfair. We also started a large map display for our unit.  This week we labeled the 13 original colonies, as well as the city of Boston where the Boston Tea Party took place.

To help further expand our knowledge, we spent two days learning all about the Boston Tea Party.  We watched an episode of Liberty Kids that told about the Boston Tea Party.  Then we did a science experiment comparing what happens to tea leaves in fresh water vs. salt water.  We decided that when the patriots dumped the boxes of tea into Boston Harbor, it didn't in fact turn the water into tea. 

 Then we painted with tea bags!  We started by using a spray bottle to spray dry tea bags on the paper, but quickly decided that wasn't going to be very efficient.  So Big K thought we should just get them wet and use them as paintbrushes.  Eventually one of the bags ripped, and the kids thought it would be great to just paint with the tea leaves themselves!

Then we made some tea and chocolate chip cookies and had a tea party picnic for lunch! Big K didn't care for the tea at all!  Little E claimed she really liked it, but only took one sip and then declared she was done. 

This week, the weather has also finally started to feel like spring so we had the chance to get out and spend some time in the sunshine!  It felt so good to be back at the park!  We are looking forward to many more sunny days!

Happy Learning,
Momma C