Telegraph

So B. and I made a telegraph - a working telegraph with batteries and everything. Above is the Key. When all the wires are connected the Key is what completes the circuit to make the electro-magnet pull the receiver down to "click" on the nail.

The batteries. Wires are connected so that there is a wire between the key and the batteries, from the batteries to the receiver and from the receiver to the key. The red wire wrapped around the nail makes the electromagnet. The "click" part is slightly above the head of the other nail so that when the magnet pulls it down it makes a sound.


Another amateur video below. Someday I'll learn how to do one that really shows what I want it to. It should be showing the metal clicking on the top of the nail and how the wires are connected to make a circuit.

International Adventures in Cooking

We've been studying "Story of the World, Vol 4" and have found that cooking food from the countries we are learning about make it more interesting. We learned that Ethiopia was one of two countries that remained under it's own rule after the "Scramble for Africa" . So we made Ground Nut Sauce with eggplant. B. thought it was OK, J. didn't like it and I thought it was great. BK said I could make it again. It is also good with squash instead of eggplant.

Basically it is one onion sauteed, two tomatoes diced (or one small can of diced tomatoes) sauteed with the onions. Cut the eggplant into bite sized portions and saute them with the onions and tomato. Take 1/2 cup of peanut butter (preferably one without sugar - the first time I made it I used the blender and made my own with lightly salted peanuts with oil) and 1/4 cup of water. When the eggplant is cooked (about 10 minutes) add the peanut sauce.
Serve over rice. Ours need more salt. I also tried it later over sweet potatoes. It was really yummy of sweet potatoes.

Next we read about the next-to-last czar of Russia, Alexander III, how his father was working to improve the life of serfs and improve the country. He saw his father assassinated so when he came to power he took away some of the liberties his father had granted. We also read a book "Russian Girl:Life in an Old Russian Town " that had an easy recipe for Pirog - It was basically a pile of cut up, cored apples. On the side you mix up milk, flour and eggs, then pour it over the apples and bake until the cake is cooked - sort of an apple cake. It was yummy but salt would have helped. It seemed a little like the bisquick "Impossible Pie" idea.

Next adventure was Korean cooking. We learned about the Sino-Japanese war which was fought mostly on Korean soil. King Kojong and Queen Min were ruling Korea and trying to bring the country to modern-ness in the late 1800's. Queen Min tried to get Russia to help against the Japanese and was assassinated. Above is a squash pancake. The pancake part is flour, milk and egg. The squash part was summer squash (normally it is zucchini) onions and green peppers. By itself it is pretty boring.

But add some dipping sauce (1/2 cup soy sauce and 1 tsp of cider vinegar) and it becomes quite delicious.

The page from the "Cooking the Korean Way" for kids.

Family Home Evening

For Family Home Evening we did a short lesson on service and started a calendar to remind us, an idea from the Friend magazine. Then B. did an activity by reading a delightful book called "Beryl's Box." It's about the friendship of two girls, Penelope who has everything and is bored and Beryl who plays with a box and uses her imagination to do anything she wants.

After reading the story to us, B. suggested that we draw a picture of what we see inside our box, or something that we could do with our box.

This is G.'s picture of what she saw inside her box.

This is C.'s box where a rainbow tree grows out of it and there is a swing and a bird.

J. drew a picture of her favorite characters in the story.

B.s box became a castle.

Sunday - Noodle Day

Sunday is noodle day. After church we pick out one of the ramen noodle flavors, cook it up and add egg - so it is sort of a ramen noodle/egg drop soup.

This particular Sunday we got visited by two Cookie Fairies who delivered Chocolate Chip Cookies. A. (below) thought that was lots of fun. So, we started taking photos.

A.

J. & B.

J.

M. (or C.)

G.

G. (or B.)

A few more Fall Photos

Halloween X Three

Our social calendar gets rather full around Halloween. First there is the Trunk or Treat activity at church where we have dinner together, then some activities. While the activities are on the trunks of cars are opened to reveal cleverly arranged Halloween decorations. Above J. is singing with the rest of the kids. Below an M&M and a pirate are singing along.

After the entertainment is done the kids are released to go Trick or Treating, trunk to trunk, rather then door to door.

Our trunk had a Civil War theme. That is a working telegraph and a lego scene from a Civil War battle. The pumpkin is just there for ambiance.

Here is a dark glimpse of a row of trunks.

Second big event for our Halloween calendar is the downtown Trick or Treat event. The kids dressed up in their costumes and went store to store trick or treating. J. was a dragon the first event. Now she is a princess.

B. is a Union soldier (Civil War - kind of gutsy considering we are in the southern part of Virginia).

B. J. & friend B. sitting on a bench near the activities area in the Farmer's Market parking lot. A local church set up carnival type games for the kids to play.

A. is piglet.

Some of our Home School friends.

Third event in our Halloween Calendar is our annual neighborhood trick or treating with the N. Family. Here the kids are posing in front of the tree before we took off on our neighborhood circuit. It seemed different this year since the end of Daylight Saving Time is the next day - it is still quite light at the normal trick or treating hours.

A. J. and B.

J. & B. at a particularly spooky house with a "crystal ball" that had a head in it. They added "fog" from a dry ice and water contraption.

Our friend K. is the one standing very still. He was very effective. He stood so still people were not sure if he was a statue or real. Then he would jump out and scare people.

Our Halloween Pumpkin. The face was finished just be 4 pm on Halloween.