One of the greatest things about homeschooling, in my opinion, is the homeschooler's ability to go and learn in all sorts of different places, rather than learning primarily by what can be brought into the class room. I think this is particularly key in history. I think students get such a better understanding of things, as well as developing an emotional connection to places or events, when they can go and see the interact with the location where significant historical activities took place.
A great opportunity for this "real life real place" learning takes place this year with the plethora of special events that have been planned around the sesquicentennial (means 150) anniversary of the US Civil War. So many places are planning lectures, exhibits, re-enactments, and other special observations of this pivotal time in American history, and you don't have to be a homeschooler to take advantage of many of them.
The best central repository of such events that I've found is through the National Parks Service. Their Civil War 150 page has links to 26 states (the ones in the mid-west through the east) that are planning special events for the sesquicentennial. Many of these site will be offering activities for the next four years, so if you are interested, sign onto their email list to get announcement of events in future years.
where are the reenactments?
ReplyDeleteThere aren't a lot of reenactments in North Carolina because this state is not where most of the biggest battles took place. They do a reenactment in Bentonville each year, I believe, but I think that took place earlier this month. But I know they have big reenactments planned for Fort Sumpter n GA and Bull Run/Manassas in Virginia. Check out the link above for more details.
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