I was swimming with my son yesterday when we began talking about history. He was asking me questions about Indians and how we came to be in Canada. I was answering his questions while I strained to recall all the social studies that I had taken over the years. At one point I mentioned Europeans and when he asked me what a European was, I listed off nations that had settled in North America.

When I said Germans, he paled significantly, which is quite a feat since he is very pale to begin with, and his eyes grew wide with worry as he said, “There are no Germans in Canada, are there?”

Wondering exactly why he was worried about this, I questioned him and he went on to explain that Germans were the bad guys. Everyone said it and they started those big wars. The question that came tumbling out of his mouth was surprising as he asked, “Are Germans bad?”

This really raised my awareness of how tricky it is to answer a question. We fight wars, have soldiers fighting wars and we present an image of the ultimate good and the ultimate evil. In the World Wars, the Germans were the ultimate evil and that is still taught in history books. If you approach history in this manner, then how can you say, “Well, Germans were bad back then but now they have good people and bad people just like everyone else.”

For some reason, that doesn’t seem to cut it and I had to approach it in a somewhat different manner.

So how do you handle this? For me, I look at it not as a race of people being bad but of making a bad choice. They chose to fight for their country and their country was being led by a bad man. Obviously, I don’t get into the darker points of the war, my son is only 7, after all, but I do not want him to be plagued by discrimination, especially at such a young age.

My first reaction to his question was to say, “Well, your great grandparents were german, are you bad? Am I bad?” He smiled in relief and said, “No.”

I then explained how the country was led by a bad man and because of that many bad things happened in the country and during the war. They fought for the wrong thing but they fought for their country. People make mistakes (of course this is a bit of an understatement when it comes to the World Wars) and it isn’t right to believe that all Germans are bad simply because of the wars.

As I was explaining, he smiled and said, “I know who led the Germans, my friend told me.”

I smiled and asked him who led the Germans during the wars and he said, “A bad man named Hitler and another bad man named Merlin.”

Which brought me to another conclusion, I really needed to keep an eye on what other children were teaching my son. The next half an hour was spent in explaining Arthurian legends and who Merlin was and yes, this whole conversation took place in the pool.  )

Sirena Van Schaik

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As I have mentioned in earlier posts, my son and his dad are making a model together for a contest that is being put on by the local museum. The model that he chose to do was the Battle of Vimy Ridge and in particular Hill 145.

It has been an adventure and after 2 and a half months, he finally finished it this weekend. (I will post pictures when I can get the feature working again,) It looks really good and we decided that he would have a little plague beside it explaining what his model is about and what Vimy Ridge is.

Over the last two months, I (and Dad) have been talking to him about Vimy Ridge and World War I but I decided to gather a few print outs and read it to him over the weekend. I then had him tell me about Vimy Ridge in his own words.

This is actually a great way to get your children to remember what you are reading. Asking questions like, “So what happened when,” or “What part did you find interesting,” or even “Why is this important,” will help your child put some order into their thoughts on the subject while reinforcing the learning. It also prepares them for when they have to start writing reports and will have to think about those questions on their own.

I have done this with both of my children since they were very young and it is simply a way to recall learning. It is also a great way to remind me what we are learning because many times the subject is pretty new to me too.

So with that, I thought I would post his report today. It gives you some idea of what he retained, even at 6 (just about 7), and is an example of how effective these projects are.

Battle of Vimy Ridge: Hill 145

April 9th to 12th, 1917

My model is about Vimy Ridge. This is Hill 145 where the Canadians won against the Germans and no other army had won there before.

During World War I on April 9^th, 1917, Easter Monday, at 5:28am, the Canadians began their battle to win the Ridge. It was a hard battle and they had to fight machine guns, artillery, cannons and Germans. They had to get through barbed wire and lots of mud and dirt.

They won Hill 145 on April 10^th, 1917 and they won the Battle of Vimy Ridge on April 12^th, 1917.

Many brave Canadians fought at Vimy Ridge and there were over 7,000 injured soldiers and 3,598 soldiers who died.

Why is Vimy Ridge important to Canadians?

- It was the “birthplace” of Canada!

- It was where Canadians became proud.

- It was the first time that the whole Canadian Army fought together and commanded its own soldiers.

- Canadian Soldiers invented the Rolling Barrage, the Platoon System, better communications, Indirect Machine-Gun Fire and many other things at Vimy Ridge that are still used today by soldiers.

- Canadian soldiers did what no other soldiers had been able to do before at Vimy Ridge.

I am proud of the soldiers who fought there because they fought for Canada. We should never forget them.

“In those few minutes I witnessed the birth of a nation.”

-Brigadier General A.E. Ross

The quote was one that my son really liked and was one that he wanted on his plague. So now he is ready and in two weeks he drops of the model and we will know if he wins by July 1st. Even if he doesnt, it was a great experience for both him and us and a lot of learning was done on all of our parts.

Sirena Van Schaik

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