Child Led Learning & A Treat for St. Jogues

Learning leads us to all sorts of adventures, sometimes planned but usually they’re stumbled upon. Today was one of those normal days for us, unplanned learning.

The day started with an introduction to the saint(s) of the day – St. Isaac Jogues, John DeBrebeuf, and their Companions. The littles quickly became fascinated by the life of Saint Jogues. The remaining day’s lessons quickly changed focus to that of the St. Jogues. I posted some resources here.

Isaac Jogues was one of the French Jesuits who came from France in the seventeenth century to bring the gift of Baptism and the Faith to the Indians in the New World. It would be hard to find in all the lives of the saints a story more filled with danger, terror and blazing love than that of these Jesuits.

It was snack time before we knew it but no one wanted to stop our discussion about the heroic martyr. We did some more reading about the Indians that St. Jogues evangelized, the Huron Indians. The Hurons were an Iroquois tribe of some thirty-five thousand Indians. We learned, among many interesting facts, that the Huron Indian’s primary food was corn. The corn was often altered with what the Hurons had available to them, meat, fruit, or beans. That gave Sweetie and Sparkle the idea that we should make something out of blueberries. Papi had cake on his mind since he is working on the letter C. Our snack/treat lesson supplement was set, blueberry cake.

Although agriculture was important in the economy of the Huron, it was not the only source of subsistence. Berries, particularly strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries, were plentiful. Fruits were fried for winter use, to be used as preserves for the sick, to give taste to sagmite, and to put into the small cakes that were baked in the ashes. ~ An Ethnography of the Huron Indians, 1615-1649

Sparkles helped me scour online for a gluten-free blueberry cake recipe. We found our inspiration from the one and only, Paula Deen. She shared a delectable treat, Pineapple Blueberry Crunch Cake.

The girls checked the pantry as I listed the ingredients and Papi prepped the cooking station. We had everything on hand!

Some slight modification were made and the girls went to work. (The boys were sidetracked by an invitation from Papa and Nana to go purchase new shoes.)

In His JOY,