We've been moving on through the Civil War....slowly. I've found we can't get as "into" the Civil War as we have with other parts of our mega-unit because it's just too overwhelming. Too much death, too much destruction.I've been reading to the kids twice a week from Brown Paper School: Civil War. I like the way they present things in the form of stories, plays, and first person narratives. I usually have the kids draw or color pictures as I read.
I was a bit concerned that the kids were still getting it mostly as a run-together list of battles, so I was on the lookout for other resources. I found Big Fish's Civil War game helpful for this. It is a hidden pictures game, but it has several narrative threads from different perspectives which run through the game (as well as a rather silly treasure hunt).
All of the scenes are battle locations (although, of course, you always seem to be looking for some things make no sense in that context!). Best of all, when you "solve" a battlefield, it is marked by a Confederate or Union flag based on which side actually won the battle. This was very helpful, especially at the beginning when the South seems to be winning every battle (which actually had my kids worried!).
If you are a Southerner, I should warn you that the Confederates are presented as the bad guys.
I also found the Comics Illustrated version of Uncle Tom's Cabin, and several other Civil War comics.
I am hoping to finish up by the end of this month...We'll see!
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