dangermom Posted June 27, 2010 Share Posted June 27, 2010 Hey everyone, I'm starting a new blog with a reading challenge--Primary Sources. It's not supposed to be difficult, just a little challenge to get more educated about American history (or wherever you may live). I know I need it! So if you'd like to join, come on over and sign up. It will be much prettier in a few days, sorry it's not much right now. :hat: <<dude who knows a lot about history, that's why the stripy hat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter's Moon Posted June 27, 2010 Share Posted June 27, 2010 I'm taking U.S. II this year but I think this is a great idea since we didn't really read many primary sources for U.S. I in PS. Definitely signing up :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangermom Posted June 27, 2010 Author Share Posted June 27, 2010 Yay, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicole M Posted June 27, 2010 Share Posted June 27, 2010 I'm sorry, I think I missed something. So are you going to suggest a document and provide a link, or is this a free-for-all, with folks reading and commenting on whatever they choose. Primary sources can be incredibly eye-opening. I remember when I first read the "give me liberty or give me death" speech in its entirety. Shocking. Maybe it was the mood I was in that day, but he just came across to me like a hot-headed, war-mongering whippersnapper! I wanted to smack him. That was the last thing I expected to feel after reading the whole text. I was in a daze for a week, reading as much as I could about it. What can also be quite telling is when you take a peek at what gets edited out of a source reading. For instance, something made me wonder about a short quote in one of my son's middleschool US history text, so I looked up the whole passage. Totally different feel, reading the quote in context. What a great idea, especially after all those evil threads. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangermom Posted June 27, 2010 Author Share Posted June 27, 2010 It's a historical free-for-all! You pick and tell everyone about what you read. If you want to focus on one particular topic, go for it--the links I put up at the side feature tons of reading on any topic you can think of. Here are the relevant rules I came up with. Should I be more specific? I've never done this before and am pretty clueless. 3. Each participant will read a primary source document weekly (if it's really long, feel free to work in weekly chapters or segments). The weeks will start on Sundays. 4. If you're not American but want to participate, read your country's historical documents! 5. I'll put up a weekly post telling what I've read. You can leave a comment telling about what you read. I'd love to have discussions. I may have missed the evil threads. I guess I should be thankful? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter's Moon Posted June 27, 2010 Share Posted June 27, 2010 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicole M Posted June 27, 2010 Share Posted June 27, 2010 I may have missed the evil threads. I guess I should be thankful? You're kidding! I thought this was a response to the evil threads. Wowie. Talk about perfect timing! Those seem like pretty good rules. You might want to narrow it down just a smidgen, like choose a decade or event or theme for each week, and have folks weigh in with their thoughts about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorganClassicalPrep Posted June 27, 2010 Share Posted June 27, 2010 You're kidding! I thought this was a response to the evil threads. Wowie. Talk about perfect timing! Those seem like pretty good rules. You might want to narrow it down just a smidgen, like choose a decade or event or theme for each week, and have folks weigh in with their thoughts about it. I signed up over at the blog, so I'll be participating, but I agree that narrowing each week (or even month) down to a certain time period or theme or event could really open up the discussion possibilities. Otherwise people will be reading all different topics and might not really have anything to say in a discussion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangermom Posted June 27, 2010 Author Share Posted June 27, 2010 Hm, I guess I hadn't thought of having topics. Would that be more work? :D And nope, this project was born in my head back in January; I just wanted to launch it around the 4th of July for fun, and to give myself time to learn about the whole blogging deal because I only started a blog in order to do the 52 Weeks thing this year. Also my friend promised to have the background done by then! :lol: I don't know what the evil threads were about, but I really don't want this to be a political thing. I'll ponder the topics idea. I was going to start at the beginning and work forward, sort of. Thanks for the suggestion! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorganClassicalPrep Posted June 28, 2010 Share Posted June 28, 2010 Starting at the beginning sounds good. Since it'll be 52 weeks we could break it up like: 1492-1500 1500-1510 1510-1520 1520-1530 1530-1540 1540-1550 1550-1560 1560-1570 1570-1580 etc.etc.etc. If I've done my math right, the last week would be 2000-2010/11 and bring us right up to present. If we were going to break it up by month it could be easier to do themes, or time periods, such as Revolutionary War, Civil War, Reconstruction, Vietnam War... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangermom Posted June 28, 2010 Author Share Posted June 28, 2010 I think I like the idea of monthly themes/time periods. I'll work something up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5wolfcubs Posted June 28, 2010 Share Posted June 28, 2010 This sounds like just what I need! We are going to be studying US History Civil War - Present for the FIRST time this coming year...and I been homeschooling for 10 years! Off to sign up... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangermom Posted June 29, 2010 Author Share Posted June 29, 2010 OK, here are some rough divisions into 12 monthly themes. It's quite difficult! I'm not sure how to divide them up evenly and I'd need about 20 divisions really. It's possible that I am not the best person to come up with this schedule, since the whole point is that I'm no good at US history....but anyway! Colonial period pre-1750 Revolutionary era 1750-1789 Federalist period 1789-1815 Jacksonian era? 1815-1850 Civil War era 1850-1865 Reconstruction Westward Expansion Gilded Age/Immigration WWI/Prohibition era Depression WWII Cold War/post-1950 Come and post, I'm feeling lonely. :) I have a button now! It's desperately amateur, but what the hey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangermom Posted June 29, 2010 Author Share Posted June 29, 2010 Bump so I can get a little input! I posted too late last night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5wolfcubs Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Looking forward to starting on July 4th... :patriot: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in AZ Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Sounds like a great idea! I haven't read many primary sources (and would like to). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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