(This is the second attempt to post this blog entry as HSB ate the first one. )

This week's focus (week 7) was not only on Jefferson's Presidency but on Lewis and Clark. Here are some of the things my kiddo did for her study of Lewis and Clark.

(1.) Read Scott O'Dell's Streams to the River, River to the Sea (the Corps of Discovery journey from Pocahontas' point of view.) For this book she filled our the Student Activity Pages including quick drawings of characters. Here are a few she did:

(3.) From this listening and the other readings for the week about Jefferson, Lewis and Clark,  and the Louisiana Purchase she wrote a three-paragraph essay. Here's what I typed up when I sent the essay to the grandparents...

She wrote this in steps:

• First, a simple cluster diagram (found on the Writing Aids disk) to decide on her topic sentence for each paragraph
• Topics for the 3 paragraphs were "before the journey", "who they saw", "problems along the way."
• Next, was an advanced cluster diagram (also found on the Writing Aids disk) to write up notes for her supporting sentences for that topic sentence
• Three days were given to write the rough draft of her three paragraphs, working on one each day.
• Her editing & proofreading of the rough draft, was next, followed by my *minimal* input on editing it for clarity.
• I proofread it and she was ready to make the final draft. She requested to type it up, which I agreed to.
• One copy has been put into this term’s history notebook, while a second copy has been gathered together with the other papers  in the writing process, stapled and tucked away in the draw that holds yearly work samples.
• She’s VERY, VERY proud of her paper and thinks the typed version “looks very important.”
• *Please note, there may be a couple of factual discrepancies, I’m not certain, since I didn’t read the same books she did… but that wasn’t a concern of mine. I’m very pleased with her word usage. I thought it “so [DD] ” with some of the wit in the paper. Her personality really comes through in it, I think.

Here's her little essay...

                                                    Facts About the Lewis and Clark Expedition

                                                                
            Thomas Jefferson asked Captain William Clark to lead an expedition to see exactly how big the Louisiana Purchase was. He also wanted to see if the soil was good for farming and to become friends with the Indians. Clark agreed.  Just planning and gathering the supplies for this important journey took over a year! Clark got permission from Jefferson to look at current soldiers for his crew.  But before he looked for a crew he asked Meriwether Lewis to be his co-captain, and Lewis agreed. Lewis and Clark went to different armies. They looked for strong, healthy men with talents or jobs that were useful. Then they gathered and collected supplies.  Capt. Clark got $3,000 of portable soup.  Capt.  Lewis got plenty of dried meat. Clark invented lead cans that you could put gun powder in. When the cans were empty they could be melted down to make bullets. Thomas Jefferson invented a collapsible steel boat just for the expedition. It cost more than $1,000 to make and took three months to build.

             The first Indians they met were the Sioux. The Sioux were kind of nice but when they learned that they couldn’t have a few guns in trade trouble arose. The Indians said they couldn’t go down the river unless they were given ammunition. Lewis and Clark threatened to fire, luckily they didn’t. After two long hours a deal was struck. Clark offered 15 pairs of moccasins sewn with blue and red beads. Then they met the Mandan tribe, who were very friendly. A French man named Charboneau was hired and his Shoshone wife, Sacajawea, was hired as a guide and translator. After many months of hardship they neared the mountains. Living there was a Shoshone tribe.  The tribe was Sacajawea’s people! The chief was her brother. Maybe that helped the explorers   get the horses they needed to cross the mountains. They saw many things in those mountains Sacajawea loved so much, such as the prairie dog and coyotes. They saw new plants as well.  One of which was the prickly pear (Sacajawea showed them how to eat it).  Capt. Clark and Capt. Lewis wrote about all of these and many more in their journals.

             There were many problems on the Lewis and Clark expedition. The first one was when they had to paddle through rapids. The boat hit a rock and flipped over. Half of the provisions were lost along with half of the gun powder. This was a grave loss. Another boat problem was when they tried to sail the steel boat. Although it looked light, the minute they put it in the water (without supplies) it sank. Clark loved to draw animals especially bears.  Once he got to learn the hard way how fast a hungry bear could run and how fast a man can climb a tree!  Mosquitoes were yet another problem. They were small but they were annoying and some carried a deadly disease called malaria. Many times at the Mandan camp it was far below zero. Blankets and fires were very welcome in two degree weather. Capt.  Lewis once wrote that if you weren’t careful you could get frost bitten in less than five minutes!                                                

Completed May 11, 2008

(4.) She did a few sketches of things Lewis and Clark found on their journey. This particular assignment was one she didn't give her 100% effort to, and as such was marked down a bit for it. I think, perhaps, I had grand visions of what this page would look like and didn't take the time to really explain it to kiddo. I didn't mark her down for that, mind you, but that it was very clear she was not doing her best work.

She was much more general in her terms than I would have liked. Perhaps the next time we cycle around to TOG3 again, at a higher level of learning, she'll have more desire and better art skills to get the final product more like she wants it. As it is now, this page didn't even get finished. I see she didn't complete coloring in the items.

(5.) She did a small map to show the expanding U.S.

(6.)  as well as a transparency map overlay (over the TOG Y3-W7 map) to show the states that Lewis and Clark went through during their journey. This map looks really neat in person! The Sharpie colors on the transparency really pop!

(7.)  And, finally, she opted to make Native American costumes for her American Girl doll and friend. This started as her just making a pair of moccasins (from felt) for one doll but bloomed into full paper bag costumes, another pair of moccasins and decorating her A.G. horse, Penny, up in tribal wear, too!

Here's one doll in costume
said she'd try to get the other doll and horse back into
costume this week for more photos... maybe. LOL

All in all, and as I mentioned at the ICHE 2008 Homeschool Conference this weekend while manning the Tapestry of Grace booth... she LIVED Lewis and Clark for nearly two full weeks. By the end of this section of study she was VERY well versed in the reason Jefferson felt the need to send the Corps on the journey, how the Corps managed and what their discoveries meant to Americans. It's a VERY good thing that it will be another 3 years until we cycle back around to study them again! LOL