A Smart Start

So, now it’s time to replace History Club with our beloved Girls Group.  I sent out a separate note about the specifics of Girls Group, this note is just to say good-bye for now to History Club, we will see you again next summer, and hello to Girls Group.

Our family is ending our 3rd week of school.  I’m getting in a groove, and I have a few moments to spare to give an update on the History Club, and the upcoming Girls Group.  History Club ended with the last book in the Addy series.  I had a discussion with the girls about the quilts, and we all decided that it would be really cool to wait until next summer to make the quilts, when we have all the American Girls and all the time periods to represent, instead of making 2 quilts.  Another factor in this decision is that I am a complete dunce when it comes to sewing.  I took one sewing class in high school, which I didn’t do very well in, and that is the extent of my knowledge of sewing.  With that in mind, I need to read up and practice the art of quilting before I can guide the girls in making their quilts.  What I would like to do, if I can find the time, is take a Saturday class to learn the basics of quilting.  Then, by next summer, after some practice I think I can guide the girls in making their quilts (crossing fingers).

So, I hope to see you all in Girls Group starting October 7th.  Please read my previous post for Girls Group specifics.

Well, the time has come for our last summer History Club meeting.  “Boo-hoo-hoo.”  Each one of you have brightened up my summer and given me new hope for the future, because you are the future.   Each of you has such special gifts and talents and sweet personalities to contribute to God’s Kingdom.  I will be waiting and watching to see what wonderful things God has in store for you, because I know they will be a sight to see.

To be prepared for our next meeting, please read Addy Saves the Day and Changes for Addy.

Also, you will need to choose a famous topic, and a famous person.  Please follow the usual pattern of writing a journal entry, and drawing a picture of our choices.   Below are the lists you may choose from, or if you have some other topic or person in mind, as long as it’s significant to the Civil War era, you may choose something else.

Famous Topics of the Civil War Era

• Life on a Southern Plantation
• The Dred Scott Decision
• The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
• Secession
• Free states vs. slave states
• The North and the South
• Abolitionists
• The Underground Railroad
• The Emancipation Proclamation
• The Battle at Gettysburg
• Gettysburg Address
• The March to Appomattox
• The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

Famous People of the Civil War Era

• Harriet Tubman
• Frederick Douglass
• Sojourner Truth
• Harriet Beecher Stowe
• Abraham Lincoln
• Mary Todd Lincoln
• Ulysses S. Grant
• Jefferson Davis
• Robert E. Lee
• Stonewall Jackson
• Clara Barton

I will see you on Wednesday!

The summer is winding down, and we are gearing up for fall in our home, how about you?  I’m looking forward to discussing the Addy books with you.  We get to have 2 more meetings before school officially starts.  Let’s make the most of them! 

Please read Addy’s Surprise and Happy Birthday, Addy before our next meeting, and we will have a great discussion time.  Also, if you have not completed your journal entries and drawings for the Kirsten/Frontier section of our study, please do that and bring them to our next meeting to share.

I look forward to seeing you soon!

Even though we will not be having a club meeting this week, we want to keep on track for finishing Addy by the end of summer.  So, let’s go over what you need to have done before our meeting next Wednesday.

1. Read Kirsten Saves the Day and Changes for Kirsten.
2. Choose 2 new subjects for the “Kirsten” section of your quilt (see ideas below).  Write a journal entry and make a drawing for each.
3. Read Meet Addy and Addy Learns a Lesson

Kirsten takes place in 1854 on the Minnesota frontier, just 30 years after the Josefina series takes place.  Since the Kirsten and Josefina books take place in relatively the same time period, some of the items listed below will be duplicated from the previous Josefina lists.  Please write a one page journal entry and a drawing for each subject.

Subject #1 – Idea List

• The Monroe Doctrine
• Clipper ships
• The Alamo
• The Oregon Trail
• The Great Migration
• The Telegraph
• The Gold Rush in California
• The Compromise of 1850
• Abolitionism
• The Kansas-Nebraska Act
• Bleeding Kansas
• The Underground Railroad
• The Dred Scott Decision
• The Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Subject #2 – Famous People around 1854

• Laura Bridgman (famous for receiving an education, despite being death and blind, 50 years before Helen Keller)
• Marcus Whitman (doctor and with his wife Narcissa missionaries to Indians)
• Mark Twain (author)
• Abbie Burgess (brave lighthouse keeper)
• Laura Ingalls Wilder (author)
• Samuel F.B. Morse (inventor of the Morse code)
• Louis Pasteur (invented pasteurization)
• Franklin Pierce (President in 1854, unpopular 14th President of the United States)
• Jane Pierce (First Lady in 1854, suffered many personal tragedies)

You may choose to study your own historical topic and/or famous person from 1854 not included on the lists above, if you choose your own, please chose one that is considered significant to American history and around the time of 1854. 

See you next Wednesday!

The summer is flying by!  It’s been a true blessing to me to lead you in your discussions, writing and research assignments.  It’s hard to believe we only have 5 more Wednesdays left until school starts. 

For this Wednesday, we will discuss Kirsten’s Surprise and Happy Birthday Kirsten.  Please read these two books, and get ready to discuss and write about them.  We have no other homework, except to catch up on research, writing, and/or drawing for your famous events and people.  If you have any questions about what to do in these areas, please consult previous posts.  See you soon!

Let’s get ready to discuss Meet Kirsten and Kirsten Learns a Lesson.  Please read these two books, and we’ll see each other tomorrow.

If you have not picked your famous event and famous person from 1824, please get that done, so we don’t fall behind for our final History Club project.  Here is a link to the list of famous events and famous people of 1824.

In previous posts, I wrote out step-by-step instructions for moderating history club meetings for the Felicity book series.  The same model can be followed for the rest of the American Girl books.  The basic idea is to have the members read a book or two, then meet together to discuss the book/s and write an appropriate journal entry.  Have the members select a famous event or subject during the time the book takes place, as well as a famous person.  Members then write a journal entry about that historical subject and person.  During club time, the members can also draw a picture of the historical subject as well as the famous person, and put those drawings in the journal.

My history club will also be discussing Josefina, Kirsten, and Addy this summer.  I hope to continue this club next summer when we will discuss Samantha, Kit, and Molly.  By the end of next summer the members will have discussed and written about 42 books, 7 individually selected historical events, and 7 individually selected famous people from American history, 1774 – 1944.  The members will each have a journal filled with entries about the American Girls, historical events, and famous people.  Lastly, and probably most importantly, the members will have developed friendships that will remain a part of each of them for the rest of their lives.

I would like to encourage anyone who is reading this post to start a history club of your very own.  You will not only encourage a love of learning, reading, and history in your members, but you will most likely learn a bit of history yourself.

I’ve lost count on what number meeting we are on, so let’s just call this the “Discussion of Josefina Saves the Day & Changes for Josefina” meeting.  I don’t want to get behind on our summer project, so please make sure you complete the homework for this week.  Here it is.

1. Read Josefina Saves the Day and Changes for Josefina.
2. Choose 2 new subjects for the “Josefina” section of your quilt (see ideas below).  For your homework, please write a journal entry for each, and think of an idea to draw for your quilt for each of the 2 subjects.  We will draw your pictures during club time.

Josefina takes place in 1824 in New Mexico, which was part of the country of Mexico at the time.  This time in American history is sometimes referred to as the time of “Westward Expansion” or “National Growth.”  There are many things to study in American history during this time period.  Below are some ideas to help get you started.  Choose one subject from each list below.  Write a one page journal entry for each subject.  Also come prepared to make your drawings during club.

Subject #1 – Idea List

• The history of Santa Fe, New Mexico
• The Camino Real (Royal Road), trail to Mexico City
• The Monroe Doctrine
• Clipper ships
• The Alamo
• The Oregon Trail
• The Great Migration
• The Telegraph
• The Trail of Tears
• The Mexican War
• The Gold Rush in California

Subject #2 – Famous People around 1824

• Sacajawea (guide on Western expedition from 1803-1806)
• Zeb Pike (explored the southwest in 1806)
• Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet – Andy Russell Bowen (developed sign language)
• Robert Fulton (inventor of the submarine & steam engine)
• Eli Whitney (invented the cotton gin)
• Johnny Appleseed (spread the gospel and the apple west)
• Noah Webster (author of the dictionary)
• Daniel Webster (statesman)
• Sequoyah (invented Cherokee alphabet and taught his people to read)
• Jedidiah Strong Smith (first American to cross the southwest by land)
• Andrew Jackson (7th President)
• Davy Crockett (Tennessee frontier hero, died at Alamo)
• John James Audubon (famous for studying and drawing birds)
• Laura Bridgman (famous for receiving an education, despite being death and blind, 50 years before Helen Keller)
• Marcus Whitman (doctor and with his wife Narcissa missionaries to Indians)
• Mark Twain (author)
• Abbie Burgess (brave lighthouse keeper)
• Laura Ingalls Wilder (author)
• Samuel F.B. Morse (inventor of the Morse code)

See you in a few days!

This post is for history club moderators.  It will guide you through your last meeting for the Felicity series.

Preparation

• Prepare a snack.
• Read Felicity Saves the Day and Changes for Felicity.

I have decided not to discuss the last Felicity books during this meeting, because I want to spend some time on the famous people and famous events of this time, and there is not time to do both.  

Discussion of Famous People of 1774

• Go around the circle of club members and ask each person in turn to recite the information she brought regarding her famous person from 1774.  

Journal Entry for the Famous People of 1774

• Ask the members to write a one page description of their famous person on the left side of the next page in her journal.   
• You may want to write some hints on the board to guide the girls in their journal entries.  You can encourage the girls to write something about the famous person’s childhood, likes/dislikes, beliefs, what the person did to make them famous, and something about the end of their life.  
• Go over each member’s journal entry and praise or correct as necessary. 
• If there are any corrections to be made, have the club member erase and make them now.

Snack and Break Time

Discussion of the Famous Events of 1774

• Go around the circle of club members and ask each person in turn to recite the information she brought regarding her famous event from 1774. 

Journal Entry for the Famous Events of 1774

• Ask the members to write a one page description of their famous event on the left side of the next page in her journal.   
• You may want to write some hints on the board to guide the girls in their journal entries.  For example, you can write,”Who, What, Where, When, Why, How,” on the board.  Then explain that the famous event can be described with many details, “Who was involved?”  “What happened?”  “Where did it take place?”  etc. etc. 
• Give sentence starters, if necessary.  Such as, “In 1773 in the town of Boston Massachusetts…”
• Go over each member’s journal entry and praise or correct as necessary. 
• If there are any corrections to be made, have the club member erase and make them now.

Craft Time

• Ask if anyone else needs to decorate her journal.
• Help girls to hot glue and iron on embellishments.
• Hot glue ribbon for book marks.

Homework Announcement

Announce the following homework assignment.

1. Read Meet Josefina and Josefina Learns a Lesson.

Play Time - Girls can play as they wait to be picked up.

Our third meeting reminded me of a bee hive.  The history club was buzzing with excitement as each girl shared her historical research, wrote and drew pictures about her famous person, and finished decorating her journal.  Oh yeah, there was also eating popcorn, and bouncing on the trampoline.  We heard about some very special famous people from American History during 1774.   We now have some new role models with excellent character qualities we can all aspire to.

Now, it’s time to get ready for our next meeting.  I gave you some homework.  Let’s review what your assignment is, to be prepared for next week.

1. Read Meet Josefina and Josefina Learns a Lesson.
2. Finish writing about your famous person and famous event of 1774.
3. Finish a pencil drawing of your famous person and your famous event.  I suggest a drawing with little to no details.  A silhouette, a simple figure, or a simple shape will work best on our final project.  Do not color your pictures yet.  We will do this at club.  I want to give you specific directions and supervision on this part, as they will be on your final craft project.

On Wednesday you will write one page about Meet Josefina and one page about Josfina Learns a Lesson.  See you in a few days.