History was certainly tasty this week! Using the list of rations that were supposed to be issued to a Revolutionary War soldier, my eldest son cooked us a great lunch. We had corn bread, peas with salt pork, Rice sweetened a bit with molasses, and root beer (I thought hard cyder (period spelling) was taking it a bit too far so we improvised) to wash it all down. While we know that unfortunately they often didn’t have all of these things due to shortages it was a neat experience for them to learn about the foods that they were supposed to have. We also talked about the fact that while it was very yummy for lunch, if we had to eat those foods everyday we would get tired of them. We also had a good discussion about the fact that location and season would have played an important role in what was available. There was one list of rations approved by congress but we know the reality varied a great deal based on where the troops were located. Some had more flour, some more rice or corn. Some had easy access to fish, while others had more salt pork or beef. I have uploaded a list and explanation of the rations into our free resource library.
We had a chance to watch a live webcast from our North Carolina Museum of History which discusses small artifacts. it shared how it didn’t take big objects like ships or cannons to give us important information. It also went through some of North Carolina’s and America’s history by sharing artifacts found with-in the museum. It was a great program and you can watch a replay of it on Youtube: Small Stuff/Big Stories. It does appear that because of the nature of the live taping an such you need to fast forward to about the 14 minute mark to get the actual webcast to start playing.
On Wednesday we had the opportunity to attend the North Carolina State Fair and particularly the Military History program. Various groups from the North Carolina Cultural Resources department were there representing the wars in American history. Each group had a table and display set up throughout the day and this highlight of the day was a historical uniform revue. This is set up similar to a fashion show, those there from each group were called up on stage and someone described and explained their uniform. This particular revue started with a soldier dressed as one that would have come with the first English colonist to Roanoke Island and went through the Vietnam War. My husband was participating as a historical interpreter with Tryon palace. Their group represents a Continental Line unit. Aside from him being my obvious favorite, I really enjoyed the fact that the soldier representing the Vietnam War was wearing the uniform he actually wore in the Vietnam War. I did my best to get pictures of each group, though the sun was not being exceptionally cooperative. I have included photos of as many groups as possible in the slideshow below. I am planning to use these pictures to help the children remember as we get to those times in history this year.
Next week we should be back to a more normal routine as our adventures at the fair are over and it’s time to settle back into the books a bit. We plan on doing another art lesson from You Are an Artist, reading some more in America’s Story Volume 1, and working on finishing up our projects. If time allows, the children want to watch a couple more episodes of Liberty’s Kids. Matthew was very interested in the rations that we looked at last week so we may be trying some other recipes this week.
When you sign up for our free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.
Finally, don’t forget there is only a few more days left to take advantage of the great sale at Schoolhouse Teachers! With this sale you can have the curriculum you need for all of your children for about $10 per month and you can try it for $5 for your first month. They have everything from core classes, to art, music, and other great electives.
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