Why I Love To Homeschool

When you go through school as a child you don't really appreciate all the interesting things you are learning.  You listen (sometimes) and retain a few facts to satisfy your teacher, but very few students (myself included) really marvel at what they are learning.  As a homeschool mom, I get the privilege of re-learning everything that I didn't appreciate the first time around.  How fun is that!  And, the subjects I really loved as a child (mainly science & math) I get the privilege of teaching to my kids.  I can get REALLY excited about algebra and earth science - just ask my kids.

Anyway, history never really excited me as a young lass, but now, I love the stuff!  (The exception to being bored with history was when we were on vacation Dad would tell us interesting things about wherever we were.  My dad is a walking history book.  He's great!)Anyway, I love the stuff now because we aren't learning history out of a text book (do you see an anti-textbook trend here in my blog?).  Instead of reading two paragraphs on Paul Revere in a textbook, we read a whole book about him, read some of his actual journal entries about his part in the revolution, read Longfellow's poem and discussed what in that poem is truthful and what was artistic license.  Hey if we lived on the east coast, we probably would have taken a little drive from Boston to Lexington & Concord.  How cool would that be?

Anyway, now to share with you some new info on Mr. Revere that I learned this week -

He was 41 when he made the famous ride.  He made many other rides before and after the 18th of April one.

After the war, he left his silver smithing business and began a foundry where they made bells - who knew??

After that, he became a pioneer in the production of copper plating (primarily used for ship's hulls at that time).  His copper business which was started in 1801 is still operating.

There you have it.  Interesting facts about Paul Revere II.