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Thursday, August 3, 2006

Civil War Unit


September will bring a new beginning. Another school year will begin. In preparation for our Civil War unit, I've been reading to prepare myself for the hundreds of questions that will come my way. While browsing the Civil War section in the library I came across this book, Civil War Women: Their Quilts, Their Roles, Activities for Re-Enactors by Barbara Brackman. It's a wonderful book which highlights nine women from the Civil War era, presents a quilt project to go with each bio and then a re-enacting activity to go along with her particular interest during the Civil War. So far, I've read about Lucy Stone (a women's lib girl) and Susie King Taylor (one of the first slaves to be freed). Next up is Julia Louisa Lovejoy, a newspaper correspondent.

Grace is reading Meet Addy from the American Girl series. So far chapters 2 and 3 made us cry. Often I cry while reading from the Little House series and the kids have no understanding of why I do that. Now Grace understands that when you are the reader the words have so much more meaning. Her eyes well up and next thing tears are falling on the pages. She doesn't want to continue, however, I told her the sign of a good book is one where you can feel the feelings of the characters. She agreed to continue and we made it through chapter 4 without tears.