History in March ~The Underground Railroad and Abraham Lincoln

We started out March with the underground railroad for history.

It was a hard subject to explain to a 5 and 6yr old.

We read about Harriet Tubman in our Value Tales book and my oldest got mad.

Very mad about the way she was treated.

The funny thing was the civil war made more sense to him after reading about slavery.

We read the You Choose history book on the Underground Railroad.

I highly recommend it to anyone doing this study!

Both of my boys (ages 5 and 6) really got into it.

I forgot to take a picture of all the books on the underground railroad together since I really did not think we would be spending much time on it.

After we started studying it we stretched it out for two weeks.

This is the only picture I have of one of the other books we read.

Friend on Freedom River by Gloria Whelan is a beautiful book.

I have really liked all of the books I have read in the Tales of Young Americans series.

The illustrations are beautiful and the stories pull you in.

We listened to the three part series on the Underground Railroad by Adventures in Odyssey.

I cried.

It was amazing.

We usually listen to these in the car on the way to a field trip or something.

When I get to our destination I always feel like I am being hunted, or in the midst of a battle.

We also read Booker T. Washington’s a Slave Among Slaves.

It was in a reader so I had my oldest read some of it and then I finished it since it was a little long for him.

It was a great read.

The second part of the month we learned about Abraham Lincoln.

Again this was supposed to be a short study but it ended up going two weeks.

I love that about homeschooling.

We again listened to the Adventures in Odyssey on Abraham Lincoln.

It ends with his assassination.

I did not tell my boys what was coming.

I felt mean but I thought they would get more out of the story that way.

Thankfully they did not end it with too much drama so it was not as scary as I thought it might be.

We did the reading guide with the magic tree house lesson plan while reading the book Abe Lincoln at Last!

They have lesson plans to go along with the Magic Tree House books!

The reading guide is towards the end of the lesson plan.

We only did the reading guide this time but the boys loved finishing reading our chapters and running over to the computer to see what they remembered.

After reading the Magic Tree House book we read Mr. Lincoln’s Boys.

They mentioned the boys in the Magic Tree House book so the boys loved reading more stories about them.

Just a Few Words Mr. Lincoln is about the Gettysburg Address.

At the end of the book they have the Address and the boys were excited to hear it after reading about it in the book!

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln was a hard book for my oldest to hear.

I did like how it did not end with him getting shot though and continued the story until they caught Booth.

There are a lot a good books out there on America’s history though!

Do not give your child a book full of dates to learn history!

Give them a good piece of historical fiction first, make history exciting!

Trip to see family and the Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge

While my mom, sister, and nephew were in town a couple weeks ago we went down to visit my aunt and uncle that live a couple hours away.

It was great to have so much family in one place and the boys did not break anything in the restaurant!

I would say that alone is a miracle.

My aunt and uncle with the boys.

We stopped by the Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge on the way home.

It was a beautiful day for a walk in the woods!

The boys needed to get some of that little boy energy out before we drove back home also!

Such handsome little men!

My oldest took this.

It is so nice to have a personal photographer around.

Bird watching.

The drive around the refuge was a little uneventful but we did end up seeing some birds and several armadillos!

My mom with her grandsons.

Aren’t they cute!

I want one.

Visiting the Aquarium and Zoo with Family

My boys love going to the Oklahoma Aquarium!

I am so glad we were able to go this time with my nephew!

My boys love talking for the turtles.

The beavers were out and in rare form that day!

They got to see lots of the animals being fed.

Of course they had to touch the sharks and stingrays!

Have you ever been to an aquarium?

I think my boys are a little spoiled when it comes to things like this.

They think nothing of seeing sharks and stingrays…

We also made a trip to the Tulsa Zoo last week.

I thought the mustache tattoos I bought at the Science Museum would be perfect for our zoo visit.

Pictures are just more fun with little boys wearing fake mustaches…

My oldest had his heart set on going as Luke Skywalker Jedi Knight but did decide he could be in disguise.

That look cracks me up!

I thought they looked like little construction workers on lunch break.

They got a lot of comments about their mustaches!

A zoo employee told them he thought they were not old enough for a beard and a mustache, just a mustache.

As we walked away my youngest got a big smile on his face and said, “It WORKED! We tricked him! He thought we were adults!”

I love that kid.

I told them to wiggle their mustaches…

It was such a great time!

I am not sure how I am going to top going to the zoo as little old men though…