This week we sat down for a group reading and discussion session. It began with reading about the events surrounding the admission of the last of the western united states into the union. All began well, but then it devolved. Somehow my kids turned the history of the United States into a two hour long discussion and research project around the sacrifice that Abraham was prepared to make and would that be something you could do to your own child. Life with teens really is interesting!
Well, it was a history lesson fail, but maybe a homeschool triumph.
The funny this week was from the reading that led somehow to Abraham… Citizens in the Dakota Territory (prior to splitting into North and South) apparently threatened to join the U.S. if they were not given the approval by congress to become a state.
Finding their plea for admission without avail, the voters of southern Dakota called a convention, in 1885, framed a constitution, and threatened to come into the Union unasked. “The History of the American People” by Charles A Beard and William C Bagley, 1920
Basically this boils down to: If you don’t officially let me join your group, I will declare for myself that I have joined. ?Huh? Boy did the kids get a chuckle out of that one. This according to California’s official US History textbook, published in 1920). The advantage is that the authors lived through much of the history they write about and many of the important and fascinating details of our history that usually are glossed over are covered. The disadvantage is that the book ends with the conclusion of WWI.
When do you stop your children from going off on a tangent, and when do you let them be?
Did you have a Funny or a Fail or a Flop in your homeschool this week? Join us!