Civil War

I have been wrestling with exactly how to present the civil war material, beginning next week, to all our children, but particularly our oldest who is at the "dialectic" level, or the level at which students begin to understand the why of information and make connections between people and events. The issue of a strong central government versus states' rights is still such an abstract concept, even for her. In the weeks leading up to this, as we have discussed various states being admitted to the Union as either slave or free, I have noticed that the children are grouping all the southern slave states as "bad" in their minds, and the northern free states as "good". We have talked about how some issues (like slavery) are plain bad, while other issues (such as states' rights) can be both good and bad. We have also talked about point of view, how sometimes two people just can't agree and neither is right or wrong, but their points of view are just different. But I'm not sure they're getting it. Most of them are probably too young. And the boys are just excited about the whole war aspect!

My reading leading up to next week has been very interesting to say the least, and it has sparked some lively discussion between my husband and I! Many view Abraham Lincoln as the Savior of the Union, while others make the point that slavery was on its way out anyway and Lincoln up and decided it should be illegal for states to have the right to secede and started an unnecessary war over it, thereby strengthening the power of the central government. There has been so much written about the Civil War from so many different points of view, I can only read a small percentage of what is available. But it's extremely fascinating and has forced me to think outside my traditional public school taught views of history. I am praying to do it justice in the next few weeks, as our family reads and talks about this painful period in the history of our nation. I am thankful we have such an excellent resource as Tapestry of Grace, which presents the point of view of both sides and leads us through questions and Scripture which help us understand this conflict!

For you homeschoolers out there who have already covered this time period, how have you handled this in your homeschool?