Catholic History Fair

We spent all morning at the 2nd Annual Catholic History Fair, planned by good friends at Our Domestic Church. My 3 little amigos had such fun planning their projects -- I gave them a free hand and told them the only "rule" was that the project could only use things we had around the house (we're moving and I really couldn't see buying anything more when we're in the midst of getting rid of stuff!).

Bam-bam (5) did a display all about St. George and the Dragon. We read (ad nauseum) the fantastic story book by Margaret Hodges, painted a plaque, colored pictures (he only brought one of the sets we colored) and played with his Knight and Dragon puppets to re-enact (or "narrate" as Charlotte Mason enthusiasts would say) the story.

String Bean (8) decided to keep a scrapbook of Pope Benedict's first visit to the United States April 15-20, 2008. Each day, she watched and listened as the Pope blessed, advised, complimented and reached out to all in the United States. We found quizzes online and some great coloring pictures. She used the popsicle-stick "Chair of Peter" we'd made a month ago, painted it and placed a picture of Pope Benedict sitting on the Chair!

Lego Maniac wanted to do something with his soldiers so we found some great information about Catholics who fought in WW2 (which led to a month-long study that he's still involved with, finding out all about WW2, America's involvement in the conflict and generally soaking up everything about the War). He decided to do a diorama of the 101st Airborne's holding-out against the Germans in Bastogne, Belgium where the Catholic general McAuliffe said "nuts" when asked to surrender. We also learned about the five fight Sullivans, five brothers all serving aboard the Juneau that went down in the Solomon Islands. Other famous Catholics in the War included Wild Bill Donovan (spymaster and head of the OSS), and Fr. Cummings who gave the Easter Sunday sermon at Bataan that kept all spirits up.

Dh and I were talking about how the kids got so "into" their projects -- they decided what they wanted to do, how they would do it and what they would say when adults asked questions at the Fair. We're so proud of their work and the growth in their knowledge of their Faith and its place in history.

This is a prime example of why home-learning is so great -- all can participate, can excel at something, learn and "own" knowledge in a great setting with enthusiastic support!

THANKS to MaryM for organizing and ensuring the tradition of a Catholic History Fair continues in the Front Range!