Because Indiana's weather is oh so unpredictable, we have incurred more snow days than we had built into our school calendar this year. Our district has dabbled with the idea of e-learning for some time now, but decided to give it test run this spring to prevent having to go back to school after Memorial Day.
To make up the day lost, the kids were given a menu of tasks to choose from. Sullivan had to choose two activities - one academic task and one related arts (music, art, PE) task to complete.
Sullivan chose to bake -incorporating all sorts of learning in that e-learning process.
For her related arts she decided to paint a canvas....
Both her recipe and her painting turned out well and Sullivan had a blast completing both of her tasks!
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Quinn's tasks were set up a bit differently. She too was given a menu of tasks to complete. She had to accrue a certain number of points to get credit for her e-learning. The tasks were weighted - easy ones worth one point, more difficult tasks worth more.
Quinn decided she would rather tackle one more complex task than complete multiple smaller tasks. Quinn's task involved visiting a cemetery. At the cemetery she was to find the headstone with the oldest date on it and do an etching of the headstone. Once home, she was to research what was happening in Fishers at the time of that person's death and write a short summary of her findings.
One evening, us ladies headed over to the small, quaint cemetery that is just a stone's throw from our house. It literally is across the street from our subdivision. We've driven by it thousands of times, but have never taken the time to stop and visit. I was thankful for the opportunity to do so. Call me strange, but I find something peaceful about cemeteries.
We walked up and down each row carefully looking at each headstone.
Most were very old headstones. Some so incredibly old that you couldn't read the writing because the weather had ruined them. After lots of careful looking, this was the oldest headstone Quinn could find (and read).
This was the headstone of John Olvey. He passed away in December 1863 - at the age of 82. That means this gentleman was born in 1781. That's right - 1781. I can't even begin to imagine all that he saw and did and went through! And the fact that he is buried just a stone's throw from our house means makes me even ponder what this area looked like back in 1863 when he passed away.
Quinn did some research when we got home and learned that our town of Fishers wasn't even on the map in 1863 (surprise, surprise). It was just Hamilton County at the time - most likely just comprised of open spaces and farm land.
We did learn however, that the year John was born (in Maryland) was the year that the American Revolution ended. When he passed away, the Confederates had just crossed the Ohio River into Indiana during the Civil War. That man and his family went through more than we can even imagine!! Truly amazing to me.
To say the least, the e-learning was a huge success in our books. The girls, especially Quinn, learned so so much during the opportunity. We will welcome more snow days next year so that we can partake in more e-learning!!
