My Son's Last Year of Elementary School Was His Best Year

My ten-year-old son finished elementary school on Friday, and I can say without a doubt this was his best year ever.  He would agree that it was his best year because he loved his teacher.  She was inspiring and effective. She believed in him, and she helped him hone his natural leadership skills. She had high expectations and considered herself a co-learner in the classroom.

I think it's true that different children bond differently with different teachers, and for Isaac, Mrs. White was a perfect match.  As a parent who has struggled to understand many elementary teachers' points of view and rigid approaches over the years, I will say that this teacher was a good fit for me as well.  I didn't feel like I needed to ask a million questions because she communicated well in advance and was flexible and understanding of parents with busy schedules. For example, she didn't punish my son if I forgot to initial his planner one night, and she gladly sent home an additional field trip permission slip when I inadvertently lost the first one.  More importantly, she also assigned meaningful work (not word search worksheets) and met the individual learning needs of her students. The thing I most appreciated about her though was that she emobdied the traits of a life-long learner and was eager to learn alongside her students.

When I asked Isaac what he liked best about Mrs. White he said that she didn't make him sit still for long periods of time, and she designed active learning opportunities. He also said she was nice and frequently asked him about his interests. Since Isaac has strong interests in history, he always loved it and felt special when he shared his Abraham Lincoln movie and books with her, and she borrowed them to learn more.

Isaac leaves a note for Mrs. White

As we conclude our days as parents of an elementary school aged child, I am mourning the end of young childhood years when my children needed me more. I am grateful to the amazing Mrs. White for helping us end these elementary years on a positive note.

Isaac with his favorite teacher, Mrs. White

The day of 5th grade graduation (technically called a promotion ceremony), we waited behind multiple other students and their parents for students to have their picture made with Mrs. White. She clearly cared for each of her students and made a positive mark on their young lives.

Learning About the Battle of Perryville

 "I would like to have God on my side, but I must have Kentucky." 
                                                              ~Abraham Lincoln


As a lover of nonfiction texts from my early childhood days until now, I recall many a biography I read about women.  Around third grade, I read a biography of Clara Barton and that experience established my interest in the American Civil War.  Barton's involvement as a civil rights activist and her work with the women's suffrage movement were significant issues for me as a young girl.  Drawn to ideas of Barton's humanitarian efforts, I learned about the Union and Confederate sides, and I was impacted by the hatefulness of slavery in ways I couldn't fully grasp, other than to know it could not be okay to treat human beings as property.  Over the years, my understanding of the issues expanded, but honestly I don't think I fully grasped the significance of border states until helping my ten-year-old son with a recent research project for History Day.

Isaac loves history especially the American Civil War.  Since he was seven or eight years old, he's been interested in the people and the strategies behind the battles.  For his third grade biography project a couple of years ago, he researched Abraham Lincoln, and Lincoln has continued to be one of his favorite people from history.  For his fifth grade history day project, he decided to research the Battle of Perryville since it was the largest Civil War battle fought in Kentucky and it was a turning point in the War.

Since I have never previously studied Kentucky history and wasn't initially excited about moving here nearly eleven years ago, Isaac and I learned together about an era in Kentucky's history.  We learned why Kentucky was such an important state during the American Civil War and why Abraham Lincoln said he must have Kentucky on his side.  Since it was a border state politically and geographically both the North and the South wanted Kentucky on their side, and Kentucky citizens were apparently divided with some of the residents sympathizing with the South on economic labor issues (they wanted free labor from slaves) and others sympathizing with more progressive thinkers from the North who opposed slavery.

Highlights from what we learned

• We learned that the Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves from all confederate states, but not the border states, including Kentucky.  
•  We learned states rights were important to the South because they wanted to preserve their way of living and if slavery was abolished, their way of living would change.
• We learned about a drought in the region that drew both the Union and Confederate armies to Perryville, Kentucky where they had access to many creeks and rivers for troops and their horses.
• We learned about the aftermath of the battle and about a teacher from the School for the Deaf in Danville who was alarmed by the large number of soldiers who were killed and lying dead on the battlefield without a proper burial.  This man went back to the school and brought his students back with him to dig graves and bury the dead soldiers.

Clearly the bulleted points above do not encompass everything we learned, but these were the facts that stayed with both of us, and they are the details making me want to learn more about Kentucky's history.

Incidentally, Isaac and I had the opportunity to learn more about history in Kentucky when he represented his elementary school at the Lexington History Museum's History Fair in downtown at the historic Lyric Theatre in downtown Lexington.

----Sources Consulted----

1.      Wertz, Jay. The Civil War: 1861-1865.  London:

Sevenoaks, 2011.

2.      Sanders, Stuart W. Perryville Under Fire: The

Aftermath of Kentucky’s Largest Civil War Battle. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2012.

3.      Noe, Kenneth W. Perryville: This Grand Havoc of

Battle. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2001.

4.      www.civilwar.org

5.      www.battleofperryville.com

6.      Library of Congress. www.loc.gov/item99447187

Learning through Travel in 2013

I love to travel and think it's very educational because you learn when you pay attention to your surroundings and are curious on each adventure.  I've written previously about how my husband and I try to enhance the fine public school education our children are receiving.   As we near the end of 2013, I've decided to share five little trips our family took this year.  In no way do these trips represent world-wide travel or extensive excursions to exotic places (out of our current budget range).  Instead, I am sharing these small family trips because trips like these are more doable for an average family, and it's a great way to think about how weekend trips to visit family in another state or activities in a local city can also be a learning experience too.  


 Bob Dylan Concert & a Lego Store

For years I've wanted to see Bob Dylan live in concert, and I know my chances are growing slimmer with each passing year, so when we learned Dylan would be in nearby Cincinnati, Ohio, we decided to check on ticket prices.  Fortunately, there was a special for four tickets at a very reasonable rate.  We thought about finding a babysitter for our boys, but then decided we should take them to the concert because seeing Bob Dylan in concert could be a historical moment in their young (10 & 12 years old) lives.  At first they were not thrilled with the idea, but when we told them we would stay overnight in a hotel and go to the Lego store the next day, they were up for the experience.  There was a moment at the concert when my husband took the boys aside and whispered to them to look on the stage and take mental note of Bob Dylan in his white jacket because that would be a moment for them to remember forever.  Afterwards they both said it was pretty cool to see someone with such history, but then they were ready for the visit to the Lego store the next day.

A Civil War Train Ride and Battle Reenactment

Kentucky has its share of Civil War history, so this year we decided to take the boys on a Civil War train ride in Versailles, Kentucky, a short twenty minute drive from where we live.  The experience was fascinating and informative.  Actors and actresses from children to middle-aged adults rode in the train cars with us and carried on in ways that would have been typical of their class status in the 19th century.  We were victims of a Civil War train robbery and it was all in the name of educational fun.

Museums and Monuments Galore in Washington, D.C.

In the early part of the year, I did some freelance writing and consulting to earn money for a desired family trip toWashington, D.C. during spring break.  I had long wanted the family to make this trip because after all the business trips I took to D.C., I knew my family would enjoy seeing the sites and experiencing the history of the city. We found amazing deals on airfare, so the boys took their second ever airplane ride (though they are too young to remember the first one).  We rode the Metro, we walked until our feet were numb, and we rode in a taxi back to the airport.  I highlight modes of transportation because they were one of the highlights for my curious boys who have always enjoyed playing with planes, trains, and automobiles.  Other highlights of the trip were some of the tourist staples--the Smithsonian Museums, the Capitol, Abraham Lincoln's Monument, and Arlington National Cemetery for the changing of the guard.  Coincidentally, the day we watched the changing of the guard was the same day the high school from my husband's home town (Perry, GA) was there laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns.  

Tybee Island Lighthouse 


Since all of our family live elsewhere, the holidays generally mean a trip of some sort for us.  This year, my husband's dad and step mom (who live in south Georgia) decided to rent a condo on Tybee Island for our Thanksgiving weekend visit. We toured the Tybee Island Lighthouse (and yes--climbed all 178 steps) and we took a historical tour of Savannah too.  My oldest son has been interested in the invention of the light bulb since he was a toddler, so seeing the giant light bulbs they used at one point in the lighthouse's history was especially interesting to him.  The wind was strong the day we visited, so we all stayed close to the building when we walked out on the lookout platform.


The trip would not have been complete without our roadside stop to see and touch the cotton remnants in a field.  My youngest was learning about the plantations in the south and the history of slavery in school, so the cotton field brought very vivid ideas to his mind based on the atrocities he studied in his social studies class.

White Squirrels in the Fall and Christmas in Brevard, North Carolina

My parents and all of my sisters and their families live in North Carolina, and generally we visit in the summer for hiking, picnicking, and seeing waterfalls.  This past summer, however, I started a new job and had numerous work related trips and the boys had various summer camps, so we skipped our summer trip to Brevard.  Instead, we traveled to Brevard during fall break and again during Christmas break.  Being in Brevard in the fall is gorgeous because of the mountain views and fall tree colors.  We even saw a legendary white squirrel on our fall visit.

Our visit at Christmas was momentous because we hadn't seen one of my sisters and her family in over a year since they live in the middle part of the state.  For Christmas though, we were all there with my parents carrying on with family traditions and making memories with cousins playing together in the woods near my parents' house.  

Why We Didn't Take Forbidden Pictures at the National Museum ofAmerican History

Oh let me tell you how much I really wanted to snap a photo of the hat Lincoln wore the night of his assassination, not for me but for my son, the great fan of Abraham Lincoln. But I didn't because I think it's more important for me to model respect and responsibility. The museum actually encourages photography throughout with only a few exceptions when flash might harm the artifacts. As someone who values open source resources, I appreciate the museum's open attitude toward photography, and I also respect the importance of forbidden photography for exhibits which cannot endure accidental flash thousands of times.

We explored almost all of the exhibits in the museum, and even returned for a second visit today in search of this nearly century and a half old hat.

Because I was the only family member who wanted to see the First Ladies exhibit (just had to see Michelle Obama's beautiful inauguration gown), my husband moved ahead to The Emancipation Proclamation exhibit with the boys to find Lincoln's hat. When I rejoined my family twenty minutes later, my nine year old eagerly greeted me and led me to the darkened area of the exhibit to show me the hat. Lights from cameras flashed and cameras clicked while Isaac proclaimed his dissatisfaction for people showing disrespect for the aged museum artifacts.

I will admit, I would like to have numerous gorgeous photos of artifacts from America's past to post on this blog right now, but I don't and I won't. Instead I hold beautiful memories of an enjoyable learning-filled spring break with my children and husband.

Shortly after writing the first part of this post, I happened across a blog post by the National Museum of American History where I learned more about their stance regarding photography and their offer to share flicker photos for download by patrons. (Side note: a post for another time will be when I write about how happy I am with museums that stay current with technology and communication.

Home with My Boys on Presidents' Day

Like many other educators who are off from school today with their children, I, too, am off from work but catching up on work related tasks (providing feedback to schools on their writing program review documents & finalizing details for threefull days of LDC training this week).  As someone who tends to work more than play, I’m trying to be conscious of my need to break from work tasks more often. 

Given my boys’ interest in history, Presidents’ Day provides me the perfect opportunity to ensure my day includes more than work tasks. In fact, the exciting part of my day includes  planning for our family spring break vacation to Washington D.C..  My boys have long wanted to travel to D.C.,and after every trip I took for work, the boys showed even greater interest in the history of our country.  They actually requested mini statues of the White House as a souvenir.

Nine year old last year dressed up for
biography project

This morning I asked each child individually (and not within earshot of each other) if he knew why we were off school today and if he had a favorite president.  Thankfully, both boys knew we were out today for Presidents’ Day, and interestingly, there is a significant connection between their responses regarding their favorite president.  My twelve year old promptly responded that his favorite president is Abraham Lincoln. When I asked the nine year old, he said his favorite is Obama.  Knowing of his interest in Abraham Lincoln, Ipressed him further about why Obama.  “Well, of course I like Abraham Lincoln.  He was the one who made it possible for Obama to one day become president.”

Let’s hope our request for tickets to the White House is granted, so these boys can see the home of our President.  Knowing it’s unlikely since there are only four of us, we are planning our itinerary with only a short visit to the outside of the White House but keeping ourselves flexible just in case.

Here’s our tentative itinerary for the trip

Saturday          Arrive in Washington D.C.

Sunday            Ford’s Theatre

                        ArlingtonNational Cemetery

Monday           National Postal Museum

                       Union Station

                       Library of Congress

                       Capitol

                       White House (outside view)

Tuesday          Bureau of Engraving and Printing

                        Paddle Boats in Tidal Basin

                        Monuments & Memorials on the National Mall

                   

Wednesday     Smithsonian museums

Thursday         Return to Lexington

With so many things to do and see in Washington, D.C., I asked each son to tell me what he most wants to see and then I arranged our itinerary around those desires. 

O Captain! My Captain!

I was never one of those wildly popular teachers who stood on desks, ripped pages out of textbooks, or spoke with a bellowing voice (think Dead Poets Society).  My approach was less showy but equally compassionate and filled with high expectations and a love for poetry.    In fact, I used to say poetry was part of the reason I chose to teach English over social studies.

There are two times each year when I become especially nostalgic for the classroom—in the fall when it’s time to welcome back former students and greet new students, and in the spring when it’s close to graduation and students are all a buzz with their minds focused on life beyond high school.

Inspired by a college graduation invitation received in the mail yesterday, I dug out old notes of appreciation from former students.  I still have some notes and pictures from my early days of teaching on the Cherokee Indian Reservation in North Carolina, and of course, there are notes from my students right here in Lexington, Kentucky.

One of those notes was from a student who addressed me--O Captain! My Captain! Now, if that isn’t one of the most honorable ways to address a teacher, I don’t know what is.  

Today’s Favorite Text Friday is the poem by Walt Whitman O Captain!  My Captain! 

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, The ship has weather'd every rack,

      the prize we sought is won, The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,

      While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring; But O heart! heart! heart!

      O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead.

      O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; Rise up- for you the flag is flung- for

      you the bugle trills… keep reading  

Walt Whitman may be one of the dead white authors, who garner much criticism for being part of the Cannon, but it’s still important to read authors like Whitman, and it’s essential to me that I share this poem with my young sons, who enjoy poetry along with me.  They like to hear me recite it, read it, and they like to read it to me as well.  Last night we read Whitman’s poem as a tribute to the interest my 8 year old has in Abraham Lincoln.  But, we also read it so I could relive a nostalgic memory of my days as a high school teacher.  

Spring break adventure to Lincoln Homestead in Springfield, Kentucky.

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