Sunday, December 12, 2010

History of the San Ramon Valley

One project we have for social studies is learning about the history of where we live, the San Ramon Valley. Last weekend, we visited a Livorna Park to learn something about parks. We also visited an indian settlement area as well as an old cemetery to see the graves of some of the early settlers of the region. This weekend, we visited a museum that explains the history of railroading, cattle ranching, as well as prehistoric creatures that lived in the area.

One of the coolest things was a big train layout in the museum. They had an old Lionel train and lots of old school presents in the center of the room about ranching. I got to see an old baby Brownie camera complete with (used) flash bulbs. Cameras sure have changed a lot over the years.

The Bible Project


As you know, all of the 3rd graders got Bibles from the church. This led to "the Bible Project", an attempt to read the entire thing (except for the super boring parts about all the begats). We went through the books of Joshua and Judges and then decided to double back to the beginning to get some background on all the people and places in the land of Canaan. So we're still in the book of Genesis at the moment.

This project has been going on for some time, but I abandoned it for a while since the Bible never seemed as interesting as reading about Chester Cricket. But I realized that, even though I never think of the Bible as being all the interesting, it really is quite exciting. Yesterday, we finished up the story of Abraham. (How could God have asked him to sacrifice his son Isaac? It makes no sense.) We then covered Isaac and now we're reading about Jacob. The Abraham/Isaac/Jacobites sure are a tricky bunch. They're always pulling off clever deceptions. My only problem with these stories is that God is not busy producing any miracles. I like it when he's more involved. But stay tuned. More miracles are coming.