Penny’s dad has marched off to answer President Lincoln’s call for soldiers. Penny doesn’t dare be sad about that, because Mama is clearly holding herself back from crying, and so is Big Sister Belle. But Penny’s flute teacher has also marched off to war, so Penny will be sad about him instead. 😢 So she will… Read More The sound of Not Sad
Filling the bathtub from the pump is time consuming and back-breaking. From the well, even worse. In 1864, where did water come from? Did Civil War Yankees have tap-water at home, or not? Yes, but finding this information was ridiculously time consuming. *grumble* TOO much time for something that might be just a paragraph or… Read More Civil War Philadelphia: Baths?
Fort Sumter, the battle that started the Civil War. Who started the fight, and why? And where is that fort, anyhow? Where is Fort Sumter? An island fortress with cannons overlooking Charleston Harbor – a place where two rivers meet the Atlantic Ocean. Excellent for shipping = Excellent for blocking shipping. When did Fort Sumter… Read More Fort Sumter: Who attacked Who?
Writing stories… names are important! Mr. Glatzer was originally written as a goldsmith, then the story showed that this is the wrong social class, and he changed into a barber. From 1840 to 1880, Germans were the largest group of immigrants. Before that, white were not ‘menial’ barbers, but the new immigrants did not have… Read More A Rose by Any Other Name II
Civil War: Indoor plumbing? Yes. Sometimes. And sometimes people used chamber pots, or outhouses. 40 years before Lincoln was elected: In 1820, Philadelphia was the first american city to finish building municipal water works and, in 1823, Boston completed the first American sewer system. What happened when people just dumped their chamber pots into the… Read More Tutor vs Civil War Toilets
One interesting bit of writing historical fiction is that I get to Google for information like this: When was Chanukkah 1860?
Many little girls – and some quite big girls – love the idea of wearing big fluffy skirts to parties. Student is writing an analysis of the history of hoop-skirts – and how exaggerated they could be. I am too wealthy to work but how did these ladies dance or even walk??? Cannot keep a… Read More Tutor vs Hoopskirt
Historically, people assumed that North is Up and South is Down – why? Map-reading skills, they are habit forming.
Why did the early USA have so many Southern Presidents, if they thought slavery was so bad? Why did the Northern and Southern economy look so different? And why were there so many, MANY more Northern railroads during the Civil War? Lovely analysis right here. Whose flag are you fighting under? Northern Stars and Stripes:… Read More Capsule History of North vs South
“I got to the end of 12 pages. I’m done writing, right?” Students sometimes need a little help with organizing their papers. Do the words say what Student meant to say? Are all the ideas about SubTopic A near each other, or are they mixed in with SubTopics B & C? If so, was that… Read More Student, did you read what you wrote?
Tzivia Adler 