Nanticoke Museum Pt 2

There was so much to see and learn at the Nanticoke Museum so here are a few more facts and pictures. Did you know the Indian calendar uses moons instead of months? There are thirteen moons and it starts with the first moon, second moon, third moon and so on. The Nanticoke Museum opened in 1984 in order to collect and display Nanticoke culture and heritage.


We are planning to attend the next powwow in Delaware on September 7th and 8th of this year. The powwow  brings in thirty to forty thousand people each year for the days it's hosted, the money helps to fund the museum. This will be the first time I have attended one and hopefully it will be an experience our family will remember, especially the children. Unlike the false images tv depicts, the children will see first hand how Indians live and celebrate.


We are enjoying visiting the states and I must admit, I am having just as much fun learning new things and discovering new places as the children are. Really we are only scratching the surface of things to explore but we sure are having fun!

This was hand woven.

This was made with 28 thousand beads

Morning Star shows a picture of her Indian attire

This head dress is made from turkey feathers

 

This is the museum library, loved it.

A nice visitor took this picture for us

Fun and learning

Grinding to make bread

Hope you enjoyed the pictures and our trip to the Nanticoke Museum. If you ever visit Delaware make sure to stop in. Our next stop, Killens Pond State Park in Delaware. The kids had a blast there. 

www.nanticokeindians.org/museum.cfm

The Nanticoke Museum in Delaware

Visiting the Nanticoke Museum was very special to me and a necessity for my children. During my early adult life I learned that my father's family as well as myself are descendants of the Nanticoke Indians. Many years ago my father took me to this museum and you can't imagine the delight I felt to take my children years later.


There are so many stereotypes about Indians on tv and now I had the opportunity to dispel the myths. I only hope I can keep this post to a minimum because we learned so much from our tour guide, which happened to be my fathers cousin's cousin. Are you confused? No worries so am I...


She was full of history and knowledge. I wish I had a tape recorder to remember all that we learned on this day.


Many of the Nanticoke Indians still live in or near Millsboro in Delaware today. On our tour, we learned that the Nanticoke like many other Indians lived off of the land. They used animals for food and their fur for clothing, rugs and instruments. Instead of horses they used dogs to pull heavy items for them, they did not have horses. We learned that not all Indians lived in teepee's, the Nanticoke's lived in wigwams. They grew their vegetables and planted according to the seasons. They were very much in tuned with nature. Did you know lacrosse originated from the Indians?  


More can be explained by the pictures below. Delaware is truly rich in Indian culture.

They all decided to make faces...

This was our tour guide Morning Star. She is my father's cousin's cousin. My cousin too??

Shoes and purses handmade by the Nanticoke's

Handmade platters and baskets, they were beautiful.

The Nanticokes used these instruments and writings to communicate, especially during war.

Morning Star is showing us what they used for money.

Arrow heads for weapons.

Hand made instruments made from animal skins

Jewelry and beads, my daughter loved these.

 

Reading a book about the little Nanticoke girl who loved horses in the museum library.

There is more to come in my next post, come back and visit.

Here is a link to find the museum as well as other information about Nanticoke Indians.

www.nanticokeindians.org/museum.cfm   

Delaware at the Command Museum Pt 2

We are back home and there is so much to catch up on as well as post about our exciting visit to Delaware. So here we go...

There was so much to take in at the Air Mobility Command Museum so we went back to finish our tour. I'm so glad we did or we would have missed so much. Not only did the children have fun but the big people did also!

 

                       The entrance near Dover Air Force Base

                                 Our future structural analysis engineer

                            
                            or maybe an aerodynamic engineer 

                  Is it my turn to fly? Not sure about this co-pilot business!

                              The husband's lesson before take off...

                                  This board was very interesting!

                                 Which button should I push next?



Of course traveling to see the United States will be fun but it will also open up endless possibilities of learning new things. Since we visited the AMCM I will create a lesson on the law of thrust, lift and aerodynamics. How much will they understand about this? I might be surprised. Children are open to learning and experimenting. My goal is exposure, fun and learning, in that order.


While visiting the states we also talk about the facts, such as Delaware is considered the first state because it was the first of the original thirteen colonies to ratify the Constitution, later these colonies became the United States. We learned that Dover is the capital of Delaware and we also visited that city. Will they remember Dover as being the capital? Not so sure about that right now? Will they remember we visited Dover? Most likely and just in case they don't, we have pictures to back up our claim.


Next post, the Nanticoke Indian Museum! Stay tuned and tell a friend.

Delaware at the Command Museum

Today we are in Delaware visiting state number two. This means two down and forty eight to go! Our first stop, the Air Mobility Command Museum in Dover. We all found the air planes and helicopters very interesting and very big!


What I found out today was that traveling is not always easy when going somewhere new. By unanimous decision we will invest in a navigation system. In the meantime we'll make the best of our situation on the road using maps and the internet.


The Command Museum was a great choice for the children, it kept them interested and gave us lots to learn as well. One other perk was the museum was FREE. Interesting and FREE is a perfect combination. There was lots of history and replicas of aircrafts, the children could hardly keep an indoor voice.


Perhaps one of them will go into aviation. By exploring lots of things we hope to help the children find their niche' in life. For now I am working on a vocabulary list to include; aviation, pilot, hangar, cargo and aircraft. Always school, learning and life you can't separate the two.


Here are some pictures of what we saw today, enjoy.

 

I would highly recommend the Command Museum. You can click on the link below for further information.

www.amcmuseum.org

What will our next stop be? Wait and see!

Self portrait project for the kids

Recently I saw an article about children doing self portraits, so I decided that we should give it a try. The children had more fun just looking at themselves than they did actually drawing themselves.


They discovered what color their eyes were, the shape of their ears, the color of their hair and much more. These are details we don't usually take the time out to explore about ourselves.


So as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words... Enjoy!

The self portraits were a hit and you don't have to homeschool to do this. It was a simple activity that just took ten to fifteen minutes to do. We have done this about three times already and they still enjoy it. We use colored pencils for a cleaner look and the mirrors were just a dollar a piece from the local dollar store.

I love visiting websites that share ideas for the children. This is the website we get many ideas from, hope you enjoy it also. Click on the link below.

 
www.reggiokids.blogspot.com 


Join us tomorrow as we head to Delaware, our second state.