Part Six--Colonial Escapade 1990-1991 IMMERSION

Colonial Escapade, Part Two--Immersion

"Intelligence is the capacity to solve problems and/or create products."

(Howard Gardner, creator of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences)

Amber shows her 'saltbox' home, like the one Abigail Adams lived in.

(with a roof that lifts like a colonial saltbox box) 

 

Solving problems or producing products are what we call inquiries--working with the key point information. 

Jasmyn and Jonathon tinsmithing

Long after this school year was over I realized that the Sinclairs and the Bradleys never experienced one field trip together, but we immersed our children in colonial life and the Revolution and they loved it!  Immersion is the term for the second level of sensory input. 

EPIC Adventures--the name of our thematic curriculum as changed by Karen--coordinates with the four functions of the brain. 

The first function of the brain is to gather information, which is done through our senses.  So the E in EPIC stands for EXPOSURE--our brains gather information through exposure to the world through our senses. 

There are Six Kinds of Sensory Input, beginning with the greatest:
(the more senses involved, the greater capacity for learning)

1.      Being-There Experiences

2.      Immersion  

3.      Hands on actual things

4.      Hands on representational things

5.      Second hand

6.      Symbolic

 1.      Being There--scientists say there are actually 19 senses, including sensitivity to barometric pressure, etc. In general, the more senses that are involved, the greater the learning.

Being There experiences take place in the real-life environment. 

At harvest time we picked corn in the Bradshaw's corn field.

2.      Immersion--an enriched environment

Immersion is experiencing an environment that simulates the real place. We couldn't travel back to time to the Revolution, but the children created their environment as if they were living in the 18th century. At first "Abigail Adams" introduced colonial life to them, but they fell in love with all things colonial, and it naturally came out in what they did all year long.   

3.      Hands on actual things

Hands on actual things means that you're no longer in the actual environment where you're having a being-there experience, but you have something from the environment to touch--

Hal IV and Jasmyn are not in the pumpkin patch during our topic Hornbooks and Harvest, but they still touch the pumpkin.

4.      Hands on representational things

We're not at Independence Hall, but Amber and Jasmyn helped create our model of it. 

5.      Second hand

Language is second hand sensory input.

Our 13 states and their capitols match game.

 

6.      Symbolic

3 + 5 = 8

Many students today seem to get most of their input through the 5th and 6th levels--second hand or symbolically.  

Through the years I've thought about the Master Teacher and how He engages our senses, but more importantly our spirits:

·         We sing a hymn which stirs our souls

·         we see the priests bless the bread and water

·         We hear them bless it

·         We smell and taste the bread, and drink the water

This most important experience is filled with sensory input. 

Examples of their immersion into colonial life:

Most frequently asked question: “Mom, is that the way the colonists did it?”

Most frequent statement: “Mom we’re doing it this way because we want to be colonial.”              

Here's a little bit of what they did, taken from my notes written at the end of the year:

·  Made sure they sat in the rocking chair while reading the Bible.

·  Amber and Jasmyn wore their mobcaps, braids, and colonial night gowns to bed.

·  When they went to sleep they would “blow” out the lamp.

·  At the library they only wanted to read colonial stories

·  Stood up at the table because colonial children stood up.

·  Said “grace” instead of the blessing on the food, and made sure they folded their hands.

·  Put a pitcher and basin in their room so they could wash up in there.

·  Called each other by their colonial names and called Hal and me, “Pa” and “Ma”

·  Said, “I must go to the privy.”

·  Called their jobs around the house, ‘chores.’

·  Wanted cider for breakfast--"Oh, I don’t like water." (because colonials didn't drink water).

·  Amber, who won’t drink herb tea, drank it to be colonial.

·  Performed short, colonial plays for us at home throughout the year.

·  Got up before the sun; read Bible; did chores; went to Dame school—they called our home school, Mistress Bradley’s Dame School.

Amber and Jasmyn so immersed themselves and Hal IV, who was four years old, into colonial life, that one day Hal IV came running inside from the backyard, and holding up a dime yelled, “I found a shilling!”  That would have made King George III proud. 

In November we learned about our Mayflower forefathers who established this land:

 One of our inquiries--"macaronis"--big, white hairdos. (Yankee Doodle was such a provincial that he stuck just a feather in his hat and called it a 'macaroni.')

Hal's dinosaur also has a macaroni.

Jasmyn dumping tea overboard at the Boston Tea Party:

"Rally Mohawks! Bring your axes.

Tell King George we'll pay no taxes!"

This is Jasmyn's 'ax' and Indian headdress--the headdress was made by the Sinclairs:

That year was the most exciting time of my children’s lives to that point. Amber and Jasmyn were so inspired that at 6 and 8 years of age they were writing plays, researching and presenting visitor presentations, writing papers on the founding fathers from encyclopedic sources, staying up late and getting up early so they could learn and live the things they learned. This was total immersion into the life of a colonial revolutionary.

That world became real for them. Their own genuine enthusiasm led them to this, and most of their projects sprang from their own ideas. I would never have asked a 6 & 8 year-olds to write a ten page report complete with drawings!  But Amber and Jasmyn did this and much more.

Here is a clip of Amber and Jasmyn's Storybook Heroes, and Paul and Mary Revere:https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=X2FzE0vE1JY