If you have a teen who isn’t quite old enough for a traditional job, then you may have to help encourage them to think outside the box and brainstorm. There are all sorts of ways your teen can earn money this summer. First take an inventory of their talents, skills, and interests. Do they prefer pets over children then pet sitting might be a good fit. Is your teen more active and fit then lawn care or dog walking might foot the bill.
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Ulysses S. Grant is an interesting figure in American history. For many years historians had relegated him to the bottom of the presidential pile. And he still frequently is listed as the worst president of all time.
Laying all of that aside, if it weren’t for his military genius the United States would look very different today from how it looks now. Let’s take a minute and explore how his time remembers him.
Art is used to portray people’s opinions and what they think is important. So, let’s look at how artists of Grant’s time portrayed him.
Look at the drawing and answer a few questions:
Taking your answers to all of these questions, which side do you think the artist felt was right?
This illustration was commissioned by the owner of the house the surrender took place in. After the surrender soldiers took many of his possessions so they could have a souvenir of the surrender. He attempted to regain some of his money by commissioning and selling this drawing. Does this change some of your answers to the questions?
After the Civil War, and after Grant’s presidency monuments were erected everywhere in honor of him. When he died thousands contributed money to build him an impressive monument in Washington D.C.
Now compare Grant’s Memorial you’ve just been looking at to the Lincoln Memorial. What do the designers of the Lincoln Memorial want to imply about President Lincoln in comparison to President Grant?
Did you know his name was not originally Ulysses? When he went to West Point the admissions officer wrote his name down wrong, and he decided to keep the name. As a result of his name he earned several different nicknames.
Take a moment to look at your name and your initials what nicknames might you earn in your life? Which nicknames might you be proud of? Grant was very proud of being called Uncle Sam Grant, and US Grant.
While these are some fun activities there is a lot more you can learn about US Grant, so here’s some more great places to look
Another great installment of the ABC’s of American History series. Have you missed a few? Check out the entire series below:
We recently had the chance to review a rather unique building set as part of a review program that we participate in. I saw the theme of animals and thought it would be great for Big Red to build something that Lil’ Red could play with.
I have to admit I was a little disappointed in the fact that the bricks are quite difficult to put together and take apart even for myself and hubby! We did our best to follow the directions which at first seemed really good but then we realized were almost too detailed.
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We have a very small pet store in our town and then the town south of us has a different one. Both are great places to go to observe and see unusual pet’s that you might never want to own. The first time I remember seeing a real chameleon was at the pet store one night after dropping off Princess at ballet. Lil’ Red was super clingy so I decided to take him along with us. I needed to stop in the dollar store to get some batteries for Eldest’s bg meter and decided to pop into the pet store to show Lil’ Red some critters.
He was in awe at the teeny tiny hamsters. We watched a few of them but most were all snuggled up in some sorta cube toy. One was stretching and drinking from her water bottle. We saw rats, mice, guinea pigs, ferrets and hamsters for furry things.
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S is for Segregation and Civil Rights
There are some ugly parts of American history and segregation is one of those. However, just because talking about that time period might make us uncomfortable, it doesn’t mean that we should skip it with elementary age students. Thankfully men and women came along who helped to bring an end to segregation in the Southern states. So while the initial discussion of segregation is difficult, the epilogue is inspiring!
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