More Island History: Fort Frederica

A month or so ago I somehow got sidetracked from blogging about our St. Simons Island vacation. I've got a few spare minutes tonight, so I'll post about another field trip we took while we were down there.

Fort Frederica was established in 1736 by James Oglethorpe, who had founded the colony of Georgia three years earlier. Frederica was a fort and a town, and its primary purpose was to defend Britain's southernmost colony from the Spaniards in Florida. The fort served its purpose in 1742 when Spain landed 2,000 soldiers on the island in an attempt to take the land from Britain. General Oglethorpe marched out with his soldiers and defeated the Spaniards in the Battle of the Bloody Marsh. Casualties were light, but this encounter led to the Spanish troops retreating seven days later. They never again invaded the colony of Georgia.

Eventually Britain and Spain signed a peace treaty, so the garrison at Fort Frederica was no longer needed to guard against Spanish attack. In 1758 a fire destroyed the entire town, and the townsfolk who remained were forced to leave.

In the 1900's interest in Frederica revived, and archaeologists began to excavate the site. Much was discovered that enabled historians to piece together the fort's past. Today it is part of the National Park Service, and archaelogical discoveries continue to be made there.

Even though we have visited the park in the past, I couldn't resist going back this summer, since we spent so much time learning about Colonial Life this past school year.

Donning colonial garb at the visitor's center before going out to see the town and fort.


Playing colonial games. I cannot remember the names of these, but this one reminded us of pinball.


In this one you use coins to play something similar to shuffleboard.


The foundations of most of the town's structures are in tact. These are the tabby and brick ruins of a civilian dwelling.



The live oaks draped with Spanish moss are one of my favorite things about the island.


Powder Magazine


Replica of the cannons that guarded Frederica. The fort was situated on a point that jutted out into the Frederica River, making for an easier defense against ships coming from either direction.

If you have any history buffs in your family, and you ever visit St. Simons, I'd recommend Fort Frederica as a must-see.

Next up...nature study on the beach.

Blog Issues, A Birth, and Some Tidbits

It just came to my attention that some folks have had problems viewing my blog. This really should have occurred to me before now, since I've had similar problems myself on various sites.

I think it probably has to do with the whole Internet Explorer problem that's been plaguing everyone lately. I highly recommend using Firefox or Safari to view my blog - and anything on the web, really. I don't know what's going on with IE, and honestly I'm not techno-savy enough to care. I just know that it's not been a very reliable browser lately, and I almost always use Firefox now. I'm so sorry if you've had trouble visiting me here, and I hope that using Firefox will resolve the problem. You can download it for free here.

In case you're wondering what we've been up to lately, well, you can obviously see that I haven't been blogging. :) We have gone out of town much more than we expected to this summer, and any formal schooling that I had planned has gone by the wayside. Our study of frogs and toads will have to be put on hold for another time, since we haven't been home to catch and care for any tadpoles. We have continued Superman's reading and math, since I have his assessment next week and would really like to reach a certain point in his math book before I meet with our assessor.

We've learned a lot of life lessons this summer. With Grammy Kaye's passing, my father's successful cancer surgery, and my parents' move from my mother's childhood home, it has been an emotional summer. God has blessed us, though, and we've seen Him at work through all of this.

In fact, we are back in Georgia right now helping my parents finish up with their move. Today we had the opportunity to visit my Grandmother in the hospital (she's coming home Friday - yeah!), and we were able to visit our brand new baby cousin Ross who was born just today here at another local hospital. The kids were so incredibly excited when we found out that he was coming today and that we would get to see him. We watched through the nursery window as he got his bath and shots and all of the other things they do to new little people. We had no idea that we would be here for his birth, so we feel blessed that God gave us that sweet surprise.

There's the possibility of an exciting field trip on the horizon for us, but I can't blog about it just yet until the details are finalized.

Oh, and one more quick thing...we've made the decision to enroll Superman and Giggly Girl in Classical Conversations this year. No, we're not a classical homeschooling family, and I'll be blogging more about CC later. Until then, you can check out Classical Conversations here.

Thanks for reading this hodge-podge post. I'm hoping to get a couple of back things posted while we're down here this week, and hopefully they'll be more cohesive than this. :)

The Unit Study Approach: An Adventure in Learning

When I think back to my elementary school days, images of workbooks, purple mimeograph sheets (remember those?), and textbooks cloud my memory. I attended a traditional school where I gained a solid education in the three R’s. However, despite my strong phonetic skills, I abhorred reading. My penmanship was beautiful, but I didn’t compose a creative paragraph until junior high. I could recite my math facts, but they had no real life application as far as I was concerned. And I cannot recall a shred of the science and history contained between the covers of those numerous textbooks.

Against this vague backdrop of pencils, papers, and chalkdust, there are two things that stand out vividly in my mind - Mrs. Shirley Campbell and Georgia History.

You can read the rest of my article at The Curriculum Choice.

Happy Birthday, Baby!

Eight years ago tonight, Kurt and I were cradling our brand new baby boy in our arms. He was a big baby but so tiny to us, quite wriggly, and with a head full of black hair. As long as I live, I'll never forget the moment they laid him on my chest and I looked into those eyes for the first time. He felt so warm and soft in my arms, such tiny fingers and toes, his little mouth rooting for his first meal.

Something changed in me at that moment. I somehow knew that my life would be different forever. I had never before felt this kind of love, this special mother love. I was overwhelmed with emotion.

Kurt and I were both weary, but the joy and excitement that accompanied our gift from heaven kept us both awake into the wee hours. We called family and friends, announcing the birth and giving all of the important details, including our little boy's name, which we had kept a secret from everyone. Finally we slept, waking to feed our little one, and then sleeping again.

Over the coming days, weeks, and months, I would learn that motherhood often means sacrifice and self-denial, particularly when it came to sleep and getting a shower. But I didn't really mind. I was smitten with this new little person. He became the center of my days, and I looked forward to getting up in the night to feed and hold him. Each morning when I would wake up and get him from his crib I felt like a child opening a Christmas present.

The months and years passed, and the baby grew into a toddler, then into a little boy. Now he is eight, and what I have known would happen all along, is quickly becoming evident. He is growing up. In a few short years, he'll no longer be a boy, but a young man. It makes me happy and sad at the same time.

When he was five, he gave his heart to Jesus, and this gave his Daddy and me as much joy as did his birth. As he grows older, I see God at work in his life, growing his young heart and mind closer to Him. For this I am abundantly thankful.

Tonight my heart is full with love, with memories, and with gratefulness to God for all of our children and for the privilege of being their mother.

Happy Birthday, Superman!

Home Again

We just returned from a week with my husband's extended family in Florida. Kurt's Mother passed away recently after a twenty year struggle with Parkinson's disease. Her memorial service was last week,
and it was a beautiful celebration of her life and of her faith in Jesus.

We're grieving her loss, but we're rejoicing that she is finally healed and no longer a prisoner of her body.

I'll be writing more about our week later. God did some amazing things that I want to share here.

In the meantime we're resting and healing and getting on with life.

Blessings,