Living History through the Arts

            
    Janice Bowling has been compiling this curriculum for several years.  After working public school music and special education programs for over fifteen years, Mrs. Bowling observed how many students with “disabilities” as well as those who were disinterested in learning seemed to be particularly interested in visual and musical arts.  She believed that if those students could learn more globally, where the arts could be incorporated into the regular curriculum instead of be taught separately, some of them might be more prone to stay in school and/or experience more school success.

           
     Beginning with fourth grade Virginia history, Mrs. Bowling has researched songs, art work, clothing, dance, toys, and other parts of life to incorporate into each segment of Virginia history as guided by the Virginia state fourth grade Standards of Learning.  Her premise is that history is not only a weak area for the majority of students, but that it is a good ‘jumping off’ point for reading, math, science, and all other curricular subject areas.       

            
    Mrs. Bowling taught her Living Virginia History through Music curriculum at a local home school enrichment program for two years but found that only being able to work with the students for one hour per week was not enough.   The students needed the opportunity to experience history through music and other arts – singing the songs, dancing the dances, reading, writing – living the history.  She is presently putting the curriculum together in notebook form so that it can become available to parents or teachers who can spend time with students, truly experiencing each era in the history of Virginia.

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