History Buff

As I have mentioned before, Amelia is very interested in history.  She is constantly begging me to tell me stories about famous people and events from long ago.  I was NEVER into history as a child and was in college before I really started to take an interest in past events.  But it was when I taught at The Miriam School that I realized just how interesting history could be--especially for kids.

I had been researching books for Amelia's age about strong, famous women.  We have talked about Harriet Tubman extensively in the past, so when I was at the library I picked up the book, "Minty".  It is about young Harriet Tubman and what her life was about growing up.

When we got home from the library, we read the story.  Apparently, it greatly affected Amelia!  During "rest" time, she built her own "Underground Railroad".  She used paper, tape, scissors, her dollhouse people, her dollhouse brooms, and a pack of hair curlers. There are pitchforks she made from her dollhouse brooms and black paper. The "tall grass field" was behind the slaves. 

"Amanda" was a slave that was sent "down the river" because she tried to run away and got caught. The river was my favorite part because she took apart all of the hair curlers in the pack and snapped together all of the middle pieces to make it.  She asked for my help with the North Star, but she did the rest completely on her own.

I sometimes feel guilty about forcing Amelia to have rest time in her room each afternoon.  But, honestly some of her best creations come during that time! (Minus the Great Hair Massacre of '09).