living history

This morning the children and I met a fascinating Russian woman at the playground. She emigrated to America 10 years ago at the age of 61. Through broken english she told me her story. She served as an electrical engineer in communist Russia for most of her adult life, and then taught engineering at the university in Moscow. Her husband was also an engineer and she told me that they were so poor. Most Russians, she said, including herself, have only one child because they cannot afford more. The people work very hard to scrap a living. She continued to compliment Tristan and Anastasia and she said it is so nice that people in America can have so many children! She told me that before communism, families in Russia were bigger. Her mother was one of 11 children. She said their family had very hard times when communism took over and her grandfather ended up dying. She was going to tell me more about her family, when one of her neighbors came up walking his dog and began chatting also. Then they both went their separate ways, Anastasia had lost a shoe during our conversation and was throwing mulch and Tristan was hanging upside down from the monkey bars! Better that we got interrupted, I guess. I am not a big history person, but her story fascinated me and made me want to learn more about Russian history. Personal stories are the best history available! Speaking of history in story form, I would highly reccommend Farmer George Plants a Nation by Peggy Thomas. The story of George Washington. Since we have been reading 1776 to Tristan, I thought it a good idea to get some children's biographies of the founding fathers. This first one we tried is amazing and I learned a lot about our first president while reading it to Tristan!