history

Baking with Mary Todd Lincoln

May 25, 2016 by Amy Leave a Comment

We’ve been studying the Civil War, and no study would be complete without learning about the Lincolns. We found that Mrs. Lincoln held parties with elaborate food, and that she served a certain cake to Abraham when they were courting.

Of course, my dessert-loving Big Helper decided to make that cake. She chose to use this recipe to recreate a vanilla-almond pound cake with a simple glaze.

This history lesson was fun but not easy. It took my Big Helper two full hours to mix it up, and she’s not new to baking. There were several techniques that were new to her, and she took her time, determined to get it all right.

By the time the cake was complete, she had learned how to separate eggs, how to whip egg whites and fold them into a batter, how to make a glaze, how to butter and glaze a baking dish, and about the proper proportions for a cake.

The finished cake is delicious, but it’s not just cake to the one who made it. To her, it’s the realization that baking is harder than she thought. It’s knowing that Abraham Lincoln ate a cake that tasted just like the one that she herself has eaten. It’s putting her hand into history and blending it with the present.

We’ll definitely be combining more home ec with history.

How do you bring history alive for your kids?

Check out these resources for more information:

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Homeschooling: The Civil War in Action

May 3, 2016 by Amy Leave a Comment

We’ve been working our way through American history this year, and we’ve reached a major milestone: the Civil War.

A group of us have formed our own living history co-op, and so this semester we spent the day living the time of the Civil War.

We started out taking lots of pictures, because the kids look way too cute to pass that up.

Then an older homeschool student visited us to serenade us with ‘Taps’ on his bugle. The haunting notes were beautiful and echoed through the air. We could imagine them floating through the camps.

Then many of the kids opted to give their reports. Each one had studied a person alive at the time of the Civil War and had come dressed as their character. Many had prepped info to share. My Big Helper chose to study Elizabeth van Lew, a spy for the Union based in Richmond, and My Little Man studied Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, leader of the 54th Massachusetts, the first all-black regiment.

Later we dug into our activities. Each family had planned one. The kids worked together to build tents, Union-camp style, so they could see how the soldiers lived during the war.

Another family built a telegraph from scratch and demonstrated how to use it. The kids split themselves into two groups and practiced using Morse code to send messages back and forth.

One family brought small blocks of balsam wood, and the kids carved out letters to block print them. Journalists covering the battles would have printed their newspapers this way during the war.

My Big Helper is now one of the biggest kids in the group. She’s had the opportunity to practice planning and giving presentations over the past year, and this event was perfect for her to do another. She prepared her own activity to teach to the other kids, and she did a great job. Speaking as van Lew, her character, she shared several codes and the ways that she moved them to her handlers. Then she gave the kids the way to crack the codes and asked them to translate the messages.

There were several other activities, as well – the kids built games, played games, and learned about the Underground Railroad. They played in a field hospital lean-to and waved flags and banners.Each family also brought an authentic dish to share, and so we feasted on molasses cookies, hominy, fried potatoes, orangeades, and many other delicious foods for lunch.

While the Civil War was anything but fun, it was important. This day gave our kids the opportunity to smell some of the smells, to taste the foods, to know the dangers and the skills that people staked their lives upon.

The Civil War means more to my kids than it did a week ago, and they have new skills to go with that new appreciation.

How do you bring history to life for your kids?

These resources will help!

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Getting Colonial with Patrick Henry

April 26, 2016 by Amy Leave a Comment

I love history. I love field trips. I really love when I can combine the two. That’s why I was extra excited to find out that Patrick Henry’s final home was within an hour of our home.

Due to a busy and stressful week and the forecast of thunderstorms, I wasn’t in the greatest frame of mind the night before the trip, though. I even considered skipping it altogether.

I share that so you can understand just how amazing this field trip was – because it took a lot to get me out of my initial funk, but it wasn’t long before I was fully on board with this Patrick Henry’s mission.

I love taking the kids to living-history kinds of places because they can see and smell and hear things we can’t recreate at home.

The people at Red Hill went all out, though, because they let the kids participate in every. single. activity.

They got to TOUCH stuff, too.

Not many living history places do that. The artifacts are too delicate to allow mass quantities of people to touch them, but Red Hill made it happen.

Split into groups, we rotated through stations throughout the plantation, and our group began in a shelter at the edge of the forest, with the house and the mountains in sight, with Patrick Henry Jolly, great-great-great-great-great-grandson of the famous Patrick Henry.

Mr. Jolly spoke to us about his ancestor’s early life; about his education, work ethic, and family. We learned about his most famous speeches and why he made them. Even this presentation was interactive, however, because in the end we all stood and Mr. Jolly gave us an acting lesson so that we could get into the character of Patrick Henry. We acted and recited a few lines from the famous “Give me liberty or give me death!” speech before getting autographs and moving on to our next station.

This one was even better (sorry, Mr. Jolly) because My Big Helper has wanted to learn to weave for years but has not been allowed to touch a loom at any of the events we’ve been to – and it’s not a purchase that’s in our foreseeable future. The teacher at this station taught another adult how to use the loom, and while some of the kids began to weave …

she worked with others at a spinning wheel. It looked like quite a lot of fun – and after each student had made some yarn, she cut a piece off and tied it around their wrist to take home. How cool is that?

The Colonial medicine station was particularly interesting to me, even though the weather worsened at this point. We learned how to make tinctures, teas, salves, infusions, and decoctions. I was seriously disappointed that the steady rain prevented us from going to the fire to make whatever they had prepared, because it sounded great to me.

We were particularly amazed at the blacksmith’s shop, where, after learning about the importance of this trade for the survival of a plantation, each student was invited to don safety gear and attempt to make a nail. To pound hot steel. Flying sparks. Hot tools. For real. This was exciting.

None of the students succeeded in making their own nail completely, but the blacksmith helped them all out, and each student left with a finished nail.

At the pottery shop, we learned about the history of pottery. The students got to work with air-dry clay to make simple medallions that they could place on a necklace.

Then the real fun began, because each one got a turn at the kick-wheel to help shape this lump of clay. Nobody knew what was being made, but by the time each student had followed the teacher’s directions, they had worked together to make a creamer, handle, spout, and all.

We also toured the house, visited the gift shop and museum, and had lunch, and at that point the organized homeschool day event was over – but we weren’t finished.

Having seen the family cemetery on the map, we headed over to check it out. It is always interesting to me to see old gravestones, and we all enjoy studying the carving and thinking about the special people remembered by these stones. My Big Helper made a bouquet of wildflowers and added them to the stone.

She found the flowers here, in the fields behind the house leading down to the Staunton River. The buttercups were blooming and the fields were beautiful, and we all had fun running around and taking in the view.

Having met up with Patrick Henry again, he clued us in to a part of the plantation that wasn’t on our map – the Quarter Place Trail and the African-American cemetery. This clearing in the forest was the slave cemetery prior to the Civil War, although some people continued to be buried there until 1923. Marked only by forest rocks, there is little evidence that any number of graves exist here. The location and difference in site from the other grave sites made for an interesting discussion on the way home.

Our trip to Red Hill taught us a great deal about a man who should be remembered for more than just a few famous words. Patrick Henry didn’t just talk about his beliefs as many others did, but he took action at a time when that required great courage. His bravery, intelligence, and ingenuity is what helped to shape both the American Revolution and this nation, and these are traits I hope to teach our children.

All in all, this was one of the best living history field trips we’ve taken in a very long time. I can’t wait to go back.

Want to know more about Patrick Henry? Check out this resource:

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4 Things to Learn from a Historical Reenactment

March 18, 2016 by Amy 4 Comments

Last week we had the opportunity to go to the 235th anniversary of the Battle of Guilford County Courthouse – a rural battle of the Revolutionary War between General Nathaniel Greene and Lord Cornwallis.

I’ve never been to a real battle reenactment before, and it was fascinating! There are many things you can learn from living history events, and the same is true of a reenactment.

Here’s why you should find one and attend with your family soon:

Your senses take over. Good books make you picture the scene, but you can’t truly image the scene until you’re there. The smell of the gunpowder, the blasts of the cannons, the heat of the sun – there’s a lot happening out there, and it can overwhelm your senses. I can’t imagine how confusing it must have been to be a soldier actually on the field, but it couldn’t have been easy to keep to your task with all of that going on.
Battle strategy suddenly makes sense. I’ve never really understood who goes where and why in a battle. Reading about a thousand men moving up and down hills and the like is hard for me to picture, and I’m a very visual person. Though I get that battles are rough and ugly, it was hard to imagine the purpose of the movement – until we had a front row seat. The battle we witnessed was sped up to take about an hour. We could SEE who was going after whom and why people had to move. It was great!
You can hear about it from an expert. I had no idea that reenactments have narrators, but ours did! He stood at the edge of the battlefield in full British uniform, microphone in hand, and explained everything we were watching. We learned about the uniform colors, where each regiment came from, why people were going where – it was amazing. We all learned more than we expected.
The actors wake up afterwards. Some little kids near us were concerned that people were dying for real – they were very young and couldn’t tell the difference at first – but it is all an act. The soldiers that we saw were willing to answer questions and to pose for pictures afterwards. Who knew you could get a photo with your favorite soldier?

What would you add?

Some people go all out for the reenactment. Get your supplies here!

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A Little R & R

Getting Revolutionary at the Hillsborough Living History Day

March 11, 2016 by Amy Leave a Comment

There are opportunities to live history all around you.

I didn’t realize just how many until we began to homeschool – and now we find more of them than we can attend.

We couldn’t pass up the Hillsborough Living History Day, though, and we’re super glad we went.

We got there just as the event was beginning and found some soldiers building fires and talking with the visitors.

After checking them out, we headed into the visitors center, where a Native American was sharing about the tools he made in the traditional way with natural materials – and how well they worked.

Next we headed to a local school that had been run by a pastor’s wife before the Civil War. Now a venue for local events and museum-like exhibits, there were crafts for kids on the porch. My Big Helper learned how to make a knitting Nancy and practiced for the rest of the day. She loved it!

Inside, a traditional dancing group from Durham was doing demonstrations – and after they finished, they taught people who wanted to learn. My Big Helper jumped in and danced two different dances with them. It looked pretty difficult to me, but she said it’s easier than it looks.

Back outside, we found more crafts – and these were a bit more boy-friendly. My Little Man made a bull whistle and loved twirling it to make the sound.

Walking on stilts isn’t easy – even this kind. With games of the era spread out across the large lawn, the kids played graces and tried to master these stilts. Even though My Big Helper worked on these for quite some time, she was only able to take about five steps with any surety. She’s still trying to figure out how to convince her daddy to help her make a set for at home.

On our way back to the visitor’s center, we stumbled across an old cemetery and decided to explore it a bit. We discovered that William Hooper, one of the three signers of the Declaration of Independence from North Carolina, is buried here. We found a tour group inside the walls who was able to point us in the right direction. The kids were amazed at how weathered the stone was – and to be standing beside the grave of someone who had such an important role in the founding of our country. We’re hoping to go back for an official tour someday.

Even though we visit Hillsborough often, we had no idea there was so much Revolutionary War history in the area. We had a great time visiting the stations throughout town – and the dancers even clued us in to a much bigger re-enactment happening in Greensboro soon – and we can’t wait to go to that one, too.

You can learn so much by visiting living history events. I love that there are so many of them in our area. What sorts of history can you live near you?

For more information about getting your hands dirty in history, check out these Revolutionary resources:

Studying Flight at the Morehead Planetarium & Science Center

March 8, 2016 by Amy 6 Comments

A few weeks ago my son heard about a special event called “Take Flight” being held at the Morehead Planetarium & Science Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The event was described as having scientists on hand to answer questions and stations where you could perform your own experiments and was in celebration of their new show by the same name.

Do your own science experiments! That totally caught My Little Man’s attention, and he asked earnestly to go.

Why say ‘no’ to a kid asking to do science?

We went.

The first stations we found were on the lawn outside. UNC students were manning stations with different tools to create flight. We spent the most time at this one, where you could try to fly different objects. These heavy foam planes flew really well.

My big Helper preferred this thing that looked like a dowel with high wings. I have no idea what it was called, but she figured out how to make it fly well and spent lots of time seeing how high and far she could make it go. It was a really neat gadget!

DH got into this, too, and pretty soon they were all finding ways to make the flying objects go further.

There were other things, too – kites and huge foam planes and Frisbees – but these were our favs.

When we headed inside we found many more stations for experimentation: a chemical station to change bouncy balls into flying objects, another where you could study the wing action of a certain moth, building stations with Legos, paper airplane construction sites, and rocket balloons. We wanted to do all of these, but our time was short, and so we headed into the Science Stage room to be sure we got seats, and it’s a good thing we did – every seat was full long before the show began!

The Science Stage shows at the Morehead Planetarium are great. The ones we’ve seen have all been taught by UNC science students, and they’ve done an excellent job of teaching scientific principles in fun ways. The Take Flight show was no different.

Our teacher taught about the four principles of flight (weight, lift, drag, and thrust) and performed simple experiments to demonstrate each one. By the time we left, I felt as if we had really learned something – and no textbook was needed.

That was the perfect set-up for our next activity. We went to the GlaxoSmithKline Full Dome theater to see the new show Take Flight for ourselves. It was very quirky in style and admittedly not my favorite show there, but it emphasized the four principles of flight well. Also featured was information about the history of flight and ideas about what kind of flight innovations might be coming in the future.

By the time the included star show had ended, the Take Flight event was nearly over, too. The kids were sad to leave but excited to come home and try to improve the flight of their kites, planes, and Frisbees.

Attending the event was well worth it, and the Morehead Planetarium holds many such events throughout the year. I’ll definitely be watching the calendar for the next one.

Are their local science centers or museums that might hold great learning events suitable for your family?

Want to know more about flight? Check out these great resources!

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1 Easy Way to Teach about the American Southwest

February 29, 2016 by Amy Leave a Comment

Recently my Little Man asked to read Elise Broach’s book Missing on Superstition Mountain. I knew he would love it – it’s packed full of adventure, danger, and treasure hunting – but I hesitated. This book is perfect for teaching about the American Southwest. There are many, many threads that can be tugged to build deeper learning and critical thinking.

So we made a deal: he would wait to read the book until I had created some ‘stuff’ to go along with it, and then I would give him a week off from school to read the book and complete the ‘stuff.’ I’ve been hard at work creating a series of fun extension activities to accompany it ever since, and it’s DONE! I’ve created a web-linked novel study that incorporates your typical vocabulary quizzes and creative writing assignments, but also has math, science, and history activities, too. Many include writing or art projects. All of it can be done individually or cooperatively.

Since it’s made and finished, I’d like to share it with you! Missing on Superstition Mountain is a fantastic book that’s sure to excite any child about treasure hunting and solving mysteries. Better yet, it’s based on the real history and legends of the Superstition Mountain Range in Arizona (and this study has more about that linked up for your convenience, too!). It’s also the first book in a trilogy, and since the other two books are just as great as this one, novel studies will be coming soon for the other books in the series.

Missing on Superstition Mountain will make a great book club pick for upper-elementary or middle school book clubs. Our boys’ club will be reading this story next fall, and I can’t wait to see what they think of it.

So don’t delay – go Missing on Superstition Mountain and catch gold fever yourself.

How do you keep your children excited about learning?

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Book Club, Boys’ Edition: “The Lemonade Crime”

February 23, 2016 by Amy 2 Comments

The boys were really excited about this month’s book pick:

I set up chairs on our carport to resemble – roughly – a courtroom. When everyone was ready, we moved outside and took our places. Our Honorable Judge called court to order, listened to the opening statements, and then swore in our first witness.

After listening to the prosecution, the defense attorney stood up and gave a rousing defense on behalf of the Third Pig. He was quite proud of himself!

After closing arguments and some debate, the jury members declared the Third Little Pig to be innocent of murder.

The mock trial was a lot of fun, and the boys are already asking to do it again.

I call that a success.

Want to put on your own mock trial? Find everything you need here and here.

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A FREE Field Trip + Chocolate Unit

February 12, 2016 by Amy 6 Comments

Videri, a fair-trade and locally-owned chocolate factory in downtown Raleigh, NC, makes for a fantastic field trip. The self-guided tour is a fun way to see the chocolate process in action, but if you’re not close enough to drop by on your own, I have great news!

Gypsy Road is featuring our trip to Videri on their blog today – along with lots of resources for creating your own chocolate unit – and most of them are FREE! Hop on over and check it out!

Of course, if you want more information about Videri, you can go here to read more about our trip. The resources below are also some of our chocolate-y favorites.

Field Work Friday: Historic Williamsburg

January 29, 2016 by Amy Leave a Comment

We’ve been studying the Colonial period and the American Revolution recently, so we were especially excited to have the opportunity to visit Historic Williamsburg.

No matter how many books we read or videos we watch, it’s just not the same as seeing inside a historic home.

I can’t recreate the same kinds of authentic experiences at home, surrounded by electronic gizmos and modern technology, that this woman can with her simple fire and cast iron.

The Governor’s Mansion was beautiful, and our tour guide knew all the details.

The kids were especially fascinated with why it was decorated with so many weapons.

This brickmaker was quite proud of being in charge of all of the brickworks. He explained how difficult it was to make bricks by hand, how long it took, and why this building material was crucial to the survival of this town.

After a demonstration, the kids were allowed to go and tread the clay to get it ready to be made into bricks. I’m not sure I’d like this project, but it was the favorite part of their day!

We visited the stocks and talked about this form of colonial punishment. I’m not sure the kids quite comprehended out awful this would have been back then, but everyone was taking their pictures, and nobody was throwing rotten veggies, either.

While there, we heard about a science tour at the local museum. The kids were determined to go, and it turned out to be a really great tour! This telescope was just mentioned in a book My Big Helper read immediately before our trip, and she was super excited to see such an old piece in person.