Just Around the Corner

I can hardly believe spring is just around the corner! Everyone around here is certainly eager for spring's arrival. Our semester has been a busy one! I decided to slow down our study of the historical events since the mid 1800's and study the time period more in depth. As a result, we are just completing the Indian Wars of the West at this time. I've outlined the rest of the semester and plan our studies to take us through the Great Depression. Next fall, we will begin with World War II and well, we'll see how far we get...

Some of the teachable moments we have experienced so far this semester...

• We read Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and completed various activities related to the book. My favorite was the "Passports to Wonderland" we made. In their passports the children were asked to include an illustrated page depicting each place Alice found herself on her strange adventure through Wonderland. This was a great reading comprehension activity.
• We read Riding Freedom by Pam Munoz Ryan. This is the story of Charlotte "Charlie" Parkhurst who poses as a boy in order to escape the orphanage she has lived in her entire life and to be able to survive daily in a world that doesn't allow women the same freedoms as men. It is a wonderful account of some of the struggles girls encountered in the 19th century.

• We studied the time in the United States right before the Civil War which included a look at abolitionists, The Underground Railroad and women's rights. I read aloud several picture books during this study. They included January's Sparrow by Patricia Polacco, Word Set Me Free: The Story of Young Frederick Douglass by Lesa Cline-Ransome, The Real McCoy: The Life of an African-American Inventor by Wendy Towle and Marvelous Mattie: How Margaret E. Knight Became an Inventor by Emily Arnold McCully. My students and I really enjoyed all of these books and they each helped us better understand the time period we were studying. January's Sparrow was by far the most dramatic and emotional as it tells the story of the Crosswhite family and their escape from slavery to freedom in a small town in Michigan. The family spend several years living happily surrounded by new friends in the town, but "Paddy Rollers" eventually track them down. The townspeople come to the family's aid and through their actions give the Crosswhites the time they need to flee further north in Canada. I am a huge Patricia Polacco fan though and this book is now one of my favorites written by her.

That's about all I have time for today. Time to get everyone ready and out the door for another busy day. Enjoy your day! Just one week until it is officially spring!

Almost Like a Charlotte Mason Book of Centuries

My kids and I weren't feeling well today. Everyone seemed to be at a different stage of a respiratory "thing". Fortunately, we didn't HAVE to go to work, otherwise known as our family bookshop. This usually never happens. For some reason we always seem to be sick on days when things really HAVE to get done and that my friends, as I'm sure you all know, is no fun at all. Anyway, I was thankful for this little blessing today. As a result, I didn't push myself physically today and allowed myself extra time to mentally work on the curriculum for our Spring Session.

One of the things I would like to incorporate into our studies is the creation of a history timeline book. The springboard for this idea is the Charlotte Mason Book of Centuries, which is something I've always wanted to do with my own children, but we have never gotten around to it. The book for our Spring Session will be different though, because I want it to only span the time period of 1860-2013. So I'm tossing around the idea of a decade book, but then I'm thinking about the decades we are going to be covering and I'm saying, "Holy information, Batman!"

I know the idea behind the Charlotte Mason Book of Centuries is to not include everything, to only include the things the children find really meaningful and to be a collection of lists, but my purpose will be different. I want to record as much as we can and I want room left over for my students to record more in the future. I also want it to be more creative than a book of lists. I want to include some of the projects we will be completing. I'm even thinking it may be a big part of the students' portfolios which we will use for assessment purposes. Are you starting to envision the biggest three-ring binders you've ever seen? Yeah, me too! The only problem is, I really detest three-ring binders. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's due to seven years of reselling used Sonlight instructor's guides. I like the Sonlight program, but those blue binders I can do without. So, then I start thinking about my love of scrapbooking and I feel something start to merge in my mind. You're feeling it too, aren't you? Well, I will keep you updated on the idea. I'm actually a bit giddy as I plan it out and I spent a good deal of time today making my own timeline spanning 1860-2013. I didn't get much past 1875 and we won't cover everything I'm outlining, but I want to see what all of my choices are... This may take awhile. 

Getting Ready to Step Back in Time 150 Years

I have been preparing for our exciting new Spring Session at Teachable Moments Academy for several weeks now and though I don't want to wish the holidays away, I can't wait to get started on January 7th! We will begin the session studying the world in 1860 and move forward through the next century in our 18 week course of study. I've been reading tons of books about the Civil War as well as books about the Women's Rights Movement in the U.S. during the 19th and 20th centuries. I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I had no idea that it took more than 70 years from the time of the Convention at Seneca Falls, New York for the fine ladies in our country to be allowed the right to vote!

I also have never been so engrossed in the Civil War as I am now due to all the reading I've done. I had an 8th grade social studies teacher who was REALLY into the Civil War. He was even an extra in the epic TV drama North and South. Alas, despite his "involvement" in the time period, we NEVER read any historical fiction or did anything remotely fun in our lengthy study of the Civil War. We watched North and South which I had already watched at home with my mom. I'm sorry to say I left that class thinking I never wanted to spend another moment learning anything about the Civil War. The main lesson learned in that endeavor is that nice people (because he truly was a nice man and I feel bad even writing how bored I was) who are super hyper focused on one thing, don't always make the best teachers. I hope my children and the students who will be attending our Spring Session will be engaged and take memorable learning with them from our study of the time period.