Monday, October 3, 2011

Abigail Adams

To go along with our recent study of the American Revolution, I found this book at the library:  "Daring Women of the American Revolution" by Francis Walsh.  It's a good quick overview of several important women.  Primus and I looked at the pictures while I gave her a synopsis of each page.  Then I asked her to pick 1 woman she would like to learn more about.  She chose Abigail Adams. 

As I have been doing a little bit more research on her, I'm becoming more and more interested in her.
She did not receive a formal education, but she was a very smart and well-educated woman.  She thought education was extremely important, even for girls, and even insisted that her daughter learn Latin. 
The thing she is most known for is her written correspondence with her husband, John Adams.  She was instrumental in keeping him (and, naturally, the other men in Philadelphia) aware of the politics and military events going on in Boston.  She was extremely opinionated on political matters and her husband greatly respected and depended on her opinions.
One of the things that impressed and inspired me the most about her is that she always addressed her letters to her husband, "Dearest Friend."  By all accounts, they had a wonderfully strong marriage, even though they were often separated.  What a wonderful example Abigail and John are!  As the kids grows older, I think Abigail and John will be figures often spoken of in our house as we seek for good role models for our children!

Now I need to think of a fun craft or something to accompany Primus' upcoming lesson on Mrs. Adams.  I'm drawing a total blank!  I couldn't even find any coloring pages of her!  The most obvious idea would be to have her learn to write a letter to someone.  But every morning she writes in her journal her first and last name and the day's date.  And just getting her to write so little takes her a ridiculous amount of time!  I'm not sure having her write a letter would be enjoyable for either of us.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for sharing. I never knew anything about her, now I want to go learn more. I've had problems trying to get Mikey to write his name, but when he wants to write I can't get him to stop. If she's interested (and you don't insist that she spell correctly, just let her write the sounds she can figure out proper spelling later) she'll run with it. Mikey likes to draw pictures then label them. Maybe she could draw a picture of something she likes to do then write a few words about what she's doing and that can be her letter. I love watching my kids learn and grow. :)

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