I've Got Bills, I've Gotta Pay

Welcome to Career Week! In all honesty, I wasn't sure how this week would go. I've had it in my head how I wanted to structure it, but yesterday morning, I had NOTHING. I gave the boys their first Snow Day/Teacher Planning Day, which is basically where I tell them just to read for the day, and then do whatever they want, as long as the teacher can plan. 

Asa was in the office, so I didn't have him to distract me, and I just got to it. And my five hours or so I spent yesterday putting it all together was totally worth it in just one day. I love when my theme weeks pan out! Peyton especially had some fun activities today. I tried to pick one kid each day to really work with, and he was up first. 

But I'll get to that, first,  here's how it works. The page you see there outlines it all for them (I love using owl mail, it's so easy!), each day they will get a new job on their Career Assignment Worksheet. It tells them their job, and they have to reasearch it. Hayden's is very early elementary school, while Peyton and Calib's are obviously more advanced. (I love Peyton's response today to where he would go to college for his career "Harvard is a good school, but Stanford is a more realistic option", silly boy. Anyway, after that they get their Career Task Card listing a couple of things they need to do for that career for the day. These items include everything from worksheets to apps to hands on activities to chores around the house. Then it lists their pay. (Each kid has one upper class pay career, two middle-class, and one lower class ) 

At first Peyton wasn't thrilled. He was an Environmental Scientist today, and he wasn't loving filling the worksheet out. But, after that he had an ibome app to work through in which you have to balance ecosystems. I wanted him to just do the wetlands, and when he took it off to his room, I was pretty grumpy. I loathe when I spend hours on something and then the boys complain. 

But, an hour later he was still in there working on it, he loved it so much he played through lunch and finished the whole thing. His attitude was adjusted, and I was thrilled. 

After that, he had the hands on activity for the day, and we worked through some experiments in this clean water kit. 

I picked it up at Christmas time on a Lightning Deal for next to nothing, and I didn't have high hopes for it (Science kits seem to be really hit or miss), but this one was super cool. 

Peyton made his own water filtration system. 

Then he dirtied up some water.

Poured it in.. 

And watched it drip through, cleaning it step by step. The book that comes with it explains the science behind each level and gives some fun facts. 

The cup on the left was our dirty water we poured in, the cup on the right is what came through the filters. 

Asa had planned to do some work in the garden today too, we have some new planting to do, so Peyton helped with that. 

And the cats were happy to watch. 

Calib was a Stockbroker today. He had a Khan Academy Lesson to work through, and an app where he got to play the stock market. Then we played Panic on Wallstreet. He went bankrupt though, so I'm not sure he'd be the best stockbroker in the world. However, I really just picked this for him because I have a lesson I've been dying to do, but it's a 10 week project on the stockmarket for high schoolers. I know he could do it, I just wanted to gauge his interest. He seems in, so I'm excited to get to that in the next few weeks.

Hayden meanwhile was a banker. He had some worksheets about money to complete. He got out his play money to help him with the more advanced problem (one of the worksheets was 5th grade level, so I was impressed). Now you'd think doing some math worksheets would seem boring, and on any other day, he totally drags his feet doing it. But, if you tell him he's in training for cashing paychecks later, he's totally on board. 

At the end of the day, we handed out the paychecks. I think they'll get cash the rest of the week, but since we had a banker, we printed out these paychecks to cash. 

He made sure everyone signed the back of their checks, and marked them as cashed, dishing out everyone's money. 

But, before they can go spend their money, they have to pay their bills. There are things they have to pay, and optional things (like internet and cable/netflix). Hayden was all "WHAT?!? All my money is going to bills!?" They also argued they shouldn't have to pay for netflix AND internet. Asa and I told them we had to pay for both, so they did too. They all opted to be able to use the internet and netflix today, by the way, so they all paid the extra. 

Hayden was none too happy about this. 

So Asa made it better by paying the 'I've Got Bills, I've Gotta Pay" song (I don't know what it's actually called). Anyway, anything extra they have left they can save, or they can spend on various perks. If they have money left over on Friday, we'll let them buy points. 

Besides all that I got our presidents up for April.. 

...We have Thomas Jefferson (whose pets include two bear cubs given to him by Lewis and Clark!)  

..James Buchanan (who isn't all that interesting from what I can tell) 

....ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT! (Who named his horse during the Civil War Jeff Davis!) 

.....And James Monroe (Does anyone else think he and Franklin Pierce look a lot a like?) 

I won't have a board up for them for probably two weeks, can anyone guess what three of them have in common? I'll have to pull a John Tyler and figure something out for James Buchanan who doesn't quite fit in with the theme. 

Next Up: Career Week Day 2! I might not have a ton of pictures for what I've got planned for tomorrow but I am most excited about it! 

Happy 225th Birthday, John Tyler!

Some presidents I am totally excited to learn about and present to the boys (here's looking at you, TJ!), and some I'm not so excited about. I admittedly knew nothing about John Tyler before this week, other than a few random facts: He was the 10th president, he was the first to ascend from the Vice-Presidency to the Presidency, and he had like a million kids. 

But, as with most guys (sans Millard Fillmore), the more I learned about him, the more interesting he became. Now, I've learned a few things about our presidents. It seems it takes a certain amount of arrogance mixed with the right amount of crazy to even want the job. (I have also decided even if I hate the man's policies-ahem, George W. Bush, the office should garner a certain amount of respect. It's a tough job for sure.)

 Anyway, today, we celebrate our 10th president who's turning a nice round 225, the man who earned the title "His Accidency" not because of his lifelong trouble with diarrhea (true story), but because of how he became president. 

Most guys I just let the boys know what state they were born in. But, John Tyler was born specifically in Charles City County, Virginia. This is important, because another president was born in the very same town.  That president was...... 

....William Henry Harrison! Now, Harrison was 17 years older than John Tyler, so he wasn't around, but it's a funny coincidence. 

John Tyler's dad was also John Tyler, but everyone called him Judge Tyler. Judge Tyler was rich- slaves, land, the whole deal. He was also a lawyer, a politician, and governor of Virginia at one point, and he ran in the same circles with Benjamin V.  You might remember (and if you don't you can click on the William Henry Harrison link above), William's dad, Benjamin V was pretty important too, he was George Washington's friend, and a signer of the Constitution, in addition to being governor and all that. But Benjamin V wasn't the only name dropper. 

Judge Tyler, well, he was roommates at one point with someone else you might know, THOMAS JEFFERSON! 

But, let's get back to John Tyler. When he was born in 1790, we had a pretty famous president, George Washington! (Don't you like my shameless plugs for my own blog?!) 

So, quickly, John Tyler's childhood was pretty privileged. His mom died when he was seven, and Judge Tyler raised his kids (like 7 of them I think) on his own. But, he had money and paid for the best education a kid could get in those days. Little John also had violin lessons, and read all kinds of Shakespeare (I told you he was a rich kid). 

But besides being rich and spoiled, the younger John was also a rebel. He hated any sort of authority figure telling him what to do, and at ELEVEN he staged a revolt against his headmaster of his ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, a pretty ballsy move if you ask me. When he was 12, he was shipped off to prep school (probably because the headmaster was like, someone get this kid out of here!), and then he went to William and Mary College, where he still liked to challenge authority and rebel. Most kids grow out of this, John Tyler wasn't one of those kids. 

So, he graduates, goes home at the age of 19 and applies to become a lawyer. Nineteen might seem a little young  and it was, in fact it wasn't even legal . But the judge signing off on it "didn't ask" how old Tyler was. (ahem, does anyone else thing Judge Tyler might have had a little something to do with this oversight?) Either way, we have another lawyer turned president. 

Oh, and he also met Letitia. She was shy, and quiet, and wanted to stay out of the spotlight. The two dated and got engaged. Then they pulled a me and Asa and didn't get married for like, years. 

The two of them had a whole bunch of kids, four girls and three boys. Letitia preferred to stay at home with her kids while John began his political rise, eventually becoming Governor of Virginia. 

His rise in politics took him all the way to the U.S Senate in D.C, while Letitia stayed behind in Viriginia with the kids (she actually only came to D.C. once when her husband was a Senator, I'm not sure if I blame her, he's one of those guys with maybe possible some kids with some of his slaves, so there's that).

But when he's Senator, our buddy Andrew Jackson is president. 

Tyler makes a name for himself with his Senate buddies John C. Calhoun and Henry Clay by being crazy and disagreeing with King, er, I mean president Jackson. Maybe not the brightest idea siding with the two guys Andrew regretted not murdering. Plus it's a little crazy to go against a dueler who beats would-be assassins to an inch of their life with their cane. But, you know, to each their own. 

And spoil(s) system alert: John Quincy Adams was also in Congress at this point in time (not in the Senate though, in the House). Now, he had already been president. (You know that whole ugly campaign against Jackson when he killed Rachel with mean words), but he just couldn't stay out of politics. So, he's there too. 

Tyler liked to rebel, so this brand spanking new Whig party seemed like a good place to be. 

But things were not well at home for John. Back in Virginia, Letitia suffered a stroke. (Fun side note, the boys call that bed the 'death bed' since we always use it when someone dies). Letitia didn't die, but she was paralyzed. 

Apparently this wasn't enough to take John Tyler out of politics all together. When this guy, William Henry Harrison and the Whigs decide John Tyler, an outspoken Jackson/Martin Van Buren (who is now president) opponent. 

Then you know, tin balls (keep the ball rolling!), log cabin floats, and the first campaign slogan of 'Old Tippecanoe and Tyler too!'

Of course they win, and the two of them head off to D.C. But John only stays long enough to get sworn in, and then he heads back to Virginia to be with his family. He figures the VP doesn't have to do much, so he didn't need to stick around. 

Until, you know William Henry Harrison caught that massive cold. (Sorry Letitia, I'm gonna need that death bed for just one second).

Some stories put John Tyler playing marbles with his kids the moment he learned William Henry Harrison had died. He wasn't aware of how serious William's illness was until 3 days before William died, and more than that, he wasn't even told William had died until the day after it happened. 

So, John Tyler finishes his game of marbles and heads off to the White House. 

Today if a president dies, it's a no brainier, the VP becomes president (Obama please stay healthy!). But back then nobody really knew what should be done, and the constitution didn't give any clear answers. Most people assumed there would be another election. 

But John Tyler was all 'hey, screw you guys, I'm president now. Not ACTING president (and don't send me mail addressed that way, or I'll send it back), but the ACTUAL president.' He goes ahead and takes the oath of office, and we've got a rebel, who always wanted to stick it to 'the man', who is now 'the man.' It's one thing to challenge authority, it's another thing to be the authority. And Tyler really let it go to his head. 

But, I mean, let's face it, telling people 'I'm president now, deal with it' is kind of a badass move.'

With Old Tippecanoe gone, Tyler decided he wasn't into pushing the Whig agenda, and instead was in the business of pissing off pretty much everyone in Washington. He told William Henry Harrison's cabinet he was in charge now, and they would do things his way, or they could go ahead and leave.'

 So, they went ahead and left. Every one of them resigned. 

And John Tyler found his own cabinet. 

But the person he pissed off the most? Henry Clay. Even though Henry Clay had helped him get to where he was, John Tyler was over their bromance. Once John Tyler vetoed Henry Clay's bill for a new banking system (twice!), Clay was over it too. But things got worse, John Tyler just started vetoing pretty much anything that Henry Clay tried to pass. Tyler wasn't even pretending to work with the Whigs anymore, he had gone rouge. He refused to listen to anyone he thought was trying to influence or control him, which according to Tyler was pretty much everyone. 

But Tyler forgot something: Checks and Balances. You see, our government is set up so that no one branch or person has too much power. Henry Clay got all the Whigs together, and decided if John wasn't going to pass anything they sent to him, they weren't going to pass anything John sent to them. (Somehow I feel like this isn't much different than what's going on in D.C. these days) 

So, the Whigs have had enough, and they go ahead and kick John Tyler out of the party. This is the only time in history a president has pissed off his own party enough for them to drop him while he was in office. Not nominate him for reelection? Sure. But drop him all together? That honor belongs only to John Tyler. I feel it's appropriate to go ahead and show you the hashtag at this point in time. @2ClayGames (Henry Clay) I'm vetoing our friendship #Ain'tNoPartyLikeAWhigParty JT Party. 

But that wasn't enough. No, JQA  (even now giving him Tyler nick name "King Tyler") was still pissed, and decided to impeach Tyler for improper use of his veto powers. It was a swing and a miss. But, it gives you insight into how bad this breakup had gotten. 

Here's the thing though, because of his war with his OWN PARTY, Tyler is seen as a do nothing president. He passed a couple of bills. The Log Cabin bill gave settlers the right to claim land before it was for sale, and then later buy it for $1.25 an acre (which helped settle and expand the country), and he passed a tariff bill to help protect northern manufacturers.

Texas had also earned it's independence from Mexico, and Tyler wanted to annex it. Congress barely passed the measure because of their hatred for Tyler. Just think, if Tyler had been just a tiny bit more of an ass, we might not have Texas, and then the U.S.A. map would look really wonky.

Oh, and Congress passed the measure to make Florida a state on the very last day of Tyler's presidency. 

His lack of getting anything done has led to quite the unflattering legacy. Historians call him 'hapless', and 'inept'. Basically saying, if William Henry Harrison hadn't died, John Tyler would be as obscure as any other Vice President in history. 

It's also worth noting, Letitia died during his presidency. She stayed mostly upstairs in the White House, and was rarely seen. When she had another stroke at the age of 51, she died. She was the first First Lady to die in the White House (Three first ladies have died while their husbands were in office, Caroline Harrison, and Ellen Wilson were the others, she was also the youngest First Lady to die). 

About a year and half later, Tyler was on the U.S.S Princeton partying on his little booze cruise with 400 of his closest friends, and a bunch of his cabinet members. 

On board is the world's largest Navy gun, the Peacemaker. The guests cheer each time it is fired, and as they are cruising down the Potomac past Mount Vernon, they convince the Captain to fire one more time. 

So, he does, the thing backfires and kills some of Tyler's cabinet members. He was below deck, and just fine, but one of those dead guys is David Gardiner. He's not so much important, but what happens next is. Davd's daughter, Julia is on board and faints at the news of her father's death. John Tyler scoops her up, and carries her off the boat, tending to her. Who doesn't love a good damsel in distress story (Feminists, that's who), but anyway, Julia totally falls for the knight in shining armor routine. 

So, the two go off to New York and get married. But wait! Scandal Alert! Tyler is 54 years old at this point, and Julia is TWENTY-FOUR. Making it even worse, she is five years YOUNGER than Tyler's oldest daughter. Holy gold digger, Julia! They got married pretty much in secrecy, without most of Tyler's kids present. But they did go off an honeymoon, because as you'll learn, even in his advanced age, John Tyler had no problems in the honeymoon department. 

One of those honeymoon places entailed a stop at John Tyler's plantation in Virginia. He had seen himself as a political outlaw, with the delusioned idea he was stealing from the rich to give to the poor, I guess, because he named his plantation the Sherwood Forest after Robin Hood. 

By now, John Tyler is pretty much over being president. He's tired and run down. Getting nothing passed through Congress, sure is hard work. But young Julia, well she loved being First Lady. She insisted everyone call her 'Miss Presidentress' (Sorry Julia, not a word, spell check tells me so), and beyond that she insists that 'Hail to the Chief' be played whenever John Tyler go anywhere. The song came from a stage play she had seen and liked, and so a tradition was born. Really, the only thing that we have today that came from John Tyler's presidency was a song his 24 year old gold digging wife liked from a stage play. 

It was time for re-election, and without a party, John Tyler briefly thought about forming his own, just to run again. But he was afraid his votes would take some votes away from James Polk. And if James Polk didn't win, Henry Clay would. John couldn't have that, so in a great big 'if I'm going down you're going down with me' gesture to Henry Clay, Tyler declined to run again. It worked, Polk won, and Henry Clay would forever be Fix-it-Felix; never joining the ranks of our Pezidents. 

But John Tyler wasn't going out quietly. He had one of the biggest blowouts the White House had ever seen, downing dozens upon dozens of bottles of campaign and barrels upon barrels of wine with 3,000 of his closest friends, telling his naysayers "They cannot say now I am a president without a party!" Ha. This guy's got jokes, I like him. 

So, Polk moves in, cleans up the kegs and the toilet papers out of the trees, and you'll get to hear his story in November. 

Julia and John head back to the Sherwood Forrest and proceed to have SEVEN kids. The last one was born when Tyler was 70, a year before he died. Fun story, that kid, Lyon, went on to have kids late as well. His last child, Lyon Jr., was born when Lyon Sr. was in his mid-70's. Lyon Jr, grandson of William Henry Harrison is still alive today. (Think about that mind blowing fact: John Tyler, born during George Washington's presidency, has a living grandson---- TWO in fact!) 

Tyler's political career was pretty much shot-- in the North. But, in the South, he was pretty popular. He was big on state's rights, and the southern states were big on their right to own slaves. 

So, the south succeeds, and Jefferson Davis becomes president of the Confederacy, John Tyler's sons join the confederate army, and  in one last act of rebellion, John Tyler earns himself the title of traitor when he is elected to the Congress of the Confederate States of America. 

He never actually took office though, as he died at the age of 71. His last words were 'Perhaps it is best'. Looks like some people agree with you, John Tyler. His death wasn't even recognized by the North. There was no state funeral, flags weren't lowered, and  Lincoln (you know, the sitting president) didn't even recognize his death. This earned Tyler one last 'Only' title: The only president not to have his death acknowledged by the sitting president.  The New York Times did post an obituary for the former president, but it wasn't pretty. They wrote: "The most unpopular public man that had ever held any office in the United States". (I mean, keep in mind they hadn't met Millard Fillmore yet, to be fair)

John Tyler was given quite the funeral by the Confederacy. It was a lavish ordeal that featured a 150-carriage processional. He was buried at Hollywood cemetery. We've actually been there! He's buried just steps from James Monroe, and Jefferson Davis. 

The boys made their usual birthday cards. 

It was a little difficult to come up with activities based on Tyler's presidency, since he didn't do much. But, I decided to use the 'Sherwood Forest' reference and run with it. First, we made ourselves some Robin Hood Hats. 

Just four pieces of construction paper taped together. Took less than a minute to make. SUPER easy! 

So cute! 

But, that wasn't it. Asa had spent his morning putting together these bow and arrows using some PVC pipe, rope, and wooden dowels. He showed them how they worked, and the boys got to it. 

This picture is just the accurate depiction of my kid's childhood. There Peyton is, the middle of the day, out in the front yard with a paper hat, in his pajamas, shooting a bow and arrow made out of PVC pipe. 

All the kids liked shooting them, and made a game out of trying to hit the mailbox. 

I almost like this picture more than Phenom with the Eleanor Roosevelt headband, almost. 

We added our props and put our cards up on the John Tyler board. Everyone else this month was on bills: Andrew Jackson ($20), James Monroe ($5,000), and Grover Cleveland ($1,000). John Tyler isn't on a bill, however, they are issuing commemorative dollar coins with presidents, kind of like the quarters with states, so that's what we have here for John Tyler. You'll see next month I'll have to do something a little different for one guy next month, too. 

John Tyler's famous quote is fitting: "I can never consent to being dictated to'. 

Some other fun facts: 

John Tyler was the great-uncle of President Harry Truman

He had two kids named John (one with each wife), and even named his canary Johnny Ty

His horse was named 'General', and his buried with a headstone at Sherwood Forrest

So that's it for March Birthdays. Another month down. 

The board will stay up for another couple of days for a couple of pop quizzes before it comes down, but Peyton has already asked for these in his room too. 

Dinner was kind of a challenge. I couldn't find much of anything that we could, or would eat, that he liked. The only thing that wasn't wild boar or Squirrel or some 1800's nonsense was ham, and we aren't big ham eaters. So, I reached out to my friend Kristi (who did this amazing state project last year with her kids) to see if she had any recipes from Virginia week that I could pass off for John Tyler day. We ended up with Virginia Ham and White Cheddar Croquettes. (It was from Virginia and had just enough ham for me to be ok with it). 

It was actually really, really good. Thanks for the help, Kristi!  Oh, and Kudos to Asa for pulling it off too. He made dinner while I worked on laundry mountain. 

The hats have had some longevity today, took, which you know I love. 

Dessert was easy, John Tyler was a fan of bread puddings, and we found this slow cooker recipe. Who doesn't love a good set it and forget it dessert? It was pretty good too. 

Yesterday you didn't miss much, but it was the last Saturday of the month, so we had the Super Saturday usuals: Mr. Potato Head Spelling....

Name that Pezident...

....And Jeopardy. 

Tomorrow the kids are getting their very first Teacher Planning Day. Asa is in the office, and I have promised a short theme week the rest of the week, which I'm not prepared for at all. Yikes. 

Next Up: Career Week! (Not sure how exactly how it'll all come together, but I'm sure it'll come to me)