Presidents Quiz

This is a great place to learn your presidents.

I'm not sure quite where I found this - but I think it was from the Lilting House

500 Years Ago Today

The name "America" was coined in France.

Unearthing the reality behind the myths surrounding the Jamestown Colony

U.S. News and World Report has a fascinating overview of recent findings about Jamestown colony in Virginia.

Doubt the colonists' savvy? The siting of the fortress itself was testament to their military sense, enabling their artillery to dominate river traffic while sitting beyond the range of ship-borne guns. Question their grit? The construction of the fort in a mere 19 days amid fierce heat and sniping from local Indians was a feat unequaled even by the much better equipped builders of the set of the recent movie The New World. Think the colonists lacked entrepreneurial zeal? Artifacts indicate a rich diversity of industrial and craft ventures, ample proof that those men (and, soon, women) quickly set to work trying to make a profit for their company. Other findings fill in details about life in the first successful English colony in America, showing, for instance, even more interaction and, possibly, intermarriage with Indians than once was thought.

Read the entire article here

The Great Depression (United States, 1930s)

Blue Willow by Doris Gates
1940, Scholastic, 154 pages, softcover

Blue Willow is the endearing story of ten-year-old Janey Larkin, whose family is struggling to make ends meet in California's Central Valley during the Great Depression. Janey and her family have a few treasured possessions which they've dragged along with them from place to place because of the difficulties in finding work. Janey's beautiful blue willow plate is her greatest treasure, but when tough times get worse, she decides to offer it as payment for her family's rent...

This is a beautiful picture of family life in difficult times as well as offering a portrait of the Great Depression and lesser-known parts of "old" California. The story will probably be best appreciated (possibly as a read-aloud) for grades 1-4.

Reviewed by Alicia Van Hecke (10-21-03)
Available from Our Father's House

Kit: An American Girl by Valerie Tripp
A series of six historical fiction titles from the time of the Great Depression
2001, Pleasant Company Publications, 68 pages (each book), softcover

This series of six books from the American Girl collection can be enjoyed by young girls even without getting into buying the doll and all her accessories. Set in Ohio in the 1930s, this series focuses on Kit Kittredge and her family who are learning to be more frugal and caring during the tough times of the Great Depression. These are sweet stories and fairly easy for young readers (as young as six or seven years old). The stories are filled with nice little lessons about the things that really matter.

Reviewed by Alicia Van Hecke (10-21-03)

Survival in the Storm: The Dust Bowl Diary of Grace Edwards by Katelan Janke
2002, Scholastic, 186 pages, hardcover

My ten year old daughter has been enjoying the Dear America series from Scholastic. I believe that they've had a positive effect on her character (particular in the "complaint" department) as the stories focus on girls about her age living in difficult times. As they're written by a number of different authors, please don't take this review as an endorsement of all of the titles.

Survival in the Storm is the fictional story (in the format of a diary) of twelve-year old Grace Edwards who lives in Dalhart, Texas - a city near the center of the five-state area hardest hit by the infamous droughts and dust storms that plagued the Southwest for nearly a decade during the Great Depression.

The story provides a nice balance of family stability amidst hardships that give children today a fair look at the challenges of life in that time period. Grace volunteers at a hospital alongside her mother where the reader learns of the terrible illnesses associated with the dust storms. Families band together to help each other when hard times come and many leave for the "promised land" of California, only to be stuck in migrant camps where conditions are no better than at home. Throughout the story, virtues of perseverance and kindness are shown to be the things that "get people through" tough times.

Reviewed by Alicia Van Hecke (10-13-03)

Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955)

"What Does American Democracy Mean to Me?", Mary McLeod Bethune, November 23, 1939, New York City

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
1959, Warner Books (and other editions), 288 pages, softcover

This modern classic, set in the segregated South of the 1930s, is the story of two young children who learn about life and the great character of their father, Atticus Finch, as he struggles with a difficult case in which he must defend a black man wrongfully accused of raping a white woman.

The story is told through the eyes of the younger child, a nine year old girl. This charming perspective, related in an authentic Southern dialect, makes for a surprisingly innocent way of tackling some rather tough topics. Catholic parents of today, who are forced to explain difficult topics such as abortion to their young children, will likely sympathize with this father and be impressed with how well he handles the situation.

Atticus, an aging lawyer and widowed father of two, is a man who spends his free time reading. His children find him somewhat boring and wish he could be more like their classmates' fathers who are young and athletic. As the story develops, the children begin to learn why their father is respected by those neighbors and friends whose opinions really count.

The story culminates in a court battle in which Atticus is assigned to defend an innocent black man in a hopelessly biased rape case. He is reluctant to take the case because he knows he has no chance of winning and is concerned about the emotional persecution his children will suffer in a community where racial tensions run high. Nevertheless, he knows he must do the right thing and proceeds with the case. The case itself and the man involved turn out tragically and the family goes through many difficult and even frightening things, but the book proves to be a great classic because of the great character development, the moral considerations the story addresses and the growth of the children as they suffer through the case with their father. It should provide a wealth of literary, historical and moral themes for teens or adults.

While the book could be studied as early as eighth grade, it would probably be understood more deeply a few years later, in mid-to-upper high school.

Read complete review on love2learn.net

Click here to view our study questions for this book.

Reviewed by Alicia Van Hecke (12-1-01)
Available from By Way of the Family

1906 Earthquake, San Francisco

Links relating to the quake:

http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/info/1906/
http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/info/1906/othereqs.html
http://www.sfmuseum.org/1906/06.html
http://www.eas.slu.edu/Earthquake_Center/1906EQ/
http://1906centennial.org/
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/sfeq.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1906_San_Francisco_earthquake
http://london.sonoma.edu/Writings/Journalism/sfearthquake.html
http://www.learncalifornia.org/doc.asp?id=1481

General San Francisco History:

http://www.sanfranciscomemories.com/

The Wind Blows Free by Loula Grace Erdman

1952/2006, Bethlehem Books, 271 pages, softcover

After Papa's store burns down in East Texas, the Pierce family decides to take up farming and moves to the wilds of the Texas Panhandle where life is challenging and money is tight. Papa has built a "dugout" cabin and the family makes do with circumstances far different from those to which they are accustomed.

The Panhandle in the 1890s is quite barren - just a few ranchers and cowboys about and hardly a tree to be found. It's a tough land to survive in, especially for farming families like the Pierces. They grow accustomed to things they would never have dreamed of in the past - like collecting old cattle bones to sell, burning "cow chips" for fuel and living with a dirt floor. But somehow they learn to appreciate their homemade Christmas, the dependability of the cowboys and "the wind that blows free."

15 year old Melinda is the particular heroine of the story. She is reluctant to leave her grandmother, her school and her close friends. The new life is hard and strange and some days she just can't seem to get anything right.

This is a delightful family story with plenty of adventure and just a bit of romance. I really didn't want it to end (and not many books have that effect on me). My daughter and I especially enjoyed the balance between living simply and appreciating education. The "homemade Christmas" was a particular favorite - quite inspiring actually!

Reviewed by Alicia Van Hecke (12-06)
Available from All Catholic Books and Emmanuel Books

Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957)

The Little House on the Prairie Series by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little House in the Big Woods

Little House on the Prairie

On the Banks of Plum Creek

By the Shores of Silver Lake

The Long Winter

Little Town on the Prairie

These Happy Golden Years

The First Four Years

Note: Laura also wrote Farmer Boy, about her husband, Almanzo Wilder's childhood on a prosperous farm in upstate New York.

Fr. Pierre De Smet (1838-1875)

Grades 5-8:

Giant of the Western Trail, The Life of Fr. de Smet by Fr. Michael McHugh

Websites:

Catholic Encyclopedia

Note: De Smet, South Dakota, the home of Laura Ingalls Wilder (and the setting of her later books, including The Long Winter and These Happy Golden Years, was named after this beloved missionary.

Civil War, U.S. (1861-1865)

Picture Books:

Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco

Grade School:

Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink (1864)
Caddie Woodlawn's Family by Carol Ryrie Brink (a.k.a. Magical Melons 1863-1865)
Willie Finds Victory: A Blessed Francis Seelos Story by Joan Stromberg (1819-1867)
Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt
Gettysburg by Makinlay Kantor (1863)

Teen/Adult:
Killer Angels by Michael Shaara (Gettysburg 1863)

Famous Speeches:

"Gettysburg Address", Abraham Lincoln, November 19, 1863, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Movies:

Gettysburg (1993 - Martin Sheen, Jeff Daniels)

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
1852, Penguin/Signet Classics, 496 pages, softcover (many editions available)

The story is about slavery in America. It follows the lives of two slaves in detail, Eliza and Uncle Tom, and introduces us to a great many more slaves and masters and their stories. The two belong to the same master in Kentucky. When the master falls on hard times (from his own inability to manage his estate) he ends up making a deal to sell these two - despite the fact that both of them are rather dear to him and his family. Getting wind of this Eliza decides to run for safety with her son while Uncle Tom allows himself to be taken away from his wife and young children. Eliza risks her life to save her child - running across the ice floes of a partially frozen Ohio river to escape - then finds her way along an underground network. (I won't tell you how her story comes out.) Uncle Tom is sold and resold. He is steadfast in his faith throughout - though not unchanging. Moreover, he affects those who he meets along the way.

This book is written in a very foreign style. - at least to the modern reader. Chronologically Mrs. Stowe's style fits somewhere between that of the crafters of the Constitution and that of Mark Twain. But it is not so easy to put it into any other category. Her own narration is a bit archaic, overtly Christian, sometimes sarcastic, sometimes patronizing, and yet very broad minded. She calls you "gentle reader". She says "now don't you think that is fair?" when she expects you to come to the opposite conclusion. And yet she sees clearly through all the haze of the issue - i.e. the "shades of grey" everyone loves to talk about when they can't bear to say right vs. wrong. And she does more - she presents us with characters who take various positions on the slavery issue. Not just "it's right" and "it's wrong" - but a wide variety of views. She allows them ample voice and reason to discourse their whole argument; she does not make them straw men; she does not mitigate or twist their ideas; she lays out the best cases for and against - and from several different angles. In the midst of this she demonstrates the effects on the PEOPLE who are subjected to the system - those who are the masters as well as those who are the slaves. It is incredibly revealing to have the whole gamut - the entire conversation - all in one accessable story. And it is incredibly convincing!!! Which is why, as legend has it, Abe Lincoln, when introduced to her for the first time declared, "So you're the little lady responsible for this big war."

Age level: High School Freshman +/- a year. Kleenex required.

Reviewed by John Van Hecke (7-29-04)
Available from Adoremus Books and Our Father's House,

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

This is a beautiful classic, appropriate for high school about Father Jean Marie Latour and his work in New Mexico beginning in 1851.

The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne (published 1851)

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

Abraham Lincoln by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire (1809-1865)

Abe Lincoln: Log Cabin to White House by Sterling North

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 1858

The War of 1812

Cleared for Action by Stephen Meader

Charlotte Tucker (Laura Ingalls' Grandmother, born in 1809)

Little House by Boston Bay by Melissa Wiley
On Tide Mill Lane by Melissa Wiley
The Road from Roxbury by Melissa Wiley
Across the Puddingstone Dam by Melissa Wiley

The full-length books are sadly on their way out-of-print (snatch them up if you can find them!). They are being replaced with considerably shorter abridged editions.

Additional resources from the author can be found here

Harriet Tubman (1820-1913)

Wanted Dead or Alive: The True Story of Harriet Tubman by Ann McGovern

Blessed Junipero Serra (1713-1783)

"Always Go Forward, and Never Turn Back: Blessed Junipero Serra", Reading Comprehension: Stories of the Saints, Volume 3 pgs. 81-103 (Catholic Heritage Curricula)

The Man Who Founded California: Blessed Junipero Serra by M.N. Couve de Murville

Art:

Saints of the California Missions: Mission Paintings of the Spanish and Mexican Eras by Norman Neuerberg (Bellerophon Books)

Out of Print Favorites:

The First Californian: The Story of Fray Junipero Serra by Donald Demarest (Credo Books)

The Five Franciscan Martyrs of Georgia

Death came to the five Franciscan Martyrs in September, 1597, after a baptized Guale named Juanillo, living in one of the missions, took a second wife. Juanillo was the nephew of the principal tribal chief and a leading contender to succeed him. Given his importance, if he persisted in his marital infidelity, the moral life of the whole mission would be in jeopardy. It fell to Fray Pedro at the mission at Tolomato to admonish Juanillo to live the Christian faith in which he was baptized, and to warn him that the friars would not support his political aspirations should he persist in bigamy. In this he was seconded by Fray Blas in the nearby mission at Tupiquí...

From the Georgia Martyrs website

hat-tip Karen Edmisten