A milestone . . .

Today, Dudeboy is starting public school as a freshman.  The insert is from his first day of kindergarten all those years ago . . .

Artemisia! . . . Boom! . . . the National History Bee National Finals

Well, we have just returned from Atlanta and the National History Bee National Finals, and we are very proud and pleased to relate that Malcolm did great! There were just under 700 students from 47 states that participated. We met and talked with several families from all over the country . . . California, Texas, Connecticut. There were even kids who journeyed from Alaska and Hawaii for the event!

As I said Malcolm did great. He outright won or tied for first in each of his preliminary rounds (I should add that there were ten children in each preliminary round).  And by doing so, he qualified for the Championship Rounds. There were three championship rounds . . . the first consisting of 128 students divided into 16 sections. The top two from each section moved on into the next round where the final eight advanced to ultimate championship round. Well, Malcolm made it into the first championship round.

To show how hard it is when you get to this point in the competition, the boy who won the Nashville Region (the last two years no less) was also eliminated in Malcolm's section. Apparently some kids even have personal "history coaches." So, compared to some, we didn't really put much effort into reviewing for the event which impresses me even more knowing he was mostly relying on his existing general knowledge. (Above photo . . . to give you some idea of how large the event was, this picture was taken when I was positioned only about 2/3rds back).

Malcolm pointing to his name which signified that he was moving on to the Championship Rounds.

It was a thrill to watch Malcolm throwing out names like Eugene Debs, Samuel Gompers and events like the Bonus Army, the Prague Spring and that Artemisia was a reference to the Persian War. I must say the last eight kids in the final were amazing to watch. I was a history major and they would have blitzed me.

National History Bee . . . Nashville Regional Finals

Dudeboy just returned from the Nashville Regional of the National History Bee.  He was fairly nervous, but he did really well and made it all the way to the championship round.  So, we are very proud to say Dudeboy is a Regional Top-10 qualifier for the National History Bee National Finals to be held in Atlanta on June 6-8.

*Update . . . here is a photo from the twitter page of the National History Bee.  Dudeboy is on the far left side of the photo.  These kids were the finalists from the championship round.

Tennessee History Festival

Yesterday, Dudeboy and I joined the Fetter family (homeschool friends of ours from way back when we first started homeschooling) for a beautiful day at the the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park in Nashville and the Tennessee History Festival. It was basically a gathering of reenactors/interpreters representing the sweep of Tennessee history through demonstrations and encampments . . . everything from a Cherokee encampment to conquistadors to WWI soldiers to a slavery revisionist display. Odd, that last one.  

With Lincoln, Davy Crockett, and a Civil War surgeon.

With a group representing soldiers from the Spanish-American War.

With a longhunter from Roan Mountain.

Careful with that ax, Eugene . . .

Architectural historian Dudeboy, in a full discourse about columns, capitals, pediments, and the like . . .

Our day with Wendell

Here is a "photo essay" from our portrait sitting with Wendell Decker.  I am not gonna go through all of the details of the process, which was fairly involved, for the photos should be fairly self-explanatory. Of course, Wendell made it all look effortless. By the way, here is a pretty good article about Wendell in the local paper. 

Coming into view . . .

 Looking through Wendell's camera with my camera.  This is what the photographer sees.

Waiting for the exposure . . .

Wendell in the "dark room."

Going into the bath . . .  

 The image emerges . . . 

Killing time while the plates dry.

On the drying rack.

Heating the plates to prep for the varnish to adhere.

Varnishing the photos.

The one of a kind finished product. 

King Lear

Dudeboy wrapped up another semester-long study of a Shakespeare play with a group of local homeschoolers.  This semester, they portrayed a few scenes from and studied King Lear.

Dudeboy as King Lear.

Dudeboy and some of the other cast members/classmates in their King Lear production . . .

Elvis and Dr. J

In honor of the birthday of Elvis and Dr. J, the Kingdom of Fife homeschool group headed down to Nashville for a full day of fun and feast.  We started out by meeting up with some homeschooling friends at the Hermitage.  As this is the 198th anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans, there were several activities that pertained to Jackson and the War of 1812.

The wreath-laying ceremony at the tomb of President Andrew Jackson featuring keynote speaker Jon Meacham.

We then traveled to a new local eatery, which had received rave reviews . . . The Pharmacy Burger Parlor and Beer Garden.  We stuffed ourselves on large, tasty burgers, brauts, and sweet potato fries -- all washed down by sodas from a drugstore soda fountain.  Dudeboy declared this place is a redo.  Finally, we visited the Frist Museum to see an exhibit of German expressionism.  

      

The day was topped off with a cake from Nashville's Becker's Bakery.  More days like this, and we won't be able to fit in the car for trips to Nashville.

Malvolio

Dudeboy as Malvolio in a homeschool class production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.  

In performance . . . "some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em."

The Ham in Hamlet

Over this past semester Dudeboy has been participating with several other home-schoolers in a class devoted to the study of Shakespeare's Hamlet.  The kids read the play in full.  They watched, and discussed several filmed productions.  Dudeboy wrote a paper analyzing Kenneth Branaugh's Hamlet.  And they memorized several scenes.  All of which culminated in a short production of snippets of the play.  It is probably unnecessary to relate that Dudeboy thoroughly enjoyed the class.  Above . . . Dudeboy as Fortinbras, who reigns supreme at the end of the play (mostly because everyone else is dead).    

Paducah!

Some people go to the beach for spring break . . . we went to Paducah! The impetus for the trip was to fulfill our promise to Mane to take her to the National Quilt Museum. Alas, they do not allow photography, so no pictures from there. But, here are some of the other sites we saw . . .

Mane in front of one the panels depicted on the extensive "Paducah Wall to Wall" flood wall mural.

This has been on my radar for some time . . . the grave-site of "A Man of Courage," John T. Scopes. Born and raised in Paducah, Scopes became famous/infamous for his role in the Scopes Monkey Trial. He went on to work in the oil business in Venezuela, Louisiana, and Texas.

Buried in the same cemetery as Scopes is the once famed and prolific author, humorist, and columnist Irvin S. Cobb. He is the author of one of my favorite "weird tales" called Fishhead. Click on the link and take the time to read this forgotten oddity. By the way, H.P. Lovecraft was very praising of Fishhead, and supposedly it was an inspiration for his own novella The Shadow Over Innsmouth.

The Lloyd Tilghman House and Civil War Museum was the last residence of Confederate Brigadier General Lloyd Tilghman. He was killed at the Battle of Champion Hill in Mississippi. There is a massive statue of Tilghman at the Vicksburg battlefield (there is also a statue of Tilghman in Paducah, which we visited as well). The tall building in the background on the right of the above photograph is the Irvin Cobb Hotel (now apartments for senior citizens). On a tip from Vic, we went into the lobby of this place. This place must have been amazing at one time. Every inch of the former lobby is covered with some kind of decoration. Good to see that it has survived, but it needs to be brought back to life. Click on the link above to see some pictures of the hotel.

The Tilghman house is also a really nice museum that pertains to the Jackson Purchase area in the Civil War. The exhibit pictured above relates the story of Nathan Bedford Forrest's raid on Paducah in March of 1864. Most of the places relating to the battle have been lost to time, including Fort Anderson which Forrest attacked (the convention center is located there now).

Captain Dudeboy guiding his barge up the Ohio River. This simulation is one of the exhibits at the River Heritage Museum.

Wacinton . . . "Hand chiseled from a local 56,000 pound Red Oak to honor the Chickasaw Indians who lived and hunted in this area until the Jackson Purchase, 1818." Not far from here is the well known Chief Paduke statue.

Just across the river in Illinois is the location of the Kincaid Mounds. These earthen mounds date to the Mississippian time period. There is an observation/information area, but access to the actual mounds is prohibited.

Our tourist photo-op at Metropolis, Illinois.

George Rogers Clark sentineled over the Ohio River at Fort Massac in Metropolis.