Isaac, that was a really good report about Lewis and Clark. I am very proud of you.
I too have always enjoyed reading about these adventurous men and their importance in opening the far west to settlers. Some of the first men to be influenced by Lewis and Clark came to be called "mountain men" because they traveled to the Rocky Mountains and the Yellowstone region in search of beaver pelts. They trapped beavers to sell their fur to markets in the east and in Europe where beaver coats and hats were popular. These mountain men lived very dangerous lives alone, thousands of miles from civilization. They had to learn to survive in the wilderness among Indians, grizzly bears and harsh weather. They became important to later families of pioneers who were traveling west to California and Oregon territories because they could guide them through the mountains and help them with the Indians. You might find them interesting to read about. Two of the most well known mountain men were Kit Carson and Jim Bridger. There were also others but I don't remember their names. There are several good books about mountain men and I saw a good movie once titled Jedediah Smith about a mountain man. I don't know how it was rated. I just remember that it was very good. Love, Grandpa

Isaac Homeschool Blog: Lewis and Clark

Isaac Homeschool Blog: Lewis and Clark

Lewis and Clark

The book I read was called "Lewis and Clark Explorers of the Louisiana Purchase" They were commanders of the Corps of Discovery in 1803. Alex Mackenzie the fur trader from Canada was first to go down the Missouri River in 1793 and claimed territory for British Colonies. Jefferson wanted Lewis and Clark to make maps, identify animals, see how the land is so he would know if they could farm. They were to meet with Indian tribes to see if they were nice or mean.

They used a keelboat to carry their supplies. They took a dog with them called Seaman. They took a slave with them named York. The Corps of Discovery traveled down the Missouri River. They discovered new animals, prairie dogs, coyotes, antelopes, jackrabbits, mule deer and badgers. The buffalos were huge and they were surprised when they saw them. Sacagawea, the wife of one of the traders on the trip and she was very smart and helped them show that the white men were not so bad. Lewis and Clark sent the president some gifts like birds, prairie dog, Indian artifacts, and maps. A man died on the way. He was a Sergeant Floyd got very sick and died. They saw the Rocky Mountains. They were really big and hard to climb over. They got horses from the Indians, the Shoshone. Sacagewea found her long lost brother and made it easy to get horses from them. The area was very familiar to her when she saw it and remembered that was where she was captured. They finally make it to the ocean and they camped out for a long time and got ready for the trip back. Lewis had trouble on the way back, some Indians he camped with tried to steal their guns and horses. They got in fight and Lewis got shot in the bottom. He was embarrassed but didn't die. It took 3 years to finish the trip. Everyone thought they were dead but the weary travelers came down the river into St. Louis and they were greeted by a crowd of cheerers. They did not publish their journals for a long time. Clark got married and Lewis got very depressed and started drinking and killed himself. They discovered the gateway to the west.

This book was very exciting to read, I really liked it. It was very brave of them to find new land and obey the president. They respected him a lot. There were many dangers. I would like to go see the big statue in Missouri. It's Lewis and Clark and their dog.

Reply to Grandpa

Dear Grandpa,
Thank you for your post about the president. I think he's going to be a good president. I saw him coming from the Lincoln Memorial in the newspaper and I guess he will need prayer and support. We are going to the library tomorrow to get a Lewis and Clark book. I think history is very interesting. We watched Reagan and Kennedy's inauguration speeches today on the computer. I will talk to you later this week about some more stuff in history.
Love, Isaac

Isaac. Timelines are good for learning when things happened in relation to other events. I suggest that you place people and events that you study on a history timeline.
Barak Obama seems to be a very intelligent man. He wants to be a great President. I hope that he will be very successful for the good of our country and for each of us. His inauguration will be one of the most important in United States history for three major reasons. 1. He will be the first Black President. 2. He will have to deal with the worst economic time since the Great Depression. 3 He will have to deal with two wars, Iraq and Afghanistan. He will need all the prayer and support that he can get.
You might find of some of our past presidents interesting. Some of the greater ones were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt,and Ronald Reagan.
If you want to study the Westward Movement involving mountain men, pioneers, cowboys, and Indians, a good place to start would be the story of Lewis and Clark. They were sent by Thomas Jefferson in the early eighteen hundreds to explore the west all the way to the pacific ocean and back. The trip took over two years. This started a gigantic migration west.
It is good to hear from you. Love Grandpa.

History this and that

Grandpa,

We looked at a bunch of pictures from the hard times in the 30's and I learned a lot about the dust bowl. It was really hard for people to grow crops and run a farm. I learned how Roosevelt came in and his wife helped feed kids. He helped grow trees and come up with photographers.

We looked at time lines from Bible times all the way to the 1900's until it got to 2000. We talked about what took place with the Romans, the beginning, and Adam and Eve and how man came to Earth. Henry Ford invented the cars and wanted everyone to have one. 1928 the New York budget started to go down. Many banks started to close. We saw lots of presidents and about Harry Truman, Roosevelt, Hoover, Nixon, and other interesting things in American History.

What I should I study next? Should I go back to the Cowboys in 1800's and start from there and skip 1930's when I get there?

I will watch the innaguaration on Tuesday. Will Obama be a good president? Have a good week.

I love you,

Isaac

Isaac, very good response. You are quickly catching on to why we study history. You also show that you can think and make comparisons.
The weather topic that I referred to was meant to see how the weather effects life past and present. The extreme weather in Washington state has been destroying homes and other property the past several days with record rainfall. Extreme weather conditions in the mid west destroyed much of what many people had worked for in the 1930's. Many scientists today believe that extreme weather might be happening more often in our time due to climate change. This always displaces people and causes disruptions in society which leads to government action.
I believe that you could become very interested in current events. The internet is a good way to quickly learn what is going on in our country and the world. You can even create your own personal newspaper online by going to crayon.com . If you are interested, there were lots of photographs taken during the Great Depression and many songs written about the troubles that people had. The Public library might have some of these. It is great to be able to communicate with you on the internet. Love , Grandpa

grandpa, we looked and i learned alot about the problems today and how history is very important. We can learn from the past and not make the same mistakes. We need to be careful with what we do with our money today. We need to learn everything we can, even adults need to learn. I can compare Tom's family with families today. In Washington things are not looking good. Job losses are at the highest level in 16 years, 7.2 percent. We saw about a boy who's mom is losing her job because people do not use her restaurant as much anymore. These people are having hard times, they should know that they can be strong like Tom's family, sell their extra stuff, figure out ways to make money, God is with them, He wants us to learn to depend on Him. Roosevelt was very smart and came up with ways to make jobs, he encouraged people on the radio too. Obama is trying to encourage people and come up with a plan. His plan is to invest in the future and education, put money in people's pockets, and create new jobs. I couldn't find much about the weather except it's going to snow big time up north today. People are not selling houses very good today, the banks might take the houses back if people can't pay for them. That's all today. Thank You!

At the beginning of Grapes of Wrath, Tom gets out of prison and goes home. First he visits a preacher than goes to his own house. He meets his family at home and sees that everything is a mess. The dust bowl is about the crops going bad because it quit raining and the families lost their farms. The jobs are gone and the banks are taking over the land. Tom loads up his family to move to Los Angelos, California. A cashier helped the family on the way, she gave them bread for 1 penny. The striped candy was too expensive but she sold it to them for cheaper. Grandpa dies on the way there and grandma dies when they get there. Tom finds a job and gets into a fight with a policemen. The policeman kills Tom's friend and then Tom killed the policeman. Tom runs away because he is afraid the policemen is looking for him in the camp. The family finds another job. The people during this time had a lot of troubles. Lots of families lost their homes. Some died from hunger and even kids died. Tom really loved his mom. Families are born and die but this family will keep on going and going and never die. That's the end of Grapes of Wrath.