In the 1800s, settlers were flooding into Mexico-controlled Texas. In 1835, as the war for independence in Texas began to ramp up, a group of defenders took refuge in the old mission in San Antonio. Sam Houston, the commanding general, determined that the old mission was not a defensible position and recommended that it be abandoned for a better location. The men inside the Alamo refused, holding their ground against the massive body of troops on their way from Mexico.

While the defenders held off the Mexican army, Sam Houston was busy raising support throughout Texas. Detachments were raised, but it was a race against time to see if anyone would be able to get to the old mission in time to help those who were defending it. Col. William B. Travis was in charge of the old mission, and with around 180-220 men inside, they were vastly outnumbered by the large army approaching under the command of General Santa Anna. 

Those defending the Alamo, including David Crockett and James Bowie, managed to hold off the Mexican army for 13 days. On 6 March 1836, the Mexican army breached the mission and killed everyone inside, minus a small number of women and children. Instead of burying the defenders, the Mexican army burned their bodies and their ashes buried in a grove of trees, of which the location today has been lost. 

Around 350 troops under the command of Col. James Fannin attempted to reach the defenders at the Alamo, but were unsuccessful. After their surrender to the Mexican troops, Col. Fannin and his men were executed by the Mexican army on 27 March 1836. 

The fall of the Alamo and the subsequent massacre of Col Fannin’s regiment sent shock waves throughout Texas. Afterward, at the Battle of San Jacinto, the cry “Remember the Alamo” was heard as the Texans went on to defeat Santa Anna’s army. The phrase was also used during the later Mexican-American war.

Today, the Alamo is open to visitors, sharing the story of the beginning of the war for independence in Texas.

 Books on the Alamo:

1. A Time To Stand – Walter Lord
2. The Gates of the Alamo – Stephen Harrigan
3. The Blood of Heroes: The 13-Day Struggle for the Alamo – James Donovan
4. David Crockett: The Lion of the West – Michael Wallis
5. A Line in the Sand: The Alamo in Blood and Memory – Randy W. Roberts
6. 13 Days To Glory – Lon Tinkle
7. Texan Iliad: A Military History of the Texas Revolution, 1835-1836 – Stephen L. Hardin

Movies on the Alamo:

1. The Martyrs of the Alamo (1915 – silent film)
2. Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier (1955)
3. The Last Command (1955)
4. The Alamo (1960) with John Wayne
5. The Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory (1987)
6. The Alamo (2004)

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On May 13, 1938, An act was approved that made 11 November each year a legal holiday. This day was to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as “Armistice Day.” Armistice Day was primarily a day set aside to honor Veterans of World War I.

To fully understand the history it is important to look back to when the Treaty of Versailles was signed. This took place on June 28, 1919. This officially ended World War I. Fighting had ceased months earlier when an armistice, A military agreement suspending active hostilities between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars”.

To this day 11 November continues to be celebrated regardless of which day of the week it falls on. The historical significance is preserved.

Today we know Veteran’s Day as “A celebration to honor America’s veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good”.

Here are some interesting facts about the U.S. Coast Guard I found here.

1. The Coast Guards’ Official Birthday is August 4th, 1790, making it 233 years old!!!
2. The Coast Guard was originally The Revenue Marine, founded by Alexander Hamilton.
3. Every year 50%  of applicants do not pass the qualifying criteria to become Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers.
4. U.S. Coast Guard tracks icebergs and their movements
5. Sinbad was a fog who served in the OCast Guard during WWII and was an official member!
6. During peacetime, the U.S. Coast Guard is part of Homeland Security, and during wartime, they perform under the Navy.
7. After 9/11, the U.S. Coast Guard went under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security.
8. The U.S. Coast Guard patrols our coasts using technology to keep our shores safe from traffickers, drug smugglers, and terrorist attacks.

We scratched the surface on our Normandy trip and visited, The American Cemetery, Point Du Hoc, and Omaha Beach.

Here is a bit of a brief overview of D-Day:

• On June 6th, 1944, Allied troops descended onto the Normandy beaches; the weather was not ideal, causing issues with navigation, time, and overall having the upper hand. Yet the troops persevered and conquered.
• It is insane to think of all the troops trudging through cold and treacherous ocean waters, propelling and climbing up cliffs with 70+ pounds of equipment, and facing gunfire from the enemy, all while on foreign soil. Seeing the landscape they landed on really put things in perspective.
• About 133,000 US troops and British & British commonwealth troops were involved, sadly over 10300 casualties.  

Highlights From Our Visit:

The American Cemetery

• This beautiful cemetery homes
• Over 9,000 buried there who lost their lives during D-Day.
• We learned a lot about  D-Day and some of these men, their bravery, and their ultimate sacrifices.

Point Du Hoc

• The fact that soldiers had to climb up these cliffs while avoiding gunfire  is utterly incomprehensible
• Here you can see craters from bombs and go into where the bunkers were.

Omaha Beach 

• Omaha Beach was one of 5 beaches Allied troops landed on if they could survive being dropped off into the ocean. It was full of German soldiers, mines, and obstacles. While today is a beautiful tranquil beach, it is hard to imagine the horrors many soldiers went through.

 If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend visiting Normandy; it is a humbling and eye-opening experience.

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During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress met and declared their independence from England, signing the Declaration of Independence on July 2, 1776. It was ratified and adopted by the original 13 colonies on July 4, 1776. 

A Few Fun Facts About Independence Day:

• Very few colonists wanted independence from Britain when the hostilities first broke out. These colonists were considered radicals in the beginning. Later, many of these radicals became our founding fathers. 
• Thomas Paine’s Common Sense helped to spread the fervor for independence from Britain. 
• A five-man committee was formed to draft a declaration for independence. These men were: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Benjamin Franklin, and Robert R. Livingston. Although they worked as a committee, Thomas Jefferson wrote the bulk of the Declaration of Independence. 
• 50 years after the passing of the Declaration of Independence, both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, founding fathers and Presidents of the United States, died within a few hours of each other.
• Adams and Jefferson were friends who had a feud that lasted for many years. In the last few years of their lives, they patched their friendship and kept in touch until the end. 

John Adams wrote to his wife that Independence day “will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival” and that the celebration should include “Pomp and Parade…Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other.”

As we celebrate this independence day, we remember the original meaning of this day that brings this fabulous holiday about and the men and women who have gone on to serve our great nation through the Armed Forces.

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.

~Elmer Davis~

Those who won our independence believed liberty to be the secret of happiness.

~Louis D. Brandeis~

America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination.

~Harry S. Truman~

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

O say can you see by the dawn’s early light

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight

O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there

O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave

Before the song became the National Anthem, it had been one of the most popular songs in America. The music that the poem was set to, ironically, is from an English drinking song called “To Anacreon in Heaven.”  The tune was written around 1775 by John Stafford Smith and was an ode to the ancient Greek poet, Anacreon, who really loved wine. 

If you ever have a chance to visit Fort McHenry, I highly recommend it. There is so much history there, and you can walk through the fort, gaining a sense of what the soldiers there lived with on a daily basis. You can see the living quarters, the jail, some of the stores that were located within, and then look at the view across the Chesapeake Bay. 

The soldiers inside the fort managed to withstand around 25 hours of a constant barrage by the British ships in the Bay. When they hoisted the flag the next morning, the soldiers signaled their victory through the flag. The War of 1812 has been considered the second war of Independence in the United States. Before the cannonade, Washington D.C. had been invaded, and the White House burned to the ground, and other buildings in the area were set on fire as well.

Francis Scott Key was an American lawyer who had been working on securing the release of Dr. William Beanes, a civilian doctor who had been captured, for the week before the shelling began. Because they knew the British plans, and as part of the release terms, neither could return to land prior to the firing on Fort McHenry. 

There are four verses to the Star-Spangled Banner poem, but only one is truly known to this day, and that is the one that composes our national anthem today. You can learn more about the history of the Star-Spangled Banner here: http://bit.ly/3ppaBF3. 

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!

Through some of the last blogs, I have disclosed the struggles in getting my children to actually want to do their school work. We had days where we would literally complete TWO pages of work, and always ended in frustration and tears, and not just on the teachers account! The school year started off in much the same way this year, but after a very short stressful period, I knew something had to give. Either we were all going to go insane, or we would end the year completing the work, but not actually accomplishing the goal of learning or retaining any of the information.

Therefore I turned to un-schooling. Each child has their own interests, and while these will change as they grow and mature, we must learn to embrace their interests. So, I have turned our schoolwork into more relaxed lessons. With each of their interests, it becomes eye opening to try and turn these into lessons, but a little creativity and ingenuity can bring anything into a focused lesson. They think they are having fun, but they are actually learning while doing so! Let me give you some examples of what we are doing. I am gong to be honest, getting out of the “rigidity” of the books was a little more difficult for me than it was my boys. I enjoy the organized layout, but I think that is the military side of me.

In another blog, I mentioned that each of my children are doing a special project this year. I have taken those interests and created full lessons. My oldest is focusing on Ancient Egypt. Now this subject can be a bit challenging, given that the scope is rather large, but by picking and choosing different areas, learning blossomed. Math is one of the ones I struggle with a bit. However, using mummies, pyramids, and terrain, I have figured ways to teach multiplication, division and fractions. Maps come in really handy during this last suggestion, and we can “cut” the map into different sections, and learn fractions that way. This easily leads into history, science and writing. I can take one lesson and fit several different subjects easily! As I mentioned above, they are having fun – but they are learning! We have made better strides within some of the subjects that we struggled with in DAYS than we had in WEEKS.

I also began to include some different movies. I know I have stated before that sometimes those lazy afternoons are needed, and I firmly believe this still. Since another of my children is focusing on the Civil War I have found documentaries and movies that fit into the areas that they chose. I was rather surprised when my youngest sat through the entire showing of “Gods and Generals” and “Gettysburg.” Each of these movies run well over 3 hours, but he sat glued to the television, drinking everything in. While I had some questions to field after each of them, I was pleased with most of the questions he chose to ask. Silently, I thanked one of my old professors who was a walking military historian, and gave me quite a bit of information that I can now pass onto my own son. Couple this with some books, guides and maps of battlefields, we have spent countless hours going over battles, numbers, terrain and MORE! Just from one movie, we went over history, science and technology, math, spelling, writing and reading. EASY PEASY! Since history is my jam – finding that my boys are interested in it as well puts me over the moon.

Now, I am going to temper this a bit and add – do NOT throw away all your curriculum! You are going to need something to fall back on at times. You will also need to find the home school laws for your state. Our state is a bit strict when it comes to certain subjects, but we have a fantastic district that welcomes different tactics. They are more concerned with seeing the student learning and growing, and most likely will embrace any methods you choose to follow. You have to be able to show their work, and prove that the child is learning, but outside of that – we can follow what is working for us. While I consider myself an outside the box thinker, I am more pleased that my children are finally starting to enjoy lessons again. The change has not only made their school days better, but I find that the attitudes of all involved (including the teacher.. ahem, me) are better. Perhaps those grey hairs will quit coming in so fast, as we settle down to a routine that works better for our family, but also helps to move them along in their studies. I still have the curriculum on hand, and I encourage my boys to continue working through it, but we have mostly abandoned the guided learning. We utilize the library, internet and other sources to finish our lessons now. You do not have to have a degree to teach your children – just love and patience (still working on this last piece myself), to see them through. YOU know your child better than anyone else, so seeing them struggle with a particular subject or two can be very difficult. Homeschooling is not meant to be easy. Eventually each child will find that little click that blinks on the light bulb, and after that you can watch them soar!

What do you think of un-schooling? Share what is working for you and your family!