A Disaster Has Occured!!

Oh me Oh my!! I have lost the cord to connect my camera to the computer! I have soooo many pictures that need to be put on the computer before the camera fills up. While we were studying about Mars Benjamin recreated the happy face crater in a bowl of ice cream, we built a salt dough model of Olympus Mons and erupted it, and we made aliens and UFOS. (okay, I admit, that last thing on the list wasn't very scientific, but it was really fun!!) We made a scale model of the solar system. The sun was a basketball. We could only space them out to Mars. If we kept going we would have had to have gone half a mile down the road!!! It is mind boggling to think that our solar system is so huge, yet in comparison to the whole known universe it is rather small!!! And God is so big that He created and controls it all!!!! We are studying about Jupiter now. We plan to make a tornado in a bottle to represent the stormy Great Red Spot. Of course I will take pictures of that, but who knows if I can get them to the computer.
We have also been having a blast learning about the Revolutionary War. We have a few books that we are reading and we are also taking advantage of the internet big time for this. I some kind of study unit where they have excerpts of letters from Abigail Adams written to John Adams. We read her telling him about the Battle of Bunker Hill. I cannot imagine witnessing a battle. Knowing that a good friend died in that battle and having to tell my husband about it would be horrible. I am sure she was a much stronger lady than I. She would have to be to just be able to survive during that time. We have been using Johnny Tremain as a read aloud. I had never read that book until we recently bought it. I have to say I really liked it. I wish that it ended happier, but then, it might lose some of the realism. I know it is fiction, but it feels so real. That might not make sense to some people, but it does in my head. I had planned to use My Brother Sam is Dead as our read aloud. Nathaniel read it a few years ago when he was in school because he could read it to get enough AR points not to have to read anything else during that six weeks. That book is utterly depressing!!! It had some parts I do not think Benjamin would have handled very well. Samuel may be the youngest, but Benjamin is the most sensitive.
We have been watching Liberty's Kids. The boys really got excited when we read about Paul Revere, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott and their midnight ride and then we watched that episode. One thing I like about LK is that even though it is a cartoon with some fictional characters , it sticks very close to the truth about the way that things happened.
Nathaniel made a lantern out of a soup can (yet another picture I cannot post!!:{ ARGH!!!) Benjamin and Samuel made bread. I think that we (I) take so many things for granted. During colonial days I would have never had the time to just sit down and blog. (or journal or whatever) Could you imagine having to bake your bread every day, using what you probably grew, threshed and ground yourself? Not only that, but also having to make you your own yeast?!?! Our bread took around 5-1/2 hours from start to finish. Not to mention the other things that would have had to have been done. Milk the cows, churn the butter, keep the fire going, (could you imagine having to cook on a fireplace year-round? It might be nice during a cold snap but what about in the summer???) Make all the clothes by hand, wash all the clothes by hand. Keep the garden going during the warm months then preserve foods so they would last during the cold months. Chop wood. Make candles. How did they ever find the time to revolt and defeat the strongest army in the world?? Half the time I can't seem to find enough time to get just the basic stuff done and I have a microwave, a washing machine and dryer, a dishwasher, food that I buy and do not have to cook. I even have paper plates!! I made the comment one day that I have an easy life and Mark looked at me like I was crazy. I didn't let it bother me. I get that look from him a lot!!!