State-by-State: Nevada - Texas - California

Over the last few weeks we have visited a few states in our state-by-state geography study.  We started in California while we were studying the Gold Rush of 1849 in our American History course.

G is for the Golden State,

named for the gold they mine,

and some say for the rolling hills

that turn brown in summertime.

from G is for Golden: A California Alphabet

We had so much fun in California!  We read many books about the Gold Rush and the pioneers move westward.  Then the girls created their scrapbook pages and lapbook.

Our next stop was in Nevada.

H is for Hoover Dam,

stell, strong, and might.

Gives us water and power

every day and night.

from S is for Silver:  A Nevada Alphabet

The girls read about the Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, the Black Opal, and more in our books.  Then they completed their scrapbook pages and lap book.

Next we flew over to Texas for a Texas-sized adventure.  We read about Big Tex, Dr. Pepper, San Antonio and the Alamo with our history study, the yellow rose and the "Rose Capital of the World".  It was a fun state to study because we know many people who live in the big state of TEXAS!!!!

F is for Friendship---

we extend our hand to you.

this is our state motto---

please accept our friendship too.

from L is for Lone Star:  A Texas Alphabet

"Texas" comes from an indian word, "tejas."  this means friends.  Texas is "big" and welcomes everyone to the state with a "big" heart!  The girls worked on their scrapbook pages and lapbook throughout the week.

We finally made it to the kitchen to cook and decided to combine all these states for one yummy meal!  For sunny California, we made California Lemon Crunch from Eat Your Way Through the USA.  California grows more lemons and broccoli than any other state.  

Nevada farmers grow lots of onions.  It is one of their main crops along with alfalfa, garlic, and potatoes.  We decided to make onion rings.  They were yummy, but a lot of work and mess! Lauren kept the onion rings going for us in the Fry Daddy.

For Texas, we chose Chicken Fried Steak.  Texas raises more beef cattle than any other state.  Chicken Fried Steak is one of Papa's favorite meals.  He even used to order it at Mexican restaurants!  Lyndsey helped batter the steaks before we fried them!  This was actually a first for mommy also.  I really have never fried chicken or steak before.  The steaks did turn out very yummy!

It all comes together for a delicious feast!  These pictures were hard to take around the disaster that the kitchen became during this cooking class!!!

Two girls were quite proud of their work tonight!  I am glad dad made it home to enjoy all their efforts!