History - Eva Varga

My children and I love to collect stamps. We learn a lot about history, science, and even language through this dynamic hobby – suitable for nearly all ages.

To celebrate our love of country and philately, I’ve thereby put together a gift basket to help you discover the hobby of stamp collecting.

The Philatelic & Patriotic Giveaway Basket includes:

America: A Patriotic Primer is a succinct history of the United States, an ABC of the principles on which this country was founded, and a book for children and families to pore over, discuss, and cherish. Though it is written by Lynne Cheney (author and wife of Vice President Richard Cheney), no political viewpoint is taken. Instead, she professes the greatness of our history and the profundity of our nation’s ideals. (Value $15)

The Early America Library CD from The Heritage History Classical Curriculum includes a specialized library that features stories about explorers, settlers, inventors, military heroes, writers, presidents, and Indian leaders, as well as political developments. (Value $19)

A set of seven beautiful notecards from The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation featuring images from Williamsburg, the world’s largest living history museum in Williamsburg, Virginia—the restored 18th-century capital of Britain’s largest, wealthiest, and most populous outpost of empire in the New World.

The Civil War: 1863 commemorative collection from the United States Postal Service. A must for every collector and every Civil War enthusiast, this commemorative set includes narrative on the Battle of Gettysburg and the Battle of Vicksburg, two First Day Covers are the third pair to be issued as part of the ongoing five-year Civil War Sesquicentennial series, and a full souvenir sheet of 12 stamps. (Value $9)

A variety of additional philatelic ephemera to kickstart a new hobby of stamp collecting:

American history learning activities with accompanying stamps to introduce stamp collecting from the Postal History Foundation
A packet of United States stamps (mint and cancelled) commemorating various historical events
Stamp Collector’s Stamp Booklet to aide a young collector in organizing their stamps and planning a philatelic exhibit

So there you have it! Everything you need to get started using stamps in your curriculum this year and a delightful collection of patriotic stories! Make sure to enter the giveaway at the end of the post!

This gift basket was inspired by the chapter that I wrote for the new book Big Book of Homeschool Ideas. In my chapter, How to Use Postage Stamps for Learning, I share with readers ideas for using postage stamps for learning history, science, and art. My hope is that along with this philatelic and patriotic giveaway, you will discover an interest in the hobby of stamp collecting yourself.

Big Book of Homeschool Ideas

So do you want to know more about the Big Book of Homeschool Ideas? This is a massive (561 page) ebook written by 55 ladies of the iHomeschool Network. We cover 103 hmeschool topics to help and inspire you, no matter what stage of homeschooling you are at!

This book covers everything from academic topics, to fun learning ideas like using LEGOs and teaching handicrafts! I have contributed two chapters myself. One of which is a tutorial to stamp collecting – perfect for this of you interested in getting started in the hobby of philately! This is a book you will turn to time and time again. To learn more and see the full table of contents, check out the Big Book of Homeschool Ideas website.

What is neat is that when you purchase this book, you get three versions of it: pdf, mobi, and epub. That means that you can read it virtually anywhere! Pull it up on your computer, you iphone, table, or wherever!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

But that is not all! My giveaway is one of several back-to-school giveaways taking place this week. Be sure to check out the other gift baskets from the bloggers at iHomeschool Network. Take a minute and go enter as many as you’d like.

Welcome to Finishing Strong!

Today is all about history, so we’re highlighting some of the best history posts that have been shared with us over the past few weeks. There are plenty of unique ideas to get you thinking as you consider how you’ll be studying this important subject during the coming year.

History can be a boring subject for some students, especially if they think it’s all about memorizing dates. Hopefully you’ll take some of these hands-on ideas and strive to bring history to life in your home school.

Let’s Have Fun with History

Teaching About Independence Day in Your Homeschool from 7Sisters Homeschool

The Angelicscalliwag Homeschool : Why History? from Angelicscalliwag

Project: Middle Ages History & Fashion from Blog She Wrote

History of the Ancient World and Tapestry of Grace Year 1 from Classically Homeschooling

The Liberty Bell: Timeline & Trivia – FREE Printable from Education Possible

How To Help Your Kids Love History and Save Money on History Curriculum from Family, Home, Health

3 Homeschool Co-op History Resources Worth Exploring from Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus

Next week we’re going to look at some exciting ideas for learning about science. Hopefully you’ll join us!

Don’t forget to check out all of the co-hosts – Aspired Living, Blog She Wrote, Education Possible, EvaVarga, Milk and Cookies, Starts at Eight, and Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus.

Bloggers, by linking up, you may be featured on our co-hosts’ social media pages or our Pinterest board. We may even select you to be featured in a future post!

Guidelines for the hop:

Link up to 3 posts from your blog. Make sure you use the exact URL to the post, not to your home page. You can add any post related to homeschooling middle and high school students. Posts unrelated to that will be removed.
Please no advertising, individual Pinterest pins, Facebook, Twitter, or other link-up links!
Grab our button to add to your post after you link it up. Each week we will be choosing our favorite posts to highlight on all 7 sites. If you were featured, make sure you add an “I was featured” button.
The linky will go live on each co-host’s blog each Wednesday at 6am EST, and will be live until Tuesday at 11:55 pm.

Share the love.

Add our button to your post.

Homeschooling the Middle & High School Years

Was your post featured?

Grab an “I was featured” button!

We love people who SHARE WITH US!

*By linking up, you agree for us to share your images, always with credit!

So tell us, what have you been up to?

Add your best posts that focus on homeschooling middle & high school students. Share your ideas, unique learning approaches, encouragement, and more.

An InLinkz Link-up

Serendipitously, the Wings of Freedom Tour came to our area just days after we had read about Pearl Harbor, the Battle of the Pacific, and ultimately World War II. It was a great opportunity to tour the authentically restored aircraft and immerse ourselves in living history.

We arrived just a few hours after they were scheduled to appear. We were able to tour two of the three (the P-51 Mustang had not yet arrived).

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engine heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps. The B-17 went from design board to flight test in less than 12 months and was the first Boeing military aircraft with a flight deck instead of an open cockpit.

In the Pacific, the B-17s earned a deadly reputation with the Japanese, who dubbed them four-engine fighters. The Fortresses were also legendary for their ability to stay in the air after taking brutal poundings. They sometimes limped back to their bases with large chunks of the fuselage shot off.

The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was one of the principal heavy bombers used by the US Army Air Force during World War II. It was produced in larger numbers than any other American aircraft and its exploits ranged the world over, seeing action in a variety of roles in all major theaters of the war.

The Wings of Freedom Tour is sponsored by the Collings Foundation, a non-profit, Educational Foundation (501c-3). Founded in 1979 to organize and support “living history” events that enable Americans to learn more about their heritage through direct participation. The original focus was transportation-related events such as antique car rallies, hill climbs, and carriage and sleigh rides. During the mid-eighties, these activities were broadened to include aviation-related events such as air shows, barnstorming, historical reunions, and joint museum displays.

The B-17, B-24, and P-51 are on the 25th season of the Wings of Freedom Tour, bringing historic aviation to your community!

Flights aboard one of the three for the B-17 or B-25 are also available – an ultimate immersion in history! You can see their 2014 schedule and book flights online at The Collings Foundation: Wings of Freedom.

Welcome!

Thank you for joining us this week at Finishing Strong – the link up that focuses on middle & high school students.

Our favorite posts from last week:

Heather from Blog She Wrote enjoyed reading Homeschool High School- How to Log Hours for High School from Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus.

She said, “As a homeschooling mom with almost two high schoolers with very different learning styles, I found fellow co-host Tina’s post on logging hours for high school to be very helpful. I’ve also been dabbling with electronic vs paper and pen planners and working hard to merge the two happily. Thanks for some specific ideas on how to get the job done!”

Her other favorite post was Science Milestones: The Binomial Naming System from Eva Varga.

Heather shared, “I have a few favorite topics within biology that I love to teach and classification is one of them. Science Milestones make me smile and the binomial system is one of the legacies that Carolus Linnaeus left us from his work so long ago. Thank you Eva for bringing to light aspects of science many homeschoolers may overlook!”

Don’t forget to check out all of the co-hosts – Aspired Living, Blog She Wrote, Education Possible, Eva Varga, Milk and Cookies, Starts at Eight, and Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus.

Tina from Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus loved Review: Henry Hudson by Ronald Syme from Tea Time with Annie Kate.

Tina’s interest was piqued by this book because last year when studying about explorers, she only found a handful of biographies that she considered worthy of reading by her middle school son. She will definitely be adding this book to her resource list.

She also enjoyed Board Games and Fun: Takenoko, Timeline, & Tokaido from Eva Varga.

She said, “Learning through games spans all ages and every family member can be involved. We really need to be sure we continue the fun of games through to the middle and high school years.”

Do you want to connect with other parents homeschooling older kids? Join our Finishing Strong Community on Google+!

Bloggers, by linking up, you may be featured on our co-hosts’ social media pages or our Pinterest board. We may even select you to be featured in a future post!

Guidelines for the hop:

Link up to 3 posts from your blog. Make sure you use the exact URL to the post, not to your home page. You can add any post related to homeschooling middle and high school students. Posts unrelated to that will be removed.
Please no advertising, pinterest, facebook, twitter, or other link-up links!
Grab our button to add to your post after you link it up. Each week we will be choosing our favorite posts to highlight on all 7 sites. If you were featured, make sure you add an “I was featured” button.
The linky will go live on each co-host’s blog each Wednesday at 6am EST, and will be live until Tuesday at 11:55 pm.

Share the love.

Add our button to your post.

Was your post featured?

Grab an “I was featured” button!

We love people who SHARE WITH US!

*By linking up, you agree for us to share your images, always with credit!

So tell us, what have you been up to?

Add your best posts that focus on homeschooling middle & high school students. Share your ideas, unique learning approaches, encouragement, and more.

An InLinkz Link-up

For many regions of California, 2013 ended as the driest year in recorded history. That trend has continued into 2014, prompting Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a drought state of emergency in January of this year. Though rains have begun to fall and storms have threatened some regions with flooding due to the lack of vegetation after recent fires, officials are clear that the precipitation will do little to offset the years of drought.

feast or famine Inspired to see the effects of the drought, we took a drive a few weeks ago up to Lakeview along the shore of Lake Shasta in Northern California. On this walk, we looked for signs of the weather’s effect in nature and especially for the effects on food, water, and shelter for animals.

We also observed evidence that man has changed the environment. The construction of Shasta Dam in the 1940s created a 4.5 million acre‐foot reservoir, the largest in the state. The dam captures water from three rivers (the upper Sacramento, McCloud, and Pit). As a result of the dam construction, abandoned towns, roads, and railways ended up under water.

The extremely low water level at Shasta Lake has revealed this part of the state’s history. Today’s low water level is revealing some interesting things from that bygone era – like the old railroad lines that used to run through the area. Tunnels and train trestles that are normally under about 100 feet of water are now visible.

We enjoyed walking around the lake bed. As we did so, we marveled at the normally hidden engineering projects. The sediment was so soft, we were able to observe animals tracks and small vegetation taking root.

Feast or Famine? is one of many suggested nature study outings in Creative Nature Walks, a fun, new book by Cindy West. For families new to nature study, Creative Nature Walks is a great way to begin a weekly outing with your family. She provides more than 100 exciting nature walks ideas that are sure to get you out the door in minutes and grow your family’s love for nature. For experienced families like us, her ideas provided a new spark; a little twist on our usual routine. I love that!

I have always been fascinated by history and have enjoyed interacting with volunteers at reenactments across the country – in Boston, Williamsburg, and closer to home at the Lewis & Clark National Historic Park in Astoria. When we first started homeschooling, we even volunteered at the High Desert Museum as living history interpreters. I was delighted to have the opportunity to volunteer with my children in historical costume.

Living Museum

Living history is an activity that incorporates historical tools, activities and dress into an interactive presentation that seeks to give observers and participants a sense of stepping back in time. A year ago, I initiated a Living History / Wax Museum day for our local homeschool community. Coordinating the event is easy – I simply posted a notice (with the guidelines described below) and reserved a room at the library for the day of the presentations.

Guidelines for Coordinating a Living History Museum

Participants in the Living Wax Museum were instructed to choose a famous historical person to research, prepare a research poster display, and develop a 2-3 minute speech (in first-person) that summarizes the life of the famous historical person.
The selected historical person must be someone who has done something significant in history, or has made a positive contribution to society. The famous person can be someone who is still alive.
Participants create a costume, dress as the chosen person, and then assume the identity of the historical figure.
Participants dress in costume to portray their subject. This costume should accurately convey information about the subject and the time period in which they lived.
Participants should create a display or backdrop of at least 22” x 28”. The famous person’s name must be prominently displayed in large letters. A minimum of 4 photographs should be included. A timeline, map, and notable quotes are also highly suggested.
Participants need NOT memorize their speech but are encouraged to do so. The use of note cards is permitted.

The number of students who have taken part varies each year and many come only to observe the presentations. Either way, it is a wonderful afternoon – providing the participants with experiences in research, writing, public speaking, and costume design. Audience members are introduced to historical persons and time periods in a fun and innovative way.

In 2013, my daughter selected Marie Curie, a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. This year, she chose Irena Sendler, a Polish nurse/social worker who served in the Polish Underground during World War II, and as head of children’s section of Żegota, an underground resistance organization in German-occupied Warsaw.

Last year, my son brought Snowshoe Thompson to life, the Norwegian-American immigrant and early resident of the Sierra Nevada region. He is considered the father of California skiing. This year, he introduced us to Arnold Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, the late Danish shipping magnate.

If you interested in learning more about our living history experiences, I encourage you to check out Homeschooling in 1880.