History Day for our Homeschool Group

 Yesterday we had a lot of fun learning more about history at our homeschool group. Each child (or family, as some like to work together) was supposed to research a person (or time period- we did have buffalo and a WW2 plane also represented) from history and then present them in someway. Many of the children dressed up and then they all told about them as well. Our family loves dressing up so that was something we did as well as bringing food along to share that each of the characters liked.

Yesterday when everybody got together another mother had made a timeline which we wrote our people on where they belonged. Then we went through them starting with the oldest one and proceeding to the most recent.

Aaron had decided be Leif Erikkson and so since he was born in 980, he was the first.

 We got quite a few library books on Vikings and Leif Erikkson and had fun reading them together. We learned quite a lot. Aaron did a short presentation, but he did a good job, so I was quite pleased.

 Making his costume went pretty well though sometimes I find it a little challenging to deal with Aaron's perfectionism. He gets certain ideas of how things should look and when they don't turn out just the way he thought they would he can get pretty disappointed. Aaron had found several pictures of outfits that he thought looked nice. At first he wanted to try a helmet but our metal bowels didn't look quite right and we didn't come up with anything else to use. Then there were a lot of pictures of a somewhat pointed hat with lots of fur around the edges so he choose that instead. That wasn't hard to make using some "fur" that we had taken off of the edge of a coat hood. He thought it turned out really good at first (and it does look pretty like the pictures) but then after looking in the mirror was afraid that he looked like a monk. There were a few tears over that but I think his siblings finally convinced him that he did NOT look like a monk. The cape we made from some felt that we had on hand and the brown outfit I had made a while back for him to use as a horse costume. We cut out some leather straps to wrap around his legs.

 Jonathan choose to be Abraham Lincoln.

He did quite a bit of reading up on him but then didn't end up telling any of the interesting stories but just told some facts. The experience of researching, writing a paper and then presenting it was a good one for him. He enjoyed doing it too.

We had fun putting his costume together from things that we had around here. He was able to use his shirt and pants but then I had a suit coat that he was able to borrow. He wasn't real sure about the buttons being on the wrong side but was a good sport about it. Somewhere I have a bunch of dress-up bow ties that I had made for another occasion but I couldn't find them this week so I had to dig out Ken's bow tie from our wedding for him to wear. I could have made another one but one less project is always good.  For his beard I had a piece of black furry fabric which we cut to shape and attached to elastic. He looked rather cute with it on.

The hat was the "big", but fun project. Jonathan cut a cardboard tube we had down to size and then also cut out a brim. It would have been better if the tube had been a little bigger around so that the hat didn't perch on his head quite so much but oh well- It got the right idea presented.

After the hat was taped together, I covered it with some black fabric from an old t-shirt. Then I put some black ribbon around it just above the brim. We did end up having to add an elastic strap just to keep it on too.

 Megan chose to be Laura Ingalls. We have been reading through those books lately and she loves them so it was a fun choice.

She had fun drawing pictures to show everybody and then started copying down a bunch of the book (which she can't read but she can copy) onto papers. She brought those papers along so she would know what to say. It was pretty cute. At home she was incredibly dramatic with her presentation but once we got there she did have a bit of stage fright and wanted me to be beside her and didn't remember everything that she had planned on saying. It was still cute though and another mother thought she may have been the best at speaking loud and clear.

We had everything we needed for Megan's outfit from her closet and the dress up bin so it was nice and easy!

 Mara chose to be Rivka, a Russian Jew the immigrated to America. She had wanted to be a Russian Immigrant but we were having trouble finding a real story. The one she used was a real story but the name had been changed so we do not know her real name.

Mara drew a map to show the travels that Rivka had to make to get to America. She summarized the story as well.

 Mara's costume was pretty easily put together from things that we had one hand though she did make up a head scarf using some fabric that I had. She also borrowed an apron from her grandma but then accidentally untied it and left it at home so we found a new one for her to wear at the church building.


  We and another family brought food to share (everybody was encouraged to present their character in the way that best worked for them and if they wanted to bring food that would be fine and fun). We did a bit of research and decided to bring a "Viking Stew" made with yellow peas and cabbage, (to go with Leif Erikkson), Apples slices for Abraham Lincoln as we had read that they were a favorite of his and often for summer lunches he would eat just fruit (In winter he had a biscuit and a glass of milk), Cornbread and Honey for Laura Ingalls and Blini (a pancake made with lots of eggs, kind of like a crepe) with Chocolate inside for Rivka. Rivka had gone to Belgium on her way to America and fallen in love with Chocolate there but the Blinis are traditional Russian fare.


  We are enjoying this year of homeschool get-togethers.
If you also are homeschooling- how is your year going?