GCVM December 12, 2013

Today we went to the Genesee Country Village Museum for their Christmas homeschooling days. We have been looking forward to this field trip since October. We were supposed to go there for a Cider making event in October, but it got cancelled because of the weather.  Today, I had to bundle up in layers so that I would be warm enough. It was only 9 degrees outside and snowy. I was so glad when mom told me it did not get cancelled.

 We waited for the other homeschoolers to arrive for 30 minutes. Then our guide took us to an old barn, where we made crackers full of candy, like people did in the 18^th century. Crackers were toilet paper rolls wrapped in tissue paper and decorated pretty. Inside the roll was candy. People from England used to make these holiday treats.

Then, we went to an old house and someone talked about how Christmas began and some of the older Christmas traditions. Before Christmas was ever the celebration of Jesus, people celebrated the winter solstice and the coming of spring. Some people went crazy during this festival. They would go around town and ring bells and yell. We got to do this too!

We stopped into another house next door. There was an old lady there who grew up in Germany. She was dressed as if she lived in the 18^th century too. She taught us about the first Christmas trees and how they were first to celebrate Adam and Eve’s birth. We saw many hand-made decorations.

               After lunch, we went to an old-fashioned General Store. It had a wood-stove in the center, and it was warmer than the other buildings. We all went immediately to the stove to warm up our hands. The storekeeper told us about all the different items that would be sold in a General Store in the 18^th century. They had a lot of stuff there, such as fabric, buckets, marbles, watering cans, wooden toys, and mail boxes. The General Store was also the post office.

          We walked to the church next. We sang Christmas carols and learned some of the carols history. For example, the song Silent Night was first a poem that a man made up when he was taking a night-time stroll on a cold, clear night. His friend came over and made up guitar music to with the poem because the organ in the church was broken.

          Our last stop was an old house from Rochester NY. There, a man read “Twas the Night Before Christmas” to us. A guy was dressed up as St. Nick, the way that he used to dress. We saw some pictures of different ways that St. Nick is thought of in other countries and long ago.

          We didn’t get to do the last activity, which was dancing, because we had to come home to meet the little kids’ bus. I learned a lot about old Christmas traditions today. I felt cold, but I thought it was worth bravi

Today we went to the Genesee Country Village Museum for their Christmas homeschooling days. We have been looking forward to this field trip since October. We were supposed to go there for a Cider making event in October, but it got cancelled because of the weather.  Today, I had to bundle up in layers so that I would be warm enough. It was only 9 degrees outside and snowy. I was so glad when mom told me it did not get cancelled.

 We waited for the other homeschoolers to arrive for 30 minutes. Then our guide took us to an old barn, where we made crackers full of candy, like people did in the 18^th century. Crackers were toilet paper rolls wrapped in tissue paper and decorated pretty. Inside the roll was candy. People from England used to make these holiday treats.

Then, we went to an old house and someone talked about how Christmas began and some of the older Christmas traditions. Before Christmas was ever the celebration of Jesus, people celebrated the winter solstice and the coming of spring. Some people went crazy during this festival. They would go around town and ring bells and yell. We got to do this too!

We stopped into another house next door. There was an old lady there who grew up in Germany. She was dressed as if she lived in the 18^th century too. She taught us about the first Christmas trees and how they were first to celebrate Adam and Eve’s birth. We saw many hand-made decorations.

               After lunch, we went to an old-fashioned General Store. It had a wood-stove in the center, and it was warmer than the other buildings. We all went immediately to the stove to warm up our hands. The storekeeper told us about all the different items that would be sold in a General Store in the 18^th century. They had a lot of stuff there, such as fabric, buckets, marbles, watering cans, wooden toys, and mail boxes. The General Store was also the post office.

          We walked to the church next. We sang Christmas carols and learned some of the carols history. For example, the song Silent Night was first a poem that a man made up when he was taking a night-time stroll on a cold, clear night. His friend came over and made up guitar music to with the poem because the organ in the church was broken.

          Our last stop was an old house from Rochester NY. There, a man read “Twas the Night Before Christmas” to us. A guy was dressed up as St. Nick, the way that he used to dress. We saw some pictures of different ways that St. Nick is thought of in other countries and long ago.

          We didn’t get to do the last activity, which was dancing, because we had to come home to meet the little kids’ bus. I learned a lot about old Christmas traditions today. I felt cold, but I thought it was worth braving the weather.

December 10, 2013

 I found a new program today. It is called Khan Academy. My friend’s mom sent the link to this program to my mom. My brother, Connor, has been using this program, but it is the first time that I ever tried it. The program has YouTube lessons on different subjects. I created the letter H using computer code. I spent one hour, and I learned that I can create shapes using code. I felt that it took me longer than an hour. I had to start over once because our computer suddenly said that it wasn’t connected to the internet. I felt frustrated, but proud that I was able to learn computer code.

 I’ve been also learning Morse code. I read about Morse code in a Science book, and I looked it up on the internet. I want to learn more about coding and different codes. No one can read codes except for the people who learn. When I took my Morse code to taekwondo, I wrote Hi and the other students didn’t know what it said.

Our neighbor brought us a stamping kit today. I like to draw and do other art projects, and we can use the stamp kit sometime soon. Mom bought us stained glass ornaments to paint and to put on the Christmas tree. We are very busy every day.

Last weekend we went skiing for the first time this season. I picked it up again very quickly. There weren’t a lot of ski hills open yet because there isn’t enough snow. We didn’t stay that long. We are going skiing again this weekend. Going fast feels like flying.

The puppies have grown a lot. When I go in the hot-tub room, the puppies chase me. They jump on me and want to play. The puppies do not stay in their whelping box anymore because they have crates. The puppies will be going to their homes soon. Yankee and Frisco leave last because they are flying to California. We will all miss our puppies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Garth Fagan Dance 12/5/13

I know it has been a long time since I blogged. Not much has happened but today we went to Nazareth Performing Arts Center to see a dance performance. We watched Garth Fagan Dance. My favorite part of the dance was called the lightning rod. The lightning rod is when the dancers wear sparkly clothes that reflect the light. It looks likes kind of like lightning. It was a really cool experience.