Vocation of Motherhood

I consider the proper education of our youth one of the most important objects now to be attained and one from which the greatest benefits may be expected. 
-Robert E. Lee

Today was the big Civil War Reenactment day! We dressed the part, heard inspiring words from the soldiers, reenacted the battle scene (Chattanooga), enjoyed period-style food (menu below), competed to win the best "Rebel Yell" contest, and danced the Virginia Reel until our feet hurt! What a privilege it was for all ages to experience the suffering and even the joys our ancestors experienced in the great conflict. One woman replied that seeing the soldiers go off to the battle gave her the chills; it was so very life-like.

Here are a small sampling of pictures to show you the day:

1. Tim M. Sr. explaining the history behind the Battle of Chattanooga. He also showed us authentic ammunition from the Civil War!

 

2. Some of the ladies going to see the men off to battle....

 3. The battle:

 

5. A family all decked out (scroll down below for a more detailed picture of Sue's dress):

 

6. Sue made her dress in THREE DAYS! She also helped the other women create their dresses, along with homemade hoop skirts (made out of clothes hangers!).

 

7. Soldiers showing us their stuff:

8. And now, for the dancing! Here is one picture from the almost two hours that we danced!

 

Our Period-Style Menu (Potluck):

Pulled Pork with Homemade Rolls
Fried Potatoes with Onions
Beans with Bacon
Apple Cider
Coffee
Squash/Pumpkin Pies

We also had readings from the life of a soldier, prayer before the battle, and so much more. What a fun project. Thank you to all the families who worked so hard to make it happen!

Some days I just love having my Mom around... today was one of them. Look at what she accomplished on a jacket I bought for 1.50! This is for Red's Civil War costume for the big day coming up. We've been busy working on T's costume, so it was nice to get going on the Union side, too. Here is what my Mom did, all I did was help with the hot glue gun a little bit!

Granny working steadily....

Here's the finished product!

Here was the confederate jacket, which was still a work in progress. It ended up looking so nice but for some reason I can't find the picture....

Some days I just love having my Mom around... today was one of them. Look at what she accomplished on a jacket I bought for 1.50! This is for Red's Civil War costume for the big day coming up. We've been busy working on T's costume, so it was nice to get going on the Union side, too. Here is what my Mom did, all I did was help with the hot glue gun a little bit!

Granny working steadily....

Here's the finished product!

Here are some of the resources we've been using to make costumes, a lapbook and for other activities for the big day:

Online Resources: (Costumes & Lapbook)    
                                  Unit Study by a Homeschooling Mom (GREAT resource!)
                                  Costume-Making   
                                  History Timeline -(for more simplified timeline,
                                  see below in the books category)
                                  Clip Art (Link is for Robert E. Lee, search for more)
                                  More Historical Clip Art          

Books: (Mainly used for Lapbook resources)

  Civil War For Kids, A History with 21 Activities
  Young Heroes of the North and South

"Civil War For Kids" is an excellent book.... full of ideas for activities we will use for the reenactment (ex.,"Rebel Yell Contest" and we'll probably make the "coffee can drum" for Red to use as a drummer boy). CW for Kids   also has a much more simplified time line we'll use for the lapbook.

 

When we first decided to participate in a Civil War reenactment I was nervous about making costumes (not the crafty type of Mom!). However with a little inspiration from some friends (thanks Sue and Anne) my Mom and I put together a jacket today for T.  First of all, the jacket was 1.50 at our local thrift store, and the pants were 1.00. The jacket was actually a women's jacket in the smallest size (6) I could find. Here is the before picture:

For the jacket: I cut down the sleeves and traced a pattern on a piece of paper folded in half. Then I placed the pattern on yellow felt and cut out two separate applications, ironed on some Heat N' Bond, and applied these to the sleeves.

For the collar I also used yellow felt, along with hot gluing some "sequin" stars on each side. I will be adding some gold braiding and gold buttons, but you'll get a good idea of what we'll have from this picture:

Stay tuned for the finished product!