US History: Roaring 20s

We are having a great time with the roaring 20s (and I'm hoping we don't crash at the end!).

The kids favorite aspect is the music and dance. Six Zoomlians trying to do the Charleston, how fun is that? They look almost exactly like this:



They were also quite interested in Prohibition, especially in the idea that alcoholism went up because hard liquor was the only drink available (as opposed to the less alcoholic beer and wine).

We went down to our "wine cellar" (under the stairs in the back basement) and took a look at the alcohol concentrations in beer (3-6%), wine (12%), and brandy (40%). So they learned how to tell the alcohol concentration in a drink, the dangers of drinking too fast, the relationship of alcoholic effect to body mass, how the body removes alcohol, and why it's against the law to drink before 21. The things you learn in home school!

It's been so fun to do a period of time where we have so much primary documentation (movies!).
We watched Duke Ellington, Lucky Lindy, and Mary Pickford. Mostly we gawked at the clothes, cars, hair, hats, and swim suits of a bygone era.

Which reminds me, we also talked about women getting the vote (and how that related to the short hair, short skirts, smoking, and so forth) and the Harlem Renaissance (as the beginning of a wider acceptance of African Americans and as an enrichment of American culture).