I am on fire! I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to be learning real U.S. History after all these years. I’ve been reading books and watching dvds and have a stack of other things to read and watch, when I’ve finished these.
This is so incredibly refreshing after years of wondering who was telling me the truth and feeling that most accounts of the founding of our nation were either incomplete or intentionally misleading.
Get a great overview of the history of our blessed land yourself by:
- Reading Samuel Adams: The Father of the American Revolution which is only 174 pages long, is realistic, seems to be pretty accurate and is an enthralling telling of the story of the Revolution and its major players.
- Reading Pamela Openshaw’s collection of 3-5 minute vignettes about the framing of the Constitution and the rest of our history, Promises of the Constitution: Yesterday; Today; Tomorrow. These can be easily read aloud for a few minutes each night with your children. Her writing is very engaging.
- Watching David Barton’s “American Heritage” DVDs. (This is probably not too exciting for younger children.) The information he shares about our Founders as they really were, rather than the way they are portrayed in recent history, is breath-taking. You’ll be amazed at what you learn that you would never, ever hear in school. He not only quotes from primary sources, but also puts them on the screen for you to see. Our Founders were full-on Christians, followers of Jesus Christ. They were not athiests or even Deists (they attended church and believed in Christ and God’s intervention in the affairs of men). It’s all there in the documents and letters they wrote, the sermons they preached and the things their contemporaries wrote about them.
- Understanding WWII, from various perspectives: Over Christmas vacation (2014) I went on a WWII reading spree, reading three full length books and watching a movie all in one week. I read Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, which focuses on an American Olympian who got stuck in the Japanese prisoner of war camps. It was eye-opening, heart rending and uplifting. Not for young children. Then I read Killing Patton, this one was in the European theater and gave me a perspective I had never had before. I came away with a great respect for General Patton and a little less respect for some of our other military leaders in that time and place. Also not for young children, but certainly for their parents. The last book was the auto-biography of a close friend of my parents’ who grew up in Berlin during the WWII era–not in print yet, but I will post it when it is. And the movie was “The Imitation Game,” which was enthralling to me and gave me some serious food for thought. I understand that it was not quite historically accurate, but still very well done and compelling.
- Understanding and appreciating the first amendment and the opportunity to make healthcare choices for yourself: My most recent reading covers the history of vaccines and several of the major childhood diseases. Another absolutely riveting–and very timely–topic, from my perspective. I’m so grateful to have access to this information and to have the freedom to discuss it with others and the right to make healthcare decisions for myself and my family: Dissolving Illusions: Disease, Vaccines, and the Forgotten History, by Suzanne Humphries, MD, and Roman Bystrianyk.
Watch out! If you’re like me, you won’t be able to focus on anything but reality. 😀
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