the deer.

I homeschooled Veronica and Hilary for about 10 years.
Veronica started in 2nd grade and Hilary in Kindergarten.
Public schools in Reform Alabama, in the early 90's left something to be desired.
I had a wonderful support group of 5 families.
We all started out using the KONOS curriculum, which is a unit study program, that is biblical based. We used Saxson Math.

One of the first units we studied, was Indians. We visited the Moundville Indians and learned so much about them. The girls researched an Indian tribe and did a report on them, complete with costume and props...I even stayed up late on night and made moccasins out of deer hide my uncle sent from Nevada!
We had a traditional Indian feast and made a totem pole with brown grocery bags...what fun.

One evening, a woman from our church knocked on our door and told us that she had just hit a deer in the road. After making sure she was OK, and getting her on the road again, Terry dragged the deer into the yard. Being a very hands on teacher, I asked if he could skin it. What a man!
I kept the girls inside for the most part, but they wanted to watch some. After midnight, I had a few steaks, eyeballs in a glass in the refrigerator, as we had a sight lesson coming up... I saved the brains in Tupperware, because that is how the Indians tanned the hide, and Terry very skillfully saved the hide in mostly one large piece. This was put into a large bucket with water and ashes from the fire ring. Again, this is how the Indians got all the fur off of the hide.

Well, the next morning we left for Gatlinburg Tennessee for a long weekend vacation...that is another story in itself!

When we returned home, we checked on the hide, and sure enough, all the hair was off....ugh. Flies and smell had taken the hairs' place...I rinsed and rinsed and rinsed.

That week I gathered the girls to tan the hide with me. Using the brains, they rubbed it all over the hide. Veronica was grossed out and used plastic bags on her hands. Secretly, I think Hilary was enjoying it, but she eventually put baggies on her hands as well.

I made a tripod frame to go over the fire pit. I, somehow, tied the hide onto the frame and put it over a smoking fire....smoking tans the hide. Hours went by with careful watching. I went down the hill to check the mail and as I was on my way back I saw flames...yes, the hide had caught fire.
I saved what I could. The girls stretched what was left, over both sides of large coffee cans and sewed them onto it. After a week, they each had a drum, that we shared with the group. Yes, they did have a funky smell.

We did examine the eyeballs but after grossing out everyone who wanted some sweet tea from the fridge, we moved that lesson up before it was actually time to study it.

What a way to start off our first year of homeschooling! A lesson none of us will ever forget!