Civil War

We are a Tapestry of Grace family and we absolutely love it.  I love that we get to read some fantastic history books and really dive deep into events that shape our world.  I love to study history chronologically.  It makes sense doesn't it, to study events as they happened and not be concerned as to whether they are just American history or World history events.  How can you truly understand the Louisiana Purchase without studying the French Revolution and Napoleon.

One of the things that drove me into studying history chronologically was the desire for my child to understand events and their relationship with other events.  I was very thankful for this decision one day when my son had his public school friend over and he pulled out history textbook.  The fourth grade text studied Ancient Egypt, the Civil War, and World War II in the same year.  Now, don't get me wrong, they are all significant but we are doing our children a disservice trying to instruct them on historical events and not at least introduce them in a chronological manner.  No wonder these poor children don't know what happened when.  Memorizing dates is irrelevant if you cannot put it all in perspective time-wise.

Okay, I'm off my rant now.  One of the other things I love about Tapestry of Grace is the flexibility.  We are just about ending the Civil War and I'm taking the opportunity to take an extra week to really dive deep into some material.  The reading is excellent but Ken Burn's Civil War series on Netflix is fantastic.  (on a side note, we'll also be using his West series to take a trip to study in depth the Plain Indians and Continental Railroad).  The girls are working on a lapbook that TL did years ago when we studied the Civil War from Hands of a Child.  I'm excited because the girls really enjoy doing the lapbooks still.  

I don't think we will be doing a large unit project this time.  I think instead, we will be working on these additional items and saving time for a larger unit project at the end of next session.

Have a wonderful and safe week!