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 recited the speeches his character heard while at Gettysburg and Lincoln's second inauguration.

    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.