After an incredibly busy day running errands, and trying not to get lost in the DC area, I was relaxing and looking up stuff for Constitution Day. I was surprised by what I discovered.

     First, I found out there is a museum in Philadelphia called the National Constitution Center, which has a lot of interesting activities on the Constitution.  When I looked at the ticket prices, I was surprised to see the regular rates and the Napoleonic rates.  Napoleonic rates?  I had to laugh. Last year, during our 19th century studies, week after week, something in our books always referred to Napoleon. It's become a running joke that Napoleon is everywhere.  However, why the Napoleonic rates?  I started looking around the web site and what a surprise.  For the last several months, the National Consitution Center has hosted an exhibit on Napoleon. Wow! We have to work this in to our field trips.  A friend recently told me that we are only a few hours from Philadelphia!  Then I looked at the dates of the exhibit.  Oh no! This touring exhibit ends on September 7!  We won't be able to get up there this weekend!

     For those of you who have a chance to see the exhibit, here is the tour schedule. For the rest of us, here is the web site, so that we can at least see some of it. At the Education link are some interesting things for kids.  I was surprised to even see something about the Marquis de Lafayette! 

     Amazingly a lot of TOG moms are anxiously, yet patiently, awaiting my movie list for year 3. =)  These are the ones we have on hand and have enjoyed. Future in-depth posts are pending on a few, which will be marked and updated. 

Jefferson and Adams: A Stage Play...extended blog post pending...stay tuned!

Swiss Family Robinson

Pride and Prejudice (with Keira Knightley)...extended blog post pending...stay tuned!

Pride and Prejudice (with Colin Firth)...extended blog post pending...stay tuned!

Sense and Sensibility (with Emma Thompson)...extended blog post pending...stay tuned!

Persuasion...extended blog post pending...stay tuned!

Amazing Grace...official web site with loads of information!  Excellent movie!

Zebulon Pike and the Blue Mountain...This is a documentary and primarily interested my kids because we have been to the top of Pikes Peak, the Blue Mountain!  I wrote about our studies on it and this documentary here. 

I am aware of some History channel episodes on Napoleon, portrayed by one of the reenactors from Colonial Williamsburg. This is an excellent actor who is also a historian, and he knows his characters forwards and backwards. I have no idea how to locate these episodes.  If you stumble upon them, I trust that they will be great. In the meantime, you can see Thomas Jefferson and Napoleon in discussion at Poplar Forest, which was extremely interesting during our Napoleonic studies!   

     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.. 

     While searching for living history ideas to teach my children, I stumbled upon Poplar Forest.  This gorgeous home was designed by Thomas Jefferson and was his retreat.   Each year Poplar Forest tapes a "Conversations on Democracy" with Thomas Jefferson (played by the Colonial Williamsburg's Thomas Jefferson)

and another historical person of his era. These are taped before an audience of junior high students who get to ask questions. There are also lesson plans and a bibliography and puzzles available for each conversation at the web site.  I have been able to e-mail Poplar Forest and borrow 2 conversations each month. 

     In October, we got to meet Aaron Burr and John Adams.  We had studied Aaron Burr earlier this school year.  We learned about the contested election of 1800.  Burr ran as Jefferson's vice president, yet tied with him for the presidency.  The House of Representatives was deadlocked for quite some time in resolving the tie, until Alexander Hamilton wielded his influence. We learned about the duel between Burr and Hamilton (Hamilton died) and Burr's apparent attempt to establish himself monarch of the west.  The conversation between Jefferson and Burr at times became a bit gnarly.  My children booed Burr and cheered Jefferson.  I think they were still under the influence of Revolutionary City , where we got to engage with characters of the past in Colonial Williamsburg last summer.  It was interesting to hear Jefferson and Burr each describe how they homeschooled their daughters.  As I recall, the word "homeschool" was used in the conversation.  There are details on that in the lesson plans at Poplar Forest.   

     We also spent some time studying the friendship between Jefferson and Adams.  We watched the PBS special on John and Abigail Adams   and Jefferson and Adams: A Stageplay.  These prepared the kids for the Poplar Forest conversation.  Jefferson and Adams were great friends until politcal differences divided them during their presidencies.  After they retired to private life, they resumed communication through letters and renewed their friendship.  Interestingly, they died hours apart on the same day, the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1826.  During the conversation, we got to see their respect for each other, their differences, and their attempt to reconcile their disagreements.  We distinctly saw their differences in personality.  Jefferson, ever the gentleman, patiently listened.  Adams, however, well known for his choleric temperament, dared to interrupt Jefferson more than once!  The kids loved the reality!  

     In November, we got to see Meriweather Lewis.  This was a lot of fun.  The actor who portrayed Lewis is a former school teacher and that showed.  He was extremely interesting and engaging. He made Jefferson smile a lot! He had tons of show and tell, of course, since Lewis shipped to Jefferson many artifacts from his journey west.  Whenever the kids asked questions, Lewis usually had some object to show them. Since I sew a lot of costumes, and my son is always challenging me with the historical characters he wants to portray, I especially liked it when Lewis stood up to explain his uniform.     

     We also got to see Lafayette.  We met this actor last summer in Colonial Williamsburg, as he portrayed Lafayette there. 

However in CW, the time frame is September 1781, right before the Battle of Yorktown.  Therefore, we can only ask him questions up to that time. During the Poplar Forest conversation, it is much later and the kids were able to ask questions about the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the French Revolution and his grand tour of America in 1824.  Since we are huge Lafayette fans, this was fun to learn more information.  It was a lot of fun to watch Jefferson heap praise on Lafayette, because that was precisely the kind of guy Lafayette was.  He did so much for our country, and attempted so much for his own country of France.  One girl asked what they considered to be their greatest contributions.  I thought I knew what Jefferson would say, because they are written on his tombstone (at his request).  However, to my surprise, he said marrying his wife was the greatest achievement of his life!  What a great example to kids.  And of course, how can the Marquis follow up but to say the same thing?  lol 

     I had previewed the tape after everyone went to bed one night, because I was preparing lessons for the various revolutions in Europe in 1830.  I was wondering if any of this would be discussed in the conversations. My kids were upset to discover that I had already previewed the tape without them.  They asked me tons of questions but I didn't want to give anything away.  This was the one tape they were especially looking forward to.  But I did tell them hints, such as there is a really funny moment in there, a particular comment from Lafayette to Jefferson. Sure enough, when we all watched the tape, everyone was laughing when it came!

     At the end they were asked to sum things up, and one thing I found interesting was that Lafayette talked about never giving up and always striving for your goals.  His country of France never did achieve the type of freedom America had, despite all his efforts. After all, France's background of history was vastly different from America's.  Lafayette was a moderate seeking reform for the peasants in the French Revolution and when the Reign of Terror took over, he had to flee for his life.  He was put in an Austrian prison.  His wife was also imprisoned in Paris and was destined for the guillotine. Through the efforts of George Washington, Lafayette and his wife survived that awful time, although other family members were sadly guillotined.  When he was eventually released, he did not support Napoleon.  When Napoleon was eventually conquered, the Congress of Vienna put Louis XVIII on the throne.  He was a moderate who gave up.  His brother Charles X took over and was an absolute monarch. Everything the Republic of France fought for was lost.  Eventually, Lafayette supported the July Revolution of 1830 where Charles X was overthrown.  Lafayette was so respected by the people of France, he could have become president.  He thought long and hard about this.  After having experienced the Reign of Terror, he had to admit the people of France might need a bit more control.  As a result he supported a limited monarchy and helped to put Louis Philippe, the Duke of Orleans, on the throne. He was called the people's king, because he was to rule in favor of the people.  However, in time, he became more controlling.  When one of the kids asked Lafayette about these things, he said France has always strived for independence.  My daughter, who does high school work, has been studying the Romantic Era in the early 19th century.  Striving was a theme in Romantic works.  We've read portions of Goethe's Faust where Faust was always striving to achieve good.  We are finishing Les Miserables this week and Jean Valjean is always striving to become a better person.  Striving does seem to accurately reflect the actions of the people of France as their government constantly changed in this era. 

     We did some of the Lafayette activities on the web site.  Some are quotes from critics of Lafayette.  They angered my kids!  My kids rebutted each critic.  Interestingly, I felt that the critics did more to praise the integrity of Lafayette than discredit him.  Another activity was to pretend that Jefferson and Lafayette were going to interview with you for different jobs.  Which would you hire for each job?  I thought the kids made excellent choices, based on the details they had learned about each man.  We also discovered that one of the ships on which Lafayette sailed is currently being recreated in France, using 18th century building methods. The link is at the Poplar Forest lesson plans. 

     We have really enjoyed learning more history through first person interpretations at Poplar Forest.  It brings the pages of the books we read to life and makes history more real and applicable!  Thank you to all at Poplar Forest who have worked on these projects, contributing to a fun learning experience! 

Saturday evening we had our Tapestry of Grace Year 3 Unit 1 Celebration.  The theme was Napoleon's World.  This is our little time machine in the foyer, where guests enter a different historical era. 

We had a major costume glitch right before my parents arrived.  My son's boot busted!  I had to grab my sewing kit and sew it back together while my husband took my parents into the garage to show off his cabinetry project for the schoolroom.  Finally, the boot was fixed and the show could go on! 

My son had the idea to begin the unit celebration with a small skit.  Hmmmm, I think he was inspired by the DVD we had watched the other night, Jefferson and Adams: A Stage Play!  On the left is my daughter, playing Lizzy Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. She is reading the astonishing letter she has received from Mr. Darcy.  On the right is my son.  Can you guess who he is???  No, not Napoleon as many have predicted!  lol  While in Colonial Williamsburg, he purchased a bosun whistle.  He insisted on being someone in Year 3 Unit 1 who used this whistle.  It took a few weeks to find someone, but we finally discovered a fascinating man who probably used this.  My son portrayed Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry who won a famous naval battle on Lake Erie in the War of 1812. (And my son was elated when he learned that the  Marquis de Lafayette visited the scene of this battle on his Grand Tour of America in 1824!)  He is doing paperwork at his desk.  I portrayed Thomas Jefferson's daughter, Martha Jefferson Randolph.  She was an interesting lady.  She was homeschooled in the classics by her father, then she lived in France at the on-set of the French Revolution when her father was Minister to France.   While living at Monticello with her father, husband and children, she homeschooled her own children while running the household.  After a few moments of our skit, my son stood up and blew his bosun's whistle to announce the opening.  Then each of us introduced ourselves.  After I introduced myself, I invited everyone into the dining room to enjoy some food from the Monticello kitchen.

Jefferson had some of his cooks professionally trained in Paris.  The kitchen at Monticello was specially built to accomodate French cooking with the delicate sauces and slow cooking of meats, making them more tender than the quick cooking over an open hearth.  The kids and I spent all day Saturday cooking.  The kids got to learn lots of French cooking techniques. (I was very thankful for my training in years past from watching French cook Jacques Pepin on tv! It allowed me to understand some of the techniques.) We used a cookbook I had purchased while we were at Monticello a few months ago, Dining at Monticello. 

This is a French inspired recipe for asparagus marinated with herb vinaigrette.

 We pretended this was a Virginia Ham.  There is none to be found in Texas.  I had some Virgninia Ham while we were on vacation a few months ago and it is delicious. It is very salty, but a little bit of ham goes a long way in flavor.  I meant to buy an actual Virginia Ham while we were on vacation for this unit celebration but I forgot. 

 This is a salad with edible flowers.  I had my daughter dress the salad and I think she got carried away!  LOL  It looks more like a bouquet! =) There are several types of gourmet lettuce underneath the flowers!

There was fresh herbal vinaigrette to use to dress the salad.

This is baked macaroni with cheese...much different from versions of today.

We also had Vermicelli Soup.

We added homemade pasta to the soup.  Here is some extra drying for future recipes!  It is called Nouilly a maccaroni.  There is actually a copy of this recipe in Jefferson's own penmanship today. 

My daughter also made fresh lemonade.  That was delicious!  After a terrific dinner, we served the dessert course.  There was homemade chocolate ice cream, made to recreate the texture Jefferson would have known.  It was decadently chocolate!   

We also had Snow Eggs!  These were delicious!!!  The white is poached meringue with a subtle hint of orange.  They are laying in a delectable custard sauce. 

 After dinner, we were treated to an entertainment of music.  My daughter read the historical background of "The Star Spangled Banner." 

Then my son played the tune on his fife.

He was very military in his manner...

Then my son gave an introduction to the "Ode to Joy", which my daughter played on the piano.  After that, my daughter read the historical background to "Angels From the Realms of Glory", which my son played on the piano.

After enjoying the music, my son shared his Lewis and Clark journal.  He gave some background on the expedition.  He pretended to have been on the expedition as well, and wrote journal entries for the different things he saw.  He enjoyed this project immensely.  I  couldn't stop him from researching and writing! He'd say, "But Mom, I want to do this animal too!" A teacher/mom's dream!  He wrote an introduction to his journal, after he finally ran out of time for more entries.  He bound all the papers together by stitching them and then glued on a suede cover.  

He chose one entry to share, which was about the buffalo.

Afterwards, everyone oohed and ahhed over his other pictures too.  Here is the frisky Eastern Grey Squirrel...

a stately bald eagle...

the ferocious grizzly bear...

the abundant salmon...

and the Clark's Nutcracker, many of which we actually got to see on previous vacations to Colorado.

Then my daughter read her literary analysis paper on Pride and Prejudice.  She had never done a literary analysis paper before.  This was her favorite book of the entire unit and she fully understood the literary terms to use to describe the plot.    

After that, she gave a recitation of Lizzy's reaction to Darcy's letter.  She actually had it all memorized. She was using Darcy's letter as a prop.

Then my son gave his Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry speech.  This man was a low ranking naval officer, who felt cheated that he didn't get to sail on the open sea where all the action was.  Instead, he was stuck on the quiet backwaters of Lake Erie.  

Well, the War of 1812 came to Lake Erie.  He hoisted the flag he had made, bearing the final words of a good friend who had died in a previous naval battle. 

Even though America had a tiny navy and were fighting England, who ruled the seas, the Americans won the battle of Lake Erie against all odds.  Afterwards, Perry wrote this letter...

to Brigadier General William Henry Harrison...

and sealed it.

My daughter acted as courier and took it to Dad, who opened it and read it. 

Then my daughter explained the history of some of the art projects they did, like these silhouettes.

Then she domonstrated how to do quilling.  It is a simple matter of wrapping a piece of paper around a quill.

My daughter created this picture...

and my son made Thanksgiving dinner...

Finally, my son read his comparison/contrast paper on George Washington and Napoleon Bonaparte.  At the end, my son explained that Napoleon could not come as a guest to our unit celebration, because he was in exile.

Over the course of the nine weeks of our unit, we read many books and watched DVDs, most of which referred to Napoleon's influence in some way. My children are amazed that there is no getting away from Napoleon! Before Tapestry of Grace, we used a history textbook where we learned about Napoleon in a few paragraphs and never realized what an influence (for better or worse) that he had on the world.  Even this week as we open our unit 2 books, we have found Napoleon's influence on the pages, even though he had been dead for several years.  He really stirred things up while he was alive.  And from previewing Unit 2, it appears that remnants of his influence, and those that are forthcoming with his nephew, will continue to create quite a stir! 

These are my daughter's rhetoric literature, government and fine arts books.  In literature we studied Pride and Prejudice.  We also learned about the Romantic influence on selected portions of Goethe's Faust and early nineteenth century poetry and short stories.   We studied poetry written by James MacPherson, Sir Walter Scott, Thomas Percy, William Blake, Robert Burns, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and John Keats.  We read short stories by Washington Irving, including "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Wrinkle."  We both were surprised to find the scene of the final demise of British Major Andre from the American Revolution in  "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."  That brought lots of emotions since we remembered how personable he was but he did aid Benedict Arnold in treason.  She also read interesting stories by Francois-Rene de Chateaubraind and Alexander Pushkin.  Whew!  It was a lot of work but she is learning to appreciate the classics and how to understand the underlying themes and meanings.

In government she has studied several original source documents.  We have compared the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and the Bill of Rights to France's Declaration of the Rights of Man and Code Napoleon.  Additionally we have studied the constitutionality of the Alien and Sedition Acts.  Furthermore, we have analyzed Marbury v. Madison, McCulloch v. Maryland and Gibbons v. Ogden.  Also, we have read Volume I Part I of Frenchman's Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America.  

These books include the Dialectic history books that both kids read, in addition to the Dialectic literature books my son read.

We had fun shopping for fruits and vegetables like the ones that Thomas Jefferson grew at Monticello.  We'll be trying out lots of new vegetable recipes in the next week!  Most interesting, we discovered that Jefferson even had spicy peppers from San Antonio, Texas that had been sent to him by a captain!

While at Monticello, I had gotten some seeds from Thomas Jefferson's gardens.  We are looking forward to growing them next spring and reliving memories of our Year 3 Unit 1 studies. 

We have been doing an in-depth study on Napoleon Bonaparte for the last several weeks, learning lots of details from his birth to his rise to power to his Waterloo.  When we were first discussing Napoleon, the kids and I commented that the actor/interpreter at Colonial Williamsburg, who portrayed Lafayette and dubbed my son "the young historian", would do a good job portraying Napoleon.  I don't know why, but we could easily imagine him in the character. Maybe it's because of his French accent.

Anyway, in the course of our studying Napoleon's numerous battles as his empire increasingly spread across Europe, I thought it would be interesting to see some actual pictures of his campaign.  Of course there was no photography then, but there are reenactors today.  And reenacting has been in the forefront of my mind since visiting Colonial Williamsburg last August. After all, one of Colonial Williamsburg's goals is to make history come alive through experience. I decided to research Napoleonic reenactments.  

Wow!  I found some interesting stuff to show the kids!  Reenactors in Europe have been in the middle of the 200th anniversary of Napoleon's various campaigns. Men from all over Europe arrive in costume, with artillery to reenact the campaigns. And who should they invite from America to portray Napoleon?  None other than the actor who portrays the Marquis de Lafayette from Colonial Williamsburg, who we thought could do Napoleon.  Apparently this actor/interpreter/historian enjoys portraying Napoleon in his free time!  My kids especially enjoyed one piece of trivia we had read about these reenactments.  According to the European news sources, the actor/interpreter does an excellent job portraying Napoleon (we can believe that) and is an excellent horseman (we can believe that from seeing him gallop his horse through CW), unlike Napoleon, who was known to fall off of  horses during his campaigns.  I don't know how much validity there is to Napoleon falling off of his horse since we haven't read about it in any of our books.  But it was certainly amusing! 

Apparently this actor/interpreter has also portrayed Napoleon on the History Channel.  I know my kids would really enjoy seeing him portray Napoleon, and a teacher/mom uses anything at her disposal to inspire learning and maintain the interest. (Especially when my kids quickly decided they didn't like Napoleon after reading about him and I feared that any future lessons were forever doomed.  It's only been this actor/interpreter who has livened things up a bit!) I've been checking the tv listings at the History Channel for anything Napoleonic.  If I find any shows to tape my kids will have fun looking for him, and perhaps learn more about Napoleon!

Here are some great Napoleon reenactment photos and videos.  My kids enjoyed seeing these as they made the battles they had read about more realistic.

Photos from the Battle of Austerlitz-Napoleon's greatest victory

Photos from the Battle of Borodino-impressive pyrotechnics!

Video from the Battle of Borodino-great epic music!

Video from the Battle of Waterloo-old timey with great music. More reenactment photos and some history are within the site.

Then at Poplar Forest, Thomas Jefferson's other home, I discovered a great on-line video of Thomas Jefferson (whom we met in 2004 at CW)

and Napleon (portrayed by Colonial Williamsburg's Lafayette).  My kids loved this since they had enjoyed previously meeting both actors.  During the hour long video, Thomas Jefferson and Napoleon answer various questions from a group of middle school students.  It was priceless to hear not onlyThomas Jefferson's perspective of Napoleon's style of leadership, but also to see his reaction to Napoleon's opinions! The expressions on my kids' faces were classic too! The actors' interpretations of Jefferson and Napoleon brought to life the pages my kids had read in their books.  Even though we had already discussed the Louisiana Purchase, the Declaration of Independence, Code Napoleon, democracy vs dictatorship, etc, my kids were able to view these ideas as through different lenses.  It was interesting to get Napoleon's perspective of his actions, because it shed light on what drove the man to conquer the world. 

After the video, my kids poured forth their reactions to Napoleon's view points.  They were incredulous how he justified everything.  That gave us fresh opportunity to approach his dictatorship from the perspective of various peoples of Europe. Specifically we focused on the lower class of France.  Napoleon claimed he was not a dictator.  For proof, he said the people were happy.  For the first time in their history, the chains of feudalism were gone and they had equality and liberty. Also they had "chosen" him to be their leader. My son was bothered by this because Napoleon was really a dictator who didn't offer a lot of choices to his people.  Their rights were not as free as Americans had in the United States.  I asked him who brought an end to the French Revolution and stabilized France?  Reluctantly, he admitted that it was Napoleon. What were the living conditions of the lower class prior to the Revolution? For generations upon generations, feudalism mandated allegiance to the nobles, no say in government, heavy taxation to support the king (and Marie Antoinette), poverty, hunger which led to the storming of the Bastille, the French Revolution, the guillotine, many temporary governments who could not bring control to the terror...at long last the people were supportive of this man who brought peace, control, and made their quality of life better than they or their ancestors had previously known.  We talked again about Code Napoleon, the civil law Napoleon put into effect for all people under his rule. We compared that to America where we have local laws, state laws and federal laws. But under Code Napoleon, all the people of France were under the same law as the people across conquered Europe, and for a time, Louisiana.  Even today, some countries and Louisiana continue to use parts of Code Napoleon for their law.  Isn't that interesting?  Then we compared that to how the upper class perceived Napoleon. The elite despised him for making the lower class equal to them.  Even though the Marquis de Lafayette willingly risked his fortune and worked for equality and freedom for France, he did not condone Napoleon's dictatorship. Lafayette had been to America and knew what true liberty could look like.  It was his dream that this type of freedom would become part of his people and his country, and from his perspective, Napoleon was missing the mark. Even Simon Bolivar, liberator of South America, admired Napoleon when he first brought stability to France.  But after he became monarch, Bolivar's perspective of him soured as he committed himself to free his own country from oppression, but vowed to never take over his own country as Napoleon did. We talked about the perspective of the monarchs of the surrounding nations who feared Napoleon's seizure of their countries.  Within those conquered nations, we considered the perspective of the common people who had a taste of freedom for the first time, without a monarchy, under Code Napoleon.  Opinions of Napoleon were/are all a matter of perspective.  Historically, we cannot deny the influence Napoleon had on the world. 

From our perspective today, we can see how the poor cheered Napoleon, the elite despised him, the educated were frustrated with him, those in the surrounding countries feared him, the conquered common people accepted him, while Americans kept their distance from him. Interestingly, Napoleon admired George Washington.  My kids wrote comparison/contrast papers on how they perceived these two memorable men.  Had Napoleon made choices like George Washington, hmmmmmm....what would the world be like today?   

Last weekend we went to the IMAX theater to see Lewis and Clark: Great Journey West.  The only problem with this movie was that it wasn't detailed enough.  Although we saw everything we had read about, there was more to the adventure.  Of course, they could only squeeze in so much into 45 miniutes.  Nevertheless, it was great to see what we had read about, like the dangerous rapids. 

We read some great books while studying about this great adventure.  How We Crossed the West: The Adventures of Lewis and Clark  was a colorful, information packed book that gave us the big picture.  My favorite part of Of Courage Undaunted: Across the Continent with Lewis and Clark was the letter written by Thomas Jefferson, "Of Merriwether Lewis, of courage undaunted..." and then continued to list his qualities for the expedition.  Meriweather Lewis was not only a cousin of Jefferson's but also like minded in goals and attention to detail.  Part of the job of Lewis and Clark was to make maps and meticulously describe the new flora and fauna they would find on their journey west.  I can apprecite this since I've been to Monticello.  When Thomas Jefferson retired from public life, he returned to his beloved Monticello and gave his full attention to details of architecture, gardening, "science" and inventions.  Jefferson had a very specific daily schedule that surrounded the details of his various hobbies.  Therefore, Jefferson's choice of someone like minded and detail oriented to lead this expedition west, to be his eyes and ears, became clear. In fact, Lewis prepared for the expedition by reading from Jefferson's extensive library at Monticello. Additionally, while at Monticello, one can see the Lewis and Clark discoveries in the foyer of the mansion.  If interested, here are some lesson plans from Jefferson's other home, Poplar Forest.

Author Kate McMullan, who wrote My Travels with Captains Lewis and Clark by George Shannon, is a descendant of the youngest member (sixteen years old) of the Lewis and Clark expedition, George Shannon.  My son enjoyed reading this for literature. Additionally, we used Lewis and Clark: Voices from the Trail that has beautiful color photographs of the places they had been to, with excerpts from the journals of Lewis and Clark.  I got this on the clearance rack at Barnes and Noble a few years ago.  It is now out of print, but I often see similar books like this around.  

My son was so taken by the adventure, that he is doing a fun writing project.  He is pretending that he was on the expedition and writing journal entries of some of his favorite events.  I'll print them in old timey font of his choice onto parchment paper and then he'll sketch a drawing underneath each description.  After the entries are done, we'll bind them to look like a journal of the men on the expedition would have carried.  I'll show pictures when he's done!

One lesser known explorer is Lieutenant Zebulon Pike.  In 1806, Pike was commissioned to find the source of the Arkansas and the Red Rivers, which took him into the dangerous Spanish Territory (today's Colorado).  He was amazed by the majestic blue mountains in the distance (the Rockies).  One of those majestic snow capped peaks was closer than the rest. 

 He and his men attempted to climb to the top of the mountain, but failed to do so, since it was November and the snow and frigid winds impeded the ascent. (The top of a 14,000+ foot mountain duplicates conditions of the North Pole.) Pike said that no man would ever be able to climb that mountain.  Well, we have taken 3 vacations to that mountain named after him...Pikes Peak!  We have successfully gone to the top...once in June and again in August. Even in the summer, the peak is 40 degrees on a sunny day!  brrrr In fact, in the late 1800's, Katherine Lee Bates road a wagon to the top of the mountain.  Inspired by the view, she wrote "America the Beautiful."

After Pike descended the mountain, he explored further in Colorado, heading south.  He and his men were captured by the Spanish.  He was accused of spying.  He claimed that he had no idea he was in Spanish territory. The Spaniards traveled with him on El Camino Real (the King's Highway which was the primary Spanish Road through the Spanish provinces from Mexico to Louisiana), through Santa Fe, Mexico and eventually spending time in San Antonio de Bexar (San Antonio), seat of the Spanish province in Tejas. (Texas) Finally arriving at San Antonio de Bexar (pronounced Be-har, today pronounced Bear), the group rested at Mission San Jose  on the San Antonio River. 

Then they proceeded to the Governor's Palace (today in downtown San Antonio) to meet the Spanish Governor.  (Not as fancy as the Governor's Palace in Colonial Williamsburg, is it?)

Eventually he was taken to Louisiana where he was released.  He died in 1813 as a brigadier general, during the War of 1812.   

Zebulon Pike and the Blue Mountain is an interesting documentary that I got in Colorado a few years ago.  I also got The Southwestern Journals of Zebulon Pike 1806-1807.  (This is a rhetoric level book.)  I had known that he had been to present day Colorado Springs, but until I read this I didn't realize he had been to San Antonio under Spanish guard! 

Zebulon Pike: Soldier-Explorer of the American Southwest is an easier version that my kids have read on trips to Colorado. The link above is to Amazon and quite frankly I am surprised at the expense of the book.  I get most of my extra resources from Half Price Books and my copy was only about $4.  A good children's biography could likely be found in the local library.  I did like this book though as it had great illustrations and simple yet informative text. 

Yesterday we had a great discussion over the events of Thomas Jefferson's presidency, which the kids had read about.  Since a lot of my friends are always looking for extra resources, I thought I'd share one that we used after our discussion yesterday.  In 2004 we got to meet the actor/interpreter who portrays Thomas Jefferson at Colonial Williamsburg. He does an incredible job.  He even looks like Thomas Jefferson! 

There are a lot of articles, videos and podcasts about Thomas Jefferson at the Colonial Williamsburg web site.  We've used them quite a bit since we first started our study of him last spring when we studied the 1700's.  Specifically, after our discussion yesterday, we viewed some videos where he answered some questions about his presidency. 

Jefferson covered every key event of his presidency, all of which our readings and discussions entailed.  The first transfer of power between differing political parties occured, from a Federalist president (Adams) to a Democratic-Republican (Jefferson).  Though peaceful in action, it was emotionally charged.  Then there was the Louisiana Purchase, dealing with the Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean, the wars between Britrain and France, the agonizing Chesepeake Incident, the doomed Embargo Act and the hopeful Non-Intercourse Act. Finally, Jefferson brought an end to the slave trade. 

We had read about all these things and more (the Hamilton/Burr duel, the Burr Conspiracy, Marbury vs. Madison, John Marshall and Napoleon).  In our discussion we compared Jefferson's views before he became president to his actions while he was president.  

To follow up with Jefferson's intepretation of his presidency (albeit through an actor/interpretor who also has a history degree!) after our reading and discussions. allowed us to evaluate his terms even deeper.  Although Jefferson argued for America to go to war to the aid of the French Revolution before he was president, he adopted varying policies while he was president.   He did have the navy go to war against the Barbary Pirates and squelch that problem with the muslim terrorists of the 19th century.  However, the problems of our ships being "raided" by the English and French and having our sailors impressed, caused Jefferson to hold back for the protection of our young country.  After all, England was THE worldpower at this time and Napoleon wasn't far behind.  England had conquered Napoleon at sea, but Napoleon was predicting that he would conquer the land.  Napoleon said, "To France the Fates have decreed the empire of the land; to England the empire of the sea." 

 In the end, it wasn't Jefferson's peaceful Embargo policy that solved the problem.  During Madison's term of office, the War of 1812 was launched to attempt to put an end to the "sea raiding" and impressment.  That will be our topic of study next week.   

     This week our history study focuses on President Jefferson's second term in office.  One infamous event we'll be studying will be the duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton.  Over the course of our history studies, we have learned how men of different eras fought for honor.  Although knights usually jousted for fun with blunt instruments, there were times when heated words led to one on one combant while on horseback with sharp lances. Then there's the wonderful story of The Three Musketeers.  Who can forget D'Artagnan being challenged to separate duels with Athos, Aramis and Porthos, one after the other on the same day!  Fortunately, this led to a long friendship which inspired my son to portray D'Artagnan at our  Year 2 Unit 2 celebration last year.

    While we previewed this week's information, my son was certain he knew exactly how the Hamilton/Burr duel was done.  So I told him to act it out with his sister.  They successfully acted out an Old West shoot out!   I showed them a slide show of the infamous Burk Duel portrayed by actor/interpreters from Colonial Williamsburg.  After going through the slide show, I read aloud the commentary from the CW Journal (linked in the "Burk Duel" above).  It was a wonderful opportunity for the kids to make lots of connections with the various topics they've been studying the last few weeks. 

     John Daly Burk was a radical Irishman who created conflict wherever he went.  He came to America, to the relief of Great Britain, in 1796.  Settling in Boston, he fervently wore his politics on his sleeve.  Burk was an ardent supporter of Thomas Jefferson, a Democratic-Republican, who believed in freedom for the peoples at all costs, arguing for America's whole hearted backing in the French Revolution.  John Adams attended one of Burk's plays in Boston, which was about General Warren and his death at the Battle of Bunker Hill.  If anyone has seen the movie, "Johnny Tremain", you'll remember Dr. Warren, one of the masterminds behind the beginning of American Independence in Boston, who surgically frees Johnny's fingers.  Yes, Dr. Warren died at the Battle of Bunker Hill.  John Adams did not like the play.  "My friend, General Warren, was a scholar and a gentleman...Your author has made him a bully and a blackguard."  My son immediately spoke up and said that the Alien and Sedition Acts were going to be the downfall of John Burk.  (I just love it when one of my kids make these connections!)  And yes, we got to that later in the article.  

     We have studied President John Adams' impassioned justification for the Alien and Sedition Acts, which most historians agree, were unconstitutional.  Adams, like Washington, wanted to keep America out of war with other countries, feeling that America was too fragile to survive another war.  When Adams was president, he put the Alien and Sedition Acts into effect, punishing anyone with fines, imprisonment and exportation who printed slander against the government. (More particularly he was trying to calm all the "hotheads" who were trying to inspire America to go to war and help the French with their revolution.) Adams felt the acts were necessary to protect America from getting caught up in foreign wars, and in the process, being destroyed.  During this time, Thomas Jefferson was Adam's vice-president and he ardently disagreed with Adams.  Their tatterred relationship came to a bitter end, as Jefferson's Democratic-Republican ideas contrasted with Adam's Federalist ideas.   

    Indeed, Burk's Anti-Federalist newspaper articles, that protested America's lack of support of the French Revolution and slandered President Adams, nearly put him in prison under the Sedition Acts.  Burk's friend, Aaron Burr, tried to help him avoid prison and leave the country instead.  In the end, Burk fled to Virginia to hide.  He found a new home in one of Virginia's anti-Federalist towns, where Burk continued to be outspoken.  While in a tavern in 1808, a frenchman by the name of Monsieur Felix Coquebert overheard Burk defame the French as "a pack of rascals."  For the sake of honor, Coquebert made his prescence known.  Angry words led to the challenge of a duel...and Burk met his demise.

   Today, the kids are reading about the events leading up to the Burr/Hamilton Duel and the aftermath which led to Burr's trial for treason. Apparently he was trying to take over the Lousiana Territory so that he could rule it as king.  The kids will be evaluating Jefferson's response to the Burr Controversy.  Hmmm,  didn't some of his actions go against the very beliefs he held when he debated President Adams? We will also evaluate Supreme Court justice John Marshall and his decision in the Burr Treason Trial.  Will the kids agree with his decision or disagree?  We should have an interesting discussion on Wednesday!   

    Update posted 8-19-09 This morning my kids and I listened to the latest Colonial Williamsburg podcast on The Code Duello, which is about the history of duels.  This presentation is done with excellence!  Even though it's been nearly a year since we've studied about the Hamilton/Burr duel, this adds another layer to my kids' understanding of this historic tradition. Through the podcast, duels were explained to be quite common not only in Europe, but also in the course of history. During our TOG studies, we got a smattering of reading time on duels in Year 2 (Middle Ages-1800).  Our Year 3 studies (19th century) reverberated with duel after duel after duel. This supplemental podcast helps to cement the concept.    Be sure to check the podcast, dated August 17, 2009, called "The Code Duello". 

Update posted 9-24-09 This morning the new week's podcast continues the theme of duels, focusing on the infamous Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton duel. The podcast ends with some highly unusual duels from the pages of history. I know that Wishbone would have been impressed with the last story! Be sure to check the podcast, dated August 24, 2009, called "History's Most Famous Duel".