Last Saturday my kids and I dressed up for a 1930s history presentation!
My son was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, while I portrayed Winston Churchill’s daughter, Mary.
We were glad that my college daughter jumped in at the last minute to become Anna, daughter of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.
The kids searched in their closets for a costume they wanted to wear, while I sewed my outfit based on a late 1930’s pattern.
Since I’m participating in a historical sewing group, my son took lots of pictures of me as Mary Churchill, looking through her father’s important book, The Gathering Storm, which we used for our 1930s studies.
We kept the presentation simple, by simply remaining in character through dinner.
SIMPLICITY OF THE ROOSEVELTS
For appetizers we enjoyed pigs in a blanket, from the Roosevelts.
While we were visiting Val Kill Cottage, home of Eleanor Roosevelt in Hyde Park, New York last summer, we learned that she was famous for entertaining simply with good old American food.
She even served hot dogs to the king and queen of England when they visited the Roosevelt home!
PARDON OUR INTERRUPTION
For the first time ever, the doorbell rang during a Becoming History Presentation! It was our next-door neighbor!
My son had previously commented that we don’t stay in character enough for our history presentations, so I stayed in character while greeting our neighbor, welcoming him to Chartwell House, home of the Churchills in Kent, England.
Then I introduced Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Anna Roosevelt!
Playing along, our neighbor said he had read Mr. Bonhoeffer’s book and would like him to autograph it!
BRITISH DINNER
For dinner we enjoyed one of Winston Churchill’s favorite meals, roast beef with Yorkshire pudding.
As soon as the Yorkshire Pudding came out of the oven, we sat down to dinner, because these deflate quickly.
Spinach salad with kumquats, bacon, and blue cheese led to a discussion of France, who was forced to reduce her military to appease Germany.
HISTORIC DINNER DISCUSSION
During dinner we chatted about Hitler building up his military, how Winston Churchill kept warning parliament, and how Bonhoeffer spoke out against the German Lutheran Church who effectively rewrote the Bible and made Hitler a god.
We had serious forebodings as to the future since parliament ignored Churchill and few understood Bonhoeffer’s concerns.
How could anyone possibly ignore the obvious?
DESSERT – HAUTE CUISINE
For dessert we enjoyed our first creme brulee, which was delicious!
Although Churchill was not big into desserts, he did enjoy haute cuisine, so for that I chose creme brulee.
I also chose the Haagen-Daas to represent Germany, while the gelato represented Italy, which easily led to a discussion of Mussolini and Hitler.
SIMPLEST OF PRESENTATIONS WHILE LEARNING LOADS
This is probably one of the simplest presentations we’ve done, yet still quite effective.
We have poured hours of research into our studies.
There was too much important information not to share, even though our exceedingly busy schedules did not allow for lots of fancy activities.
In fact, my son didn’t even know who he was going to be until the afternoon of the presentation, since he was focused on studying for his SAT, which he took that morning.
When he arrived home, we discussed the options.
Bonhoeffer is too huge an influence not to be represented.
We both read over 400 pages of his biography in the weeks leading to the presentation, so my son knew enough to become Bonhoeffer at the last minute.
Using our core books as the centerpiece, we could pull any of them out for quick reference, depending on the questions our audience asked.
However, we were able to keep pace and answer all the questions!
Reading and researching great books, writing about historical concepts, and then discussing them make all the difference in learning!
