The John Tyler Controversy

Even with our flexible schedule and ample time for play, sometimes motivation to do school work is, well, just not there. For example, when I asked A1 to type what he learned about John Tyler, 10th president of the United States, I came back and found only two sentences:

John Tyler was kicked out of his party for rebellion. Now to play! 

A1 was nowhere to be seen so I typed my response. When I found him, I asked him to go back and type more on John Tyler. Here is the conversation that happened. Yes, all in writing and in good humor of course:

John Tyler was kicked out of his party for rebellion. Now to play! 

(A1! Get back here, you need to write more.) 

NO!!!! 

Just do it or I'll ban you from the computer for rebellion.😜   

He died a traitor! There, I'm done.😠

While A1 was less than enthused about John Tyler, I find him one the most interesting presidents- along with Andrew Jackson- that we have learned about so far. 

At the time, the major political parties were the Democrat and the Whig party.  John Tyler had been a Democrat, but after the Jackson Era, had become disenchanted with the party and switched to the Whig party.  Under this party, he was elected as the vice president to William Harrison. Harrison was the first president to die in office, which put Vice President Tyler in uncharted waters. 

Upon news of Harrison's death, John Tyler was quick to take the presidential oath and the office of president. Many people felt this was against the constitution as it said the vice president should perform the duties of president not become president.  But John Tyler insisted he was president and would not respond to any letter or request that address him as anything other than president.

After John Tyler became president, he ended up vetoing key issues of his political party. This enraged congress, which was full of many powerful Whig members, and for the first time in US history, the power of impeachment was implemented. The impeachment ultimately failed. So instead, the Whig party kicked "His Accidentcy" as they called President Tyler, out of the Whig party. This is the only time in US history a president was kicked out of his own political party.

After being an unpopular president, he went home to Virginia where he joined the Confederacy.  He was serving in the Confederate Congress when he died. The president on the Confederacy threw a parade in his honor while those in The North viewed him as a traitor to the United States. He was buried under the confederate flag, making him the only president in US history who was not buried under the American flag. 

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That may be more than you care to know about John Tyler, but I still find him fascinating. (Maybe that's why A1 was like, stop talking about him already, I don't care.)

The next president was James Polk. Here's A1 with more:

James Polk acquired more land for the United States of America because he wanted it to go coast to coast. He only served one term because he promised he would.    

Zachary Taylor came next. He didn't want to be president at all. He did not even know he won the nomination until months later. He had never even voted until he was nominated.  He died just 16 months into office.

His vice president, Millard Fillmore, then became president. He did not have a vice president. He was the last of the Whig party presidents. And even before he died, he was mostly forgotten.

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We finished the reviews for Math. A1 also had Chess Club and played Prodigy.

For Science, A1 had Animal Studies Club on reptiles.

Baked Money Bread (baking is also a great math/reading activity, too) 

Our green onions also grew so tall they were falling over. I cut the stems off at the base and we were surprised to find they are still growing back.

A1 also watched more Real Science videos. He watched a video on pandas, Australia's most invasive creature, the impossible slug that actually exist, sloths, and pangolins.  Here's A1 with some things he has learned:  

Pandas should not exist! Scientist thought they'd all be gone six years ago! Nope, but they had good reasons. They need to eat all year round to save energy. Most of their energy is spent rolling in poop.  

Australia's most invasive/destructive creature is a toad that does everything that they do not want it to do...and they eat EVERYTHING.  

The not impossible slug well...steals the power of photosynthesis from plants.

Sloths really like gazebo beams 😅!

Pangolins are very rare. One is killed about every five minutes!  

LA: A1 said he had been writing every day, but can't tell me what he wrote.  This is one area we will work on.  He did however, do a lot of reading, wrote on this blog, and did typing lessons.

Extra: A1 practiced the piano, built a multi-level house out of Legos, and played outside in the warm weather.  

We also started watching How the States Got Their Shapes. Here's A1 to share some of his thoughts: I 💗it so much! Nevada gives California most of its water. It's stored in Lake Mead.

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A2 had Joy School, library story hour and more.

Sensory Bin

Foam Letters

And we started reading The Little House in the Big Woods. A2 wanted to make butter like they did, so we made homemade bread and butter.

Shook the cream in a jar while dancing to music.
Or you could just use a food processor.

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Lastly, a big shout out to J. We got a call from her math teacher telling her how impressed she was with J. J chose to come in during a free time to help tutor other students. The teacher said J explained it better than she did and really helped the students to understand the material.  When J finished her work early in class, she again tutored students. Her teacher said J is a delight to have in class.  We, too, think she's pretty awesome.