We went in this order:
- The Mayflower
- The passengers aboard the Mayflower
- The reasons for going to the New World
- The Wampanoag people who lived on the land originally
- The arrival of the English Colonists and their first year
- The Mayflower Compact
- The different dialects and languages of the Colonists and the Indians
- The harvest festival, now commonly known as Thanksgiving
There is so much information on this topic so we read a lot and tried to apply it as often to things that we already know about. I was concerned that some of it would go right over Grace and Emily's head but they surprised me about how much they understood. In fact, as we covered the Mayflower Compact and the reason for it and this early American type of government, Grace put it all together in her mind and compared it the government of the show we like to watch, Kid Nation. That opened a whole new door to talk about as we covered that subject! My fears were for naught!
One of my favorite books was Sarah Morton's Day, A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim girl. At the suggestion of some of the material I had, we began documenting the things that the girls did each day. We are starting to put it in a little book now.
Lastly, we made the "trip" from England/Holland to the New World on our dining room table using Play-doh to make the ships - Mayflower, Fortune, Anne and Little James. They also had to pack a bag to take with them on the trip. They had a limited space because there was limited room for such things for 102 people on the Mayflower. Here are a few pictures of that little excursion:
Happy Thanksgiving! (By the way, days of thanksgiving were days of prayer and fasting. Boy do we have it backward!!!)
