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Virginia
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English settlers immigrated to Virginia in search of wealth and a
better life in what they believed would be a paradise on earth.
However, the Powhatan Confederacy, led by the powerful chief
Wahunsonacock, already inhabited this paradise.
The first settlers arrived in 1606 on the Susan Constant, the Godspeed,
and the Discovery. Upon arriving, Christopher Newport, the Captain of
the Susan Constant, opened a sealed box he had brought from the
Virginia Company in England, which had sponsored the trip. It
contained the names of the seven men who would be the Councilors, or
leaders of the colony. One surprising name on the list was Captain
John Smith, who had been under arrest for some time on the voyage. In
the end, Captain Smith would be the one to pull the settlement together
when things began to fall apart. His policy was: those who do not work
do not eat. He developed a relationship with the Powhatan and his
daughter, Pocahontas, which kept the settlers from starving.
Unfortunately, Captain Smith was critically injured when his gunpowder
bag exploded and he was forced back to Europe. That, coupled with
several hundred new settlers who arrived just before winter and a siege
by the local Indians that kept the settlers from hunting or gathering
food, led to "The Starving Time". Food was simply not available.
People ate cats, dogs, rats, snakes... anything. The population of
Jamestown dwindled from nearly 500 to 60 in May of 1610.
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Learning Ideas
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 My 6 and 8 year olds started learning keyboarding a few weeks ago - typing to us old folks. We are using a computer Typing program called "Typing Instructor for Kids". Children learn to type by traveling around Typer Island and playing games, going through easy-to-follow lessons and speed drills. The boys LOVE this. They hardly noticed they were learning. I had to force them to quit playing and at the end of the first session they had each memorized the home row keys and were touch typing at better than 90% accuracy. The program lets them know their WPM (words per minute) and their accuracy after each game or lesson. The kids get so excited when they improve, and there's a little bit of competition going on. We've issued a challenge to some of our good friends at home who got the same program to learn to type this year - "Race you to the Castle!" To get to the castle and take control of the island you have to progress through all 5 of the different areas on the island. Then, to gain access to the fortress you must pass a speed drill and prove that you can type more than 15 words per minute.
I offered Instant messenging as an incentive to the boys to stick with it. Once they learn all the keys they will earn the privilege to get online and chat with their friends, as long as they use the correct form. No hunting and pecking! I must say, I am very impressed with how quickly they've learned where the keys are and I really like this program. At this point, after about 3 weeks, they know where all of the letters are and they're about to start on the numbers. They are typing some of their school work (Bible verses and a few journal entries). They've also started e-mailing some of their friends. If you're looking to teach a younger child to type I highly recommend this program. It doesn't cost much - about $15. You can't go wrong. Try it!
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Flat Ben
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Well it's finally time to say goodbye to Flat Ben. He's been with us
for almost a month now and he's getting homesick. He'll be taking a
couple of souvenirs with him, along with all of the journal entries
about him and all of the pictures of him on the road. We hope that
he's had a good time, but mostly we hope that the young lady who sent
him to us had a good time reading about his adventures. We are looking
forward to meeting the next flat traveler from St. Jude! Can't wait to
see who it is.
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School
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Our artsy child - the actor - also loves to play the piano. It's like
a release valve for him. When he gets frustrated with his math (which
happens frequently) I can bribe him to finish with the promise of
playing piano next. He loves it and all you have to do is watch him
play to see it. It's like the music moves through his whole body. He
patiently tries to figure out how to play new pieces and then excitedly
calls us to hear him when he gets them figured out. It's so beautiful
to me, and naturally I hated to take that from him. So once again I
set out in search of a way to allow him continue to play piano on the
road. My answer - Skype.
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Virginia
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Driving up the mountain toward the home of Thomas Jefferson I was struck by the beauty of the landscape. It was easy to imagine him riding his horse up winding paths to get home after a long day. No wonder he loved Monticello . It is gorgeous.
Thomas Jefferson was our only president who was also an architect. He designed his home, so when you walk through it and listen to the stories of the tour guides you get a feel for what he was like - for how he lived. I could imagine him there. He loved books. They are everywhere. He was creative and inquisitive and studied science - even invented a few things, some of which are on display. We left with a mental image of who he was. That's perfect, because before long we'll be studying about his contributions to our nation's beginning, and now we have a frame of reference.
From Monticello we went to lunch and then to the home of James and Dolly Madison, called Montpelier , just 45 minutes away. We were fortunate to be there toward the end of an extensive resoration of the home. It was great for the kids to see how an historic landmark is restored and for us to talk about why. We heard from the staff stories of how they scoured through old letters, paintings and pictures to find out exactly where certain items would have been in the house during Madison's day. They even studied the pattern of nail holes in one wall to determine where certain paintings were hung. We decided they were history detectives and that sounded like a fun job.
Both Madison and Jefferson were remarkable men, the Father of the Constitution and the Father of the Declaration of Independence, but we couldn't help but wonder why they both owned slaves and yet spoke against slavery, calling it morally wrong. This topic sparked a great discussion on the way home about what it might have been like to be in their shoes and what the boys would have done.
Montpelier restoration in the news.
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We're excited to be able to partner