We finished the Meet Addy book in two days rather than the week it was suggested using it for.  It was just too good to put down.

Tuesday, we went to our American Girl meeting.  The girls were to come disguised as boys rather than in their cute time period outfits.  "Cake" wore Levi's with a denim shirt and an "Outback" hat, and "Cam" wore Jeans with a Denim Jacket and a camouflage fishing hat.  They were very different from their usual cute "girly" selves.

We arrived and were suppose to enter the house very quietly while Mrs. Trish made plans for their escape.  She took them on a trip around her farm which was supposed to be the escape route.  All of the animals were Confederate Soldiers so they had to hide when they saw an animal approach.  They hid in a "cave" which was the horse lot, and made a tour of the whole property before returning to the house.

I got to get in on the action this time.  I pretended to be Miss Caroline, the abolitionist that they visited at the first "safe" house.  After making sure they were not Confederate Soldiers coming to try to get food, I invited them in and brought them food, clean clothes and bath water (actually they just washed their hands).

They sat down to a scrumptious meal of deer meat with broth and corn bread and biscuits.  I dipped out just a small portion of the broth and no meat in case they did not like it.  I did not mention it was deer because I did not want them to immediately say they did not like it without trying it.

My vegetarian tried two spoonfuls of broth and settled on eating cornbread; Cam and the other girls loved the broth, asked for some meat and ate it with their cornbread.  The other girls asked for seconds.  I did not mention it was deer or venison until on the way home.  I thought they would be grossed out at deer meat, but Cam said she loved it.

After their meal, I presented them with clean clothes to change into.  Mrs. Trish had made them all a new dress very similar to the one on the front of the Meet Addy book.  They looked very cute.  They also wore their Cowrie shell necklace that she had made for them earlier at their Addy Christmas party.  This necklace was similar to the necklace Addy's Great Grandma had on when she was "stolen" from Africa when she was Addy's age.

They also went on another excursion into the yard and went to the covered wagon and hid under sacks while Mr. Trish pretended to be driving them to catch the boat that would take them on to Freedom.

They then jumped aboard the boat and after a while they ended up in Philadelphia.  I again got to play a part in this game and was the lady who came to the pier to meet them.  This actually takes place in Addy Learns a Lesson which is book two.

Their craft for the day was making a Revolving Serpent which you can find in the Addy's Craft Book.   This was something they used to suspend over a kerosene lamp or candle to prevent it from leaving black marks on the ceiling.  It rotated with the heat of the lamp to fan the smoke away.

As part of their "homework" she sent home the necessary materials to make Animal Chains also in the Addy Craft Book.  They were to decorate these as African Art.

The girls have really been enjoying Addy.  I have read them some stories that were actually written by former slaves and they have been very touched by these stories.  They have never known about slaves, and since I homeschool them they do not even know that some kids are treated different because of the color of their skin.  Cam has always liked the Christy Barbie.  She has several of those.  She just says she likes Christy, the one darker than Barbie.

A great book we have been reading is Our Song, Our Toil The Story of American Slavery as Told by Slaves.  This book is edited by Michele Stepto.  ISBN # 1-56294-401-0. 

One of the stories in this book is about a girl named Harriet Jacobs.  Her mother was a slave and her father was a slave to another man, but they were able to live together.  The mother was a lady's maid.  When Harriet's mother, Delilah, died when Harriet was 6. Harriet was sent for to take her mother's place. 

The book goes on to talk about her Mistress and how good she was to her.  The child did everything she was capable of doing for her Mistress.  Her Mistress treated her very kindly, but unfortunately when Harriet was 12, her Mistress got sick and died.

She was so close to her Mistress she was sure she would have freed her in her will, but instead left her to her daughter who was only five years old.  In her will it states that she gives her Negro girl Harriet, her bureau, her work table and their contents to her young niece.

When I read this, Cam did not understand.  I explained to her that we own furniture, houses, clothing, but we do not own people.  I explained to her that the Mistress did not consider Harriet to be more than a possession like something you would find in a drawer.  Of course, they were in shock at the meaning of these words.  How could someone value a pen or eraser the same as you would a person??

There was another letter written by Abream Scriven (Page 40) that is to his wife.  He has found out he has been sold but has not left the grounds yet, so he hurriedly pens a letter to his wife and tells her where he is headed (Savannah to New Orleans) and the new Master's name.  He promises to try to write, and to send items to his family if possible.  I thought this was such a touching statement...

"If we shall not meet in this world I hope to meet in heaven.  My dear wife for you and my children my pen cannot express the grief I feel to be parted from you all.  I remain your true husband until Death".

I thought about that letter and how if something like that happened to my sweet husband, how he would feel and how lost we would be without him.  I tried to express this to the girls and they were so overwhelmed by emotion they just wanted me to stop reading - they could not take anymore!!

I wonder if that dear man ever got to see his wife and children again?

I went to discoveryschool.com and found some good lesson plans here the link

http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/programs/civilWarDivided/

They also have a worksheet generator that you can use to make Vocabulary worksheets.

Here's another good website for Civil War

http://www.teacheroz.com/civilwar.htm

Here is an extensive list of resources from ProTeacher.com

http://www.proteacher.com/090053.shtml

I will update you after our next lesson.  Let me know if this website is being utilized.