George Washing Carver resources & more from USDA

The United States Department of Agriculture has quite the collection of coloring & activity bvooks covering a wide variety of nutritional, agriculture, science and nature topics. Use them for homeschool / educational busy work for young hands. Click to visit USDA's educational coloring & activity e-books page

George Washington Carver Resouces are on the same site: ebooks and resources for biographical study resource!  Click here to to to their George Washington Carver resources page.

Heard about it from Homeschool FREEBIE of the day. You may want to visit them daily, Monday to Friday.  This resource is always free, but many of their resources are just up for one day.

Trenton - Patriot's Week

Lots of events between Christmas and New Year's

Are you interested in learning more about the role of New Jersey troops in
the American Civil War on the eve of the upcoming Civil War
Sesquicentennial? If so, plan to visit the New Jersey State Museum on
Wednesday, December 29, 2010 to experience the semiannual unveiling of
five historic Civil War flags from the state's vast collection.

Organized by the New Jersey State Museum and the New Jersey Civil War
Heritage Association, the unveiling event features an educational gallery
walk by renowned flag historian Dr. David Martin.

When: Wednesday, December 29, 2010, 10 AM
Where: New Jersey State Museum, Galleries at 225 West State Street,
Trenton, New Jersey, 08608

The unveiling is one of several museum events planned for Trenton's annual
Patriot's Week celebration. For more information and additional historical
activities, visit www.patriotsweek.com

President born in NJ

Grover Cleveland is the only US president born in New Jersey. His birthplace in Caldwell is often open on December 26th. Children are welcome. Admisssion is free.

On 2010, it was Sunday, December 26th 1-4pm. Local residents won't want to miss this annual opportunity to show off our town's treasured historic site to their visiting guests. This year the Grover Cleveland Birthplace will host their 11th annual Boxing Day Holiday Open House complete with a free souvenir boxed piece of fruit cake to take home after your visit. The Garden Club of the Caldwells has decorated the house in a festive old-fashioned holiday theme. Also featuring recorded music of the era.

The event is sponsored by the Grover Cleveland Birthplace Memorial Association, the New Jersey State Park Service volunteers, and the Birthplace staff. Also for last minute shoppers, we have museum-quality stocking stuffers for all ages at "Grover's Corner Shop". Conni Murray has been working harder than an elf on Christmas Eve hunting down outstanding items. The shop is well stocked with everything from tie-tacs and baseball caps featuring the Presidential Seal, clever t-shirts, playing cards, wooden toys, tree ornaments from the White House Historical Association, and more.

Grover Cleveland Birthplace NJ State Historic Site 207 Bloomfield Ave., Caldwell, NJ 07006 Phone: 973-226-0001 www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/historic/grover_cleveland/gc_home.htm For directions, historic photos, and more, go to: clevelandbirthplace.org

Equality Day

Did you know that today's the 90th anniversary of a woman's right to vote?

Equality Day

Perhaps we all should be celebrating this right to vote and "Remember the Ladies" who worked so hard for this.

Old Sturbridge Village Home School Days

Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, MA, Home School Day Upcoming Dates:
Sept 10, November 14
(expect March, May, Sept. & Nov. dates in 2011 too)
(registration begins about a month in advance)
Check-in through the Visitor Center begins at 9:30. The Village closes at 5:00.

Visit www.osv.org for specifics of the day's programs and activities. Register online 4 weeks in advance or sign up for their homeschool email list. Their online lessons plans are posted.

Home School Days are for all school age children (ages 5 and up to 18).
During Home School Day we offer you and your children the opportunity to visit the Village and participate in hands-on activities and participatory programs. This is a great opportunity for children to gain exposure to many aspects of 1830s New England life in an interactive way. Also, special performances and demonstrations are planned for all audiences throughout the day. Specifics on the day's activities will be posted closer to the date.

Pre-registration begins four weeks in advance of the date. If you're interested in being notified about home school programs, and are not already on our email list, please contact our Education Department.

From last year: Admission is free for Members, Sturbridge residents, and children under three. We offer home school families a reduced Admission price of $7 per person on Home School Days and on most weekdays during the school year. Children are always $7 but Adult Admission is regularly $20 per person. This reduced Admission is offered on M, T, W, Th, F, and one Sat a month during
the school year. Attached is the Home Schooling at OSV Calendar. It excludes holidays and school vacations.

During Home School Day we offer you and your children the opportunity to visit the Village and participate in hands-on activities and participatory programs. This is a great opportunity for children to gain exposure to many aspects of 1830’s New England life in an interactive way. Also, special performances and demonstrations are planned for all audiences throughout the day. Specifics on the day's activities will be posted shortly. Pre-registration begins four weeks in advance of the date.

Each homeschool event in the year has a different focus and activities to take part in. You will receive an email notification approximately a month in advance of the event date that alerts you to the theme and activities and to the availability of the online pre-registration process.

From last year: Special performances and demonstrations, inspired by the Theme, are planned for audiences throughout the day in the Village. Also, visit the Village Craft Center to take part in a quick hands-on activity. For children ages 6-18. Opportunities at this location are on a first come first served basis. Activity fees are between $5-10 per activity.

Studios are age specific. Please register your child for only those Studios for which they are age appropriate. Also, we recommend that you register your child for no more than two Studios giving you time to visit and take part in the activities in the Village. For those not old enough to
participate in Studios, a Little Learner’s play area will be available for younger siblings and their parents to pass the time in the Museum Education building.

We offer home schoolers the opportunity to take part in 50-minute hands-on Studios which are taught by a Museum Teacher in the Museum Education building. A maximum of ten participants can register per Studio. We offer 8 to 12 age-based (example: Ages 5-7, 8-10, 11-14, and 15-17) themed Studios per hour. We offer 3 to 5 hours of Studios. We recommend registering for no more than two Studios per child. Each Studio is $5 per child.

Lunch will be sold at the Village Café counter. The Village Café will be serving pre- made sandwiches, hot soup, baked goods, water, juices, coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. Limited seating will be available. For those closer to the Bullard Tavern in the Village at lunch time, the Bullard Cafeteria will be open. For those bringing your own lunch, seating will be available in the Lunch Room at Museum Education. Please understand that food and beverages are not sold here.

Remember, included with the Admission, are many performances and demonstrations in the Village to enjoy throughout the day. Information about these activities will be listed in the email notification and posted on the website Daily Event Listing a week in advance of the event day.
Also, consider participating in a craft at the Village Craft Center which is open from 9:30- 4:30. There is an additional $5-$10 fee per activity. These activities do not take reservations but will be available to you at your leisure. This will also be posted in the email notification.

Participate in America The Story of Us contests!

America The Story of Us
Premieres Sunday, April 25th at 9/8c

America The Story of Us is an exciting 12 part series premiering on HISTORY on April 25th at 9/8c. Each episode focuses on the ways everyday Americans harnessed technology to advance human progress, from the rigors of early settlement to the construction of the transcontinental railroad to the Apollo 13 moon landing.

HISTORY has developed an extensive education outreach program connected to America The Story of Us, including curriculum guides, contests, and a live webcast. Visit us online to learn how you can participate.

HISTORY is pleased to be working with the President’s Committee for the Arts and the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services on library and student contests. A contest for teachers to submit innovative lesson plans is also underway!

Students- create a short video about an American or local history topic ($25,000 in prizes will be awarded)
Libraries- develop an exhibit or media project based on an American history topic or theme ($35,000 in prizes will be awarded.)
Teachers- submit an innovative American history lesson plan ($20,000 in prizes will be awarded)

Stay tuned to www.history.com/classroom for more information about a free live webcast produced with the Smithsonian National Museum of American History on Thursday, May 6th!

HISTORY is also offering a DVD of America The Story of Us to every school in America. For more info about this offer, visit us at www.history.com/america-dvd - including homeschoolers

View the teacher's guide

• Library Outreach Contest
• Teacher Contest: Innovation in History Education
• Student Video Contest
• Family Viewing Guide
• Classroom Activity Guide

If you have questions email us at america@aetn.com

Civil War Weekend: June 19 & 20

Civil War Weekend
At Historic Speedwell
Saturday, June 19 & Sunday, June 20
2009 Admission was: Adults - $6.00, Seniors - $5.00, Children (4 - 16) - $4.00

The 2nd New Jersey Brigade brings the battle between the Blue and the Gray to life through camp life demonstrations. Musket and artillery drills, mail call, a bayonet drill, canon firings, a medical demonstration, skirmishes, and more!

10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and 12 p.m. – 5 p.m.

Talk to the soldiers and camp followers about what life was like during the Civil War

In 2009 demonstrations included: sick call, pay call, our load in 9 demo, telegraph demo, cannon shoot off, hospital tent demonstrations, and the signal corps demonstration. Food will be provided for purchase by the Friends of Historic Speedwell, and there is an available picnic area for those wishing to bring a lunch! This a great program that the whole family can enjoy!

Historic Speedwell is located on the corner of Speedwell Ave. and Cory Rd. in Morristown. Additional parking will be available at the Alfred Vail Elementary School located ¼ mile north of Historic Speedwell, on Speedwell Ave, and a free shuttle will be provided to transport visitors to and from the site.

Please call 973-285-6550 for more information!

eIditarod 2010

Surfaquarium is hosting the e-Iditarod again this year for students in K-8. (Students learn about the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, follow a team, and as many of the posted activities as their own teacher wants. Sewing booties for the huskies? creating maps? estimating times or distances?)

Registration opens 1/9/2010. The Iditarod runs in March, starting March 6th in 2010 - and certificates for students are usually ready for you to print by the end of March.

In order to participate in the project, you must

• be willing to post to checkpoint blogs
• have Internet access to the official Iditarod website in your classroom
• commit to participating in the project through the end of the Iditarod Race

To register:

Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eiditarod/

Click on the button on that page

Use your Yahoo ID or get a free Yahoo ID to login

Follow the directions to join

Once you join the eIditarod YahooGroup you are registered for the project

It's that easy!

Patriot's Week in Trenton?

The last week of the year is Patriot's Week in Trenton. Some of the events sound really interesting.

Site tours & ongoing events. Site tours in past years have included:

• First Presbyterian Church, 120 East State Street: whose congregation was founded in 1712 and has been attended by Presidents John Adams and James Monroe, as well as the Marquis de Lafayette and Daniel Webster. Pamphlets are available for self-guided tours of the artwork throughout the building and for the historic burial grounds. Re-enactors will also be available to answer any questions. There will also be historic displays of artifacts from the Church and from the City of Trenton. Comfort facilities are always available.
• Masonic Temple Site Tours (Front & Barrack St.)
• Visitors Center Site Tours (102 Barrack St. Next door to the Masonic Temple.)
• State House Civics Tours (Tours occur at the top of every hour) 125 West State Street: Explore the New Jersey State House, where the laws that affect all New Jersey residents are made. This tour takes visitors through this beautifully restored historic building—listed on both the national and state registers of historic places. For more information, please call the New Jersey State House Tour Office at (609) 633-2709.
• Hidden Treasures (State House, 125 West State Street Entrance): the second-oldest continuously operating State capitol building in the nation. From timbers that date back to 1792 to contemporary art rarely seen by visitors, this tour will take you from the basement to the attic and everywhere in between.
• Old Barracks Museum Tours (101 Barrack Street, (609)396-1776): State and National Historic Landmark built in 1758 by the colony of New Jersey as winter quarters for British “regulars” returning from fighting in the frontier regions in the French & Indian War. During the American Revolution, the Barracks was occupied at different times by British/Hessian Forces or the Continental Forces. Following the Battles of Trenton in 1776, the Barracks was steadily controlled by the Continental Army and used as an army hospital for small pox inoculations. The Old Barracks is a “living history” museum portraying the year 1777 with historical interpreters guiding visitors through the infirmary to learn about mandatory small pox inoculations and surgeries performed on soldiers in the Continental Army; into the squad rooms that soldiers occupied as living quarters; through the Officers House; and exhibits. Admission is $8/adult, $6/child, $6/senior. Children age 5 and under are free.

Quiet Valley

Quiet Valley Living Historical Farm is a non-profit, educational corporation dedicated to the preservation and presentation of Pennsylvania's agricultural heritage. 150 years ago, located just outside Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, less than two hours from the New York City Metropolitan area, Open to the general public from June 20 to Labor Day from 10am to 5pm Tuesday through Saturday and 1pm to 5pm Sundays. Closed Mondays. They conduct school and special tours in the fall, winter and spring. Period-dressed "family" members reenact the life of the original Pennsylvania German family who lived on the farm from the 1760s to 1913. The farm also hosts a number of special events throughout the year.

Programs periodically offered include these. You can also schedule these for a group of your own. (Prices are Spring 2008 prices.) For their complete calendar including special events and workshops, visit their website: http://www.quietvalley.org/.

• Farm Tours (Grades 3 and up): 1/2 - 2 hours. $5/student.
  
  
• Farm Hand Adventure (Grades 3 and up): This program lasts 3 1/2 to 4 hours. $10.
  
  
• 1893 One Room School House (Grades 3 and up). This program lasts 3 1/2 to 4 hours. $6.50/person.
  
  
• Molly/One Room School House (Grades 1 and 2). This program lasts 3 1/2 to 4 hours. $5/person. $100 minimum.
  
  
• School House Program: Learn more about what a typical day of school was like in 1893 and why it was such a big part of the community. 10am to 2pm, (with about a ½ hour for lunch). Cost: $5.00 each person per session, with a maximum cost of $30.00 per family. Maximum group size: 12.
  

All materials will be provided. Please bring your own lunch. Dress in appropriate attire and be ready to have fun.

For more information or to register please call the Farm at 570-992-6161 or E-mail farm@quietvalley.org

Homeschool Program

In the spring, from April through mid June, Quiet Valley’s Homeschool Program is an educationally meaningful and enjoyable program for children ages 10 and up. Students will have the opportunity to learn about Pennsylvania German history by experiencing it first hand through a variety of seminars, demonstrations, and projects. In addition, they will become an integral part of our spring School Tour Program by working closely with our staff members in a variety of activities. The homeschool participants will bring the farm to life by coming one day per week (for either 5 weeks, or the full 10 weeks) in authentic costume for a period of 4 to 6 hours. Each day will begin with an educational seminar on a variety of topics related to life as it would have been during the 19th century. These may include: large and small animals, social customs, gardening, wool dying, and much more.

Children will then assist our guides on the actual tour, helping with animals, weaving on the loom, cooking on an open hearth, assisting in a one room school “lesson” or helping during the barn/smokehouse portion of the tour. Students may even be given the opportunity to conduct a portion of the tour under supervision.

??? Questions or Information ???
Please contact the Office: by phone at (570) 992-6161 or e-mail farm@quietvalley.org The Office is available Monday through Friday from 8:30 to 4 (or leave a message and they'll will get back to you)

A Different View: American Revolution

Someone suggested a more radical way to view the American Revolution, starting with the picture book Why War Is Never A Good Idea by Alice Walker. Other suggestions included:

• Natalie Bober's Countdown to Independence: A Revolution of Ideas In America and Her American Colonies: 1760-1776,
• Marc Aronson's The Real Revolution: The Global Story of American Independence, and
• Christopher Hille's The World Turned Upside Down: Radical Ideas During the English Revolution. (which kept me up late reading one night)
  

Here I was thinking that considering geography as a large force in revolution was different in our reading of John T. Cunningham's The Uncertain Revolution.

Of course Mark Kurlansky has a slightly different view in Salt: A World History! I have not (yet?) checked his Cod. I think my kids refer to it as "The World According to Cod". Both of those have a (adult?) chapter book and a picture book and will have a different slant than Hakim's The History of US.

25 Morris County Hikes

Top 25 Walks in Morris County - the 2008 list from the Daily Record seems to no longer be available online

Link was: http://www.dailyrecord.com/25walks/hike_index.htm#Top

American History Reenactments

Reenactors can regularly be seen at Fosterfields Living Historical Farms, Morristown, NJ (check their monthly schedule). A better way would be to check each "regiment's" schedule. There are re-enactors at Historical Speedwell one of the last weekend every June for "Civil War" weekend. (June 19-20 in 2010.)

Washington Crossing, PA (especially in December, of course!)

15th New York Cavalry "Red Neck Ties" comes to NJ sometimes. 4th Battalion, NJ Volunteers is in NJ, but the events on their website are not up-to-date.

Further Afield:
Old Sturbridge Village, MA (year-round, 4 homeschool days a year)

Colonial Williamsburg, VA - year-round, also offers 2 Home Educators Events each year - each about 10 days long! The next ones are: 6-19 September 2008, Feb. 21 - March 8, and Sept. 12-27, 2009. Spring 2008 had rates as low as $5 per day!

Plimouth Pnatation (MA) has one or 2 homeschool days a year.