Jake asked me this morning if he could enter the history fair. Now, I don't know about you guys, but I never voluntarily entered anything that made me do work that wasn't assigned by the teacher. So, I'm glad Jake has reached beyond my poor study habits early in his educational career. As you know, he loves history.. and in fact, he asked me, "do you think I am entering to win first prize OR because I love history?!" And I said, "Because you love history?" And he exclaimed,"YES! I don't care if I win a prize, this will be fun!" Ok.. so.. here's the rundown of our project.. and I say 'our' project because he has to write a 500 word essay and will probably need mucho help spelling. But, I think it will be something fun for us to do together, so I'm excited about it.
He had to choose a historical figure that made a significant mark on history. He chose Ulysses S. Grant, aka General Grant, brave leader of the Union in the American Civil War. He said Lincoln is too common.. too famous and wanted to go for someone that he could actually learn something about (and yes, the current obsession is the Civil War, so that narrowed the choices). He says he 'already knows too much about Lincoln for it to be fun.' AND.. he said the requirements for the project are that the students have fun AND to learn. So, he 'will learn more if he chooses Grant.' Again, exceeding my slacker tendencies at that age.
So, the fair is in November. He has a vision already (so no chance of mom doing too much). Arms flailing and eyes glazed over, he enthusiastically described how he wants to research it and how he would like to design his poster. I will be sure to post pics when the project is complete! It's awesome thing to see your child get excited about something productive.. especially when they initiate it.
A Dose of Jake's Heart: What I love about this kid is that he truly loves historical facts, figures, stories... but he loves more the heart behind these men, women and stories. He said he got emotional this week listening to the Star Spangled Banner. He speaks of brotherhood, strategies to unite and tells tales of unfathomable courage of men that most kids his age don't even know ever existed. He recounts details of humanity in these stories that are humbling and inspiring. I think I've decided that Jake is the most interesting person I have ever met.
4 comments:
Jake is the most interesting person *I've* ever met.
If he wants help from Matthew....I can't say Matthew loves history as much, but he does know a lot. :)
I love your Jake posts. Keep them coming!
I second that! I love the Jake posts. I love this kid. I was telling Emily today what he said about how he's supposed to learn and have fun. Her response was similar to yours "Man, I'd have picked someone I already knew about - so much easier!" hahaha
He's a gem, for sure. :)
tell jake uncle larry is a direct descendent of us grant..in fact i wanted to name ande U S....hehehe
uncle larry is also a direct descendent of president van buren...
the van burens are the founders of bloomingdales...
he never ceases to amaze me. he's going to be the kid who hits college and isn't surprised his history teachers were lying to him... and has to keep himself from correcting the teaching assistants.
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