After the ending of the Civil War, many began to gather to remember the lives that were lost and to decorate the graves with flowers. While not all of the graves were marked with names, and some were a mix of Union and Confederate soldiers, each grave was decorated, and the life that was lost mourned. Over time, monuments were erected to commemorate the men, and small celebrations were held across different towns in the nation. 

Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day and began after the ending of the Civil War. It was changed to Memorial Day after World War I. In the years after the ending of the Civil War, small celebrations were held to remember the lives lost, place flowers upon the graves, and to remember the sacrifices made. The first ever Memorial Day was held after the ending of the Civil War by a group of freed slaves in South Carolina. 

As the United States became involved in more conflicts, such as the World Wars, the day was expanded to include the men and women who lost their lives during the wars. In 1971, it was designated as a federal holiday. At 3:30 each Memorial Day, there is a moment of silence held, but no one knows where this tradition began.

Throughout the history of the United States, thousands have given their lives. While we may not know all of their names, we remain thankful for their service and sacrifice.

“Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering.”

President Theodore Roosevelt

Here are a few remarkable people that we tend to forget:

Jenny Wade – Mary Virginia Wade was a young woman who lived in Gettysburg during the Civil War. It is said that she was engaged to one soldier in the Union Army, while a mutual friend of theirs was in the Confederate Army. Jenny, as she was known, was killed when she was struck by a stray bullet while baking bread to be shared among her family and the Union soldiers who were stationed nearby. Legend has it that both her fiance and friend were killed on the same day during the battle of Gettysburg. Her family was given a small pension after the war for the services that she provided in feeding Union troops.

Florence Nightingale – During the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale gained distinction for the medical care that she organized –  much of which is still used today. Hailed as the founder of the Modern Nurse, with her guidance, sanitation, and better medical care were given to soldiers. Because of her care, many of those soldiers lived through the medical care they received, through better wound management and germ control. Besides training nurses, she went on to call attention to many much-needed changes in the care of wounded soldiers – and this has filtered down through the military and civilian sectors today. 

Rosie the Riveter – This remarkable woman was the face of factory workers during the Second World War. Through motivational posters and other materials produced at the time – she became the most popular face of the wartime effort at home. For munitions, planes, shipyards, and more – Rosie the Riveter is still today, one of the most iconic images from that era. There have been two women named as Rosie the Riveter. Geraldine Hoff Doyle worked in a machine shop for the Navy, while Rose Will Monroe was an actual riveter at the Detroit, Michigan Willow Run Bomber Plant. 

Civilian Women in the Factories – During the Great War, and then the subsequent Second World War, women left their kitchens in droves to work the factories and other essential services. There were large voids left by the men who were fighting overseas, and women picked up those jobs without complaint. Through the hard work by the women who kept things running here, machinery, war equipment, and other essentials needed for the war effort and survival at home kept running. These women deserve a cheer and a beer even now! 

It is not just the soldier that moves history forward. As the saying goes, “behind every great man is a woman just as great.” These are just a few of the remarkable figures from history, and there were many more fabulous females just waiting to be rediscovered!

When we started last year, I pulled both of my boys back a couple of grades. We needed to fill some holes, and make their foundations a little more firm before moving forward. At the time, I had planned to push through quickly and then move into the next grade. While we could have moved up in a few subjects last year, I was not completely convinced that they were ready. So, we pushed through the year, and made sure that we were prepared for the new challenges of a new year. And this is where my children have decided mom is nuts. Fall 2017 will comprise of 75 days of school. I have allotted for all holidays, field trips, and breaks. 75 days of in the classroom work, where we are going to be completing an entire grade. One will complete third grade, while the other will complete second. Spring 2017 will bring two new grades and all new challenges!

Too ambitious? Maybe. But I sat down with all of the books, and planned out everything down to the last page of what we would need to accomplish, right down to the reading and writing that they are going to be doing. It is amazing what you can accomplish when you cannot sleep and your entire family is passed out. After trying to fall asleep for two hours, I gave up, started a large pot of coffee, and got down to work.  Now, if you have been following the blogs, then you know that both of my boys choose a project to do on top of their regular work. The subjects this year will be Ancient Egypt and the Civil War (each of the boys chose their own, that way they are interested and engaged). Those projects will encompass an entire year. I do not plan to push that into one semester, as they are growing older and can put a little more work into it this year as compared to last year. Books are being chosen, documentaries lined up, AND I even found some super cool coloring books to use with each of them!

When I announced my plan to my boys, they looked at me with the “I cannot believe that you are going to do this to us” face. They have gotten used to easier days, and of course the lull of summer does not do anything to help the motivation. I love learning, and I am hoping that eventually my children will understand that while not all learning is fun, some of it is. That is part of the reason that I choose to include the extra projects. They choose a topic in history (some of them we have to narrow down quite a bit)  that they are interested in, and can build upon through the entire year. While we are still going to the library at least once a week, the amount of reading that is actually being accomplished has gone down a little. I decided that maybe some direction would help with the reading challenges, so on top of the MMS Summer Reading Program, I have started putting a list together that they can choose from. Some of the books will have to be picked up from the library, but some of them are already on our shelves.

But, since that time of year has rolled around again, where do you find your curriculum? Share your plans for the upcoming year with us!!

It is that time of year. The time that all teachers begin to look at the coming year and plan out the curriculum. Home schooling is no different, but in some ways can be a little more difficult. Instead of just one age group and grade to plan for, you are planning for each individual child. I started prepping last week, trying to decide what we were going to focus on, and of course, adding the subjects that my boys are wanting to study.

I don’t know if you remember from some of the last blogs that I have done, but I always get my boys to do an extra project on top of what we are already studying. My oldest has decided that he wants to do Ancient Egypt this year. I am all for that, but we are going to have to narrow down that area a little more. My youngest wants to study the Civil War, so we are going to have the same issue. We will have to narrow down. But this can be done simply. Choose one area of study for the fall and a different for the Spring, so same subject two different areas of study.  But the main courses are the ones that stress me out the most. Making sure that I have the right math, science and other core subjects that are the best ones to use can be daunting. I have found that whatever we choose, we can tweak it to what we want, and what will work best for the boys. I have found that what might work for one does not work for the next. So its been a bit of juggling, but pays off in the end.

Now, with the start of the school year, I have to start thinking of the field trips and everything else that we are going to be undertaking as we go through the year. I am hoping to start off with Gettysburg, and then maybe a few more trips to D.C.. But I want to try and get through a few different areas this year. Obviously, visiting Egypt is out of the question (at least for now), but I want to try and visit the museum in New York City that has a very impressive display of Egyptian artifacts and art.

Now to pull all the books and start prepping our reading lists, and binders for the coming year! Let us know how your planning is going for the upcoming year! Do you have anything fun planned??

I decided we needed a day away from the books. We needed to get out and see something other than our schoolroom for a while. So, off to Washington D.C. we went! As it was just a day trip, I knew we could not get everything in, BUT I wanted to get something fun done. So we scoped out some fun places to eat, and kid friendly museums that were around the area. We started off with the National Gallery Museum. That place is WOW! We wandered from room to room, talking about some of the people in the portraits and some of the historical things that they had been involved in. I was pleased that my boys could recognize several of the Civil War Generals (from both sides) and name a few of the battles that they had been involved in. I noted to myself that I could use this to my advantage when it comes to learning more about the Civil War.  As we moved through some of the rooms with the statues, my youngest was quite taken aback that many of them did not have clothing (although he inspected each one to make sure that they had all the parts, and thought it was funny that people would take care with the rear ends). As we got ready to enter another of the side rooms he commented “if I see one more naked statue, I am going to puke”. Imagine his face when we walked into a room with SIX MORE! I about died laughing as his face just fell. They have some amazing portraits of some of the Native American leaders, and we got to learn some fun facts about them. My oldest asked if I wore buckskins when I was a kid. As the other guests in the room started to chuckle, I told him that they were long out of style by the time I came along.

When we got to the second floor, we got some of the newer portraits and some fun videos on WWII and Babe Ruth. My youngest easily recognized the portrait of Patton, but could not remember who Dwight D. Eisenhower was. So after staring at it for a minute, he was simply relegated to “the old guy who was a general”. There are some really awesome exhibits and some great learning opportunities there! Completely FREE to get in, but it is nice to drop a little bit into the donation box.

After we finished up at the first museum (it is totally worth the three hours we spent there), we moved on to the Museum of Natural History. On our way there, we passed by Ford’s Theater, which is where President Lincoln was shot, and then across the street, we saw the house where he eventually passed away.

OH MY GOODNESS! The Museum of Natural History is an entire day in itself! We barely scratched the surface and had to drag the boys out as they were closing. We spent about three hours JUST on the first floor. There are quite a few interactive exhibits and an IMAX theater which has some fun movies out. The animal displays were well done, and that is where my boys wanted to spend their time. They liked to identify the deep sea creatures they recognized from our nature shows (we are addicted), and excited to find a few that they had not heard of before!

Overall, we had a great time! I am excited to go back and spend some more time roaming through the streets of D.C. and visit some more museums!