Hard tack for lunch, anyone?

Today we were reading about the life of the troops who fought in the Civil War. And since one can hardly learn about troop life without also learning about Hard Tack, we decided to make some for ourselves.


A. mixing up the flour and water. Do you like her new glasses? Thanks to our anonymous gift-giver at Christmas, we were able to get A. some much needed new glasses. I like them, but they make her look a lot more grown-up than her last pair did.

Taking (scraping, more like) the Hard Tack off the pan.

K.


P.


The babies wanted to be a part of things, too, and happily waved their Hard Tack around, though didn't try to taste it. Here's M. and L.


G.

And in case anyone was concerned that all these poor children had for lunch was tooth breaking Hard Tack, never fear, a regular lunch was consumed by all. This could be one of my last posts on the Civil War. We have 6 lessons left before I call it done. And for the curious, M. and B., my high schoolers, have not been studying the Civil War with us. They have both been focusing on the Enlightenment for history since they are responsible for teaching four lessons each in our history co-op. (M. taught about Thomas Paine last week and B. teaches about Daniel Defoe tomorrow.) Since M. has been studying American history on her own and B. has a natural interest in the Civil War (and probably knows more than any of us right now), the three of us (M., B., and myself) have been working our way through the Ken Burns series on the Civil War. This is one of the things I love about homeschooling...the education I'm giving myself as well as my children. I am learning far more about the Civil War than I ever learned before...and finding it more interesting than I initially thought it would be.


Comments

The Coys said…
I had never heard of Hard Tack. My son is so interested in the Civil War, Revolutionary War, Indian War... He's only 5, soon to be 6. Do you think that's too young to learn of wars? If not, any books you recommend that aren't too violent?
LawMommy said…
I remember making hard tack in my 8th grade history class. I do not remember enjoying the texture!
thecurryseven said…
TM and D. were both 6 when we started our study of the Civil War. We are using The Civil War for Kids: A History with 21 Activities by Janis Herbert(published by Chicago Review Press -- love all their stuff) as our main book. It has lots of photos, stories, and activities which cover the span of the war. (No one really thought that I came up with all these projects on my own, did they?) Since it's written for children, it is not quite so heavy on the blood and gore, but does not gloss over it either. I find it to be a nice balance.

We've also used Great Civil War Projects You Can Build Yourself by Maxine Anderson. It's a good complement to the first book, with slightly more elaborate projects.

As well as reading these books to all four (A., P., TM, and D), I have A. and P. read biographies about people from the time period. B. has also enjoyed the Dorling-Kindersly Eyewitness books about various wars. I find them difficult to read outloud because of all the little sidebars all over, but they have great pictures.

e

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