Presenting the players
Presenting my daughter as missionary Heather Mercer, myself as Christa McAuliffe, and my son as an imaginary lieutenant colonel in charge of a Stealth Bomber flying wing.
Historical meal
For our historical meal of the era, we enjoyed a form of astronaut breakfast consisting of grilled steak with blue cheese garlic butter spread, Caesar salad, Texas toast, deviled eggs, and orange flavored iced tea.
Christa McAuliffe, first teacher to go into space – 1986
I was up first as Christa Mcauliffe in 1986, holding a press conference.
As Mcauliffe, I answered questions from the press, telling the story of my selection and role on the space shuttle.
Then like the infamous last photo of Christa, I waved goodbye to the camera and left for the space shuttle (went behind the curtain).
After a pause my son played a siren sound effect while my daughter explained that on Jan 28, 1986, the space shuttle exploded.
President Reagan canceled his planned State of the Union address that evening.
Instead, he gave a speech from the Oval Office about the explosion, which my daughter played on the laptop for the audience.
The final words of the Great Communicator sends tingles down my spine: We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and “slipped the surly bonds of earth” to “touch the face of God.” –Reagan Library
Heather Mercer, missionary to Afghanistan – 2001
Then we moved to 2001 with my daughter’s portrayal of Heather Mercer, who was a missionary to Afghanistan.
I’ll never forget hearing about her and Dana Cury’s imprisonment by the Taliban on the news.
We joined our church in praying for them everyday.
Honestly, I did not expect them to get out alive, especially after 9-11.
I’ve always thrilled at the story of their rescue by US Special Forces. (They are also from a church in Texas!)
As we rehearsed Fri, I reminded the kids that two of us would be dressed like special forces, kinda-sort of.
Did they have any ideas on what we could do with that?
They decided to reenact Heather Mercer’s rescue scene.
So my son arranged a helicopter sound effect (He’s had sound effects in every Becoming History presentation) while my daughter hid around the corner in the basement.
On cue, I opened the helicopter door (curtain) for my son…
I stood guard while he rescued Heather.
When they came running back, I opened the helicopter door (curtain) for them so we could all enter the helicoptor (go behind the curtain).
After a pause, my daughter returned to the stage to tell the Heather Mercer story.
My daughter chose of her own accord to read their book, Prisoners of Hope, on top of all her other assignments.
Lieutenant Colonel in charge of a Stealth Bomber flying wing – 2003
Arranging a realistic briefing for his Stealth Bomber presentation, my son assigned each of us roles to play.
My daughter was a lieutenant, new to the group.
I was a captain, pilot of a Stealth Bomber!
We were part of a mission in the War on Iraq in 2003.
My son created this entire concept, based on a real-life incident he heard about a few years ago.
He thoroughly researched everything, wrote up several pages of information, and put together a power point presentation.
We truly felt like we were part of a real briefing!
During the question and answer we learned about the uniqueness of yaw with a Stealth Bomber…
We even received hand drawn diagrams to explain some of the information…
Dialectic Classical History Graduation Interview
Then we changed out of our costumes into the present, for a sort of dialectic graduation ceremony.
My daughter changed by simply removing her burqua, since she was readily attired underneath, whereas my son and I were mostly completed ready to go under our flight suits.
Here we are, at long last, after four long years of studying the historical eras from the beginning of the time to the present, dressed in the 21st century!
For this we gathered for an interview of the impact four years of dialectic classical history study brought to us.
Despite rehearsal, the kids were still uncertain how to go about this, so I went first to model for them, which enabled them to jump in to participate.
I began by bridging Christa McAuliffe’s teaching motto to mine: Reach for the highest stars.
These models represent classical studies, which brought information, cohesiveness, and enlightenment to us.
Referencing one of the most powerful books of the year for me, Fahrenheit 451, I talked about a controlled society that burns the Great Books.
The book clearly expressed the value of freedom to read and think deeply from the classics.
Then we shared our favorite eras studied over the last four years.
We all agreed the American Revolution was our favorite.
I also enjoyed studying the mystery of the Middle Ages. Mere paragraphs in a textbook never did that era justice. Now it makes sense.
Then we shared about the favorite person we studied. My son and I agreed on Lafayette. No surprise there!
My daughter’s favorite was Florence Nightengale! Then my daughter shared about her worldview studies and gave examples from today’s society for each one.
Now what? We boldly go forth into another round of classical history studies, this time at the hefty Rhetoric level.
