More on Our Current Study

I have to admit, no one else in the house has been as excited about our Civil War study as I have, and I've come to accept that. I'm not even exactly sure why I'm so obsessed with it, although I think it has much to do with my passion for it when I was younger, as I mentioned before. It became almost personal for me, because it was so close and tangible. York, SC where I did most of my growing up and it's surrounding area, has a history that winds back far before even the war in question (nearby Kings Mountain National Park commemorates a historic Revolutionary War battle), and the main cemetery is literally crammed full of history, especially pertaining to the mid 19th century. I used to ride my bike there and walk around - yes, for fun - letting my imagination run riot all over the potential stories. There is one fenced plot in particularly that contains the remains of a C.S.A Lieutenant (whose last name I can't remember, but whose first name was Frederick - very romantic, I used to think!) who perished during the war. His relatively young mother died shortly thereafter, and just a few months later, his older father, a doctor whose name I also can't remember, died as well. I used to weave lovely, tragic tales about how the mother, as young Southern belle, must have fallen in love with the older, distinguished doctor, how they must have doted on their dashing only son, and how they must have both died of broken hearts after his heroic death in battle. It probably wasn't anything like that - and certainly they probably would have preferred a long and boring family life instead - but it was thrilling to wonder about it, because they were real people from long ago, whose resting place I could visit on any ordinary day in the ordinary present.

So I can't blame my kids for not having the same kind of enthusiasm I have for this time period, since they don't have anything like the same kind of personal (well, almost) brush with it as I've had. (We've been to Charleston, but they're also not really old enough to be completely enraptured by the significance.) However, just when even their mild interest was beginning to wane, we came across a great book that kept everyone (except the little boys, of course, over whose alternately happy and contentious racket we had to sometimes read very loudly) enthralled for a solid hour this morning. I happened on Ghosts of the Civil War as I was getting ready to leave the library yesterday, and it has turned out to be the best, most colorful and entertaining overviews (for kids) of the war that I've seen yet. I want to buy a copy just for our personal library. But it makes me all the more disappointed in The Story of the World's treatment of the subject. The most interesting literature suggestions are biographies of Abraham Lincoln; otherwise, there are mostly suggestions for dry titles meant for older children who are studying along. It seems like a pretty big disservice to a pretty important topic in American history - but again, maybe I'm just way over the top in my excitement.

We are still reading through The Boys' Civil War and Across Five Aprils, this week adding the title mentioned above, and also The Perilous Road, for Aimee's required reading. Last week we covered 1862, and we reviewed that timeline this morning, briefly discussing the Battle of Shiloh, the Battles of the Seven Days, the Second Battle of Manassas, the Battle of Anteitam at Sharpsburg, and the Battle of Fredicksburg. We also talked a little about some of the more famous generals and other leaders. And last week after our State Museum visit, we bought some coloring books and paper dolls, including some paper soldiers that the boys have been playing with. We'll work our way though 1863 this week, and at the end of the week I'll post about what topics we covered.