Week 6 ~ Titanic Dinner, State Fair and Back to Dance Classes

In My Life ~ We had a good week. The downside was dh getting a nasty stomach virus and missing two days of work. The rest of us ended up feeling a bit sick but not nearly as ill as he was. The rest of the week went well. We made it through most of our intended learning. The kids did all the normal stuff ... language arts, math, reading and finished up our unit study on Thomas Edison (we used Beyond Five in a Row for the unit study). The week also held a few highlights...

A Titanic Dinner ~ For Labor Day we decided to have a special dinner in remembrance of all of the third class passengers on the Titanic. I used the book, Last Dinner on the Titanic, to put together a third class menu. I must say, they ate fancier than we do most days. The kids looked through all of our books about the Titanic tragedy and followed their own interests. Little Red Riding Hood liked the fact book, 882 1/2 Amazing Answers to Your Questions about the Titanic. Tom Sawyer was more interested in books about the discovery of the Titanic and what it looks like now. Goldilocks liked reading the Magic Tree House story about the Titanic. All of the kids helped make dinner. We worked on learning how to braise meat, make broth soup, make Italian Ice in the ice cream maker and bake homemade bread. Tom Sawyer concentrated on setting the table. He loves deciding on place settings and where each guest will sit. We found a website on the Internet that listed the passengers in third class, a bit about them and whether they survived or not. We found people close to our ages who had survived and made index cards for each place setting. Then everyone assumed their character for the dinner. It was hard to find surviving men from third class. My adult son got to be one of the few men who managed to swim and pull himself up onto an overturned lifeboat. We have now made a third class dinner and a second class dinner from this book. You can see our second class Titanic dinner here. I doubt that we will ever make a typical first class dinner served aboard the Titanic. There is way too much alcohol used, and it would take one person days to make all of the dishes. Our Titanic dinner taught the kids home economics, history, research skills, theater skills and math.

Menu

Beef Broth

Pot Roast

Fresh Baked Bread

Jacket Potatoes

Peas

Lemon Italian Ice

Iced Tea

State Fair ~ We attended the state fair this week. It was a hot day (by mountain standards). We had a great time. We all went on the overheard zip line ride (in a little vehicle that held us), ate cotton candy, saw a man shoot himself out of a cannon, visited all of the animals, and witnessed the pig and duck races. I thought the duck races were so cute. The kids also brought their own money to go on extra rides if they wished. I only paid for the one ride. Tom Sawyer ended up going on the Ferris Wheel and a spider like ride that flipped this way and that. Little Red Riding Hood wanted to play a game but couldn't find one that was a good deal. She couldn't see paying all that money to win something she could buy for $1 at the dollar store. SMART GIRL! Goldilocks only had a dollar saved up, so she and Little Red Riding Hood decided to split a soda (a rare treat for them). There was much deliberation about how to spend their money, and I think they drove some of the vendors crazy with all their questions about cost and length of time of each ride. Tom Sawyer even used our cell phone to time how long each ride was that he was interested in, so he could determine the best deal. I thought it was all a great learning experience for them. After all, one of the most important lessons in life is how to spend money wisely. What really cracked me up was the kids' reactions to the prize winning vegetables. The two youngest were beside themselves with interest. They just gushed over the size, color, and shapes of the veggies. It was hilarious to watch!

The Rest ~ This week was more social than most for our family. In addition to the fair, we attended a birthday party, gymnastics, dance classes and went to our local special needs family support meeting. The kids really are enjoying the monthly family support meeting. All the families eat dinner together and then break up into smaller groups. There is a sibling group for the "normal" kids where they can share their feelings (if they wish) about their special siblings and have a great time playing. The other two kids went to the youth group where they talked about their feelings, did "about me" pages, and played board games. We parents went to an adult support group meeting. Everyone enjoyed themselves. 

Blessings, Dawn