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Tony recently relayed to me the following conversation between him and Madeline:

Madeline (pointing at a United States flag): Look! There’s a flag! Grandma Karen and I talked about what the flag means

Tony: Oh, really? What does it mean?

Madeline: Ummm…I forgot.  What does it mean again?

Tony: There are 13 stripes, one for each of the original states in our country back when it first started.  Each star stands for one of the states in our country today, so there are 50 stars. There are stars for Minnesota, Iowa, Florida and all the other states.

Madeline: Oh, so is there a star for Ames?

Tony: Nope, that’s a city, not a state.

Madeline: Oh, so is there a star for Africa?

Tony: No, that’s a continent far away.

—

Well, I guess we still have plenty of time to work on history and geography with Madeline.   I tried to improve Madeline’s understanding of history and the meaning of the holiday today by reading to her “The 4th of July Story” by Alice Dalgliesh.   It held her attention all the way through, and I think she might have learned a thing or two.  She was really curious why the Liberty Bell is cracked now (that wasn’t in the book, but I happened to mention it to her when they talked about the bell in the book).  She wanted to know why it cracked, so we looked it up since I couldn’t remember.  She can now tell you that it cracked after being rung many, many times, and that it cracked while ringing on George Washington’s birthday (In the 1840′s, in case you don’t remember that from your grade school history lessons).

Have a Happy Birthday, USA! (And enjoy celebrating the holiday, everyone!)