Cherokee Heritage Center

Our family recently visited the Cherokee Heritage Center in Tahlequah (Park Hill), Oklahoma.  We took particular interest in this since our family is part Cherokee.  We began our visit in the gift shop and museum.  At the time of our visit, the center was hosting the Miss Cherokee exhibit of past gowns and crowns.  There is also a moving Trail of Tears exhibit in the museum.   After we finished looking around the inside of the center we joined a tour of a replica of a 1710 Cherokee village, Diligwa.  Our guide, Danny, taught us about life for Cherokees before the move west.  Once our tour was finished we completed our visit in Adams Corner Rural Village, a representation of Cherokee life after the move to Indian Territory.  For more information visit http://www.cherokeeheritage.org/.

The center was once a women's seminary and these are the original smoke stacks from the building.

 

One of the buildings in Diligwa.

 

Danny teaching us about Cherokee life.

 

 

Danny and a friend demonstrating Stick Ball.

 

 

A Cherokee woman teaching us about pottery.

 

 

Danny  in the Council House describing Cherokee spirituality and business.

To supplement our trip to the Cherokee Heritage Center, I did a quick Google search for Cherokee worksheets.


P.S. If you're in the area and like pizza, we recommend Sam & Ella's Chicken Palace.

Back to School!

We've had more than a few weeks off and we're ready to get back at it!  Our cousins were here from Florida for a week then we went on vacation to California for almost two weeks.  The girls did a few pages in their workbooks and a few worksheets about California but for the most part we took those three weeks off!  We starting again on Monday with more structure (hey, summer is over) and the addition of Khan Academy and a collective art program with other homeschoolers. We're also going to a gymnastics trial class and starting softball again!  I'm not sure about the girls, but I'm ready to get back to a routine.

Math : 180 Days of Math (2nd and 4th grade)
Reading : Reading comprehension workbooks from amazon and Mardel.  Each features a short reading passage or lesson. (2nd and 4th grade)
Khan Academy : We're still working through our mastery skills to see where we need to start.
Art : Picasso.  One of the homeschool groups I'm a part of on facebook started an artist a month program.  This month is Picasso.  We'll learn about Picasso as a person and do two projects.  I'm hoping to use these projects as entries in the Tulsa State Fair this year.
Science : Monarch Butterfly.  We went to a Monarch release a few weeks ago and we will finally use the information I picked up there.
Journal : I picked up a journal prompt book at Target a few months ago.  It has fun prompts that only take the girls a few minutes to complete.  I'm not worried too much about the end product at this time.
Life Skillz : I can't write Skillz without a Z.  Sorry, not sorry.  Everyday we'll do something together as a group to contribute to the household.
P.E. : Our girls are super active anyway so I don't feel like we need "P.E.".  The two littles are in softball and we're starting gymnastics again.  This is also a great way for them to hang out with kids their age with similar interests.

See you later this week!