one little, two little, three little indians

This past weekend, I had the most vivid dream that I'd received an e-mail from my children's school. In effect, it read that although the school district would be providing all of the curriculum for their appropriate grade level, due to budgetary restraints, effective immediately, they would no longer be able to provide a location for learning (i.e., classrooms), nor the staff to educate our children (i.e., teachers).

I woke up in a cold sweat. Surely this was due to my subconscious working in overdrive after spending an entire week alone trying to manage work and children and feeling like I was short-changing both.

Not very long ago, I had fantasies of homeschooling. Sometimes, I still do think about it but whenever I think about homeschooling now, it's because of certain social dynamics I'd like to shield our children from and not because I think that I could teach them more than what they're learning in school. Perhaps at some point before the children graduate and move away to college, I'll have the courage to take them out of school and do some international travel. Although, considering I can hardly make it through homework on any given night without grabbing my hair and biting my tongue, my visions for a full year traveling abroad might be a little ambitious.

Regardless, if the day ever arrives that I shelf my career to become a schoolmarm, I aspire to have the patience, creativity and overall awesomeness of our children's current second grade teacher who "looped" with them from the first grade.  Our teacher is amazing. The past few weeks the children have been studying various tribes of the American Indians and I'm including a few photos from the little books that they created in their class.

Introducing: The American Indians.



Second grade style.



(Please, just bear with me as I post 20 pages of my children's school work and drone on about how adorable they are. My babies! My little tiny 3-pound babies that were in the NICU for six long weeks are now writing and illustrating their own stories about Native Americans!)

(This stuff is much more fun to look at than the compounds I'll post about once they get to organic chemistry. Yes, life will be tough for these children as they grow up and have to deal with me as I barge in to their work place and declare, "MY BABIES! They had a gavage tube for a month! Look at them now!! Earning money and paying taxes as a contributing member of society!!)



So, as I was saying: The children studied three different indian tribes: the Powhatan Indians of the mid-atlantic, the Lakota Indians of the central plains and the Pueblo Indians of the southwest.  Pochantas was a Powhatan Indian and she was like a ROCKSTAR because her father was the chief of the tribe.



Powhatans lived in wigwams.



In the mid-atlantic, it is cold in the winter and warm in the summer.



The Powhatans hunted for food. They also fished and had gardens.



They made clothes out of raccoons and deer.



And they used the WHOLE body of any animal that they took, then they celebrated for the life that helped them survive.



OH. But then!! The white skinned people came to the land where they lived!!

(Cue ominous music....)



They were looking for the indians who would help them find gold.  But apparently unsuccessful in their search as illustrated by this befuddled tracker who is following a turtle.



The white skinned people were mean, but the indians were nice. In this picture, the indians are wearing very little, while the white skinned person is wearing a lot of clothes and is turning purple because it is so cold. Maybe it's 12 degrees, like it was here this morning?



But the Powhatans, and especially Pochantas, was kind to everyone.



Next up, the Lakota Indians.

The Lakotas lived in the central plains and were migratory because they followed the buffalo. The world was much bigger for them, because they had to travel around so much.



Because they moved around a lot, they lived in teepees which could easily be broken down.

The women put up the teepees.... 

While the men hunted the buffalo.  (That looks like a hungry and angry indian.)



But they had to be VERY QUIET when they hunted the buffalo and not make a sound or else the buffalo would stampede! (If you read the captions backwards, you'll see that the buffalo was thinking, "I will get you!" while the little indian on their knees was yelling, "AAA HELP!" Thankfully, the little indian would be saved by their father who was hiding behind the hill.)



Because they moved around a lot and chased after buffalo, the Lakotas rode horses. WHEW those horses would get tired!  Here's one that seems to have a bit of narcolepsy.



Last but not least: the Pueblo Indians of the southwest.



The Pueblos lived in adobe huts that were made from clay.

No tools were used in the creation of these homes!!



The clay dried by the sun.



They Pueblos were mostly gardeners.

Although according to the research provided herein, they had at least one deer. .



While the men did manly things, the women made beautiful pottery.



In case you had any doubt, this information is based on a true story.



Also, as a note from one of the acclaimed authors ... if you ever want to go around the world and visit these indians, it is recommended that you first "read this book before you begin your great jurney."



And here is a little bit of personal information about one of our authors...



His mother took the liberty to erase his telephone number, home address and bank pin. Sometimes, it's hard for a writer to know just where to draw the line in sharing personal information!