Spirit of Back of the Yards Quarantine Date

Field Trip: Saganacky Slough and a forgotten treasure, Historic Riverside

So thankful for today.  I had been feeling it was time for a field trip but its cold in Chicago!  AHHH!   We triumphed over Winter and her 27 degree temps, but our souls cried out for NATURE!  How beautiful was the dam at the slough that pours out and underground (I think) into Sag Canal.  We walked along its southern border with views of slough and canal on either side.  Bethan exclaimed, "This is the best nature hike in Chicago!" 

I was excited to see a stork tower, (Or maybe for Bald Eagle?) in the distance.  I had seen these first hand in Diesen, Germany and enjoyed a delighful kids story about them called, "The Wheel on the School."

 This rather straight looking path deceives you, you are entering a very hilly and rocky, somewhat dangerous for bikes walking lane.  Tom enjoyed the adventure with his mountain bike, but could only go 1 mile in before he stashed it for the safer method of  hiking.

Lunch Overlooked a beautiful view of the Slough

Rest after a 1 1/2 mile rocky hilly shoreside hike

On our way home, we spontaneously stopped by Historic Riverside, the first suburb of Chicago build around 1879.  I read an intriguing book called, "The Geography of Nowhere" about urban sprawl and the New Urbanization.  I learned the history of our American cities and why the look as hideous as they often do.  It was all started with good intentions, people wanting to escape the dirt and noise of cities for country life.  Here we see the water tower which lies directly across from the first train stop from downtown Chicago.  This suburb was a planned suburb, and the detail and beauty of the original buildings shows the care of the original designers.  Contrast this with "modern" design" and your local big box store--and you'll understand why I made this one of our field trip stops!

Riverside Water Tower

Making Memories with Teens

 The lower corner shows a drive parallel to the river.  So beautiful to see all those houses looking out to trees and water.  A beautiful place to live, I think, though now the old Victorians are interspersed with Craftsmans (Frank Lloyd Wright?) and other more modern homes.

Typical original mansion...

Beautiful walking bridge

 We headed home soon after our little tour, but with interest to come back on a Saturday someday to see the little museum beside the water tower and maybe get a cup of coffee and look our over the river.  Thank you Lord for these good gifts of beauty today. 

Fun February Blizzard!

Sometimes Winter snow in the Midwest is SCARY like when my family drove to Michigan in a whiteout and narrowly avoided a fatal 12 car pileup.  But other times if feels so cozy.  Praise God I did my grocery shopping yesterday before the 12 hour snowfall that's left us snowed in.  The pork roast is in the oven, the coffee is hot and schoolwork finished, so the kids are out building a giant fort in the backyard.  That is except for the one with the twisted ankle.  She is watching from the window.  The snow bright light is  shining in the newly cleaned kitchen and I feel very content!

Homeschool highlights February 2018

We have been tunneled in because of the cold and snow, but these changing seasons open up new possibilities and inspirations.  We get crafty, we want to bake and to explore in books.  We have been fascinated with the winter skies this year since our beginning serious nature study.  For want of plant life we looked up and have been amazed.

 

We have been studying Constable's paintings, the marvelous sky painter.  He was the first to study meteorology and paint skies as they actually were, not copies of Italian skies, or simple backdrops for subjects but the sky in its natural awe inspiring state.  We are using it as a unit study to explore painting clouds in perspective, how light affects the color of blue in the sky, storm predicting etc... I teach Nature Study at Chicago Charlotte Mason Scholars, our co op.  I love learning with my kids and have been so into the science and art of the skies.

 

Bethan and I have finally launched a successful microscope study.   It has only taken me 10 years to figure out how to do this with my kids.   But I collected the supplies--thanks to Amazon Prime and Bethan's urge to check Craigslist and finding the perfect scope! We are using Richard Headstrom's "Adventures with a Microscope" which is old but simple and easy to use.  Each exploration is 2-3 pages.  She journals her findings and usually wants to keep going when her time is up!

 Dad rescued this old toy from the attic amid dirt and squirrel poo.  It still works and Z scored 100% on the countries of Europe.  Old toys like this keep kids from accidently clicking on crap when using computers, provides 3D learning--a nice change from pen and paper, and contains buttons--what kid hates buttons?  So thankful.

Christmas 2017

We enjoyed hosting my parents and brother's family this white Christmas.  We love having a little one bobbling around our home.  Time with immediate family comes like snow on Dec. 25 and so we savor it.  This year we got to enjoy church on Christmas Eve and followed it up with our own mini Polish Christmas Eve dinner with Polish imported pierogis and sauerkraut.  In the evening we played our new discovery, "Snapdragon," a Victorian Parlor game that is very exciting.  Only a few fingers lost their hairs in the cries and screams which followed ingesting flaming blue raisins.  The family spent the night and we could wake up to Christmas in pjs together.  Fun!  Gifts revealed the advancing of time and interests of the children.  A lockpick kit, mp3 headphones, and flat iron replaced the dolls and cars of yesteryears....   For some reason, I had trouble packing up Christmas the year, maybe it was that we had such a pretty tree (and that wasn't because of decorations.  This was the first year that the actual Tree was super green and held up really well) maybe because its so cold and the colored lights make it so cozy in Winter; but we did anyways and today we remember Ethiopian Christmas....our very last celebration and mark the beginning of our church's fasting season.

A Living History at Greenfield Village Detroit

Wow what a great living history experience!  Inspiring figures like Edison, George Washington Carver and Daniel Webster have homes here along with many others.

 Edison invented this machine that used mica to vibrate a needle that scratched sound--the first recorded human voice.  It reminds me of Charlotte Mason who said, "the Holy Spirit co-operates in teaching every fruitful idea."  What a fruitful idea Edison received from the Holy Spirit, wisdom from heaven...

 Edison embodied hard work and perseverance.  40 other scientists were trying to find a filament for the electric lightbulb, but Edison tested without quitting here in his laboratory (which Ford brought from New Hampshire, I believe).

 That ghost is my sister in law nursing.  Poor girl thought she found a quiet spot that was soon filled with people to watch the Young Edison drama.  The girls were really engaged in these little skits.  They made the buildings and artifacts a living story.  They were really good actors.

The hundred year old carousel had handcarved wooden animals.  The kids were really excited to do the "rides". 

You can see on the road behind the girls what we'll try next....

The was a horse drawn omnibus.  We were able to get a homeschool discount--saved us 100.00$ or more.  We went for 10$ a person with rides including adults.  Usually, the cost is 25-30$ without rides.  So we road everything we could!

The girls are hiding in the cellar of George Washington Carver's memorial.  They were brave enough to let their cousin close the door on them!!

No, I  am not pregnant.  LOL.  This was a really fun ride for me.  I imagined myself driven by Toad from the Wind and the Willows.  And I realized why the needed goggles!! It was so windy going 7 miles an hour!

I didn't get a shot of the coal powered train but I brought some of it home on my all white outfit.   The rides were the last stops and really helped the kids enjoy a whole day at Greenfield Village.  I highly recommend it.  We did not see everything in one day, but what a gorgeous day it was!!

Cherry picking

We were sad when the pipeline cut all our trees down and burned them.

But then a nice neighbor informed us of some trees that needed picking before the racoons ate all the cherries.  So we hopped in a truck and got more cherries than we could imagine.