Revolutionary!

Today was revolutionary war day.  The elementary schools are invited to participate in lectures by interpreters from the period around the revolutionary war.  They get to hear about what life was like during this time from people who reenact the characters, doctors, politicians, war heroes.

We were told months ago about this event and that we needed to have a costume ready.  Emma Jane wanted to make her own.  We went online to look up the directions for a mob hat with is the bonnet that the women wore of that time period.  The instructions for this are a great math experiment.  She needed to make a pattern from paper so she cut a circle from newspaper using two pencils and a piece of string tied to the distance of the radius of the circle.  Once she had her pattern cut out then she used it to cut out two white circles of fabric from a $5 twin sheet that had become a toga for this party blogged about here.

She also used the sheet to sew her apron without using a pattern.  I helped with the sash top stitching on the apron and showed her how to gather but she did the rest herself.  Emma Jane took a class at Owl and Drum, a local craft and fabric store.   They showed her how to make a skirt without the need for a pattern.  She took her measurements and figured out how much fabric she needed and added enough for the seam allowance and the elastic waist band.  She stitched and ironed the skirt in about 40 minutes.  We decided not to sew the shawl but to just fold the fabric so that we could re purpose the fabric after today.

I am so proud of what she has accomplished.

Yesterday, when she was picked up from school, she was really run down and felt terrible.  When she called me at work she told me she thought she was getting sick.  She was in tears.  She was so afraid she would miss today and not get to ever wear this costume she hand crafted.  I was so sad for her.  But she went to bed at 3:00 p.m. and stayed in bed almost all night.  The next morning she woke up ready for the 1770's.  Ready to play stick ball and rebel against the mother country.

On the way to school she was in character.  She was outraged about the taxation without representation.  She was upset about the tax on tea.  Why should we be sending all our money back to mother England?  She thought that having a King was rubbish and that the people should elect a proper leader.  Hold elections!  (Next thing you know, she will want to vote!)

There was an energy in the air this morning.  The fifth grade class was coming together.  The camaraderie that bound them in their costumes was wonderful to watch.

Such great expressions.

Here are the gentlemen.

Here are the ladies.

And the whole group.

I think they look so amazing!  I love that our kids get to participate in this wonderful day and am so glad that she didn't get sick.

Is it just me, or she giving me the look?  The "Mom, you can stop taking pictures now" look.

There is this question they ask you on the gifted and talented identification survey when your child is a wee youngster.  "Does your child attempt to do challenging things that show a level of understanding beyond their age?"  Then the next question is something like "Do they stay on task with a dogged determination, often foregoing fun in order to complete a project to perfection?"

The answers were always and continue to be "yes" and "yes".