September 11 & The Story of Us

Today is always a hard day for me. I can still remember the phone call that morning. Watching the news, holding the phone, and praying for answers.

My uncle was flying to New York that day. He was heading to a meeting at the World Trade Center. Where was he?  We waited for hours. Crying. We heard from friends who lost loved ones. We cried with them grasping for answers. Then we waited for days.

Finally we heard. He was fine. He was in hospital, he had a heart attack on his way to the meeting. With all that happened and was happening, they forgot to call his family. We understood just thankful that he was found.

We were lucky that we scrapped by with just a scare but the impact that day still ripples through our culture. It has forever changed the way we look at things. I remember growing up and not understanding Pearl Harbor. What was the big deal? Why are people still sad?

Now I get it.

I did several things to help my kids better understand. We created a scrapbook and added to it. Each year the kids ask to take it to school and share. Pictures, feelings, thoughts of the day all there in black and white. For my boys, history is important.

It saddens me that as we move into implementing the Common Core State Standards that history is not a priority. Understand the story of our culture, our past, and why we are who we are has been pushed to the side in an effort to prioritize the needs of the future. But how can we have a future if we do not understand our past?

I found some other resources that I wanted to share with all of you as well as my own students and children.


Don't forget the power of videos! Many kids need to see and hear it while for others it may be to frightening. I like focusing more on how to rebuild the future while honoring our past and so have chosen this film for my kids.

Be sensitive to those in your class as well. Before you start sharing, make sure it is something everyone is comfortable with!

One of my children's favorite movies is America: The Story of US. We used this with our history curriculum when we homeschooled and the kids still love it. In fact, this is another thing they take to school to share along with their timelines.

Today, the History Channel is offering the books to go along with the movie for free. I just got them for the Kindle on my iPad. I know there will be a fight later today on who gets to read them first. Just click on the picture to go to the History Channel to find out more or head over to Amazon to pick up your free copy of all 3 books.