Because I clearly don’t have enough to do, I’ve embarked on a small summer social studies curriculum in these parts.
For me, social studies was always a challenge.
There were all these dates that I could never remember. And all these white guys named John, Sam, or George. And then, for much of history, there were no photographs, which made it extra intangible.
Anyway, I thought this summer would be a good opportunity to do some hands-on learning about our world.
This week: Native Americans!
We read a whole slew of books, watched a few DVDs, and then, to cap off the week, I took Neko to see an outdoor drama about Tecumseh.
I made sure to get tickets to the backstage show, where they explained in detail about the guns that don’t shoot bullets, and how they pretend to fight and fall off cliffs. (Did you know most fake blood is made out of shampoo because it cleans easily out of clothing and hair? Fact of the day—check!)
I thought for sure that would take the edge off.
But I was wrong.
However, I did discover that no one really uses the “crying room” for evening performances. And it’s an excellent place to go to muffle the noises of gunshots and to discuss how the Settlers moving into Native American land is a lot like if some other family showed up at our door and told us they were now going to live in our house. So it wasn’t all bad.
Next week: Pioneers! (Where we’ll try not to hold a grudge, and just get excited about Laura Ingalls Wilder.)
