Revolutionary War Encampment and the Science of Relations

Last Saturday, we explored the annual Revolutionary War Encampment held in our county. Opportunities like that can quickly turn into information overload and fragmented thinking because the number of activities is overwhelming. Trying to do everything, even spread out over a day, makes for a pounding headache, so I heeded Charlotte Mason's advice on the science of relations,

Our business is not to teach him all about anything, but to help him to make valid as many as may be of–-
"Those first-born affinities
That fit our new existence to existing things" (Page xxx).

At first we walked aimlessly until something caught Pamela's attention. She chose the display of rifles and muskets. She saw the musket balls and didn't mistake them for marbles because of a dramatic clip from America: The Story of Us in which a musket ball spins out of the rifle, heading directly toward the camera with the footage slowed down enough to make you sweat. Steve (in the green shirt) was surprised at how heavy the British rifle was while the three-sided bayonet, which the Geneva Convention banned because of the hideous wounds it inflicted, caught my eye. The reenactor also showed us a blunderbuss, which brought to my mind The Matchlock Gun, and his powder horn, which reminded me of Little House in the Big Woods.


Then, she decided to sit for a spell in front of the fire.


Pamela is testing the weight of a cannon ball and checking out a cannon.



Activities like this encampment fit really well into the science of relations because the environment is built for everyone to enjoy. Last Thursday and Friday, local third-graders took field trips to the encampment. Friday night, reenactors led groups of fourteen people into the woods for a lantern walk in which we were being accosted by Hessian soldiers in the middle of the swamp, saw a Tory prisoner escape and get shot, and watched the barber put leeches on some poor schmuck with a musket wound, etc. We heard sporadic gunfire as we tripped over tree roots on the path. I scouted the walk out for Pamela and, next year, I think she will be able to hand the sensory stress because she enjoys pretending. A situation in which people from all walks of life and of all ages share what they love is a perfect atmosphere for the science of relations.

We all relate to things in different ways. When Pamela saw the blacksmith, she connected the hot coals to the burned hand of Johnny Tremain while I thought about The Village Blacksmith. The air bellows and other engineering details fascinated Steve. I pointed out to Pamela that, while Johnny Tremain worked with silver, the blacksmith worked with iron. She added, "Iron age. Child's History of the World." She studied the blacksmith's wares and turned to the triangle to give it a few whacks!

One exciting moment was recalling a new vocabulary word Pamela has learned, not by writing a definition and using it in three sentences, but by focusing on context in wide and varied settings. I gave her the kettle and asked Pamela if she remembered the name of the metal. Her knee-jerk response was silver. I asked her to think about the color and Pamela smiled and slowly said, "Copper!" The copper kettle contained soapy water that we used to felt real sheep wool! The lady showed us the simple steps. Pamela wasn't exactly thrilled about the texture of the soap when we squeezed it out of the felted wool. I loved this connection to the handwork we have been doing, and it reminded me of what Mason said was the point of handwork that "he may know the feel of wood, clay, leather, and the joy of handling tools, that is, that he may establish a due relation with materials" (Page 31).



Francis Marion, who was a sickly child, encouraged all his patriots to drink vinegar water to stay healthy and ward off mosquitos. The smell of vinegar didn't thrill Pamela, and the glories of leeches creeped out Steve and I. Fortunately, no bloodsuckers were on display. Pamela loved the rope bed with its hay-stuffed mattress. She thought of Ricitos de Oro y los tres osos while I recalled Heidi and the bed at her grandfather's house in the Alps.


Pamela's favorite stop reminded me of a trading post with a table of delights that Pamela explored thoroughly. She stayed here the longest and enjoyed all of its delights. It had a bone, obsidian arrowhead, bag of musket balls, lens, turtle-shell rattles, a kalimba, beadwork, knives, cups, elk rawhide, almost anything a patriot could imagine. That table alone was a wide and varied curriculum that provided scope for the imagination!

Dow Jones's stroke

If this isn't stroke, then what is it ?
Dow Jones history chart

Star-Studded State House

Somewhere along the way, Pamela became interested in the South Carolina State House. I think ETV's coverage of the General Assembly, which is almost as exciting as C-SPAN, has something to do with it. And, if that is not enough excitement for you, try the online gavel-to-gavel coverage. Since she has talked about it for months, I jumped at the chance to join a friend and her family for Homeschool Day at the Capitol. (By the way, you can click on all pictures for a larger version.)

Here are our kids, ready to storm the Capitol and explore it for all its worth! The State House cost 3.45 million dollars to build at the turn of the last century. The dome is made up of eight million pennies worth of copper alone! The first thing we hit was all fifty-two steps in front of the Capitol. Why fifty-two? It took that many years to build the thing because a little thing called the Civil War and Reconstruction got in the way; you can read more at Let's Go, where you can view a six-minute movie. Even though the signs pointed to side entrances for the public, we just had to climb those stairs.

I am not joking about the Civil War getting in the way! General Sherman and his army burned about one-third of the buildings in Columbia, including the old wooden state house. When he and his men arrived, part of the capitol building had been already constructed. The six bronze stars mark spots on the Capitol hit by Sherman's cannonballs on February 17, 1865.


Yes, I could kick myself because I forgot to take a picture of George Washington's statue. Sherman and his crew were so enchanted with destroying the Capitol that they nearly knocked the cane out from him. Those brick-tossing lumberheads did not realize they were pock-marking the United States first Commander-in-Chief! And, of course, the statue still stands today, cane suspended in mid-air, for proof positive of Yankee aggression.

Once we were inside the building, we took a guided tour that started with a fifteen-minute film about the history of the Capitol Building. We learned about some of the architectural features such as the fabric wall covering (not wall paper), maximization of metal, glass, and marble, and minimization of things that burn, namely wood. You can see some of the highlights below. The most interesting story was an eleven-pound gold-burnished silver mace that represents the authority of the house. It disappeared during the American Revolution but turned up in a vault in Philadelphia (the Yankees had it, of course) in 1819. It fared better than the Senate's sword, which disappeared in 1941 for good. I wonder what it would go for on eBay . . . By the way, the dome pictured below is a fake put there for decoration!


The funniest moment happened when we sat down in the front row of the auditorium. One mother had left a jacket draped over David's seat. She quietly said to him, "Excuse me, sir!" SIR? I know he is big and tall, but he already looks like a SIR? She must not have heard him say, "Hey, Mom! It's the red hat mafia!" when he saw a group of Red Hat Society ladies enter the building. Next time, I'll tell him he can wear his shades and baseball cap inside the Capitol so that no one will mistake him for a gentleman.

The oddest thing I saw today was this public school read-in! To celebrate National Library Week, 1,100 students assemble here on the steps of the Capitol to see a magic show and read. (Hmmm . . . I wonder if one has anything to do with the other.) They marched up to the Capitol with their little protest signs Kids Who Read Succeed, chanted their little slogans, cheered for the state mascots (a tiger and completely illegal fighting gamecock), and held their sit-in, I mean read-in. That juxtaposed against homeschoolers, wandering the grounds exploring the monuments, meeting and leaving business cards with their legislators, taking guided and unguided tours, etc. The difference in how the two groups take political action is stunning!

My County's Shame
Briggs vs. Elliot

One in Every Crowd
John C. Calhoun Statue!

Video Games of Yesteryear


Law Enforcement Memorial
Ode to Andre Bauer


I'll Take a Palmetto Tree over a Palmetto Bug


My Favorite Picture: Girl Studying an Atlas

Move Over Baby Alive!

This morning, we spent two hours at the Living History Encampment at Camp Bob Cooper. People dressed in Revolutionary Era costumes manned twenty-three stations, where they displayed primitive skills, crafts, and demonstrations. The South Carolina Legislature designated February 27 as General Francis Marion Memorial Day. Part of Mel Gibson's fictional character in the movie The Patriot was loosely based (and exaggerated) upon Francis Marion, or the Swamp Fox, a revolutionary war hero known for his guerrilla warfare tactics. He is so popular in these parts that they hold annual symposiums and paint murals to commemorate his engagements.

We met some homeschooling friends there: David headed in his own direction, and Pamela and I explored together. David learned some interesting facts at a Carolina trading post, where the interpreter pointed out a historical document that will be a great supplement when we hit the Colonial Era in American history: A New Voyage to Carolina by John Lawson. David enjoyed being part of the action: he threw an ax, carried buckets of water with a yoke on his shoulder, wielded weaponry like a grenade and swords, learned about making stinky soap (no wonder they bathed only twice a year), and observed them firing a tennis ball from cannon. Pamela and I flitted from fire starting and a British officer encampment to looms, weaving, and woodcarving. She enjoyed sensory aspects such as feeling the different kinds of fur (buckskin, deer, rabbit, etc.), touching musket balls (recalling Pa making bullets in the Big Woods), and running her fingers along the pretty beads.

I enjoyed learning about British coins they had on display: copper coins like the farthing (1/4 pence), ha'pence (1/2 pence), pence, tuppence (2 pence), thruppence (3 pence); silver coins like half a shilling (6 pence) and a shilling (12 pence); and a gold crown (5 shillings). We also learned that the idea of a dollar came from the Spanish pieces of eight. The coin was soft enough to cut. You literally cut it in half to make a half dollar and in quarters to make a quarter of a dollar. The term buck came from the practice of treating a buckskin like a dollar when cash ran short. Pamela signed up for the militia and received an enlistment bonus in Continental cash (which was worthless at the time).

The highlight of the afternoon was making a cornhusk doll, which turned out to be an RDI-like activity. The lady making Pamela's doll was not as wordy and full of stories as the other one and suited Pamela perfectly. She explained to Pamela each step of the process as she put on the arms, skirt, scarf, belt, and bonnet. She waited very patiently for Pamela to do her part and I did as much nonverbal scaffolding and referencing as I could while helping Pamela figure out what to do.

The dollmaker even asked Pamela to hold down the string with her finger. I was glad because Pamela did not mind the doll's wetness for they cannot work with a dry husk. I did not capture it in the photos, but Pamela wore a sweet smile on her face because she was so thrilled to have her very own cornhusk doll. She even waited for the lady to make two dolls before it was her turn!

Another thing I liked about the dollmaker was her kindness. She was very sweet to Pamela, sensing her quiet, gentle nature. The next child in line was a boy who wanted a boy doll. The dollmaker had not made one yet, but she improvised by making two legs and a cape, which, of course, the boy turned into an 18th century flying super hero.

Pamela's new doll needs to dry a couple of days. She named her Charlotte. Why Charlotte? Well, that was the name of Laura's first rag doll named Charlotte!

We joined some friends for lunch on the lake and spent much of the afternoon outdoors watching the birds and basking in the sun. You would think that was enough socialization for one day. But no, we pigged out on shrimp, oysters, and chili at a neighbor's house for dinner. Our neighbor is also gluten-free, so they even had Pamela friendly pretzels and brownies.