Investigate the daily rhythms of life
Warmth and security. Nourishment. Belonging. Growth. Encouragement. Work and play. Rest. Love. "Hearth and Home" is an idiom — a figurative expression — that is meant to evoke those sorts of pleasant thoughts and feelings.
"Hearth and Home," encompasses various aspects of day-to-day life. Here in the region of the Fox-Wisconsin portage in the early 1800s, everyday living was considerably different than it is today. Homes were different. Routines were different. Ways of doing things were different. Resources and technology were different. There were also cultural differences in the ways families and communities lived their daily lives.
In 1832, when the Indian agency house was constructed, people from many different cultural and ethnic backgrounds called this place home: Ho-Chunks, Menominees, Métis, Blacks, and Euro-American settlers from various Old World backgrounds. Although there were similarities in daily life across cultures, each cultural group, each community within those cultural groups, and even each individual family within any given community, experienced its own unique essence of “hearth and home.”
Explore the daily rhythms and traditions of home life among the diverse residents of the portage in 1800s Wisconsin. ...and what better way to learn and discover hands-on than with your own family in the context of your own hearth and home.
We are pleased to offer a resource to help your family to learn, explore, and have fun together all year long. To that end, this learning guide is divided into activity suggestions for each season of the year. Our hope is that your family will come to look forward to these special times of learning and discovery together!
Chapter I Winter Ideas
Chapter 2 Spring Ideas
Chapter 3 Summer Ideas
Chapter 4 Fall Ideas