Recommended Website:
National Grandparents’ Day
Sunday, September 9, 2007 is National Grandparents’ Day! Marian McQuade, a
housewife from West Virginia, managed to get President Jimmy Carter to
proclaim National Grandparent’s Day in 1978. She wanted to bring some
happiness to lonely elderly people in nursing homes, and encourage
grandchildren to learn more about their own heritage by spending time with
grandparents who harbor a wealth of eye-witness accounts and opinions about
modern history and social studies.
At the National Grandparents’ Day website, there are suggested activities
for how to do just that. The website has a home-grown charm to it — it’s a
bit disorganized, not all of the pages are updated through 2007, and a few
links result in error messages. With that in mind, I’ve included direct
links to the pages highlighted below for easier access. Enjoy these items on
the menu that include:
Read either a brief or detailed history of the holiday and see the
Presidential Proclamation.
Click on this item and a new page opens with a menu of suggested activities,
archived examples of how others have celebrated this day, and a variety of
resources (for example, a list of books that would be of interest to
grandparents). Some of the activities on this page are repeats of what you
see on the main menu. The BEST of the lot (in my opinion) is:
FAMILIES
Find ideas on how to make a family tree (with free printable template), how
to “interview” a grandparent about their life and times (including a free
printable list of interview questions), an art project called
“Hand-In-Hand,” and grandparent coloring pages. (Note: One link here misdirects — here is the correct link for the
Grandpa coloring page.)
Find a variety of ideas and guidelines for nursing home visits. There is an
activity idea for how to get a group involved in visiting the elderly at a
nursing home. While youth groups, church groups, and scouting troops are
mentioned, this could also be done by a homeschool support group. Here’s the direct
link for this idea for a group visit.
This page opens to a menu with guidelines for teachers on how to help
students work cooperatively with grandparents to make a record of their
lives. The “meat” of this section is under the “Task” item that suggests
activities that include essays, monologues, composing a song or poem,
creating a family tree, videotaping an interview, designing a web page about
a grandparent, or writing a biographical sketch. There are links to samples
of what students have done at several schools throughout the country. This
is very similar to the “Families” activity mentioned above, but presented in
a more school/curriculum way.
The site sponsors Grandparents’ Day contests (that have closed for 2007),
and you can view the winners and their entries online.
Perhaps this site will inspire your children to learn more about their own
heritage and explore social sciences by spending time with grandparents or
by visiting the elderly in nursing homes.
