My ten year old daughter, Becca, has been home from school all week with the flu. We have been spending lots of time watching movies and reading and snuggling and, just recently she has been catching up on missed school work.
One large project that was due today was a Bio-Box. It was quite a clever way for the kids to do research and present information with out having to write a boring old report. Each child was assigned an important person from Virginia history. Then they were to do research on several sub topics about that person and present the info on the panels of a paper covered Kleenex box. Becca's historical person was James Madison. She had done her research via the internet, long ago. But we needed to do the rest. The tissue box got emptied during her illness! Becca decided to cover the box with orange paper as James Madison's home, Montpelier, is located in Orange County, Virginia. She had discovered that Madison was responsible for the writing of the majority of the Constitution, and therefore has become known as the "Father Of the Constitution". She wanted to do something extra for her Bio-Box so she could achieve an "Outstanding" grade. We decided to try to make our own Quill feather pens. I had been given some wonderful turkey feathers in Oklahoma and I was even able to find the feathers!!! I know that Turkey feathers make the best Quill pens , so we gave it a shot. We shaved down the tips to a sharp point and tried out the pens with some black ink. Becca was absolutely thrilled, the pens worked and she was able to write with one!
Here are some of her doodlings!! The expereince made her realize how difficult it must have been to write back in the 1600 and 1700's.
here is a picture of my happy girl with her project with four functioning Turkey Quill pens, as the writer of the Constitution would have used in his important task!
History Class Dismissed!!
2 comments:
I hope your flu has all gone by now Becca? It was worth having the flu to get all that work done and to do the writing with a real quill pen as they did in the old days. Well done.
Great stuff here, Elizabeth! But I have sad news.
Thomas Jefferson was the Founding Father who wrote most of the Constitution and lived at Monticello. James Madison came later, was married to Dolley Madison, and was known for his outstanding foreign policy. I hope it was just mom who wrote the wrong name, not Becca. Otherwise, you can always claim she did the bio box while delirious with a fever!
And aren't the quills fun?
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