Homeschooling on the Slopes: Gratitude, Growth, and Chaos
Downhill skiing as homeschool PE for five kids ages 2 to 11 — Fridays on a community slope, the triumphs and the spills, and the shop that gifted us skis.
Science and Skating: Building a Lake Rink
Turning a Maine lake into a skating rink with the kids — clearing snow at subzero temps, flooding the ice by garden hose, and the science lessons hidden in it.
Abraham Lincoln: Climbing the steps of a Legend’s Legacy
Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace in Kentucky — the one-room log cabin enshrined in a marble memorial, and telling his frontier-to-president rise to five kids.
Andrew Jackson: The People’s President and a Controversial Legacy
Andrew Jackson’s plantation outside Nashville — the house, the people enslaved there, and a complicated legacy told honestly.
Civil Rights in America: A Journey Through Courage, Sacrifice, and Compassion
Walking five children through Atlanta’s civil rights history — what they understood, what they asked, and what stayed with them.
St. Augustine, Florida: What It Means to Be First in America
St. Augustine, Florida with five kids — the Spanish fort, the old streets, and what being first in America really means.
Reconstruction’s Dawn: Early Progress and the Challenges Ahead
Beaufort and the Sea Islands, where Reconstruction began — how freedpeople started reclaiming the land, and how we explained that chapter to young children.
Choosing Gratitude: Lessons from the Pilgrims
Plymouth with five kids — the Rock, the cramped lower deck of the Mayflower II, and the fuller, harder story behind the one we tell each Thanksgiving.
Teaching Empathy Through History: How to Use Travel to Build Compassionate Kids
Bringing history alive for kids isn’t dates and battles — it’s imagining daily life, from Washington’s rooms at Mount Vernon to the people who worked them.
Today’s Compromise, Tomorrow’s Struggle: From Independence to Emancipation to Civil Rights
Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell with five kids — the compromises struck in Philadelphia, and the unfinished struggles they left behind.
The First Presidents: Farmers and Lawyers
Monticello and Montpelier with five kids — the Virginia homes of the first presidents, farmers and lawyers both, and the enslaved households behind the columns.
The History We Choose to Remember: Convict Colonies Forgotten and Remembered
Two nations, two convict pasts — why Australia preserves its convict history at Tasmania’s Port Arthur while America’s is largely forgotten, with kids.
Poetry and Politics: How Literature Can Supercharge Mere Humans
How literature can supercharge mere humans — teaching poetry and politics to five kids on the road, and why the right words outlast the people who wrote them.
Rediscovering America: An Introduction
After nearly five years in Australia, we’re back on American soil and setting off on a cross-country road trip to reconnect our five kids with the country, its people, and our roots.