President's Day

Happy President's Day to all! I remember celebrating Washington's Birthday and Lincoln's Birthday as separate days when I was in elementary school. We decorated our fireplace mantle in part with a Lincoln silhouette that my husband believes he made in school. To honor both men, we read a dozen of George Washington's "Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior" and Abraham Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" from "The Book Of Virtues" by William J. Bennett. My son read various facts from his presidential trivia book to us, and was especially fascinated to learn that the teddy bear was named after Theodore Roosevelt.

As a homeschool Mom, I enjoy creating unusual ways to bring facts to "life" for my son. One of these unexpected ways is by incorporating our Wii. Last year I decided to create presidential Wii characters to help him recognize  historical figures in a fun way (and learn more about them on his own). So far, we have played baseball with Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, bowled with Andrew Jackson and Richard Nixon (who did have a bowling alley in the White House), and shot baskets with Abraham Lincoln and Grover Cleveland. Now he not only recognizes the president's photos, but can tell me a little historical information about each president. He is also interested in learning more about additional presidents that don't grace our Wii (yet).

I have some wonderful lap books I am using this week to enhance our study. The first one is "Abraham Lincoln" from SchoolExpress.com. This site has studies on various subjects for $2.00, and free weekly lap books you can download when you subscribe to their site. This week's offer is a lap book on "Transportation."


For a unit study on George Washington, I recommend Download 'N' Go.com.  These unit studies are for K-4th grade and cover a wide variety of subjects. They are packed with information and fun topics, and I'm just starting to enjoy these units with my son.

Have a wonderful week!



Susan