Capitol, capitol!

I went to the State Capitol several times when I was younger, but I don't remember it being so interesting! We went on a Friday afternoon, which was perfect because the place was almost deserted. Our tour guide was really nice, but the best part was that we'd printed out these Bingo cards beforehand, so all the boys were just riveted to the architectural details. They found everything on their cards, too. It was really fun.

I love the dome

It was a really hot day; poor patient thirsty baby!

Seb drew this when we got home (those are volcanoes in the foreground, just to spice things up a little)

Governor's Mansion

We wished we could have seen more of this place (you only get to see the first floor), but it was still interesting. Lots of beautiful period details. The yard is being torn up to replace the sprinklers right now, so it wasn't at its best. We liked the murals in the dining room, and the huge marble-covered kitchen.

Political Portraits

Abe is a benevolent dictator

For our Art class, Sam taught us about political portraits. We talked about propaganda and realism/accuracy/flattery in portrait painting. Sam also showed us lots of examples of symbolism in various portraits of rulers and presidents through history. The kids had to put symbolism in their portraits too (I like the fleur-de-lis in Seb's picture; symbolizing, he says, "Royal Bananas.")

Democracy, Republics, Voting, The Constitutional Convention

Everyone loved Voting Day and they were VERY secretive about their ballots. We voted on a bunch of things like what activity to do Saturday ("Have a campfire" won by a landslide), the menu for our picnic, what job to work on for clean-up night, etc. Even the little ones had very decided opinions, and were pleased to be able to express them. :) (Our voting booth is made of our laundry drying rack covered with a blanket, and a box on top.)

Another thing on our ballot was what flavor of cake to bake the next day. I was going to pick the top two flavors and make a marble cake out of them to illustrate compromise.  It ended up being a tie between chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry, so luckily I found a recipe for this Neapolitan cake. We called it "Compromise Cake."  Everyone was really happy about being able to make all of the flavors at once!  This activity was a good companion to our discussion about "The Great Compromise" at the U.S. Constitutional Convention.

Government unit, Monarchy, Crowns

Lesson plan

"Types of Government" wall chart (we filled this in throughout the week)

On the Monarchy day, we made crowns. This was a great chance to get out every scrap of ribbon and spare button I've been saving for "some project." The kids loved making their crowns symbolic and representative of themselves.

We wore these again later when we talked about sovereignty, and to make the point that in our country, the PEOPLE are (supposed to be) sovereign.