Calvin's timeline drawing

I have to explain this one.  Calvin is adding things to a timeline throughout his year of school.  His focus right now is the English pilgrims that lived in England and King James tried forcing them to go to his church where they thought it was not the right way to worship God, so they instead met in secret and quiet places to stay hidden. Yesterday was one of the days where we completed an event in a history reading book and he did some research about it with me as the guidebook instructed us.  The story involved a family in the 1600s who escaped the oppression of King James in England and fled to Holland by ship, a country where they could freely worship God.  The book describes in detail what it was like when the family arrived in Holland for the first time and the things they noticed.  They were up on a big flat wall and could see rooftops.  They noticed lots of big windmills.  They saw birds on top of rooftops, and one of them was on one foot, apparently sleeping.  We learned that Holland's land (in Amsterdam) was below sea level, so it was always in danger of the sea water flooding it if there was a big storm.  The people built up a big wall of stones, brick, and mud, which we learned is called a dike.  The dike has a wide base, and a flat top.  Even the kids who lived in Amsterdam were instructed to keep "an eye out" for leaking through the dike so it could be repaired immediately.

Calvin had a history activity by creating a dike.  We used a thick chunk of playdough and smashed it in the shape of a dike right in the middle, and made sure there would be no leaks.  We poured water on one side of the pan and the dike held the water back and left the other half dry.  We were instructed to poke holes through the playdough and "make leaks" and quickly repair them by plugging them with chunks of playdough.  He loved this so much.  He made leaks, plugged them, added more water, made a storm, and kept the other side dry.

We used the internet to learn about the windmills in Holland, how they were enormous and had gears inside the posts attached to pumps that continually pumped out water from the city back out into the sea over the dike so the land would stay dry.  We watched a short 9 minute video that explained how the windmills are still in existence today, but are considered a back-up to the more advanced and more efficient gas-powered pumps used today, but that they're still functional and their original use was to pump water out to keep Amsterdam dry.

Some time later, we added to the timeline, and his instruction was to draw a little picture to help him remember Holland.  He drew this picture with no help or words from me, which made me realize how much he remembered about the history learning that day.  He drew the house with the two birds (one on a nest, the other "guarding the nest" but realizing there was no apparent danger, decided to sleep on one leg), drew the windmill (a side shot), a dike with a wide base, a flat top, the water ABOVE the land, and a swirl of wind.

This event goes in the "1600" column on his timeline so as we go through the year he can see how events lined up in history.

He has such a detailed brain and I love to see him learn.  He got excited about this!