Looking at the US with the Eyes of a Tourist

After seven years of being global nomads, we're headed back to the mainland United States. The last time we lived there, Rutabaga wasn't yet of kindergarten age and Artichoke wasn't even walking. I have sadly observed that while my kids can cheerfully watch Amazing Race and point to landmarks in Rome or Hong Kong with familiarity, they can't consistently identify the regions and states of the US. Nor do they have much of a sense of American history excepted in a detached, something happened over there way.

So with the relocation of Percival Blakeney Academy to the US, it is time to put some serious effort into also grasping basic facts and nuanced stories that make up America. I want them to know not just that Kansas and Nebraska and Missouri border each other, but that there was a bloody history in the formation of Kansas that contributed to the Civil War. Even deeper, I want them to know that they have a family connection there that brushes up with the figures in history books like William Quantrill and John Brown.

So in addition to our regularly scheduled history studies, which are leaving ancient Rome and heading to the Middle Ages; we will need to add some basic American Studies. Some of this will be through local history in the DC area, which stretches from colonization to the present with highlights around both the American Revolution and the Civil War; through reading good books set in American historical periods; through a study of American holidays and through games and songs and art and anything else I can think to throw in.

This afternoon we played a couple rounds of USA Edition Borderline. This is a card game where each card has a US state or a body of water. You take turns playing a card with a state that borders the previous card. I gave myself a handicap by printing out a map with state names for the kids to use as a cheat sheet. They were pretty miserable at the beginning, especially before I gave them the map. But they both got better and got more excited at making matches. I think we'll keep playing this for a while.