On a lovely summer morning, we walked through the Redcoat barricades into the historic area of Williamsburg, for the final day of "Under the Redcoat."  In stark contrast to the breezy, peaceful walk, the heady fragrance of the magnolias, the cheerful chirping of birds and the playful antics of the squirrels, was the entrance into town of spiny barricades, numerous coats of red marching in formation with muskets and bayonets,

 the woodsmoke from breakfast, and the steady beat of the drums.

The ominous drumbeats reminded us that our hoped for liberties were threatened.  Continually looking over our shoulders and peering around corners, we cautiously checked our words and chose our actions. If possible, we'd take more circuitous routes to avoid direct confrontation with a Redcoat, especially after the near arrest of my kids the day before.

     We were no longer confident guests.  Now we were careful partakers in a reenactment of history. This was merely a slice of the real thing. In 1781, the Redcoats were stricter, the drums and ammunition were noisier, three short days of occupation were actually ten long days, and the townspeople were more anxious.

     Since the sleepy town was not yet quite awake, we found an inconspicuous spot on a park bench across from Market Square, or so we thought. Before long we were approached by a Redcoat, with a surprising turn of consequences, as you will later read. I asked about his motivation and preparation to be a reenactor. My husband asked where he got his uniform.  We mentioned that our kids were nearly arrested the day before and he explained anyone in costume is fair game. He said other kids had come by the day before, asking how they could be arrested. When they found out they needed to be in costume, they rented costumes and came back to be put in jail. He assured us that kids are merely given a stern lecture at the guardhouse and then released.  

     After we talked a while, we went to the hospital at the Governor's Palace. We went to this display where we learned how the ladies helped. Nursing was not yet a profession. That began with Florence Nightengale and later with Clara Barton.  The ladies did not touch the patients.  But they did things like wrap bandages for the doctors to use on their patients.  The officers got the cleanest ones and the enlisted got the used ones.  Nothing was sanitized since the importance of that was not yet understood. The bowl with the spoon was barley water.  Although it's a bit slimy, it is nourishing for the weakest patient. As their condition improves, they can get oatmeal, in the next bowl. We learned a lot of interesting things about herbs, which I now forget.  (See why I keep coming back?  There is so much to learn! I also need that journal to jot notes in!)

Then we met the cook for the doctor. Officers got the best food and cooks, because they had the money for it. The most interesting thing that I remember from this table, is the sweet potato. White potatoes were not yet developed, not even in Ireland. Whenever you see a colonial receipt (recipe) that calls for a potato, it means a sweet potato.

We took the backroad (Nicholson Street) back to the Capitol, since we did not want to be captured.  Revolutionary City was about to start! We sat in front of Raleigh Tavern waiting for the "warm up" show to begin. It was nice to sit and rest without fear of Redcoats, when the friendly Redcoat quickly walked over to me.  He said he had been looking for me to give me something. After slipping some papers into my hand, he was gone. I barely had a chance to thank him. The kids asked what the paper was.  I excitedly opened it up.  He had given me a copy of the detailed scheduling for the British reenactors for "Under the Redcoat."  Wow! It was like receiving top secret paperwork!  

     Then we went to the Capitol for "The Army Attends Divine Service."

 All of the Redcoats came...

 The Anglican minister arrived to perform a drumhead church service.

What is a drumhead church service?  When my daughter saw that term, she thought of the same thing I did.  We recently read Billy Budd, where a drumhead court occurred on-board ship. The characteristics of a drumhead court is that it is unplanned and a drum might be used as a table.  We wondered about similarities. A drumhead church service takes place in the field, where there is no church building available. Drums might be piled up to represent an altar. Apparently this is a military tradition that goes back to the 1400's. I don't think drums were used for an altar at this service. We were surrounded by Redcoats and it was difficult to see everything. After praying, the chaplain read passages from a psalm, an epistle and from one of the gospels. Service ended with a hymn, "God Save the King."  We knew the tune ("My Country 'Tis of Thee") but not the words. We weren't about to sing it anyway, since we were loyal to the Patriot cause.  I kept looking over my shoulder to see if a Redcoat noticed.

     After the service, a carriage came through, which Col. Tarleton commandeered under much protest. 

Reluctantly they had no choice but to abandon their carriage...

...to the British.

Devastated, their beautiful carriage was now gone.

    Next we went behind the Coffeehouse in a lovely wooded area where squirrels like to frolic, chasing each other up tree trunks and across the branches.  While they played in the background, Benedict Arnold looked at maps, contemplating possible methods of attacking Lafayette.

   When General O'Hara arrived, he questioned Benedict Arnold as to why he chose this unusual location. Arnold said it was secluded enough that no one would overhear their plans.  We all laughed!  Then Arnold complained about Tarleton, as usual.  In the midst of the complaints, Col Tarleton and General Cornwallis arrived, escorted by several soldiers. This was feeling extremely realistic.

 The purpose of the meeting was to discuss strategy to attack Lafayette, who was about sixty miles away.  After some discussion among Cornwallis, O'Hara and Arnold, Cornwallis wanted to hear from Tarleton.

Tarleton hesitated to offer his ideas, knowing the resistance he'd face.  However, Cornwallis assured him he would listen.

Finally, Tarleton suggested that instead of attacking Lafayette, they should attack "Mad Anthony" Wayne.  That met with some positive feedback, since they had experience fighting him.  Wayne led the Pennsylvania Regiment and tended to engage his men with reckless abandon. If they could cripple Wayne, Lafayette's small army could easily be succombed. 

While we were completely riveted to this excellent scene, playful squirrels were running through the tree tops. Being chased, squirrel #1 leapt from one branch to another and tenaciously hung on, causing it to go b-o-i-n-g over Benedict Arnold's head, then he amazingly sprung to a branch in another tree.  Not to be outdone, squirrel #2 followed suit, leaping from the first branch to the next...except he missed the branch and fell onto the middle of the stage, causing a branch to crash in Benedict Arnold's face.  As we laughed, he immediately leapt up and scrambled up the nearest tree. Without missing a beat Tarleton said, "My Lord Cornwallis, I believe there are rebel squirrels about!" to which Cornwallis replied, "God save the King!"  My family and I laughed over that incident all day long. (Note:  No squirrels were harmed in the making of this scene. No squirrel was scripted to do this scene. No squirrel would ever listen to a human anyway.)

 Next we returned to the Capitol to meet with the Dragoons again, where we heard about warfare and horsemanship.

 Then we went to Raleigh Tavern, where men were recruited to join "In His Majesty's Service." Normally my husband would jump at a chance to do this. However, he was not going to change loyalties to the King. But these men did.

Then they marched to the Courthouse.  As we neared Botetourt Street, the Dragoons came around the corner and led the way.

Then they had to go through inspection at the checkpoint. At this point, I got on the sidewalk so I wouldn't have to deal with the Redcoats, all of whom were in the streets to check these recruits.

Finally they got clearance to pass through...

 ...and arrived at the Courthouse, where they were told to give their allegiance to the king. I bet none of them thought that would happen!  

After a rather leisurely lunch at the Courthouse, we went to the auction.  This was a lot of fun.  I'll blog about that separately, because this is an extremely unique auction for bargain hunters. However, it was interesting that one of the items up for auction was a replica liberty teapot, like one found in the museum. The auctioneer had second thoughts when he told us the details on it, and even looked over his shoulder while speaking softer.  No use stirring up those Redcoats, considering the jail was next door!

 As the end of the day neared, the troops assembled to be inspected by Cornwallis.

Then the troops prepared to leave town.

 As much as I truely enjoyed this weekend, that little part of me that emotionally experienced the ominous beat of the drums, the ever present Redcoats, the threat of being put into jail if I did not sign an oath of loyalty to the King...that little part of me felt a sense of relief as I watched them go.  Everything about British occupation (or occupation during any war) that I had read about in books or seen in movies had new meaning now...because this weekend, history had come to life "Under the Redcoat."

     We woke up bright and early to see Reveille at UTR. As we ate breakfast at the hotel, some Redcoats joined us. They are everwhere! 

     Arriving in time for Reveille, we got to see lots of action in the camp.

While walking around, a British soldier stopped us (uh oh!) to see if we had any questions. (Here's a picture of me talking to him, Pam!) Hmmmm,  I asked, "Why are all the uniforms different? (This has actually been a burning question in my mind, perhaps influenced by all the uniform costumes I sew for my son.)

 "What do you mean?" he asked. I said that some had racoon hats,

some had plaid,

and Banastre Tarleton has a green coat. This green coat has surprised me the most over the years.  I don't remember everything he told me, but it matched much of what I had studied on an excellent web site a few weeks ago. In fact, I'll be blogging about it in terms of costume making soon, since the article does an excellent job of illustrating the historical research that goes into historical costume design.  Additionally, talking to reenactors like this is a good source of information and I google their web sites all the time to gain information. In essence, each unit made their own choices.  Each commander received money from the government to outfit the troops according to his taste, if he did not pocket the money himself.

 After explaining the different things, he eyed my son and asked why he wasn't in the army. My son quickly said, "I'm only 13." (My son said that a lot that weekend!)  The soldier said, "You look 16 to me."  That's the way it was.  Lie about age and enlist them anyway. We managed to escape.  

     Soon it was time for Roll Call.  Uh oh, a few soldiers were missing.

     We met some ladies from Williamsburg who were baking pies for the British soldiers.  They were happy to be paid in gold coins, which the the Continental soldiers could not pay them.

    Then we went to the Governor's Palace to meet with the doctors who were caring for the citizens of CW.  (At this point in time, 1781, the palace lies unused because the seat of government is now in Richmond. When the British arrived, Cornwallis had the palace converted into a hospital.) We were told that we could see historic instruments, surgeries, dental extractions, and smallpox vaccinations. They were planning on actual dental extractions that day. I incredulously asked, "Surely not?"  "Of course," she replied. "Um, who in the world would volunteer for a dental extraction?"  "Oh there would be no volunteers," she explained. (gulp)  Did I dare walk in there?  We went to the smallpox table first and got all the gorey details. I started to feel faint. I was ready to leave.  Historically, it was interesting. The British doctors were vaccinating the citizens of Williamsburg, because they cared for their citizens.  When we pointed out the Declaration of Independence we got quite the lecture that that document was unrecognized by the British.

    We went outside and in the yard across the street at the Everard House, there were more displays. I enjoyed meeting the horner.  I had never met one before.

Every teacher knows what this is!   For those who might not have seen one before, it is a hornbook. This was the first "textbook" in the life of a colonial child. Shaped like a paddle, the alphabet and Lord's Prayer were typically printed on the board.  Then to protect it, it was covered with horn.  Basically it was 18th century laminating.  Many teachers have students make paper laminated copies of this while studying the history of the early colonies.  I was fascinated by his description of working with the horn and asked him how I could make a hornbook. 

After the paddle part is shaped and written on, find a green horn like this.  A green horn is the only type that you can see through. 

Then you heat some water in a crockpot (I forget to what temperature.) and soak the horn in it. It will shed layers and you can scrape the layers off with a knife and buff it with something. Now I forget. (I need to start carrying a journal with me to jot down notes.)   I don't think he told me how to stick it on. 

He had us analyze the difference between the British alphabet and our alphabet today. The letter "j" was missing. He asked us why. To tease him, I pertly suggested it was because the British did not know how to spell!  Uh oh, this British horner was not pleased with that answer.  He let it pass.  He said it's because of their mother language, Latin, which had no "j". Actually the English language was only influenced by Latin, later in its history. The origins of English are in the Germanic tongue. However, I did not think he wanted to hear all that. I decided to not press my luck with the British. since it was time to leave for the special UTR Revolutionary City.

     First we went to Raleigh Tavern to view "Declaration of Martial Law" where we listened to the terms of the occupation of the British army. Colonel Tarleton arrives with his Dragoons.

The rest of the staff arrive, including General O'Hara...

and Benedict Arnold, who reads the terms of occupation..

Afterwards, Col Tarleton left with his Dragoons.  We followed them to the Capitol...

At the Capitol we heard "The Dragoons' Story." The Dragoons were led by Banastre Tarleton. 

 He recruited many of his calvary men from loyalists he found in New York. 

One of the Dragoons told us how they got their horses, from commendearing them from nearby farms.  He talked about the injuries they receive in battle.  This wasn't as pleasant a talk as we had expected. The Dragoon invited us to visit them behind the Prentiss Store to see the horses and talk. My son wanted to do that.  Hmmmm, they aren't going to recruit my son into the Dragoons are they?  He likes the idea of riding on horses and always reenacts calvary officers in our unit celebrations.  If he has the opportunity to ride a horse, he might not tell them he is 13. Not to fear, we couldn't find the horses. 

     We walked back to Raleigh's Tavern to see "The Business of War" where the British officers had a staff meeting. 

They debated the most effective means of occupying the town.

During the meeting, Benedict Arnold expressed his discontent with Col Tarleton.

   Then the Phillipsburg Proclamation was read, which allowed slaves of rebel masters to join the British side. I'm trying to remember but I think it is here that we saw the scene where a free slave with previous sailing experience was basically conscripted into service by the British, ending his liberty.  It was a heart wrenching scene, not only because this man lost his freedom, but also because his friend, (a slave himself), was rewarded by the British for introducing them to the sailor. The slave himself was devastated by this turn of events.

    The next scene was behind the Coffeehouse where slaves discussed the possibility of going to the British side.  The final scene was behind the Capitol, where Cornwallis reviewed the troops. We did not get to see all of this, because we had an appointment at the museum to meet with Banastre Tarleton. Off we rushed!

     Colonel Banastre Tarleton was extremely interesting. I can't remember everything (I need to start taking notes) but I recall that he was not a great student nor was he interested in reading books. (I made a mental note to tell my son later this is a man NOT to emulate.)  He got caught up in gambling. He used money from an inheritance, as I recall, to recruit a legion in America. This legion is not like the legions of Ancient Rome. Instead it is a mix of men with varying abilities that don't carry heavy equipment, so they can move lightly and attack quickly and easily. Now, I am not doing Tarleton justice, because the man himself seemed to be one of the most pleasant men I have ever met. This was in direct contrast to almost everything I had ever read about him.  (If the source was correct, a couple of weeks ago I read that Lafayette was friends with Tarleton after the war. That surprised me.) When one of the guests queried him about his negative reputation, he told her not to believe everything she read in the newspapers. (I must admit, I do not believe everything I read or hear in today's media. I know that there are even biases in history books and that becomes the basis for some of the history Socratic discussions my kids have each week.)  Tarleton also explained his side of the story for his brutal reputation, by reading a few of his letters (primary source documents.) Tarleton told us about the four battle flags he had captured, and told us he hoped that they would stay in his family for generations and he hoped they would be in excellent condition 250 years later.  During the Q&A, my son asked him why he wore a green coat and why he had a bushy helmet. To demonstrate the lack of thickness in the helmet, he had one of the kids in the front row knock on his hat. Then a little girl asked him why the British and French did not get along with each other. If you are a regular blog reader, have you guessed which actor was portraying Tarleton? It is the same man we met as Lafayette last summer when my son asked him if the contentions between the British and French went back to the Hundred Year's War.  (Later I asked my son why he did not go further back to 1099?  What can I say? My son likes to take my lead for a bit then forge his own path.)  Whereas Lafayette gave quite the discourse on the Hundred Year's War, Tarleton went all the way back to....1099! You know, it just occurred to me why Lafayette may not have mentioned 1099.  That was the French Norman invasion and conquest on England, that put the Norman, William the Conqueror on the throne. Of course, the British Tarleton would go all the way back to 1099, because that is the source of their grief with the French. Even though I keep telling my kids about 1099, now my kids will definitely remember, since they have heard it from Tarleton himself.  (I'm not sure if it was okay or not, but my son took these pictures without flash, so they aren't very clear.)

     After his talk, Tarleton left through the stage side door, instead of staying for guests to come up to meet him, as other speakers typically allow in such talks. No matter.  I sighed contentedly and looked at my son by my side and asked, "Wasn't that great?" As he agreed with me, we started to get up to leave, when the actor cheerfully popped back in and took off his hat and told us he had met Tarleton backstage and he had come back to answer further questions. He introduced himself as Mark Scneider and told us about his twelve years of acting at CW.  Never have we seen him out of character before. 

He also mentioned that he enjoyed reading history books while growing up. (Ah, I made a mental note to tell my son it is okay to emulate that characteristic!) When he mentioned that he typically does Lafayette, he got applause.  (See, I'm not the only one who appreciates how he wonderfully brings Lafayette to life!) He spent quite a bit of time talking to us more about the flags and Tarleton. Basically there are a lot of specifics we do not know about Tarleton. The facts they rely on are from primary source documents, since secondary sources might be biased or not as accurate.  He told us that Tarleton is in the movie, "Amazing Grace". He is? We saw that movie last autumn and missed that! We need to watch that movie again.  He is also in the movie, "The Patriot" but that is more Hollywood than factual. Mark Scneider told us lots of interesting things and now I have forgotten so much. This was a rare treat that we definitely treasured. Finally my husband asked him something off topic, about his equestrian skills, because we have been impressed with his horseback riding. Again his answer was extremely interesting. The kids brought it up later and we used the information to talk about goal setting in life.  

    After this incredible presentation, we went upstairs to finally view the four battle flags. (This link will only work for a short time, in relation to the flags, because they will only be at the museum until July 19.) These flags have stayed in Tarleton's family all these years, only recently being auctioned off. The new owner lent them to CW for the last couple of years and will be taken out of the museum in a few weeks.  The flags are indeed gorgeous. 

     When we left the museum and  went back to Market Square area, we saw Col Tarleton...

the Dragoons...

 and the British officers escorting Cornwallis around town.

 While near Market Square, we noticed a prisoner being taken in for questioning. We followed to see the action. When we got there, we saw another prisoner...the singer from Revolutionary City! 

 The crime? He had signed the oath of allegiance to the king...in pencil...twice!

We stayed to see what would happen next.

Another guy was brought in and they were put to work moving logs from one side to the other.

They were constantly yelled at. You cannot work as a team!

 Make the pile neater! Don't talk to each other! Take your coat off!  Make a neater pile by starting from scratch; start moving all the logs back! Finally the singer started...singing! He sang "Hail Britannia" and threw some of the words at the British. He wanted us to join him and we would have gladly, but we didn't know the words. He usually gives us an easy refrain to sing with him in RC. Nevertheless, that tune has been running in our minds all weekend.

Finally they were released.

     Then we walked to the back streets to see the new archaeology dig. There wasn't much action there that day, but we did see the entourage again...

We went to Raleigh Tavern for a snack.  While walking by the Prentiss Store, we found the Dragoon's horses in pasture. 

  Then we went back to Market Square to see Retreat. We had to go through a military checkpoint and at this point I was not in the least bit worried. No one had ever paid any attention to us all day, when we went through the checkpoint.  However as I neared the soldier, he seemed intent on someone behind me. I was not about to let him get in my way so I just ignored him and slipped by when suddenly he engaged his rifle and told my kids to halt! Where were their passes?  Passes? What passes? My daughter said they had CW season passes and pointed to the one on her dress.  My son said, "I'm only 13!" 

The soldier called another soldier over.  Soldier #2 came over, trying to suppress a smile and sort of whispering something to Soldier #1. 

Soldier #1 insisted that the kids were trouble makers. I suppose this was an invitation for the parents to step in and agree, but we have pretty good kids!  My husband was in control, yet silent, from his military training. I was flabbergasted and my husband said the range of emotions on my face was priceless. Finally he asked my husband if he could control the kids and he said, extremely seriously, that he'd take charge of them. My son says he recognizes Soldier #1 and I suggested perhaps he works for RC in the Benedict Arnold scene. My son agreed.  My husband said he thinks he recognized him from our trip to Mount Vernon in April when the British reenactors were there. I don't think it's the same guy in the picture. But I do remember our talking to a group from Scotland, who wore the same plaid uniform.        

    Retreat...

 After dinner we went to the Capitol for the Tattoo.

Remembering Drummer's Call, we were looking forward to this. However, this was nothing like Drummer's Call. We stopped in front of every Tavern, while men came out with their mugs of ale, acting a bit tipsy!  They joined behind the fifers and drummers and the group kept growing larger and rousier, as they were led back to Market Square.

   Hmmmm, well, this at least became an object lesson to my kids on what alcohol can do. The reenactors weren't really drunk, they were just acting like it. I didn't understand the value to this.  Later I found out this is exactly what Tattoo was.  In fact, it was originally called "Taptoo." (In Latin we've learned about assimilation of words into the English language, so this would be an example of that. "Taptoo" assimilated into "tattoo" because it is easier to roll off the tongue.) At dusk, the fife and drum corps would round up soldiers, indicating to the tavern owners to turn off their taps for the night.  

     We went back to the hotel, talking about all of our favorites of the day. In exhaustion we quickly fell asleep, in preparation for the next day of "Under the Redcoat."  (Stay tuned for part III.)

   Colonial Williamsburg has outdone themselves with special programming this past weekend, for a historic reenactment called "Under the Redcoat".  We got to spend the entire weekend in CW, participating in memorable events. My children were stopped by the Redcoats at one of the checkpoints and nearly arrested!   The looks on their faces were priceless. My husband says the looks on my face were priceless.  We got to meet the British soldier who wears a green coat.  Then we got to meet our favorite actor, as himself, for the first time.  While watching an incredibly riveting scene of the British officers scheming how to outmanuever General Lafayette, a squirrel made an impromptu appearance, literally dropping in and crashing leaves on Benedict Arnold.  Additionally I "befriended" one of the Redcoats and obtained "secret papers" of their schedule.  It's fun being a spy for the Continental Army!  Additionally, I got to speak my mind towards a few Redcoats!     

     "Under the Redcoat" is a yearly reenactment of the events of June 25-July 4, 1781, the final summer of the American Revolution. During this time, the Redcoats entered Williamsburg, putting the citizens under martial law. General Cornwallis and the turncoat, Benedict Arnold, were in town at this time. To reenact the event, British army reenactors from across the country arrive in Colonial Williamsburg. New to this year's event, Revolution City significantly tweaked it's schedule with new scenes to bring history alive about life "Under the Redcoats".

     A couple of weeks ago the official programming came out.  Guests entering the city needed to be prepared to sign an oath of allegiance to the king. (gulp)  When I relayed this information to my family, there were simultaneous exclamations of shock, excitement, disbelief, and denial. Knowing this is merely a reenactment, we were excited to play, yet mixed into our emotions was the struggle on how to remain faithful to our heroes, Generals Washington and Lafayette. Suddenly, pages we have read in history books and historical fiction and scenes played out on the screen, took on new meaning as we wrestled with how to accomdate being "Under the Redcoat," while retaining our loyalties to the patriotic cause.     

     A friend suggested that we act loyal to the British, while actually using my son's idea of being spies for Washington and Lafayette.  My son schemed that I should take him to Mount Vernon to get one of the invisible ink pens to sign the oath. I told him the Redcoats would not recognize that writing implement, likely forcing us to sign with quill and ink. Then my son planned on changing his name, or even writing his name extraordinarily small.  My husband absolutely refused to sign any oath.  He'd stand all day at the checkpoint first, standing on principles of liberty. (Remember he served in the USAF for 24 years. He was taught to do this if the enemy really did catch him.  This became real to him.  He also enjoys talking to people whereas I have a drive to conquer new events.)  I, myself, did not mind playing with the Redcoats, but if there was a scheduled event to attend, I was signing papers and going in as a spy. 

     Most important to me was the opportunity to meet the famed Banastre Tarleton, the British Colonel who wore a green coat, and had a bloody reputation in the colonies. I have read about this man and purposely I have not relayed the horrors I've read to my kids. I could not imagine how he would be portrayed. He was to be portrayed by our favorite actor who would be giving a special talk at the museum on Saturday afternoon, discussing the four Continental Army flags he had captured.  Because this is an excellent actor/historian and I had to reserve tickets, I was anxious to get to the Visitor Center as soon as possible on Friday to get the tickets. Saturday morning we wanted to be at the Redcoat camp bright and early to see all the special events, with Reveille at 8am.  Furthermore, this is a unique opportunity to see Tarleton. I did not know if we'd ever have this opportunity again.

     We arrived at the Visitor Center at 6pm, after the ticket counters had closed. I was devasted. One of the employees told me I could get the tickets at one of the ticket offices in the historic area. My husband wanted to drive but we don't know the area outside of the historic area very well and would he even find parking? We decided that I would walk on ahead and the kids decided to come with me, while he found parking near the historic area. (Besides we like walking the timeline/nature trail to the historic area.) This was interesting, because I have not only a sprained ankle but I've also had an injured muscle in my calf muscle, on the same leg. (This is one of those injuries that will only heal in time and walking is better than doing nothing.) Ignoring the pain, I walked quickly. My kids could not believe how fast I walked. I was worried the tickets had possibly been snatched up and I was determined to do my utmost to get them.  In my rush, I managed to pull my muscle further. Yet, hobbling into the ticket office, I conquered!  With no British to stop me, I got those 4 tickets. And I beat my husband who quickly drove over and found nearby parking!   He shook his head in disbelief. He simply cannot imagine my stamina sometimes! However, after the presentation that I got those tickets for, we all agreed it was absolutely incredible! (And we learned that Tarleton wasn't so bad. Last week I did read that Lafayette was friends with him after the war.)  We talked about it a lot through the rest of the day.  

    After my husband met up with us, we walked over to the encampment, where the Redcoats were setting up their tents. 

Actually camping in Market Square overnight, we watched them pitch the tents, dig fire pits

and start dinner.

Entire families were there, reenacting as well. 

     Unfortunately, we had to miss the previous events beginning "Under the Redcoat", while waiting for my husband to get off work so we could drive down to CW.  The usual schedule for Revolutionary City was slightly altered on Friday. Typically on Friday, the RC programs include Benedict Arnold taking the town in the summer 1781 and ends with Prelude to Victory, when Generals Washington and Lafayette arrive later. Because this timeframe of June 25-July 4, 1781 was being reenacted the entire weekend, RC ended with  Benedict Arnold arriving in town.  Then, according to the schedule, at 3pm the Provost Guard marched in to town to set up camp. They were still setting up camp by the time we arrived.

     Whereas the actual army was camped outside of town, the Provost Guard was a smaller group that arrived to restore order to the town. When one of the Redcoats told me this, I questioned the term "restore order."  Weren't the citizens orderly before the Redcoats arrived? For one the Redcoats required the citizens to sign an oath of allegiance to the king.  That was the next scene we missed on Friday afternoon, when the citizens of the town discoursed on the consequences of the arrival of the Redcoats. 

     We ate dinner at Chownings Tavern, and to our surprise we were joined by some Redcoats.  Even in 1781, some would have eaten in the encampment and others would have eaten in the tavern. Enjoying good food and entertainment, all the while, we kept a watchful eye on the Redcoats (seated at the table behind my son).

That night, all was well. Yet life would soon be very different, as we would see over the weekend.      

     We saved our study of Impressionism for after our other history studies were complete.  We are using a terrific book for this: Monet and the Impressionists for Kids. I set the excitement for the unit by talking first about Paris (where Impressionism began). I asked the kids if they knew that Paris was called "The City of Lights?" They did not. I told them that recently I had been looking at pictures of this beautiful city at night, when I began to wonder when this transformation occured. For the last few years we have studied about the numerous wars, the French Revolution, the barricades, etc. How did Paris become as lovely as it is today, especially at night?  I had no idea how to find the answer to that question. Surprisingly, the answer was in our Impressionism book. I told the kids about it, but I would not tell them how it became the city of light. Then we sat at the computer and looked at pictures of Paris at night.  The kids were amazed.  I am waiting to hear their exclamation of disbelief when they read that Napoleon III was responsible for this! The kids and I have a running joke now about Napoleon (and sometimes the III) always showing up, week by week. They thought he went into exile with his ideals a long time ago.

     One of the Impressionists, Claude Monet, did a lot of his painting in his garden near Paris.  I used to have a calendar book full of pictures of his garden, which I cannot find now. I've not been able to find as many pictures of his gardens on-line as I did in that calendar, but they are stunning.  One of our Monet field trips the other day was to take the kids to the nursery with me to select plants toh enhance the small garden we inherited when we recently purchased this house.  Since we have recently moved here from Texas, we are finding a lot of new plants. It was exciting to purchase new varieties that I've never had success with in Texas. 

     In the midst of learning about Impressionism, we are getting an education on color. The other day a new friend from church said she'd help me in my dilemma to select just the right paint colors for the house. Turns out she is an interior designer!  She liked what we did so far and challenged me to enhance the one shade from the front of the house for the family room, with the color "Dry Leaf".  Well we were at the store yesterdy looking at more paint chips and my daughter exclaimed, "Here's one called Lafayette!"  I took it home and it's a perfect match to "Dry Leaf."  "Lafayette" will soon be surrounding us on the walls of our family room! My daughter is now looking for a paint color called "George Washington."     

     My designer friend asked me about my choice of the Calla Lilies. Why not? She has asked me to keep her updated on how well it does. We hope it is a success because we liked it a lot.  I had fun putting in Eastern flowers in a patriotic color pallette for the urns.  Then I put my favorite colors for the garden everywhere else. The potted Mandevilla still needs to find its home in the ground next to the lamppost.

     Although my garden is for the enjoyment of others as well as to lift my own spirits, I am looking forward to using it for some of our art projects. Part of the idea of Impressionism, at least for Monet, was to be inspired by the outdoors and to paint in natural lighting at different times of the day, to capture a variety of effects.  It was during this time that the travel easel and art kit were developed, so that artists like Monet could take their art supplies with them and go wherever they wanted to paint, whether it was a field, the sea or the sky. In fact, when we did the bluebonnet exhibit at the Witte Museum in San Antonio last winter, this was precisely what the artist that was featured did.  In Monet's later years, he developed his garden on his property specifically to inspire him for his painting.  He included an arched Japanese bridge over the water garden that he had built. His most famous pieces, The Water Lilies,  were inspired from this. There is a Japanese bridge spanning the water garden at the Governor's Palace in Colonial Williamsburg. Hmmmm....

    For our Colonial costumes, I made them as simply as possible with patterns. I was too busy reading great books and preparing extended lessons about this fascinating era to do any complicated sewing.  At the last minute, my husband decided to get involved.  I didn't have time to sew a man's costume, so I had the idea that he should be Ben Franklin, prepared to go swimming in the river.  Like Ben Franklin, that's something my husband always enjoyed doing when he used to live in upstate New York.  So he rolled up some pants and wore his white shirt loosely.  For my daughter and myself,  I followed a pattern. I already had pink fabric in the closet for my daughter's dress.  The kids went shopping with me for my fabric and they chose the yellow for me. 

      My son's costume was easy in some ways and challenging in others.  He had purchased the tricorn hat when we were in Colonial Williamsburg in 2004.  The yellow trim on the hat means he is in the artillery division (I think).  That is not his choice to represent, since he prefers the cavalry. However he chose it because the yellow is one of his favorite colors.     

     The vest was the most difficult.  I had a pattern. When I pulled it out to start cutting, I realized it was a faux vest.  It only had a front and no back except ties to hold it together. It was meant to be worn with a colonial coat.  My son did not want a colonial coat. He wanted to dress just like a colonial boy on the cover of a book we had and the character never wore a coat.  I went back to the store and found a pattern combo for men and boys.  I picked one that was more for a pirate/sailor, yet it was in the colonial era.  I could work with that. When I cut the pattern out, I was dismayed to find that I had purchased a small man's pattern instead of a large boy's pattern. I did not want to endure the time and traffic and the lack of a pattern sale to get a smaller size. I was determined to make this work. I held the pattern up to my son, trying to pin it where it should be smaller. The result came out okay. It could have been better. 

     For the pants, I purchased some navy blue uniform pants at the store.  Then I cut them off at the knee. Using some of the cut off fabric, I made a band to finish off the knee.  Then I added buttons that matched the vest. My son wanted a lot of buttons, like the actual breeches had. However I was on a time crunch and company was flying in just to see the  unit celebration. I had to get these done on time.  

    For shoes, my son wore his good shoes and made cardboard buckles colored with a gold gel pen.  They were taped on the shoes for the unit celebration. 

     The shirt was the same one he wore with his Musketeer costume.  I took off the lace that I had added for the previous look. The ruffles stayed and they were still causing my son a bit of grief.

     A month later a friend found out that we were going to Colonial Williamsburg in August. She suggested that the kids wear their colonial costumes, so they could have more fun. They kids did greatly enjoy themselves wearing their costumes. I had several moms walk up to me and ask me how I sewed them. My husband and I smiled more than once when one of the interpreters complimented us on our well dressed family.  As a result, I think my son was beginning to feel okay with those ruffles. However after going through photos of our time in Colonial Williamsburg, I excitedly called my son to come see the one of him shaking hands with Lafayette. The ruffles on the sleeves match! My son has never complained about that shirt again!   

     It is now a year later and my son has been outgrowing this costume. It's going to have to hang in there for his Colonial Williamsburg trips until I have time to make a new one. I've promised the kids that the next colonial costume will be made with actual patterns from Colonial Williamsburg. My sewing machine is still lopsided from the move and I still cannot sew buttonholes with it. There are a lot of buttonholes in those costumes!  If I can't get a new machine, I might need to apprentice with the milliner to learn how to sew them by hand!

The Native American costumes were quite easy to make.  For all of our costumes, I think I purchased ultra-suede.  The positives are that it looks like actual Native American clothing and it was extremely comfortable to wear.      

     This time, my son's costume was the only one with a pattern.  I followed the pattern for the pants, except for the waistband. Instead of using elastic, I thought it would be more "authentic" if I used rawhide string for a drawstring.  Inspired by a picture I saw, I added the loin cloth, using a rust colored ultra-suede. I cut out rectangles and made a casing at the top to thread more rawhide string to tie it on.   I did not make any seams in the sides.  I doubt that any of the Native Americans made finishing seams, so I didn't either.

My son made the leather pouch from a kit he got at Hobby Lobby. He also made the bear claw necklace with items he got at Hobby Lobby.

     The dresses I made for my daughter and myself had no pattern. She wanted to be Pocahontas, so I googled images of Pocahontas.  I styled our dresses based on ideas I got from the search. I got ultra-suede fabric for our costumes. The fabric comes from the store like this:

I refolded the fabric to look like this:

Then I had my daughter lay down on the fabric. I basically marked lines like this with pins around her body, making sure I would have about 5/8" seam allowance.  I wanted the dress to be slender on her, so I marked the seams with pins near her body.

      I sewed the seams on the sides. I cut fringe on the bottom.  I did not finish off the seams at the armhole.

      For the neckline, I cut a rectangular piece of the ultra-suede, fringed one side of it, then sewed it into the neckline. Then we went to Hobby Lobby to find embellishments.  Pocahontas might have embellished her dresses with seashells. My daughter chose this green shell which already had holes drilled into the end. I took some twine and strung it through, knotting the end.  Next I sewed it into the neckline, varying the length to match the fringe...

 and knotted the other end on the underneath side of the fabric.  

      I made my dress in a similar manner, choosing pink shells and sewing the fringe in a bit differently.

     These shells had holes drilled into them, from end to end.

I sewed them on like this...

      Since the Native Americans used a purple shell for money (called Wampung in Plymouth), I found a purple necklace seashell necklace at Hobby Lobby. My daughter, made one for a craft project, but I don't recall if she wore it.

     Finally, my son made each of us a pair of moccasins from kits I got at Hobby Lobby (I miss Hobby Lobby! There are none around here!)     

     I have been promising some ladies that I'd detail how I do costumes. I am always asked if I use patterns or if I make them up.  If at all possible, I use patterns. Quite often, especially for my son, I have to get extremely creative because patterns cannot be found. Also he is extremely particular about the details, so his costumes can be quite the challenge. I am picking up where I left off last summer, with the Museketeer costume. Details on the previous costumes and the Elizabethan costumes from this unit are in the "Costumes"  link in my right sidebar. I'll try to get caught up to where we are now in the next few weeks.

      I used a pattern for the cape. I purchased the blue silk for the outside and used yellow silk for the lining, which was in my fabric stash. The pattern called for gold trim, which would have been expensive. I made my own with gold fabric in my fabric stash. After ironing it to a double sided fusible, I cut out all of those triangles. Then I ironed them onto the cape.  On the positive, this was free since supplies were sitting around unused. On the negative side, the gold frays easily and it was time consuming.

     The pants are actually navy blue sweats that my son had in the closet.  I was up to my elbows in Elizabethan dresses for my daughter and me, so I wanted to simplify my son's costume as much as possible. Don't remind me of the unsimplified homemade gold trim. =) 

     The boots are the ones he made for his Robin Hood costume. The faux leather for the boots were a bit pricey so I was glad they were getting more use.

     The shirt was a great find. There are patterns for those types of shirts, but they are in men's sizes.  I went shopping. Shhh, don't tell the secret of where I found the shirt. My son doesn't want anyone to know, but I found that shirt at Marshall's in the lady's department. Because I was so busy with those Elizabethan dresses (and gold trim), I was thrilled that I found this shirt in the first store I walked into. That is rare.  My son was devasted when I brought it home and told him where I got it. I told him that's what men wore back then and this is a costume. The ruffles are very French, which his costume requires. He conceded that.  I was also thrilled because I could foresee him wearing it for the next several unit celebrations, which he has done.  He even wore it with his colonial boy costume when we went to Colonial Williamsburg last summer.  After vacation, when I was going through pictures, I was ecstatic and called him over.  There is a picture of him shaking hands with the Frenchman, Lafayette. The ruffly sleeves look identical!  How cool is that? To make this shirt more French, I sewed lace to the edges of the sleeves.  For future costumes, that lace came off and stayed off, which I guess was a good call since my son's sleeves matched Lafayette's!     

     The biggest challenge to this costume was the hat. Would I find a hat that I could afford that could be repurposed into a Musketeer hat?  Marshalls, where I got the shirt, did not have one.  I think Target was next and I found some black felt cowboy hats in the men's section. I don't know if Target always carried these.  This was in San Antonio where the annual Stock Show and Rodeo was about to start. The hat was about $10.  I was willing to pay that. Then I got a large white feather at my favorite craft store, Hobby Lobby.

     When I got home I made more of those gold triangles and ironed them onto the hat. Then I glued the feather onto the hat and I probably put some clothespins in place until the glue dried.  Ta da! 

     My son made the sword.  He used combinations of cardboard, tape and paint. He used pictures off the internet that I probably found for him, as models. This sword went through transformations after he met Lafayette at Colonial Williamsburg.  I'll save that for when I describe how I did his Lafayette costume.

     Overall, Mr. Particular was pleased with his costume.  In fact, at the end of the year when my kids were asked to serve tables in costumes at the Awanas banquet, I told my kids I was not sewing more costumes.  =)  They could choose from our costume stash. Although he would have loved to have worn his Spartan costume, he knew he would have a difficult time moving around in it. Finally he decide to wear his Musketeer costume, which was a hit! Whew!  Another costume accomplished!    

     We have recently completed a fascinating in-depth study about immigration.  This is a great way to introduce or review various historical eras with kids, while tracing ancestry.  History becomes more meaningful when it becomes their story.

     The furthest back I can trace my ancestry is through my mom's maiden name, which is French. Our French ancestors were Huguenots from Brittany. Apparently they were kin to some French Seigneurs and we had a coat of arms. After the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, they fled to Holland due to religious persecution.  This was brought to life when I read GA Henty's St. Bartholomew's Eve: A Story of the Huguenot Wars to my kids last winter. I told the kids to imagine our ancestors' flight during this time.  My kids always enjoy GA Henty books and it was neat that this time we were reading about family history.  Descendants of this particular ancestor immigrated to America from Holland in 1721, settling in Pennsylvania. Aboard ship, the family name, which was French, was Americanized, or spelled phonetically. Were they terrorized during the French and  Indian War?  

   My mom had other ancestors who immigrated to America from Wurtemberg, Germany in 1764.  It's amazing the details that were located on these ancestors.They arrived on the ship, Hero, which had 500 passengers, landing in Philadelphia. Did they meet Benjamin Franklin?  Did they go to his print shop?

    Another of mom's ancestors arrived in America in 1864, the groom from Switzerland and the bride from Germany. I have a copy of their marriage certificate in German.  I also have a copy of the citizenship papers of the groom, from 1873.  I don't think it was these ancestors, but another great aunt that my mom remembers as only speaking German.  She was called Dutch. I'm not sure if she was Pennsylvania Dutch or from Germany.  

     While we were visiting Civil War Battlefields around Fredericksburg, one of the park rangers asked where we were from. When we told him Texas, he asked if our ancestors fought in the Confederacy in Virginia.  Some Texans did. Some even fought in Williamsburg. But our ancestors on my mom's side were still in Pennsylvania and fought for the Union. When I was 10, I got to visit the graves of a lot of my ancestors in the Alleghany Mountains and saw the flags and markers on the graves, identifying the wars they fought in.  Did any ancestors fight with Generals Washington and Lafayette in the American Revolution?  Did any fight with General Grant in the Civil War? 

     My dad's family was still in Germany. They immigrated to America after the Civil War.  When the Ellis Island immigration records became available on-line a few years ago, I could not search for my ancestors, because Ellis Island had no records before 1892.  Prior to this Castle Garden handled the reception of immigrants. I didn't realize this until studying immigration in the last few weeks. I found pages of my my maiden name at Castle Garden! This was exciting since the only people I know with my maiden name is in my immediate family.  I'm not able to find specific ancestors.  Perhaps I have a variation of spelling so this could become a treasure hunt!  I do know that the groom was born in Essen, Germany and the bride was born in Westphalia.

    Finding great historical fiction books that conincide with students' geneology is a great way to get them excited about history.  Searching for possible immigration records can be fun too.  Did you know there were other immigration stations other than New York? A few years ago we went to Galveston Island on vacation and took a tour of the tall ship Elissa. As part of the admission, we got to do the museum for the immigration station. We had fun searching through the records even though we knew we had no relatives who came through there. 

     Another fun way to get kids interested in ancestry and history is through hands-on and dance. A few years ago we went to Fredericksburg, Texas for Pioneer Day, commemorating the anniversary of their settlement. One of the activities was watching the German polka dancers.  They told us that they each had different costumes, representing the different areas of Germany. I was trying to remember which region of Germany I was from so I could ask if anyone wore that costume.  The highpoint was when we were invited to dance with them! (Sorry, Pam, no one took a picture of me dancing the German polka!)   

     Recently I was asked how I instill a love of reading in my kids, especially with a book heavy curriculum like Tapestry of Grace.  I was a bookworm while growing up and that was my number one drive to become a teacher. When I was a college student I put a large badge on my backpack, "If you can read this, thank a teacher." I felt if I could teach kids not only how to read, but also how to enjoy reading, the sky would be the limit for them.  That has always been my motto, so I was pleasantly surprised to see a similar saying at the Library of Congress last summer.

      Using a classical curriculum has built upon this idea. Because there is no time to read all of the Classics in 4 years of high school, the hope is to lay a foundation of not only understanding, but enjoyment of learning, for the student to pursue reading the Classics throughout adulthood.  Does this not encompass the dream of every teacher? 

      However, before teaching the Classics at the Rhetoric level, I need to instill the basic love of reading.  Most every parent knows that this begins when children are very young with read alouds. What can be better than cuddling up with children and reading books out loud, living out adventures from days of yore around the world?  My kids loved books so much growing up, that whenever one of the grandmas or aunts came to visit, they were asked required to read books out loud for hours on end.  Our visitors would tell us that they had dreams at night that at the airport, they had to go through a special inspection station where they were required to correctly answer questions about the books they had read to the kids. In the dreams I guess they feared whether they could get the process straight about how water is cleaned in water treatment plants from all the times they read The Magic Schoolbus at the Waterworks. (Gotta love Ms. Frizzle!)  That was the year I had enrolled them in the summer reading program at the public library. When awards were given, they got the one for most hours read.  Everyone was astounded over how many hours they had been read to!  Thanks to the aunt and grandma who read many hours to the kids, on top of the hours my husband and I were reading to them! 

      I know a lot of homeschool moms who are concerned about the independent reading load in Tapestry of Grace, because they have read aloud all the history and literature books to their kids for years. These kids are not fans of silent independent reading, so that is basically what spurred this post. It is concerning when kids do not enjoy independent reading and are reliant on Mom to do all the reading for them. At some point in time a transition to independent reading needs to be made. After all, Mom won't always be around to read everything aloud. Whether college is in the future or not, the child grows up and must eventually face reading independently. Hopefully they can approach it with anticipation and pleasure. Parents in this boat might be surprised to read my suggestion to keep reading aloud!  The difference is that not everything should be read aloud. When a student reaches Upper Grammar years, about grades 4-6, they should be learning how to read independently.  By Dialectic and Rhetoric years, try to keep the read aloud to one book.  Keep that special time, but don't let it become the focus. It should become the treat.  Meanwhile, turn off the television, video games and other electronic entertainment. Focus on old fashioned entertainment like outdoor play and open ended toys like tinker toys, legos, marbleworks, etc. For more on this subject, locate a copy of The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. In it, he makes the case for minimizing electronic entertainment, perhaps one show a week, and maximizing books, puzzles, board games, outdoor play, etc.  In the back of the book are booklists of great read alouds, with a synopsis of recommended books. I have had comments from one of the aunts and grandma that when my kids watch a lot of television, they become comotose.  Not only that but they struggle more in school when they get too much electronic entertainment.   

     Sometimes the challenge with older students enjoying independent reading is the transition from picture books to chapter books.  I first faced this as a public school teacher of third grade students. I knew part of the hurdle was to inspire them with great literature.  I deliberated over which set of books to read to my third graders. A continuing series would be great. Since I probably would not be able to finish the series in nine months, they would hopefully be inspired to complete the series on their own. What would be fascinating, yet different? What would prepare them for the future? Hmmm, how were my previous fifth graders least prepared when I taught them?  Hmmmm, sadly, American history.  How could I best prepare my third graders, in an interesting way, for American history in fifth grade?  Then I hit upon a favorite from my childhood, The Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I knew a lot of background information that I could easily incorporate into unit studies. Also, I've actually been to her husband, Almonzo's house,  in upstate New York near the Canadian border.  I had plans to bring  to life the story of a pioneer girl who lived in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, then traveled by covered wagon to Indian Territory, Minnesota and South Dakota. She endured plagues, blizzards, and saw a railroad and a town built from scratch. She has inspired me to have the Declaration of Independence read aloud every July 4th, like in the Independence Day celebrations she attended.   

     My new class of third graders arrived and I quickly saw that they were terrified of chapter books. It didn't help that the new school librarian told them they could only check out picture books, because they were not old enough to read chapter books. That was preposterous!   I told the students they COULD read chapter books. They merely contain more words on the page and fewer pictures.  That meant there was more of an adventure to savor! I opened Little House in the Big Woods (Book 1 in the series) and reeled them in to the historic past. By the time we were halfway through Little House on the Prairie(Book 2 in the series), they were enthralled. They started asking the librarian to allow them to check out the Little House books.  She insisted they couldn't possibly read the chapter books. They insisted they definitely could.  She insisted they could not.  They wore her down. Starting in late September, 99% of my students had 1-2 Little House chapter books stacked on the corners of their desks every day to savor when they had completed seat work.  Interestingly, that school year, the Scholastic book club offered a Little House book in each month's order.  My students bought the entire series!  We did related art projects, which I'd post on the wall outside the classroom for all to see. Above the art work I made a USA map with a moveable Conestoga Wagon that traced Laura's journeys throughout the Midwest. I put the titles of the books at the locations where they occured.  This got the other students in the school excited! I had other teachers tell me that their students were jealous of my students who had fun traveling with Laura.  When the third grade received money to purchase classroom sets of books, the lead teacher looked at me and said, "Laurie, since you teach the Little House books, why don't we order classroom sets of the first two books in the series?"  Those books were often checked out by the other teachers in the school. By the end of the year, we got halfway through The Long Winter.  Sadly we said goodbye at the end of the year.  I gave them a synopsis of the rest of the series and eagerly they went home to begin summer reading, completing the series!

     Many homeschool moms already do this type of thing.  Perhaps the one key point I'd like to pull out, is the difference in outlook between the librarian and myself. She made it impossible. All I did was make it possible. Our greatest role as teachers is to be the students' greatest cheerleader. They need to know that they can.  Our outlook can make all the difference. If we make it exciting, if we say "they can", if we help them through the process, the students are more likely to try...and "accidentally" enjoy.

     That leads me to my own kids.  My daughter struggled with learning to read, yet finally got a handle on oral reading. My younger son practically taught himself to read.  During their early school years, we had our read aloud snuggle time with the Little House books.  These books were highly enjoyed and brought up a lot of conversation.  The time came to transition my kids from picture books to chapter books. I looked for books that would match not only their interests, but also their reading ability. My son enjoyed trains, so I introduced him to The Boxcar Children. When he first saw them he wanted me to read them out loud to him. No, I wanted him to read it independently.  He said it was too many words and not enough pictures. I replied that's because it had more adventure. Curious, he finally read the first book and got hooked. In fact, he got so hooked, he would read nothing but The Boxcar Children. His favorite character was a boy in the story who has the same name he does. These kids became his motivation for everything. If the Boxcar Children did something, he had to do it. If the Boxcar Children said it, it was so.  I began to worry. I had created a monster! How to motivate him to read something else? He was open to my reading other books aloud, but he'd only read the Boxcar Children. When we started Tapestry of Grace, I feared he would mutiny on reading the literature books. Remember I said we are the students' greatest cheerleader? In private I worried; in public I excitedly talked about the books. His first TOG literature book was The Golden Goblet. It was a hit! Every year I ask him what his favorite literature book is. Every year he tells me, all of them. Except this year. When we studied Napolean, he was not a fan of this man.  For literature he was supposed to read an actual primary source account of the Napoleonic Wars, called The Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier.  Because this book was building a wall, I took it off his reading list. That is the first time I have done that. (Remember that TOG is flexible and be careful to choose your battles. Adjust the book choices to fit your kids, but keep an element of challenge.)  Now that we know that my son's favorite actor at Colonial Williamsburg portrays Napoleon in his "free time", and we've seen him portray Napoleon at Poplar Forest with Thomas Jefferson, I am hoping my son might be more open minded in reading this book over the summer. The Napoleonic Wars were huge in history. I told my kids that we had to learn about Napoleon because they will never stop hearing about him.  I don't think a single week has gone by in school (Year 3), when he hasn't come up. I don't think we've watched a single movie about the 1800's that did not mention him. Friday nights are usually movie nights around here, and we usually watch a movie related to the historical era we are studying. Every week it seems we hear about Napoleon and we all laugh, "There he is again!"  Because Napoleon was a major influence on the world, for better or for worse, I'd like my son to read this book...at least someday.

     For my daughter, I chose the American Girl series which she is still a fan of.  However, she didn't read independently. I did everything I could think of to motivate her to read silently.  Despairing, I finally thought of DEAR (Drop Everything and Read).  One afternoon I called the kids down to the living room with a book they'd enjoy reading for 30 minutes.  I set the timer. (Can't argue with a timer.)  They were not allowed to leave for any reason during that time. They could not leave to get a drink, or go to the bathroom, or to get another book.  They had to stay in the living room with me, the entire time, reading the book. It could not be a school book. It had to be a non-school book. (I would not allow comic books either. The point is to have them read chapter books.  Of course younger children can enjoy picture books.)  Oh, and here is the key to DEAR, I read a book too!  Not a school related book. Not a magazine. Not a newspaper.  Not the computer. A chapter book!  I could not leave the room during DEAR anymore than my kids could.  I ignored the telephone. I read. This is an opportunity to model that Mom reads for fun. How often do the kids see me reading things that I HAVE to read?  How rarely do they see me reading a book for pure enjoyment?  In truth, I have done very little of that since before college. This became my favorite time of the day. It was incredibly soothing and relaxing in the midst of a busy day to pull apart from a hectic schedule to lay down on the sofa and enjoy a trip to other lands in other times.  My son quickly got engrossed in his book. My daughter tried to avoid the book for the first two days. When she saw that I was firm, and she realized she could be forever bored out of her gourd 30 minutes a day unless she read a book, she started reading independently. Today, she and my son both rarely go anywhere without a book in hand to read silently.  Another important rule is that no comprehension questions may be asked by the teacher to the students.  The students need to have reading material they can enjoy without worrying about "measuring up."   If comprehension questions are asked of every single book they read, they are likely to quit reading for fun.    

     How about transitioning readers of any type into the numerous historical books that are used in the TOG curriculum?  For months before we began TOG, I raved over the historical books being more interesting than dry textbooks.  My daughter is compliant, eager to please me, so she willingly dove into the historical books, answering the accountability and thinking questions at the Dialectic level. She has needed some guidance in making connections between historical facts during our Socratic Discussions, but she has progressed. Although my son is a deep thinker, quickly makes connections and is an excellent reader, the historical books are not his favorite. He tends to stall on them. Some books he likes better than others so he reads them more avidly. Nevertheless, he finds a few of them sheer drudgery to read, which slows him down. For that, I help him to focus on the big picture. 

        To motivate my kids in the details of school, I have them look at the big picture.  What do they want to be when they grow up? Of course this may change, but their desires now can help them work their way through things that may not be fun to them now.  My daughter wants to be a teacher and my son wants to be a lawyer.  Both of those require college.  Where would they like to go to college?  What are the requirements? I line up their coarse work to help them achieve their goals. They know that. Also we look at motivating Bible verses.  They have hearts to obey God, so verses are the most impacting to them. Then I had them make posters of pictures of their career goals, college of their choice and verses of their choice. Now my son, in particular, has motivation to do the difficult things.  Furthermore, he was greatly encouraged by one of the actors at Colonial Williamsburg last summer, and that has helped him to persevere.  Despite not enjoying certain history books, he likes the new found knowledge. He is a regular junior Patrick Henry, expounding at great length aboaut his ideas, whenever he has a captive audience.  I often wish I could go back in time to visit with Patrick Henry's mother to compare notes. 

     My kids are still learning to love reading.  When we pile up in the car, they always have books with them, usually school books if they have school work to do. However if school work is caught up, they always bring a fun book to enjoy on the drive. As long as they keep doing that, I feel as though we are making progress. Hopefully they have a love of reading that will last a lifetime.

    Doomed to happen at the end of each school year, there are homeschool moms who ask if they can condense, postpone or even skip the final weeks of their TOG year plan.  Outside commitments, illness, and moves from Texas to Virginia cause school to seep into the fun of summer. (That last one describes me.) Public schools have the same problem.  The beauty of homeschooling is that the schedule can be flexible so we can finish well.  Even though I am now in the same boat, and I am a bit worn down from our hectic unpredictable schedule of selling a house, moving, househunting, moving into a new house, unpacking, making the house one's own with personal touches, and dealing with paperwork galore, a mom can only get completely worn out!   Nevertheless, I am determined to conquer completion of the school year.

     Completing the school year is a privilege to me.  When I was a student, I rarely got to finish a text book.  In math, I never thoroughly studied fractions or decimals or percents. Higher maths were so complex, I'm not sure what I missed. In history, everything beyond WWII was a blur, as we raced to the end.  Etc, etc, etc.  As a student, I enjoyed learning, but grew increasingly frustrated when we didn't finish the books.  What was the rest of the story? 

     Homeschooling was an opportunity to take advantage of time.  Although my goal has always been to finish the school year by Memorial Day, we are usually finishing in June.  This year in particular, it isn't so bad for my kids, because they have had lots of down time, or mini-vacations, in between their studies.

       While driving to Virginia they saw more snow than they ever saw in their entire life! While house hunting, they learned things like short sales, foreclosures, loans, closing costs, inspections, and walk throughs.  When the inspector met them, he said he can always tell who the homeschoolers are.  Other kids have to have a video device to entertain them. Homeschoolers get involved in the inspection process and ask lots of questions.

     While waiting for the house to close the kids got to take trips to Civil War battlefields, the Marine Corps Museum, Washington DC and Colonial Williamsburg. 

     They did books in between but went full force once we moved into the house. Now they are near completion. They have completed math and science.  They have Tapestry of Grace left to finish.  They are working on that full time, since the other subjects are done, except Latin which is on hiatus. Latin can wait. It is a dead language after all. It will still be the same when we get back to it. It is only a three year program, which we still have time to complete. 

   Last week my kids did 3 weeks of TOG. This week they have 2 more weeks done and I have just written up the plans for the final week, which I hope they can read tomorrow and then we can have Socratic Discussion on Saturday. That leaves literature for both.  My daughter has 10 weeks of literature to do. I might skip a lot of this, but she is in 9th grade and taking Rhetoric.  As much as she has struggled with learning over the years, she is amazingly picking up literary analysis. She wants to become a school teacher for about third grade. Yet because of this gift, I have told her she should consider a degree in language arts.  I'll leave the final decision to her, but I don't think she'd even consider it unless I said something.  She always surprises me with what she picks up in the Classics.  Therefore, it's important to persevere. However I did skip, or actually replace some books. Since she read Uncle Tom's Cabin, I took out Huckleberry Finn and Great Expectations. Looking through the notes, I don't see how they carry the same depth she got with Uncle Tom's Cabin. Besides, we can always listen to those on tape. Because she always enjoys poetry, I kept all the poetry.  My son has a mere stack of literature books to read.  He never minds that! My daughter has 2 weeks of philosophy to do and 5 weeks of government.  Why persevere?  

   Perseverence is more than checking off a list.  My son is in 7th grade and my daughter is in 9th.  They are preparing for college. This is my daughter's last year with Year 3 with me and as it is she is doing dialectic history. Whenever I find European history in the Rhetoric section, I lecture the notes to her so she has some background to fall back on.  A strong foundation is key for success in college, voting, and career.  If she becomes a teacher, she'll use this information. My son wants to attend Patrick Henry College, which has a rigorous school.  He needs to be well prepared.  Then he wants to become a lawyer, join the USAF JAG corps, then become president of the  United States.

     If I were to skip the last unit of Year 3, they'd miss out on the era of 1876-1900.  That's immigration, labor unions, Andrew Carnegie, Teddy Roosevelt, American Imperialism, Hawaii, and the Spanish American War.  All of this is going to build and lead in to our next era of study when we move to Year 4.  We are now sensing the foreshadowing of WWI. When I was in school I learned WWI started because Archduke Ferdinand was shot. Although true, it goes deeper than that.  Historically, it goes back in time, to countries that didn't get along with each other. Why didn't they get along? Study TOG Years 1-3! =)   

     When we did year 1, we finished the end of June.  I know a lot of moms who want to condense or skip the final weeks of year 1, which is Ancient Rome, ready to start the summer.  I've heard a lot of moms say that 9 weeks of Ancient Rome were not important. Hmmmm, I don't know about that. Although 9 weeks is long, it is also meaty.  Ancient Rome is exceedingly full of history.  It's the basis of our government today. Ancient Rome is the story of Romulus and Remus, power hungry Caesars, a humble Cincinnatus, persecuted Christians, and then the split of the Roman Empire.  It sets the stage to understand the drama of the Middle Ages, which unfolds in Year 2 Unit 1.    

     I am already predicting the fizzle for the end of year 4, which takes us into the present after the Cold War.  Since we live in this era, we may think it easy material to skip. However this will be the perfect opportunity to reflect on 4 years of studying World History from the beginning of time, and apply lessons learned to the  present. As Patrick Henry says, history repeats itself.  He also says we can predict the future by looking back at the past.  I'm already scheming how we'll play this out in our final unit celebration.

         However, the end of year unit that most saddens me that gets skipped, is year 2 unit 4, which covers the 18th century when the French and Indian War and the American Revolution were fought, the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights were written, and we had our first president of the United States of America.  This is pivotal in World History. If end of year units must be skipped or condensed, I plead that it only be done with Years 1, 3 and 4. The end of Year 2 though is essential to understanding history today. Everything before year 2 unit 4 leads up to our government's founding.

     James Madison poured himself into a wealth of books, studying the governments of yore studying their strengths and weaknesses. He immersed himself into the arguments of philosphers who made the case for the freedom of man. Compiling the strengths, he organized the plan for government he felt would be the most balanced that would not only represent the people, but also have to answer to the people.  This is the plan that was presented and slightly modified at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, giving us a "government of the people, by the people, for the people."

    I strongly believe that of all the eras of history, the 18th century is pivotal.  Yet it's difficult to skip any of history.  It creates gaps, which interrupts the flow, causing the rest of the story to not quite make sense.

     Understandably though, there are times that something must be done about the end of year fizzle.  Although other homeschoolers certainly have the freedom to decide what to do with the fizzle, if they ask for my advice, I usually recommend stacking up the books and letting the kids read, read, read.  After all, isn't that part of what summer is all about, reading and swimming pools?  It was for me growing up. Skip the discussions.  Have a Bookworm Cafe during lunch. Talk about what was fascinating. Enjoy. When the next year is picked up in full force, and something from the previous unit is referenced, the kids will say, "Oh I remember reading that!"  A historic connection can then be made. However, if at all possible, I do recommend trying to do the discussions with the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights.  I am working hard to restrain myself here, because the American Revolution and events leading up to it is my favorite period in history.  To skip the biographies of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Lafayette...(the list could go on and on) would be a sorrowful loss. We purposely spent extra time on this unit, because it was so fascinating we didn't want to miss anything. Also it was great preparation for our summer vacation to Colonial Williamsburg, Mount Vernon, Washington DC, Montpelier and Monticello.       

     My kids are motivated to finish well. As previously mentioned, they had lots of down time during the move. We continue to take breaks. We've had several get togethers with friends in the last week. We have our hotel booked for an exciting upcoming event at Colonial Williamsburg. I'd take my kids to the pool but something I have learned about Virginia, is that it rains a lot here!  Instead we are enjoying walks and bike rides between raindrops, feeling the cool breeze, enjoying the tall green trees, looking at the newest beautiful flowers to grace the area, while listening to the woodpecker peck in the distance.  We are not deprived by not yet being done with school.  When the end of the school year threatens to cause us to fizzle, we remember that it is a privilege to be able to finish well.

     Last March the friends in Maryland we were staying with took us into Washington DC on the metro, to teach how it works. My son had a blast. He had always wanted to ride one of these.  I was incredibly thankful they showed us how to use it, because I had always been overwhelmed with the idea. We used it one other time since, to go to the Cherry Blossoms and rode it like pros thanks to them!  However, I have decided I do not like the metro. I do not like being underground. I do not like watching the lights flash by, making me dizzy and causing me to lose my balance, due to my lack of balance nerve.  Also, all that time underground made me feel like those miserable cave creatures in the George McDonald books. Every time I leave the metro and enter fresh air and sunlight I want to scream and dance for delight! (I'm shy so that's saying a lot!) However I am sure that one of these days I will take the kids into DC to see some of the sites on the metro. I'm just not a city gal. Nevertheless I do want to enjoy some of exciting stuff DC has to offer.    

     The day our friends took us on the metro, we went to the Smithsonian and spent some time at the newly renovated American History Museum. Although I had this on our to-do list last summer so that we could see the Star Spangled Banner, I was forced to cross it off my list.  The museum was closed for renovations.  I was extremely disappointed. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine we'd be living in the area and I'd have an opportunity to actually see this historic flag.  

     Part of the renovation process was to make this fragile flag accessible at all times for viewing.  Before, it was raised and then lowered at different times of the day, in order to protect the fragile fibers.  Now it is in a special environment and there are no long lines to wait for viewing like there used to be.  At least at the time we went, we walked right in. 

     The flag was prodigious! Even despite all the snippets that have been cut and given away over the years as souvenirs in the 19th century, it was impressively huge. Being a seamstess, I couldn't imagine sewing anything that massive. I stood there for a long time marveling at the craftsmanship and the history it bore.  Finally moving on, I felt immersed in the battle at Fort McHenry as I read and looked at the displays around the flag. When we moved to the next room, my kids and I played with the interactive flag to discover all the information the flag holds in it's tears, rips and stains. Well, I suppose I can make like a mole in the metro for a while to be able to see fascinating pieces of history up close, like the Star Spangled Banner.. 

     Today someone asked me more specific questions about how to implement IEW with TOG. Since I often answer the same questions each year, I thought I'd post my answers here for others to easily access.

     When I got my TWSS I read through it and found a chart suggesting a time frame for using it. Basically, there are 9 units.  There are 9 months in a traditional school year. Therefore, schedule one unit each month. Because my kids were 10 and 12 when we started, they were the right age to do all of the units in one year. As you go through each unit, there are suggestions for how to extend the unit for older kids. Furthermore, it has guidelines on how far to go with the younger age set. 

     The basics are taught in the beginning units and are constantly reviewed while advancing through the rest of the units. The units tend to alternate between expository and creative. The reason for this is to give the kids a break with creative writing assignments after a month with more analytical work. It is extremely important not to get bogged down in any one unit for months, waiting for perfection. Simply move on to another unit and the kids will continue to improve each month, while continuing to learn interesting new things. It can get boring staying in any one unit for too long.

     Another concern I've found moms to have is the time required to watch the TWSS DVDs.  I completely understand how this is a huge sacrifice of time for busy moms to try to fit into a busy schedule.  However writing is one of the most important skills we can teach our students. They will always need to be able to communicate, not only in written form, but also orally. Both go hand in hand. Making time to watch these DVDs to learn how to implement this program should be a priority.  For me it was best to wait for everyone to go to bed before I watched the TWSS.  No interuptions.  Watching an entire unit with my TWSS, notebook paper and pen in hand, I took notes and did the assignments. I only had to do this once a month, so that wasn't so bad. Also Andrew is entertaining so it certainly wasn't drudgery.     

     TWSS was initially designed to give teachers the big picture of how to use the structural models with any conceivable writing assignment.  Usborne books are loaded with descriptive paragraphs for each of the colorful pictures on the pages. TOG recommends a lot of Usborne books for spine texts. My kids are not fans of these books because the information is disjointed instead of flowing from one idea to another, and I can't blame them. However they are ideal for learning how to KWO.  We have an Usborne book that we used when we studied Ancient Greece.  Sometimes I assigned the paragraph I wanted them to KWO, because I wanted them to master a major historical concept or cultural aspect.  For example, when we studied Ancient Greece, I had them write about their special pottery.  Other times I let them choose.  They would KWO on day 1 and write the paragraph on day 2.  In the beginning, I would help them with the KWO.  I would write on the whiteboard while they copied onto their notebook paper. We would read the paragraph and discuss it together, agreeing on how to KWO, writing it out as we went.  (Andrew does this very thing on the DVDs of the TWSS.  Bascially, after watching the DVDs, I would teach my kids in the same way Andrew taught us on the DVDs.) Then the kids would form sentences from their KWO.  (Andrew uses this on the DVD to teach speech giving skills.) On day 2, I would teach the kids a stylistic technique and challenge them to use it in the paragraph they would write from the KWO.  After doing several of these the first few weeks, I let them try the KWO on their own.  After my kids do their KWO, I have them form it into sentences for me. I listen to make sure they stay on topic. This is the best time to catch any mistakes and redirect them. If it flows well, they can put the KWO into their writing notebook. Then on day 2 they write their paragraph.

     Before they learned how to write 5 paragraph essays, I let them make pop up books for their single paragraphs, to make them more special.  Here is one my son made when he was 10.

 This was my daughter's when she was 12.

 Here's one my son did on a comet seen by the Mesopotamians.  He even made a moveable comet.

     Since I am often asked how I incorporate IEW with TOG, I decided to post my son's latest paper. During the move and house hunting in March, my kids read a non-TOG book, Lincoln: A Photobiography, during our Civil War studies. Since we were on the road much of March, driving to Virginia from Texas, and then driving several times a week from Maryland to Northern Virginia to house hunt, I knew it would be unrealistic to expect any writing assignments to be done. Therefore, while we moved into our new house, when I would be busy with unpacking, I wanted my kids to make up for lost time by doing major writing assignments.  For my son, I assigned a super essay on Abraham Lincoln.  It could have been better organized thematically, had I any wits about me in the midst of moving boxes. Even though he prefers to work independently, he did come to me with a few questions when he got stuck. As a result, this paper is pretty much his project. He has had 3 years of learning different structural writing models from IEW.  Since he was assigned the super essay, he merely went to his writing notebook (after I unpacked it) and looked up the notes on how to do this. Then he presented it in costume during our Civil War unit celebration.

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   There is an interesting question at the TOG forum, about permission to start teaching the curriculum in the 1800's instead of the ancients. She doesn't enjoy the ancients, so she wants to start with her favorite era. Homeschoolers of other history curriculums also weigh in the pros and cons of which era to begin with, especially when starting new curriculum.

     Of course, each homeschooler is free to begin where they think best. Even college history classes are not taken in sequence from the beginning of time to the present. Furthermore, I have known many perfectly content TOGgers who have started in the middle. When we started TOG three years ago, I knew we had to start with the Ancients, even though I'm not personally keen on the era myself. My favorite is the American Revolution.  However my kids and I were asking too many questions about the foundations of our country's history, that kept taking us to the past, where everything was sort of murky and confusing. My 9 year old son would ask questions about how our government is structured, as we studied the Constitution, and I'd say, "Well....I know it has something to do with democracy in Ancient Greece vs the republic in Ancient Rome, although I don't understand the difference between the two."  My feeble attempt to answer his question resulted in a look of discouragement on his face. Oh dear, jumping into the American History text book in 4th grade was losing him. Promising him an Old World History text for 5th grade was not exciting him. There were too many gaps on the pages. That's about the time I found TOG.

     Although I was not excited to learn Ancient History, I was excited about how it would fill in the blanks. Did it ever! Surprisingly we had a blast! We studied Ancient Egypt and were surprised at how that made the Bible make more sense, studying in context with Moses.  Therefore the Mosaic law made more sense. Studying the Mesopotamian cultures helped us understand the Middle East more today, where a lot hasn't changed. The ground work was being laid for Ancient Greece, Alexander the Great and then Rome.  That was TOG Year 1.

     Then we started Year 2 and I wasn't sure about studying the Middle Ages. They were sort of dark. Transitioning into the Middle Ages from the Fall of Rome turned on light bulbs in our mind. Understanding the background, reasoning, purpose and need for the Feudal System helped us to enjoy it immensely. As we studied this fascinating era, we quickly saw the future downfall.  As England became more "modern" we watched France and Russia continue to struggle with their Feudal Systems. Obviously England became the powerhouse, whereas the other countries were setting up a fiasco in their future. We learned about the Norman, William the Conqueror who took over England and forevermore set up tensions between Britain and France. 

    Then we entered the Renaissance, the Reformation, the exploration of the New World and the opening to new ideas. We finally got to my favorite era and we camped out for extra weeks, studying George Washington, Lafayette, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration of Independence, and the battles of the American Revolution.  We went into far more depth than TOG took us, because I felt this era was pivotal. Besides it was the most fun era we had encountered. As we poured over the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, the lessons from Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, the Magna Charta, and Oliver Cromwell gave more meaning to the decisions the Founding Fathers gave.  When we come back to this at the Rhetoric level, we will understand more when we study the philosophers of the time. There is always more to learn. 

     Then we went on vacation to Colonial Williamsburg, where we would be able to be more interactive now that we understood more of the big picture.  The most exciting time, which validated our taking our history studies from the beginning, was a meeting with the Marquis de Lafayette.  After an incredible presentation, the guests were allowed to ask questions. My 12 year old son asked if the tensions between the British and French during the American Revolution and the French and Indian War goes all the way back to the Hundred Years War.  Lafayette was speechless.  Then he complimented  my son, calling him "the Young Historian," before launching into a terrific explanation of my son's question.  We saw Lafayette two more times and my son had more questions for him. My son has asked more questions of him the two days we saw him than he has for all the other Founding Fathers put together, in all the visits we have made.  Lafayette is more elusive so we don't get to see him as often as the others.

     My son has transitioned from being totally bored with a textbook, to having an interest in history. He still isn't a history buff. Picking up a history book still isn't his favorite thing in the world. But after he reads it he is excited about all the connections he can wow people with. And I really thank Lafayette for calling him "the Young Historian". That story gets a lot of mileage around here, as I use it to encourage him to persevere with those history books. Crafts, field trips and other hands on activities are great, and we certainly do a lot of them. However there comes a time when one needs to read the information and process it themselvs.  My son sees this and actually appreciates it. The results now are far better than his previous sense of frustration at textbooks leaving too many gaps on the pages. Furthermore, this "Young Historian" is able to make the connections between historical events because we started our history studies from the top.

    As I mentioned in my previous post, the other night the phone rang while I was cooking dinner.  I picked up the phone and noticed from the caller ID, that it was Colonial Williamsburg.  Why would Colonial Williamsburg call me?  While juggling cooking tools, I gave a cheery hello!

     He was extremely friendly and chatty and I'm not quite sure if he was teasing me about my cheerfulness or distractedness, or what.  I then explained I was multi-tasking, filling dinner plates with food and trying to focus on what he was saying. He laughed and assured me he wouldn't take much of my time.  He was calling about my membership to the Colonial Wiliamsburg Foundation and asking if I'd renew my support. Of course! I just couldn't process any decisions at the moment and he assured me that paperwork was coming in the mail, for me to make final decisions with. He asked if I was still at the same address and I laughed inside.  I hope so!  We just moved in about 6 weeks ago!  I still wasn't sure if he was teasing me about my cheerfulness or distractedness, but he ended the phone call with a "God bless."  

     For some time I've been wanting to blog about CWF memberships, but I wasn't sure how to approach it. This phone call seems to be the perfect lead in. Having deliberated over becoming a member for years, I finally joined the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation last year. It is common for me to agonize with decision making, unless I have extremely strong feelings about something.  Well, something happened last summer that gave me strong feelings.  

     While planning our vacation to CW last year, I had received  a free copy of the Colonial Williamsburg Journal. With a busy summer, I had forgotten all about it. When we returned from vacation to CW, I was digging through my magazines and surprise! There it was!  I flipped through it and it was more fascinating now that I recognized some of the people in it.  My kids liked looking for their favorite actor. Watching them look for him reminded me of "Where's Waldo?"  I could subscribe to the journal, and at the same time support the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. It would cost $35. Apparently, I can also receive discounts on CW lodging. I've not tried this yet. Furthermore, I got a free gift. This cuddly stuffed animal represents Mary, a CW colt that was born a few years ago. 

      I also got a free Christmas ornament, a gold plated scroll work styled after the Palace Garden gate.  When the journals arrive in the mail, I've caught my kids scanning the pages, looking for their favorite actor.  I've also caught my husband actually looking through it and enjoying some of the articles with our son.  That is huge because my husband is neither a history buff, nor a bookworm. He is more of a hands-on guy. I've even used some of the articles for school lessons, because they have perfectly dovetailed with various topics. 

     Something I debated about for the last several years, was whether to donate $35 or $100.  Colonial Williamsburg Foundation offers us benefits for being members.  With at least a $100 membership, one can enter the St. George Tucker House. Apparently they have light refreshments and they even have special programs...perhaps Thomas Jefferson or the Marquis de Lafayette, baroque guitar, spinning, quilting, a garden tour, even art programs. I didn't know if we'd have time to use this with so much other stuff to do on our vacation last year, so I did not get the membership. But now we live in Virginia and we are averaging 2 trips to CW a month. I think this would be fun!

      I must admit, if it weren't for something we found out at Colonial Williamsburg last summer, I might still be on the fence about becoming a member. It can take me a long time to make a decision, while I think deeply about all the factors.  While we were at Revolutionary City, my husband chatted with one of the directors.  When he told me about the conversation, I was disheartened. To put it bluntly, Colonial Williamsburg, like all of us, have been hit hard by the economy.  Tourist numbers are down. All revenue is down.  I determined right then and there to do what I could to help preserve this incredible place that brings history to life, that teaches us how to look at the past so that we can make wise decisions for the future.  History is cyclical.  We don't have to sit around and be affected by our government.  In days of yore, people had no choice but to be subservient to the government.  The Founding Fathers put together our representative replublic, so that we can have an impact on our government. To paraphrase what Benjamin Franklin said, Can we keep it? It is our right and duty to have our government answer to us. Colonial Williamsburg helps the guests to see how they can do this, by giving examples of 18th century events that mirror current events.

     That is why I decided to join the CWF. My membership amount is not huge. It is what I can budget.  In addition, I try to help a little more here and there as I can. I am going to buy Christmas gifts anyway. I make purchases at CW. I am going to buy plants anyway.  I buy a few at the CW colonial nursery.  

     Even though I've tried to do these little things, I hoped I could do something bigger.  Hmmm, I have a blog. With the investment of a little time, perhaps posting about Colonial Williamsburg would help others see what a wonderful place it is to visit.  Simply because I love Colonial Williamsburg, I probably would have gone crazy posting about them anyway after last year's vacation.  Now I had a stronger purpose behind the posting. Amazingly, I've had several e-mails and comments from people telling me they've used my CW posts to help them plan their vacation to CW. Sometimes I get e-mails asking for more information. I know of two people off the top of my head who have purchased the CW Electronic Field Trips because of my blog.  Those are only the people I know about. I am always surprised when I get e-mails from various individuals, who finally decide to speak up and comment about something.  My family loves to hear stories of who have stopped by my blog. Who knows who is quietly reading behind the scenes?

    Like everyone else hit hard by the economy, Colonial Williamsburg has had to make extremely difficult decisions.  I was reading in the newsroom on their website recently, that they have had to tighten things on the employee side in order to stay within the budget.  Yet they want to continue to provide quality programs for the guests. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation has high standards, knowing full well that they hold history, yesterday's and today's, in the balance of a fluctuating economy.  Pursuing excellence through programs, services and products, they have provided not only bountiful entertainment and memories for my family, but also they are teaching us applicable lessons from yesterday for the present.  Last night at dinner, my son started talking about some economic issues from his history reading in school.  My husband replied with some comments about the present economy. My daughter jumped into the conversation by saying, "Patrick Henry says that history repeats itself." She went on to make a connection between my son's topic and my husband's topic.

     Preserving our country's heritage through the restoration of the colonial capital, Colonial Williamsburg has given us a valuable treasure. At one time we thought a visit to the historic area and trades was merely a fascinating peak into the past.  Now that CW has allowed that treasure to spill out through Revolutionary City, we learn how to apply the lessons learned in the pivotal points of history today.  I do not want to ever lose this national treasure.

     Progress seems small around here, since moving in. Actually most of our work has centered around paperwork and the recent Year 3 Unit 3 celebration.  My husband and I have our driver's licenses and the cars have new license plates. We've found an orthodontist, who is more expensive than Mr. Wonderful Orthodontist we left in Texas. We've met the family doctor and have our perscriptions renewed.   I'm back in the groove of lesson planning, reading rhetoric literature and dialectic history.  I have the Year 3 Unit 4 celebration planned out.  My husband has replaced door knobs. He's fixed the ceiling in the garage from the leak. Hmmm, what else?  I can't remember. 

    One big change is that I got to grill tonight!  A few days after our household goods arrived, I unpacked the grill tools and began anticipating grilling meals.  Suddenly I realized the grill never arrived with the rest of the stuff. Unfortunately, I could not find it on the inventory.  I told my husband and he called the moving company. We realized they probably wouldn't do anything about it since it wasn't on the inventory, but we could try. Surprise, surprise, they knew what we were talking about! There was a grill left behind with the driver because it was untagged. The driver decided to keep it and give us cash. He told my husband to research a replacement price.  After reporting that, the driver added more money for the inconvenience, because this was taking weeks to get done. Now that we got a new grill, I threw a grilling meal together.

    This afternoon I defrosted chicken, which my husband was excited to grill. He got busy on a project and finally came to me and asked me to do the grilling. I looked through the refrigerator to see what sort of creative meal I could put together. Despite all of my cookbooks, I rarely use a recipe.  I decided to grill orange serrano marinated chicken and peaches, saute orange garlic sugar snap peas, and cook garlic polenta. Here is everything ready to cook. 

 When the chicken went on the grill, I boiled the marinade to use as a sauce. 

    Here is everything dished up. I tend to serve restaurant style to make sure everyone gets a decent portion of the healthy stuff!  There is leftover chicken for yummy sandwiches this week. Also there is leftover polenta that I can fry with parmesan cheese later this week.  We each took a plate and sat at the table on the deck.  This was our first meal at the patio table at this house.  It was wonderful to have grilled food again!  In San Antonio, I usually grilled at least once a day in warm weather, which was most of the year! 

Actually this was our second meal on the deck.  The first night we stayed at the house, our furniture had not yet arrived. So we sat on the deck to eat dinner, literally, since we had no patio furniture either.   

     After dinner we went for a walk for the first time in this beautiful neighborhood. Mostly everyone has a garden and we were getting lots of ideas! I can't get over how fragrant Virginia is!  We must have walked a couple of miles at least.  Pam, want me to join your walking club?

The latest blooms in our yard are the tiger lillies. 

Currently my husband and son have been working on moving rocks out of the "rock garden" under the deck to make a new flower bed in the shade.  My husband bought peat moss today and my son finished moving the rocks. Hopefully my husband can get the peat moss worked into the soil soon, so I can plant my bleeding heart from Colonial Williamsburg.  It has a reputation for spreading seeds, so I am planning a strategic placement!

     Speaking of Colonial Williamsburg, they called me tonight! I was busy cooking supper when I got the phone call. As I picked up the phone, I saw their name on the caller ID. Calling me?  I couldn't imagine why.  Well, before I get into it, I should really make that a separate blog entry.  It was a fun phone call, of course!  Stay tuned!

     It's that time again...preparing for the final unit celebration of the school year.  Yesterday I planned out our Year 3 Unit 4 studies and unit celebration.  All year long I've been dreading this unit. While contemplating the era, 1876-1900, I couldn't imagine anything fresh for presentations. As I dug into the year plan and talked to the kids about what they wanted to do, I kept hoping for new possibilities.

     All year my son has been waiting to be a cowboy. We "officially" were supposed to study cowboys withTOG during unit 3. I skipped it for several reasons.  We were in the middle of a move from Texas to Virginia and I wanted our spare time to focus on the presidents, Civil War, Reconstruction. etc.  Also the suggested book for cowboys are my kids' least favorite type of book because it is disjointed. Each set of pages has a theme, with numerous small pictures and small paragraphs for each picture. Why get bogged down when we are under a time crunch with resources we don't enjoy, when we are from Texas?  I taught my kids all about cowboys when we studied Texas history.  Nevertheless, my son has been anxious to be a cowboy. I told him that a better time frame to be a cowboy would be in unit 4, 1876-1900, the height and decline of the cattle drives.  My son has his costume all figured out so that I don't have to sew for him! I stumbled across all my cowboy notes and showed them to my son yesterday. We laid out a plan for his presentation, and we are excited about it. He's going to have terrific information to share.   Because of his character choice, I considered carrying on the theme with chuck wagon food. Hmmmm, I don't think so.  Being from Texas, I often serve "chuckwagon food." Also we've gone to Chuckwagon dinners before.  Nothing new there. I wondered if my daughter's character would be the key.

    My daughter has been waiting for this era because she's been wanting to be Anne of Green Gables. Hmmmm, I preferred that she do a more meaty topic.  However she has gotten behind in literature.  Besides, after the article I posted last night, I should set an example and let my daughter be who she wants to be.  Several years ago she did a research report on Canada and in the process, researched Lucy Maude Montgomery and Anne of Green Gables.  Since she knows Anne of Green Gables well, she will be more free to finish her history and literature.  The benefit to having her choose her own character, is that she is motivated to do a recitation on Alfred, Lord Tennyson's "Lady of Shallot." Since she will officially study this in Rhetoric Literature, I'll probably have her do a literary paper on it. Therefore, she still has some challenges.  After this decision, I began to consider food with the theme of  Anne of Green Gables, which goes hand in hand with a tea party (and cordial wine).  Even though we had a tea party at our last unit celebration, I was still leaning in this direction since I didn't think anyone I chose to interpret would hold fresh options.

    Hopelessly, I scanned the TOG yearplan and considered the list of historical people of the era.  Hmmm, there were mostly men listed. Then my eye caught Hawaii's last monarch, Queen Liliuokalani!  Even though my hair is the wrong color, she is the historical person I have decided to represent. My daughter laughed when she found out, because my hair color is better suited to be Anne of Green Gables.  I used to live in Hawaii, so I am excited to dig into a bit of history about my old home.  Furthermore, this is the obvious freshness I was looking for!  I'll let you imagine the possibilities. 

     Since these decisions were finally made, I started planning the costumes for me and my daughter.  I have one costume pattern for 1895 with puffy sleeves, like Anne of Green Gables adored. Perfect! There is a famous painting of Queen Lilioukalani wearing an elegant black dress that is sleeveless. Because the rest of the cut of the dress is similar to the pattern,  I decided to use the same pattern but not use the sleeves.  With the costumes planned out, it was time to shop.   

     The small nearby fabric store did not have what we needed, so I drove another 30 miles east to the chain's mega-store.   We found a set of water-stained moire taffetas for her to choose from.  (These are not actually water damaged. It's actually the name of the fabric.)  They were also 50% off so they were a definite possibility. We walked up and down the rest of the aisles, but I wasn't finding any other options. My daughter did though. I told her we needed a rather stiff type of elegant fabric. She found a set of regular taffeta with nicer colors than the moire taffeta.  Also this was cheaper than the moire at the sales price! She chose a two-tone pink color.

     Then I searched for elegant black taffeta for me.  I wasn't finding anything. In despair, I began to worry I may have to rethink everything.  Then my daughter found a cool two tone black taffeta, the same fabric family as hers, stored on a different shelf. I am glad I brought her with me! I won't need as much as the pattern calls for, because I don't need the puffy sleeves. I decided to have the amount cut that the pattern called for. The extra will be perfect for pillows in our bedroom. The brown side will perfectly complement the silvery watery blue comforter I had recently purchased.  My husband wants lots of decorative pillows to add to the bed so this will work.

     Having our fabric cut was an interesting experience. There were two ladies cutting fabric for customers and I was the only one waiting.  I was told to get a number.  ???????  I never got a number at any fabric store in my life. We just wait in line. Oh well, when in Rome (or Northern Virginia) do as the Romans (or Virginians) do.  I got my number, continued standing in front of the table, got bored and my mind started wandering.  Then I noticed the clerk had finished cutting fabric for her customer and was calling for something over the intercom. As I tried to mentally process what she was doing, she waved and called me over. She was calling me over the intercom while I was standing a few feet from her in plain sight!  Also I was still the only customer waiting to have fabric cut!  I thought it was funny how she insisted on the number/intercom system.

     As she cut my black/brown taffeta, she asked what I was sewing. I told her it was a costume for me to be Queen Lilioukalani. She liked the sound of that name and asked me to repeat it.  Relishing the sound of the name, she asked me to repeat it again for her co-worker. She said if she had another daughter, she would name her that. (I wonder if she'll remember the name? She had never heard of this queen before.)  Then she cut my daughter's pink fabric and asked what that was going to be.  My daughter told her it would be her Anne of Green Gables costume. The co-worker had heard that name before.  Then my daughter told her she would recite "The Lady of Shallot" and that she had done "Charge of the Light Brigade" with the last costume. Incredulous, the clerks asked, "Why would you do this?" I told them that we homeschool and every nine weeks we pick our favorite historical or literary character to recreate, with period food, music, crafts and recitations. They were speechless. Then they asked to see the pattern. I showed them how I was using the same pattern, but reworking it for my costume.  Impressed, the clerk asked me to say the name one more time.  I had no idea that name would get so much mileage. 

     Often I am asked how I plan unit celebrations. First the how is wrapped up in the why.  With my goals established, I involve my kids in the planning process. 

     Because TOG is an intense curriculum with great thoroughness and depth, TOG students already have a strong foundation of knowledge of key people and events in the historic era studied.  This is their chance to have a choice! Furthermore the student is more likely to be motivated to excel in extra research for their presentations if they are given freedom of choice.  

     Usually my kids choose their favorite person from their history studies. One time my daughter chose a favorite character from her Rhetoric literature book, Sense and Sensibility. 

My son often chooses to be himself, but in another era. He has to do his research to create his character and this actually employs higher level thinking skills than merely becoming someone who lived in the past. Be open to possibilities!    

    My goal for a unit celebration is not only to have fun, but to attempt something challenging and different.  Homeschoolers have rare moments to use speaking skills.  Unit celebrations are a wonderful opportunity to let the kids have fun while trying out their speaking skills through a recitation, skit, speech, or presentation. Therefore speaking parts are required!  How do I choose? Start slowly. In the beginning, we gave a brief introduction to our characters and explained what was learned while showing off all the projects.  For the next unit celebration, I assigned a speech. A year later when we studied the Elizabethan Era, I started adding recitations. We had to quote Shakespeare!  Next time around, perhaps we can do a Shakespearan play! 

      I also try to coordinate the speaking parts with unique aspects of history.  For instance, when we learned about the Ancient Greeks, we had to do a play. We kept it simple, doing one of Aesops' Fables.  The kids made their own costumes for this. Since the primary costume of the Ancient Greeks was the mask, they wore simple clothes and embelllished masks.  Now when they happen to see the classic Greek masks, they always remember their Greek studies of the early theater.

When we come back to this in a few years, I'd like to try a classical Greek play. When we studied Ancient Rome, we learned that they used lots of rhetoric.  Therefore the kids wrote persuasive essays. I printed them out on parchment paper, we rolled them up into scrolls and they were read for the unit celebration. 

During our Ancient Rome unit, my son memorized a famous piece of rhetoric of the Apostle Paul.

When we come back to this era in a few years, they should be writing more substantial arguments with a thesis.  I'd like to work those in to the unit celebration and present them Roman style.  You can read the progression of the oral presentations by checking the links for each of our unit celebrations here.

     My kids are getting so comfortable with this, that now the sky is the limit. Don't overwhelm your kids. Don't have them do too many new things at once.  Let them work on one major skill each unit, and then showcase that for the unit celebration.

     Now that one speaking piece is scheduled for the unit celebration, what else?  Costumes!  I know, I know, not everyone is as crazy as I am for attempting to do so many period costumes in one year!  Some of my friends who do know how to sew but don't enjoy it or don't have the time have ebayed costume designers to sew for their kids. In the picture below, the kids in the middle are mine and I sewed those costumes. I made them simply, because I had recentlyy done the fancy Elizabethan ones. In answer to another friend's question, I'll share more about how I do the costumes in another post. I short cut whenever I can, because I am sewing 12 different costumes each year! Whew! The girls on each end are my friend's daughters. My friend, who can sew but doesn't enjoy it, ordered their costumes off of ebay.

    How do I lay my plans out on paper?  This is the brainstorming part. I use blank printer paper.  I jot down ideas while I go through the TOG yearplan, through our books, and I google a lot.  There are also links at the TOG website. The sky is the limit.  Anything that inspires me I write down. The more I write, the more ideas I get. My wheels continue to turn as I go about the day and I go back and jot things before I forget them.  I do this at the beginning of each unit study. It helps me to plan for fun stuff each week, that could be used for the unit celebration. There are so many art projects from which to choose, yet we have a limited time. I try to narrow down the field by looking at projects that reflect the culture studied.  For example, when we studied the Ancient Hebrews, I knew understanding the layout of the tabernacle would be confusing. So we made one from scratch! 

When we studied the surrounding ancient cultures to Israel, we made our versions of their famous forms of art. We made friezes. 

When we went to Washington DC last summer, my kids were commenting on all the friezes and appreciating the craftsmanship. They knew how hard these were to make.

When we studied Ancient Greece, we studied the different columns. 

Now wherever we go, if they see a column, they say, "Mom!  There is a Doric column!" or "There is a Corinthian column!"

  We used to live in San Antonio, Texas and as many times as we went to the Alamo, imagine our surprise at our first trip back after studying columns. Did you know there are columns on the Alamo? 

When we studied Ancient Rome, we made mosaics.

When they saw the mosaics at the Library of Congress, they were impressed. Mosaics are not easy to do!  

When we studied the Middle Ages, we made an illuminated alphabet. Again, this was not easy. In Washingon DC last year the kids got to see the Gutenberg Bible and they could appreciate the craftsmanship.  So instead of coloring a mosaic, I'd encourage making a mosaic with broken tile and grout. These still decorate my kids' rooms. Those are the best projects I think. 

     A unit celebration has to have food!  There are kids' craft books that have recipes. Googling works. Sometimes my daughter goes through our books and lists the foods and cooking techniques we've read about (a major character in Egypt may have had lots of fish to eat).  Sometimes we create our own recipes. The Ancient cultures did lots of roasting.  The French boil their meat whereas the British roast their meat.  The British eventually used butter and the Mediterranean used olive oil.   It's been interesting what we have learned about food patterns over the years.  

    How do I plan the sequence of events?  This varies with each unit celebration. Basically we usually eat first because I am prediabetic and I HAVE to eat! We usually have a salad and a grilled chicken of some sort since those are free foods for my prediabetic blood stream.  Most cultures at least had that for food.  I can fill up on that and nibble on the rest of the goodies. Then I have energy to get through the evening.   Since we had a small dining room in the Texas house (we just moved to Virginia) we usually did our meals buffet style. Now I have a larger dining room but fewer guests (we left Grandma and Grandpa in Texas).  When we did our Medieval Feast we HAD to eat at the table. So we flip flopped the furniture between our living room and dining room. This was not easy moving big furniture through narrow spaces. But where there's a will there's a way.  For wall decor my daughter had made stained glass with tissue paper and black posterboard. (I try to keep things simple and inexpensive. My wheels are constantly turning.) I hung those in our windows to see the pretty stained glass.

    How do I personalize the unit celebration according to my kids' interests? My daughter likes to make jewelry so she always researches a typical piece of the period and we go to the craft store and figure out how to recreate it. If something completely new needs to be made, we might use a special clay that bakes and  then she paints it. My son always has a hat, a weapon it seems, and usually a noisemaker of some sort. He usually creates the props for his own costume. Recently he created a bayonet for his toy rifle for this Civil War unit celebration.

When he was a musketeer, he made a sword. That gave me an idea.  I found a web site that taught fencing. So he did a presentation on fencing moves. 

Then when he was Lafayette (not for a unit celebration but for a Colonial Williamsburg Electronic Field Trip project on Yorktown...this is getting contagious!) he enhanced his musketeer sword to look like Lafayette's. 

We had the wonderful opportunity to meet Lafayette a few months before in Colonial Williamsburg.

My son analyzed vacation photos of the sword Lafayette wore to upgrade his sword.  

My kids take piano lessons, so they always choose a piece that was written during the era studied to play. My son also plays the fife. We find a patriotic tune from the era for him to play.  

    On the big day, lay out all of the TOG books on a table.  Merely seeing that incredibly full table will give all of you a major feeling of accomplishment, while impressing the guests! On another table lay out your year plan and your kids papers,  AQs and TQs, maps, timelines, etc.  Showoff the work! They become part of the mini museum. 

If there are guests, write a little sign that says, "Welcome to _______________" and name the era and write the dates.  Put that in the entry way.

Don't have enough tables? Use those little round particle board tables with the 3-4 legs that screw in. I have lots of misc fabric that I use for table cloths. I buy fabrics on sale a lot.  I try to use rustic burlap type fabrics for the most ancient cultures. The fabric gets more sophisticated with the varying advancing cultures.

For the food table do a nice centerpiece typical of the era. Or buy lots of produce, typical of the era, to use as display.  When we did India and China, which was rich with spices, I poured little  piles out onto a plate for part of the display. 

Put out all the art work.

Decide on where the stage will be.  Have fun!  Did I leave anything out? Any questions? 

     With another unit celebration behind us, and wanting a break anyway from the move-in process into our new house/new area/new state, I was ready for a time of refreshment and rejuvenation.  That means none other than...a day at Colonial Williamsburg! A friend who works there highly recommended we visit on a day 2, since all three of our other visits, since we've moved to Virginia, were on day 1. She told me that there were many new scenes from what we  had seen last Aug.  Carefully checking the weather forecast, because there seems to be lots of rain in Virginia, I decided Wednesday would be the best day. Although Wednesday was looking to be hot and dry, Friday was looking to be cold and rainy.  

      My kids decided to wear their costumes this time.  As I handed my son his costume Wednesday morning, I told him to skip the stockings because the temperature would rise to 96 degrees.  Although he said okay, I found him at breakfast in full costume, stockings and all. He had a long list of reasons for wearing the stockings, which he summed up by saying if his favorite actor/interpretor at CW can withstand the heat to wear his full costume, so could he!  

     We did pretty well getting out of the house at 7:12am. It's a 2.5 hour drive and we got there just after Patrick Henry started speaking. My favorite time period in history is the American Revolution, partly because I see this as a pivotal moment in history.  Patrick Henry talks about this and I'm afraid I'm not going to get his words precisely correct. Before 1776, the people were servants of the government. After 1776, for the first time, a government was the servant to the people.  Yet it's not a democracy, which has always failed.  It is a democratic republic with three branches of government.  The branch with the greatest power is the people's branch, the legislative branch. Thomas Jefferson talks about this a lot too. 

     A question was asked about today's stimulus package put out by the government. Because history is cyclical, Patrick Henry explained one only needs to look at the past to see the future.  He told us about the stimulus packages of his day, known as the Stamp Act, Sugar Act and the Tea Act.          

     Did you know that Patrick Henry had lots of kids? He had 6 children by his first wife and 11 by his second wife.  He had 77 grandchildren. Then he thundered, "If some scoundrel in the future decides to portray me, he will meet at least one of my descendants every week!"  His presentation was standing room only and he had us all laughing throughout.

      Then for the first time,  we got to meet George Mason, who lives at Gunston Hall! Since we tried to buy a house on Gunston Hall Drive, we are now aware of George Mason!  George Mason wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which was actually the precursor to the Declaration of Independence. We got to discuss different rights. A lot of the questions from the audience revolved around slavery. It was interesting to hear the perspective of each of the delegates of the best way to end slavery.  

     The next scene was "What Holds the Future", a poignant scene about slave families being split up and sold at the auction block.  We saw the process of this scene being developed and saw parts of it performed in our EFT "Making History Live." Now we got to see the program in its entirety...and have our hearts ripped out in the process. The actors get a bit rough, so it isn't recommended for children.  

      Then we walked down to the Courthouse for another scene we've never seen before.   While waiting for that to start, I called my husband.  Once again he told me to call him whenever we were in front of a webcam.  lol  This new scene at the Courthouse, "Blessings of Liberty", opens with the announcement that the Declaration of Independence has arrived in town. While some eagerly read it, others debate it. There are still Loyalists lurking about. There are even Patriots who are out to destroy every semblance of allegiance to the king.  

     After lunch, we had a few hours before Revolutionary City began. What to do? We went to the colonial nursery. I wanted to get a special plant for my new Virginia garden. I found a bleeding heart!  I  also got some seeds for sensitive plant. This is a lot of fun to play with. You touch the leaves and they close up.  There was one on display to have fun with. I didn't get pictures of these.  But I did get pictures of other flowers in bloom.

     Then we went to the Mary Dickinson Store where they sell colonial patterns, that are more authentic than what I have from the fabric store.  Although my kids really wanted me to buy them now, I told them I still need a new sewing machine, etc, etc, etc.  We'll be back!

     Then we went to the Prentis Store and my son found the Rosewood Fife.  We were told that the junior fifers start with the maple fife like he has and when they graduate to the senior corps they get the rosewood fife. I told my son that if he keeps working on the fife and uses the recent tips he got to improve his playing, perhaps he can graduate to the rosewood fife. He is motivated.  

     Next we went to the milliner and the millinr and tailor were working in opposite sides of the shop. Last summer we only got to see the tailor. This time I watched a seamstress try to equally pleat a petticoat to a certain measurement. 

     Next we went to the Print shop, which we didn't get to do last summer.  The printer was hanging up the sheets to dry as we walked in.

     We got to talking about the circulation of the gazette.  He compared the population of Williamsburg to the larger colonial cities of the time. He asked us which colonial city was the largest.  My daughter said "Boston".  Correct!  Then he asked for the second largest colonial city. My son said "Philadelphia". Correct!  Next he asked for the third largest which was between the other two. When no one else answered I said "New York". Correct!  Finally he asked for the fourth largest colonial city, south of Williamsburg. Once again no one else was answering, so I said "Charleston". Correct!   These larger cities might have a daily gazette, but Williamsburg had a weekly gazette.  He showed us how he prepped the ink...

...he applied it to the typeset...

...he pulled the press...

...he pealed off the paper...

...and there is one side to the gazette!

     It was 1pm, so we went upstairs to the store to get a demonstration on the use of the quill.  This is another activity we had wanted to do last summer but couldn't work it in.  The gentleman wrote my daughter's name on a card with a flourish underneath, then it was her turn to do so.  Then it was my son's turn.  The gentleman made comments with both of my kids because they write with their left hands. He told us that in his day, everyone writes with their right hand!  Then I had a turn and left out the swirl underneath my name. He told me I needed that because someone else might come along and add something else that I didn't want underneath my name. One of the guests heard our last name and asked if we were related to a certain someone in Hollywood. I laughed and said, "Oh yea, we're real close." and he laughed too! This guest had his name done before mine and it was fun to watch. He was really getting into the 18th century!

  Well, after this I had to have a snack. It was really hot, my blood sugar was dropping, and I was dragging. We went to sit on a bench in front of the Kings Arms Tavern and listened to the tavern owners banter back and forth with each other across the Duke of Gloucester Street.  One of the actresses got some Service Berries from the garden and shared them with us. I never heard of them before. They looked like a purple blueberry and tasted a bit tarter than one.  They were delicious! 

     The oppressive heat of the day must have caused the dark, ominous clouds in the distance and the threatening rumble of thunder.  Hopefully Revolutionary City would not get rained out!  The warm up program began with music and dancing!

     As we headed to the Capital for the reading of the Declaration of Independence, I was surprised to see the horses!  They weren't in the program I saw last year!

     After the horsemen arrived at the capital, my son ran over to take pictures.

Then the fife and drum corps arrived...

...leading us to the meaningful reading of the Declaration of Independence.

Everyone gets a part. By the end, my son joined in reciting it with them.  No, he did not have the words in front of him.

     As the fife and drum corps played and marched out, we were told to gather for a major announcement.   I don't know what was wrong with us but he asked us three times to gather closely to him for a major announcement. I finally got it and I moved closer, as did everyon else.  I had a difficult time concentrating, because I was thinking I should have toted our rain gear with us. The temperature had significantly dropped, the wind was rising, the sky was darker, the thunder was booming and the lightening was flashing in the distance.  Were we crazy people?  Actually we were proving that we were duds as actors. LOL As the guy told us about the major victory at Saratoga, which caused France to decide to support our cause, we weren't responding the way he expected.  He kept prodding us to say something. So we did!  We started "booing" when we needed to "huzzah!" and we "huzzah!ed" when we were supposed to "cheer".  The poor fellow was so patient with us.  We were laughing, then TRYING to get into the spirit of things when he told us to give three cheers for that selfless patriot who made the major victory at the Battle of Saratoga possible...Benedict Arnold! Um I confess we were a bit lame in our "huzzahs" over him. If only he knew what we knew.  =)  But that's the point of Revolutionary City...to get caught up in the events of the day, not the future. Why did people feel as they did and act as they did during certain events? What would we really have done, not knowing the future? These are pages of a history book come to life.

   We got a few rain drops during the next few scenes, and then it was time to head to the Capital because the Redcoats were coming, led by the turncoat, Benedict Arnold. Because of the lightening and thunder, the horses were not used.  The Redcoats came to us through the Capital.

      By the end of the Revolutionary City program, the storm had moved further out and the sun was in!  We followed the fife and drum corps to the Courthouse to meet with General Washington for the program, "On to Yorktown, and Victory!" 

 
 Generals Washington and Lafayette arrived...

...to assure the citizens of Williamsburg that victory is close at hand. 

The British are surrounded at Yorktown and the French have arrived by sea and land with men and provisions.

After the generals left...

we followed the General's staff and the fife and drum corps back to the Capital. 

     Sadly, it was time to go home.  As we walked by the windmill, my son took a picture of the cloud formations.

     I captured the more  forbidding clouds that indeed caused some challenges in getting home.  Downpours and deluges dumped on us south of Richmond, through Richmond and then again in Northern Virginia.  Finally we arrived home safely.  The rain could not damper our spirits and we deluged my husband with the events of the day when we got home!  We can't wait to go back!  

     We did it!  This is the longest time we have spent on any unit, thanks to a move from Texas to Virginia.  Saturday night we celebrated the end of our  unit study with first person interpretations, recitation, food and music for my husband.  These are the books we read and some movies we watched for this unit, covering 1851-1875.  My husband looked these over while we got dressed. It was a challenge to get my daughter's costume fitted to her decently.  She grew since I originally sewed these at the end of February. My son grew too so his sleeves are now too short. I could only find a man's pattern that I tried to make smaller but the coat itself is still big on him.  I lost weight during the move so my costume was easy to fit into!  Well, without further delay...   

     Here we are in costume.  My daughter portrayed Florence Nightengale.  My kids said, "Mom, you HAVE to be Clara Barton!"  My son created his own character, using his own name, portraying a Union colonel from the 9th New York Calvary Regiment.

      We opened the unit celebration with Revellie.  Then my son gave a little history on Reveille, which is the army bugle call to begin the day. Then he previewed the two parts to our unit celebration:  The Crimean War and the Civil War. 

     My daughter did a recitation on "The Charge of the Light Brigade", written by Alfred, Lord Tennyson about a heroic yet doomed battle in the Crimean War.      

     Next I read "Santa Filomena" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  After he read about Florence Nightengale in the newspaper, he was inspired to write a poem about her, comparing her to the early Christian martyr, Saint Filomena.  My daughter was going to recite this, but it didn't flow well into her Florence Nightengale interpretation.  I decided the kids could act out a scene from the poem as I read it.  Staging this was a challenge. The kids haven't acted before.  I also wanted to have my daughter's movements cast shadows on the walls, like the imagery in the poem.  However it was about 5pm and the room was filled with windows that do not have heavy window treatments.  We also meant to wrap a "bloody bandage" around my son's head but we completely forgot! (I had a lot of "moving into a new house/area/state" details to tend to while writing/directing/sewing/producing...) 

     Next my daughter moved into her interpretation as Florence Nightengale in anger.  Historically, Florence Nightengale did not like this poem or any other accolades given to her.  She did not want any attention. She only wanted to improve and expand the nursing profession to help those in need.  She wanted the attention to be put on the patients. 

     After a question and answer session...

 ...we sat down to tea in the dining room.  After researching Civil War cookbooks, we decided to serve blueberry tea, chicken salad, deviled ham salad, lobster salad, whipped cream chees and chives, and kettle potato chips (Yes, I found a Civil War era recipe for potato chips.  We were short on time for cooking, so I bought kettle potato chips which seemed authentic.)  We made gingerbread and added lemon zest and lemon juice, like Civil War era recipes I had found.  The tea party was inspired by an actual Civil War event. A Confederate officer was home with his wife with their newborn baby.  The Union officers, who knew the Confederate officer from West Point days, called a truce.  Then they presented a silver tea set to the family in commemoration of the baby's birth.  After sharing some tea, they went back to war.  There are other stories of these officers who would take time for tea in between battles.  We also told other interesting stories to my husband, like the one of the Union officer George Custer and his buddy from West Point, a Confederate in Williamsburg.  There are also stories of soldiers from the opposing sides of the war, sitting along opposing sides of the river, playing rival tunes back and forth, ultimately ending in joining together to play the heart tugging, "Home Sweet Home". 

     After tea, my daughter read her literary analysis paper on Uncle Tom's Cabin.  

      Then my son read his paper, super essay on Abraham Lincoln.  

      Next we told my husband the history of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."  Then my son played the tune on the fife.  My son is mostly self-taught in playing the fife and he gets so frustrated in playing because he hasn't figured out how to make the notes clear.  Even so I enjoy listening to him practice.

     Now it was my turn!  I stepped out from behind the camera to become Clara Barton.  In the last few days I read her biography as a refresher, since I had read it several years ago. I never wrote down notes, much less a KWO.  I had tossed a few ideas around my head in free thought moments in the last few days. Since I had not rehearsed this, I was a bit fearful.  Besides, have I told anyone that I am shy?  I don't know what happened, but I started talking and the words that came out were nothing that I had planned on.  Nevertheless, I had my audience in the palm of my hand!  This was fun! I was able to relate to her on many levels, like the shyness.  (I'll probably get up and do anything goofy for my students.)  We were both teachers.  We depart at the nursing, but I'd always admired her work in the war.  What made her war story fascinating to me this time, is that she was everywhere we've been in the last couple of months!  Washington DC, Fairfax, Manassas, Chantilly, Fredericksburg.  The entire family could relate! I told the stories of the bullets ripping through her/my skirt and sleeve.  At the end my kids' jaws were practically on the floor that I had done this without planning, rehearsal or notecards.  I told them it's not real acting since I am no actress. It's probably just experience of getting up every single day in front of students for 6 years when I taught public school. I learned how to wing it.

       Next it was my son's turn to do his first person interpretation of a Union colonel in the 9th New York Calvary Regiment. Within his interpretation, he worked in the speeches his character heard while at Gettysburg and Lincoln's second inauguration. He did these more seriously   and slowly than he did during rehearsals.  I knew he was a bit subdued during rehearsal but I thought that was to try to keep things a secret as my husband walked up and down the stairs and in and out of the garage.  My son usually becomes his character once the costume goes on but that didn't happen this time.   We talked about it today and he said he couldn't think of any other way to put interesting emotion into his presentations. He's usually terrific at this kind of thing so I told him to think about how his favorite actor at Colonial Williamsburg would interpret these pieces. He had no idea.  Hmmm, I was in a quandery because explaining it to him wasn't working. I finally got his pieces out and looked them over and tried to "feel" them with my soul. I told him he wasn't reciting these as Lincoln, whom my son insisted spoke extremely seriously. He was interpreting these as a Union officer who heard Lincoln say these words.  The officer was so impacted by the words, he had to share them with the unit celebration audience. A light was beginning to glimmer in my son's eyes. I started reading the Gettysburg Address, putting emotion where I felt it was meaningful. I paused every so often to explain my thoughts.  I compared some of my interpretation to some I had seen on the new video feature I had watched today at the Colonial Williamsburg homepage. At the end of the speech, my emotions let loose, growing in intensity and my kids started smiling real big. I looked at them and said I was feeling inspired by Patrick Henry at the end of the Gettysburg Address. =)  My son had this perfectly memorized Thursday. By Friday he was needing some helps from me.  Then at the unit celebration, he had no need for help,  but he was stretching his brain to remember and in frustration raced through the end.  Pressure of an audience can do that.  That is why we do unit celebrations, to teach stage presence.  

     Then he quoted the end of Lincoln's Second Inaugural Speech. When I pulled out this piece to model an interpretation for him, he jumped in and recited it with great emotion!  Wow! Too bad we didn't have this discussion during dress rehearsal.  I am learning, OJT, how to be a director and it can take me some time figure out how to teach them how to do things. 

     After this, he gave a demonstration on his toy rifle that he had converted to be authentic to the Civil War. 

He made all the accessories for this presentation.

     Next I explained how I/Clara Barton, established the American Red Cross.  Then the kids played the piano.  My daughter played "It is Well with my Soul" after my son read the history behind it. Then my son played "Blessed Assurance" after my daughter read the history of it.  Finally, my son gave the history of "Taps" (which incidentally was written not far from Colonial Williamsburg.)  Then as the lights dimmed, taps played while my son stood at attention with his rifle.