Planning for school

Since we are back to school, I thought I would share with you how I plan for school. When I get a new curriculum, I log every lesson into a spreadsheet. Each book/subject gets it's own page. Then as I start to plan for the year, I make a new spreadsheet for the school year. Then I copy each subject I plan to use for the year into it.

This year, Hubby had me put all the info into one big sheet. You can see part of that sheet above.

He imported it into OpenOffice's dBase program. He set it all up into a table called Lessons.

I can go into the table and change the week number if we get behind & don't get a certain lesson done.

He then set up a couple reports for me. The supplies report is supposed to print out any supplies we need for the week, but it it's not working quite right yet.

When I click on the Lessons report, it asks me what week I want. We are on week 4 so I enter "4".

It then pulls up all entries for week 4 by student! It page breaks at the end of each students work. I now have 2-3 pages for each student once I print them out.

I then have 4 binders. In 1, I put a copy of all 3 kids printouts. Then I set up the other 3 for each kid.

Each Monday (or Sunday if I'm actually organized) I print out the assignments. In the front I put the week's assignments for that kid. Then I have a tab for each subject. All printouts for that subject go behind the tab.

Now I just sit back & let the kids take over. They decide what they tackle when. I'm there to help & guide, but I'm letting them be more "in charge" of their schooling. They just have to get their school work done by Friday night. So far, they've been done with almost everything by Thursday afternoon! But then we are only on week 4 of school.

So that's how I planned for this year. Thanks to Hubby, printing the weekly lesson plans is way easier than the way I used to do it (cut & paste cells then print!)!

How do you plan? I'd love to hear from you!

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Chimborazo Hospital

On Sunday, April 13th, we visited the Chimborazo Hospital & Medical Museum in Richmond, VA.

Here is what the hospital looked like shortly after the Civil War.

Here is the hospital during the Civil War. It was one of the biggest! It is amazing to see how big it was! All the buildings on top of the hill were part of the hospital!

This exhibit is dedicated to the Chaplains that served at the hospital during the War.

This exhibit highlights some of the doctors who worked here as well as some of the tools they used.

Here we see some of the native plants that the doctors used for pain, to stop infections & to heal.

Another cool historic marker! The Battle of Bloody Run took place here in 1656!

Here's the Hospital historic marker.

The grounds where the hospital was located is now a beautiful park!

 

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Civil War & Emancipation Day

On Saturday, April 12, Richmond celebrated Civil War & Emancipation Day! What is exciting about this is they had lots of sites that normally cost money that were free! They also had lots of reenactors at the different sites.

We started the day at Historic Tredegar as this site had the most activities. We visited the American Civil War Museum (normally would cost us $28) which is to the right.

This museum is unique in that they looked at the Civil War from the perspectives of the Union, the Confederacy & the slaves.

I loved the timeline the museum has. It runs throughout the museum & highlights any event during the wartime with facts, maps & pictures.

Here David is talking with one of the singers. This man did an awesome version of Joshua Fought The Battle of Jericho. David really liked him.

Mary Ryan puts Jessica & David to work rolling cartridges for the Confederate Soldiers. She was one of the best re-enactors I've seen. She never broke character. The kids didn't quite know how to take that.

This man was giving a demonstration on rifles from cleaning to firing!

Here David is standing in front of a "window" overlooking the water wheel. It was one of the best places to stand on a warm day. A nice cool breeze came through & cooled us off.

Here the kids were getting recruited into the army.

Next they were drilled on how to march & shoot their weapons. This was the first recruitment/drilling exercise we've attended that had guns for the kids to use.

We almost skipped this as we were tired but David really wanted to go. The white building in the center of the picture is the White House of the Confederacy.

First we visited the museum. They had a neat timeline map that showed all the major events during each year of the Civil War.

Every major battle of the Civil War had a display case filled with artifacts from the battlefield & items from soldiers who fought there.

The last exhibit talked about the capture of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

Then we went on a tour of the Confederate Whitehouse! I wish I could show you pictures, but photography was not allowed. If ever in Richmond, you should visit it. After the Civil War, the local women's group helped acquire the building & then went to work finding all the furnishings that had been auctioned off. They used auction records to locate the buyers then convinced a lot of them that it was their patriotic duty to help preserve the memory of the Confederacy by donating what they had bought to the museum. Thanks to their hard work, over 50% of the furnishings during the Whitehouse days where found. Mrs. Davis returned to the Whitehouse several times to help them set the rooms up as they were during the Confederacy!

Here is the back of the Whitehouse. This is the part that actually faces the road.

 

I love historic markers! I love that the time was taken to mark the history of different places! When I see those signs, I know we are going to be learning something new!!

 

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Appomattox Court House

Appomattox Court House National Historical Park that we visited on Sunday, April 6.

David checking out the map of the park.

In front of the map!

Appomattox Courthouse in Appomattox Court House (the name of the town)

A painting of the surrender.

The McLean House where General Lee surrendered to General Grant.

In 1893, this house was meticulously torn down & plans for the house drawn up so it could be rebuild it Washington DC. Plans fell through & the house parts were left to rot or be stolen on the grounds. In the 1940s, the National Park Service found the plans & rebuilt the house. The only original part of the house left were 5500 bricks.

The table where General Lee signed the surrender papers.

The dining room of the McLean House.

The summer kitchen of the McLean House.

The slave quarters of the McLean House.

The Clover Hill Tavern.

Heading into the Tavern.

Where the Parole Passes were printed after the surrender. The passes were given to the confederate soldiers. They assured them safe passage through Union lines & free passage on Union transports & train lines as they traveled home.

This is the road the confederate soldiers marched up on April 12, 1865 as they came into town to surrender their weapons & get their parole passes.

My kids & Hubby after they turned in their Jr Ranger booklets. They got a badge, a parole pass, a certificate & a pack of trading cards.

David coming out of the General Store.

The Appomattox Court House Confederate Cemetery.

Buried here are 18 Confederate soldiers & 1 Union soldier.

A cannon near the cemetery.

A memorial across the road from the cemetery.

I love all the interesting facts you can find out from the road signs around the country.

What an agonizing wait it must have been. Knowing he was getting ready to surrender, the wait of the world must have been on his shoulders.

The site of a confederate hospital.

The site of Lee's last headquarters.

Where General Lee stayed after the surrender.

 

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