Learning about the Boston Tea Party

We've finally gotten to the climax of the story in Johnny Tremain, and we're learning about the Boston Tea Party! Johnny Tremain is one of the Sonlight Core D+E books, as well as being recommended in the History Odyssey's Modern History II for Maestro.  Both of the children are covering around the same time period, which has been making our homeschooling more interesting as we share what we're doing.

You know, I only have scant recollection of ever hearing mention the Boston Tea Party in my youth.  Mum told me about it, and I'm sure I've seen the Walt Disney film of Johnny Tremain (watching Walt Disney on a Saturday night at my Nana's house was a huge treat!) but never in our schooling was it covered (Australian schools).  So, we're all learning about this as a family.

One question raised by Mariposa was 'How big were the tea chests'?  I imagined they were fairly large, perhaps requiring two men to carry one, but found that they were actually smaller!  There is one on display at the historic Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum, and can be seen on the short video here:




Had we an opportunity to travel to Boston, we'd certainly like to see this exhibit.  However, we'll be content to check out resources online.

Here are a few sites I've bookmarked for us all to view together:

• I really liked the explanation of the event on this page at Ducksters;
• A video and activities here at Have Fun with History are concisely done with a nice presentation;
• An episode of Liberty's Kids: The Boston Tea Party - a 23 minute cartoon Mariposa will enjoy.

Being such an avid fan of the old Walt Disney movies, too, I'm thinking it'll be a good investment to purchase the Johnny Tremain dvd from ebay (about $7 plus postage).  I know that the book is still SOOOoo much better, though.

We're really enjoying this book and learning about this time in history.  The timeline will be very interesting to see coming together, especially as we notice how the events in early American history lead into our Australian history.  Fun!

Until next post,

Catherine