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.