Math, Science and Constitution Day

Everyone was up super early today for some reason.  I mean it was still dark out when Andrew and Skylar woke up so that is early.

We had breakfast or Andrew had his dinner from last night that he hadn't eaten, a container of yogurt, a bagel and some of my rice cereal for breakfast.  He of course, didn't eat his lunch but he definitely ate his breakfast.

After breakfast, everyone did their math work - Cairn took her multi-digit multiplication test and passed with 100%, Skylar continues to work on adding doubles plus 1 and Andrew is now working on adding 1.  Then we started watching some videos about the American Revolution to lead into our study of the Constitution today.  Why start there?  Because it explains what the Colonists were fighting for and why they wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation.  When the Articles failed to work, then the states reconvened to work out a new plan and the Constitution was written.  It was signed on September 17, 1787 by the Delegates and then needed to be ratified by the people.  On June 21, 1788, 9 of the 13 states ratified it and the Constitution went into effect.

September 17th has always been celebrated but it used to be Citizenship Day.  In 2004, Congress enacted a law that specified that September 17th be celebrated as Constitution Day and any educational institution that received federal funding was required to teach about the Constitution.  I don't know how many schools actually follow that law because the kids in our neighborhood know nothing about today.  I asked.


After some study, we had lunch, rode our bikes to the park and then the girls had a science class at the library on sound.  They created several noise makers and had a great time.

I love this warm weather and wish it would continue for several more weeks but I snow is on its way.

Constitution History

KrisAnne Hall came to our house today to give a fabulous lecture to 13 kids.

She was supposed to come on Friday but she got caught in a road closure on I-70 due to a semi that rolled over and dumped its load of lumber.  It took KrisAnne 7 hours to get from Craig, Colorado to Highlands Ranch which is usually only a 4 hour drive.

Thankfully, she was safe and she was able to reschedule with us for today.

I didn't get the turnout I wanted but next time I definitely will!!

KrisAnne began with the history of the Constitution, the difference between a democracy (which we don't have) and a republic (which we do have), and the 5 documents that shaped our Declaration of Independence and Constitution.  During her talk, she told us about bully kings and why it is important to know our rights or they may be taken away.

She was a very lively speaker and had the kids full attention.  Even Andrew sat quietly for 90 minutes listening to her speak.  She is one of those speakers who can get out a lot of information and intersperse it with a lot of fun facts you don't usually find in the history books.

I took lots of notes ready to reteach and but I ended up buying her book that has a lot of the information in it.  I absolutely loved having her here and if you ever get a chance to see KrisAnne Hall in person go see her!!  Her website is http://www.krisannehall.com/.  Here is her calendar so you can see when she is coming to a town near you.

Cairn and Andrew didn't get in the picture for some reason and a few other kids are missing too.  KrisAnne is on the left hand side in the back.

Mom is sick!!

All last week, I had a horrible cough and cold symptoms.  I would go to bed early at night to try to kick it, took a nap one day and laid around another.  But the kids (Andrew and Skylar were sick too) so I didn't get a lot of rest taking care of them too.  Andrew ended up with a sinus infection and ear infection after his croup.  Skylar just has the cough and runny nose.

Finally, today after having lost my voice for 6 days I decided it was time to hit the doctor's office.  I have bronchitis and I started on meds today.  I was told to rest and drink lots of fluids so I will try.

But before the doctor today, we had to do some honking.

Dad had gone down to the Capitol building to testify against the gun bills before Senate committees today.  He called me when he got down there and said we had to come down and check it out.  I heard tons of honking and cheering.  We jumped in the car and headed down.  It was fantastic.

We drove around the block 2 times honking and giving thumbs up.  Then we decided we wanted to wave at cars too so we parked and headed over.  One man gave the kids some of his extra flags to wave and we had our one Don't Tread On Me flag from the car.  I got tons of hugs, high fives and "nice job Mom, start em early".  The kids had their pictures taken by everyone.  The people were fantastic and we had a great time.  We had to leave because we had to get to Girl Scouts.

I had planned to return but after my doctor appointment I decided I better rest.  Dad and Aunt Trish and Grandma are still down there and they can still hear honking at 7 PM.

Unfortunately, the committees are passing the bills right down party lines.  People - this isn't about the guns - this about your rights.  I hope in your state you are paying attention to what your State representatives are doing.  Also pay attention to what the federal government is doing.  If someone passes along a petition to sign - Sign it.  If they ask you to write an email to Congress - do it.  You can't sit by idly.  You are losing your CONSTRUCTIONAL RIGHTS!!