Tag Archives: history

Buford Massacre of 1780

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Today, as my last little bit of school, Emily and I went out geocaching. We didn’t find any caches, but we did stumble upon the Buford Massacre of 1780 Memorial, which neither of us had even heard of before. Apparently, it was a big battle with 350 American soldiers against an unknown amount of British troops. It’s said that the American soldiers surrendered, but were attacked anyway. The information said: 113 patriots died, 150 were wounded (but most died due to their injuries), and 53 were captured. Only a few escaped on horseback.

Also on the site was a small grave surrounded by rocks with a small tombstone. From what we could tell, it belonged to someone called Little A.F. Plyler. He/She only lived from 1891 to 189?. We couldn’t make out the last digit. We also weren’t sure why that grave was there.

There was also a Buford Battleground Memorial just a few feet away. That was all we saw, but it was really cool to find something like that without even trying.

-Grace<3

The Massacre Memorial

The Massacre Memorial

The Buford Battle Memorial

The Buford Battle Memorial

A.F. Plyler's grave

A.F. Plyler’s grave

 

 

Ancient Roman Water Clock

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To finish up our unit on Ancient Rome, Grace created an Ancient Roman water clock (kind of).  She also worked to solve the “murder” case of Marc Antony, but that didn’t lend itself well to blogging…we’re going to focus on the water clock instead. 😉

In the Roman Senate, speakers were only allowed to talk for a few minutes (no long-winded speeches…nice!), and the time was measured with a water clock.

To make our water clock, we used two cups, craft sticks, binder clips, a push pin, and water.  It was all pretty simple, actually.

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Checking out the supplies.

 

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We used binder clips to hold stacks of five craft sticks together. We then checked to make sure the sticks would support a cup properly. (You could use anything to lay across the top cup, really. It just needs to lift the top cup off of the bottom one.)

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Then we used our push pin to make a small hole in the bottom of the top cup. (It turned out that this hole was a little too small, so we used our pin to make it just a little bigger.)

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Here’s where we started really having fun. We were aiming to have our water clock measure three minutes. We started by filling the top cup with water and letting it run into the bottom cup for three minutes…this gave us an idea of how much water we would need for accurate timing.

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Grace waited patiently as we timed the clock a few times, adjusting the amount of water as needed. We got pretty close to what we were aiming for, and we were content with that. 🙂

Now that we’re finishing studying Ancient Rome, we’ll be starting next week off with the Vikings.  Fun!

Study of Ancient Rome Continues…

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We still have a few activities to complete before finishing our study of Ancient Rome, but I thought I would share some of our recent progress. 🙂

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Creating a “clay” tablet to practice writing. 🙂

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A soldier’s shield.

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An eagle standard.

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Scipio and the Punic Wars.

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Playing a little game about the Appian Way. (Grace beat both Daddy and Frank…yes, the dog has been known to play some fascinating history games. 😉 )

 

The Week(s) in Pictures

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And we’re back to blogging!  Grace had a fantastic visit with Grandma, but we’re back to all of that pesky school stuff tomorrow. 😉

Here are a few pictures from the past couple of weeks:

The Week in Pictures

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And a fabulous week was had by all! 🙂

Last Week in Pictures

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We had a fantastic week last week!  Here’s the evidence:

Tear Away the Sky

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We’re currently studying ancient Greece, and one of Grace’s recent assignments was to write a “mixed up” myth.  She randomly picked two Greek gods, a setting, and a problem…then she was off into myth writing.  I think she’s done a splendid job with it. 🙂  Enjoy!

Tear Away the Sky

One day, the great god Apollo sat atop Acropolis staring into the blank night. He had finished his flight across the sky, and the Earth was shrouded in darkness. He sighed, wishing for some form of light that would allow him to gaze upon the lush fields and smooth lakes. He knew that Mother Earth, or Gaea, had sewn the night sky to protect her people from being burned by the blinding light of the heavens, but Apollo didn’t care. He wanted to see. Suddenly, an idea appeared in his head. He called for his sister, Artemis. A single deer trotted to him. Her fur was a shimmering gold, and a thin silver band was snugly fitted to her head. Apollo smiled.

-Grace<3

Sister, you do not need to wear such costumes. No human dwells here.” The deer glowed a blinding silver, and the Goddess of the Hunt took its place, the silver band still on her head. Artemis frowned.

Why have you called me here?” she asked. Apollo pointed at the sky.

I need you to tear the night from the sky; it makes my only free time dark and dreary.”

Artemis tensed. “ I cannot help you; even my arrows cannot pull the blanket away.” Apollo stood.

Maybe one of your immortal maidens can. They have immense power,” Apollo suggested. Artemis sighed.

If you wish”She called out to her huntresses, and a huge group of girls ran to their goddess’s aid.

What do you need?” the maidens asked, and Artemis pointed to the sky.

Whoever can pull away the night will be crowned Leader of the Hunt!” the goddess shouted. The maidens gasped. A tall girl with spiky hair shoved her way forward. She pointed her bow at the sky, pulling her fingers to her temple. Her arrow shot upward, ripping a small hole in the night. A thin stream of light burst from the heavens, but the blanket still hovered. Several other girls tried, but only few even reached the sky. Apollo stepped forward.

Sister, get all of your huntresses to shoot at once. Maybe then the blanket will fall.” Artemis smiled. She gathered her bow and pointed it at the sky. The huntresses did the same. She released, and 1,000 arrows shot forward, each piercing the sky. Tiny lights littered the night, with a gaping hole where the goddess’s arrow had gone. The land was filled with light. Ever since then, Apollo would sit on Acropolis and gaze at the fields with the newly formed stars lighting the land.

 

Last Week in Pictures

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We had a fantastic week last week even if we did have some random oddities.   This week looks pretty darn promising, too. 😀  I hope everyone’s having as much fun as we are!