Fun with history

I've been thinking about doing a unit on American history. I say unit, but I'm thinking it will probably last the rest of the year. I mean, we've got over 200 years to cover! I realized how little US history we've done when we were at Epcot watching the American Adventure show (that's the one where Mark Twain and Ben Franklin animatronic robots tell the story of America - in very abbreviated form). The kids had no clue what most of the scenes were about. Who's Susan B. Anthony? What's a Depression? Why are those women welding? Absolutely clueless.

So we've got a lot of work to do. And I'm thinking about field trips when the weather gets warmer (today it's supposed to be 68, but that doesn't count). After all, we live only an hour from DC, three from Philadelphia, forty minutes from Gettysburg. A great deal of early American history took place within a four hour drive of us. I know when I studied British history in London, it sunk in a lot better when we went to the actual places where it happened. Maybe this summer we could even drive up into New England and see where the Revolution started, visit Plymouth, and all that good stuff.

I absolutely love this country. I am a patriot through and through. And I can't wait to share that passion with my kids.

Lest ye think I forgot...

Last Wednesday was Talk Like a Pirate Day. I know you're thinking I forgot, but let me assure you that my oldest son and I did our entire math lesson in pirate speak. Well, mostly me. But he loved it. It went something like this:

Me: Are ye comin' to math class or are ye walkin' the plank?
Son: (No response)
Me: (imitating pirate's parrot) Walk the plank! Walk the plank!

Once we sat down to the workbook, I looked at the problem: 157,295 divided by 2172. So I said:

If ye have a treasure chest filled to overflowin' with 157,295 pieces of eight, ye must divide it amongst the 2172 members of yer crew or risk a mutiny. How many pieces must ye give each man to avoid bein' thrown in the brig?

When he got the answer, I said:

Aye, 72 pieces per crewman. And since yer the captain, take those extra 911 pieces for yerself!

We did all of his problems this way.

Oh, why couldn't there have been a Talk Like a Pirate Day when I was in school? My friends and I would've had a blast. How about you? If you were still in high school, would you have walked around talking like a pirate last Wednesday?

Living history

We had a fabulous weekend! We went to the Eastern Shore of Maryland, to the town where my mom grew up, to see the John Smith boat come to shore. If you haven't heard about this, it's really amazing. A group of twelve people is retracing the route Captain Smith took when he explored the Chesapeake Bay almost 400 years ago. They are doing it in the same type of boat he would have used, called a shallop. If you'd like to read more about the project, go here.

Here's the shallop as it came upriver.


Here it is at the dock:
This shallop was built in Maryland specifically for this voyage. They left Jamestown on May 12 and will be returning on September 8. As one of the team members explained to me, this is not a reenactment, but a retracing. The route traveled by Captain Smith and his crew is the first National Historic Trail that is entirely on water. They are traveling that trail, and recording their observations along the way. One goal of the voyage is to record the differences between what Smith and his crew saw and what can be seen today.

Another reason I am so fascinated by this is that one of the original crew who traveled with John Smith is an ancestor of mine. This isn't just the country's history, it's part of my personal history, and that of my kids. I've known this for years, but seeing it acted out just made it so real to me, seeing the difficulty of their task, traveling into the unknown not once but twice, and coming back to tell the tale. I loved that.

If you live anywhere near the Chesapeake, you should definitely check out the website to see when and where you might be able to catch up with the shallop and its crew. They bring a traveling display with them that presents the history of the voyage, so it makes a great field trip.

Road trip!

The boys and I are going on a road trip to Harford County, Maryland today. I grew up there, but I haven't been back since my seven year old was a baby. Should be fun! Pictures soon!

Spring?

It's another 70 degree day today. This is the time of year when I always get sick. When the temperature can't decide between cold and warm and we have one day of spring, followed by one day of winter, and then back to spring again. As much as I love winter, at this time of year, I just wish it would be spring and stay spring!

I'm planning on taking the boys out for a walk later. I thought it would be fun to take pictures of some trees and plants and then document how they change over the next few weeks. Plus I could use some time out of the house. And now that the toddler is old enough he doesn't need a stroller, it should be fun!

Although, the time we tied the dog to his stroller and had her pull it like an ox pulling a covered wagon was pretty fun too.

Recipe for disaster

Monday night I went to a Taste of Home cooking school. I went to one two years ago and really enjoyed it, except for the fact that I had a two month old baby with me. Have you ever tried to carry two grocery bags, half a dozen carnations, a diaper bag, a baby carrier/carseat, and a box with a ceramic pie plate in it, three blocks to where you parked? Somehow I made it home with all of that intact. But I was looking forward to this year, when I could watch the show and not have to breastfeed in the middle of it.

Now, my seven year old enjoys cooking. He's been known to watch cooking shows on television and get upset when I changed the channel. So I decided to invite him along, even though they told me over the phone that he would be $10, same as me. Naturally, the lady at the door took one look at his cute little face and didn't charge me for him. So we went and explored the vendors before the show started, taking advantage of all the freebies (food samples, bottled water, and one place gave him a couple of toy trucks and a balloon). Then it was time for the show.

Even though he has watched cooking shows before, he has never sat and watched a two and a half hour cooking show. He was fascinated at first ("What is she doing with that egg?" "Separating it." "Why?"). As the demonstration went on, I tried to find interesting things to point out, but he became much more interested in the theatre-type seats, which he could sit on the edge of and then flop down loudly and much to the annoyance of at least one other attendee (that would be me). At intermission, we went and got him some more free potato chips. We stayed until the very end of the show (10 p.m.!) only because he was sure we would win a door prize. We didn't. I told him he could have the ceramic pie plate I won two years ago.

Hopefully I haven't completely killed his interest in cooking by taking him to this thing. He says he enjoyed it. I still harbor my fantasy of a child who will cook dinner for me a few years from now.

A sweet day

Since it was Valentine's Day yesterday, the boys and I decided to learn about chocolate. We went to a website that shows how chocolate is made and explored that, and then we made some chocolates of our own. The only mold I had was little alligators, which don't really go with Valentine's, but whatever. I had some extra chocolate, so I made little bars in an ice cube tray.

Oh, typical. I had a picture of them to post, but Blogger won't let me. Maybe I'll come back later. :(

UPDATE: Okay, I got it to work!