You know the George Washington coloring page that I told you about yesterday? Well, I colored one myself – and I had fun doing it! Coloring is good for the soul, I tell you! I think it turned out pretty nicely, too:

I colored it and then I cut out around the edges and put it on some pretty blue paper! I’m thinking of adding an American flag and a cherry tree to it, too! I’ll let you know if I do. If you and your kids want to color it and send it to me, via email, I’d be happy to showcase your picture here on the blog!

The story I’m reading is ‘George Washington and the Cherry Tree’ and it comes from a book called, “Best Loved Children’s Stories”. I couldn’t find it on Amazon, so I can’t share the link with you this time. I’ve been talking about history around here lately, because, of some great movies that I’ve been watching. And one of the cool things I talked about recently was a secret basement and tunnel under George Washington’s home, Mount Vernon. So I thought a story about George Washington would be fun to read.

I found a pretty nice coloring page for you, also – and it comes right from the official White House website! Here you go: George Washington 1789-1797

Here’s a snapshot of it. You can click the picture to go to the White House site and print it out, also.

And the thing about it is that, while much of the information/story line/history in National Treasure 2 – Book of Secrets is either changed around, or just plain made up, to fit the movie better, it does serve to get us thinking. And it sends us to go digging deeper, to find out what actually did happen, and to learn more.

There were two things in the movie that keenly interested me and sent me digging. The first one was the Resolute desks. Is the story of the desks true? Do they really even exist? Are there really two of them? Yes, the Resolute desk is in the Oval Office, and it is quite beautiful and has quite a history. It does not, however, have a twin. It is said that the Queen did have a small writing table made for herself from the HMS Resolute, though. And the HMS Resolute was a British ship that had been abandoned, stuck in ice, and then was returned to the Queen by an American whaler a couple years later.

The other thing that I found so interesting in the movie that I had to looking for more answers about it – was the part about the secret basement and underground tunnels at Mount Vernon. I’ve always loved stuff like this. Trust me, you don’t want to be in an old house with my brother, Mic, and I, because, we WILL be doing some snooping! We went to a bed and breakfast for our other brother’s wedding and did some serious ‘old house investigating’ and found some pretty cool features! When I went looking to verify if the basement even existed, I learned that it did, and that it had never been open to the public. Get this, though – some of the staffers at Mount Vernon, upon seeing the National Treasure movie – decided that they had to open it up for tours. And you know what happened? The amount of visitors went up 300% that first weekend! Wow! It was first opened in January on a trial basis, but, was so popular, that it has been extended! I learned a lot about Mount Vernon last year from my son, who went on a trip to Washington, DC with his class. We talked about Mount Vernon a lot – he really enjoyed his visit there. I can’t believe, though, that he missed the secret basement – by only months! What a major bummer!

So I guess you can tell that I thoroughly enjoyed the movie! Now I just want to watch the first one again! I can’t tonight, because, we have our sons’ Spring Band Concert. Maybe I can watch it Friday night.

When I went to ask my thirteen-year old son his opinions of the DVD’s, his answer really surprised me!

Me: So what did you think of the Indiana Jones DVD’s?

Son: He had too many girlfriends!

That kid is too funny! I guess I know who’s gonna be a one-woman man! His brother, on the other hand, retorts,

“So what! He has a different girlfriend in every one of the actual movies, too!”

So maybe that one is going to be trouble!

My very favorite thing about these shows, like I said, is that we can all learn more about history from them. I love it when learning is fun, when it’s a joy, when it is something we WANT to do! There’s nothing worse than some of the ‘dry’ learning I experienced as a kid growing up. I think Bill Nye is who really opened my eyes up to the concept that learning can be, and is, fun, and that we can make it that way for our kids! And that is what George Lucas hoped these shows would do for kids.

“Hopefully, it’ll be used in schools. It’s a very fun way to introduce young people to historical events in the beginning of the 20th century,” Lucas said.

I know that we will definitely use it here at home, to strengthen what can often be a hard subject for some kids. You get to travel with Indy all the way from his espionage work in Italy all the way back to the states, where he manages a Broadway show – while dating three different women! And then we wind up with Indy working in Hollywood on a major motion picture. It’s just a wonderful series, because, we come up through history with Indy and learn what life is like in each time period, and then at the end of each show, there are the documentaries that tell you the true stories of things that happened at that time. We learn about music, theater, movies, and even criminals of the time – like Al ‘Scarface’ Capone! We also learn about military heroes, prohibition, and remarkable presidents! It’s just a fabulous way to teach the kids about all of this stuff! This is a set of DVD’s that we’ll watch again and again. They might even come in handy if, say, one child is having trouble understanding a unit in their history class. Now won’t that be so cool if I can pull out the right DVD and watch it with said child and suddenly they get it? Oh man, I hope that does happen! And I’ll be sure to write George Lucas if it does and thank him!

Quote Source: ‘Young Indiana Jones’ offers history lessons

I knew 19. No, that is not – ’19 of them’ – that is …. number19!

Hey, as far as I can see, that is a REALLY good one to know! And after having seen Iron Jawed Angels with Sammie and having a very good friend with a ‘Women’s Suffrage’ tattoo on her chest – I ought to know that one! (Yes – the tattoo is beautiful!!)

Iron Jawed Angels is such an amazing movie – if you haven’t seen it yet, you really should. I plan on watching it with all my kids again, soon! There are so many things in this country that we all take for granted, and this movie really helps us to connect with the fact that people worked really hard, and even suffered, for us to be where we are today.

The rest of those amendments, though, I’m sorry to say, I just couldn’t recite to save my life! So I’ve been reading over them at Wikipedia – I love Wikipedia! Here’s the link: Amendments to the United States Constitution

There are 27 of those buggers, you know! That’s a lot to memorize! I hope this boy has it down. He seems to really have such an understanding of this type of material – so much better than I – even now – that I think he will have no problem with it.

So, what about you? Do you know the Amendments?

I swiped a GREAT book from my son’s fifth grade classroom.

The teacher has a semi-circle table all set up with multiple copies of various social studies books for the kids. I enjoy perusing this table every time I am in the classroom.

And one day last week I found a great one! It is called Immigrant Kids by Russell Freedman. It is so incredible. It is about immigration into the United States for the average family at the around 1900. It is full of wonderful, in your face, reality-of-how-hard-it-all-was photographs! I realize that last sentence was chock full of grammatical errors, but, I don’t mind because this book is so good and I just want to get my point across, even if it means grammatical errors – like run-on sentences!

I have heard so often about how people came to the “New World” in search of a better life. There was promise and hope and opportunity here in America. Things would be different. Things would be better.

Things were HARD! And this book shows and tells us all about it.

I’d love to tell you more about the book or how I feel about it or my take on it, but, I am getting very sleepy! I am, yet again, up past my bedtime!

So you just need to go find the book – look on Amazon, eBay, or go to your local library. Just check this book out!

Really!

GO READ A BOOK!