Pioneer summer

 Since Cecily didn't get to do much of the pioneer unit they usually do in third grade I asked her teacher for some suggestions of activities for the summer.  And then I made her write about it to tell Miss B. all about it.  :)  

Hi Miss B, it’s me Cecily and I am wacking some rugs with our rake which I am pretending is a stick. I think it is hard work.

In the picture below I am playing the Origen trail game. Many of the computer people died, only two people survived.

This is us watching a blacksmith straighten out a piece of bent metal. Do you see me?  I am the one in the light blue bonnet. I thought it was interesting seeing metal being straightened out.       

In the picture below I am writing my name with a feather pen and ink. I wrote my name in my best cursive handwriting.

 

In this picture our mom made an outline of a pioneer wagon and we got to put a big trunk in the outline.

 

In the picture below I am packing our big trunk. I put my ragdoll into the trunk. You can never believe how much stuff you have to put in the trunk.

As you can see in this picture we got creative and made it look like a covered wagon.

In the picture below I am washing clothes like a pioneer. If you were there you be surprised about how much of the soap bar my sister Emmy used.

In the picture below you will see a map of the Oregon Trail. We had sticker sheet to go with the map. When we were good for 1 whole day we would get a sticker. Once we got 3 stickers we would get to move to a landmark on the Oregon Trail.

This is a picture of me playing marbles, a pioneer game. It took me a little bit to learn how to shoot the big marble but I figured it out.

In the picture below I am making candles. First, you dip some string into hot wax, then you dip it into water. Finally, you do it over and over again until you have a nice fat candle.

In this picture I am using a hammer and a nail to make a tin punched lantern. I couldn’t believe how hard it was to hold the nail and the tin can (that was full of ice) still.

In the picture below we are enjoying the glow of our tin punched lanterns. In our lanterns we are using our homemade candles.  It was a lot of work but we did get to enjoy them in the end.

In the picture below I am working on a nine patch quilt square. A whole bunch of nine patch quilt squares can make a big quilt. I haven’t finished my first nine patch quilt square yet, but I will someday.

In this picture we have some beef stew in our fire pit. In the next picture we will have some corn bread in the fire pit to.

In the picture below me and my sister Emmy are roasting pigs in blankets. Two of them fell into the fire while we were roasting them

I can’t wait to see you at school again soon!

 

Love,

Cecily

P.S. We burned the cornbread but the stew was fine.

 

I think we all learned lots about pioneer life- and it's definitely different to think about from an adult perspective.  Being a pioneer sounded a lot more exciting and glamorous when I was a kid... and not considering how miserable washing 6 people's clothes by hand and cooking over a hot fire 3 times a day would be...  Her teacher gave me an A+++++ for effort; gratifying considering I feel like this summer turned into a blur of managing nausea.  

P.S. The cornbread was edible, contrary to popular opinion. :P

Blessings.