GAA+HOA

Two of my favorite things that we did with our homeschool this year was to gather a group of kids to participate in the Hope of America program and to work towards the Great American Award.

To earn the Great American Award, each child had to:

1. Write the Pledge of Allegiance with no spelling or punctuation errors.

2. Recite or sing the first verse of the National Anthem: “The Star-Spangled Banner”

3. Identify the 50 states on a map (1 help)

4. Match the 50 states and capitals

5. Recite the Preamble of the United States Constitution 8. Recite the Gettysburg Address (3 helps)

We organized a few "America Parties" and gathered the children together to practice the HOA songs and allow them to practice and pass off the items for the Great American Award. Those were some of my favorite homeschool gatherings of the whole year. I promised a pizza party for anyone who passed off three items and that was effective motivation. We had an Award Ceremony to celebrate their accomplishments at the end of the school year and it was simple but perfect.

4:30-5:30 - PIZZA PARTY

5:30 - AWARDS CEREMONY

Welcome to Parents, Family, Friends

National Anthem

By Maeva and Isabella Nicholas

Pledge of Allegiance

Led by Annalynn Stewart

Preamble to the Constitution

By Lydia Peaden

The Gettysburg Adress

By Henry Middleton, Carston Thomas, Tanner Thomas, and Wyatt Chezik

PRESENTATION OF AWARDS

Hope of America Song

This was such a neat experience. I especially loved listening to Lydia memorize the Gettysburg Address, but really it was all impactful. Sometimes it takes extra effort to organize events like these- but I think that they are an important part of this vibrant homeschool community.

I felt strongly about both of these events because 5th grade is supposed to be American History and these are common opportunities in public school. I knew that I wanted to put together a group to participate in the Hope of American program and it ended up being such a neat performance! There were a lot of songs to memorize, but the impact of singing them together during the performance was really neat. Lydia loved it and I definitely think we will do it again for Austin.

From their website: "Join with us as a chorus of fifth graders and sixth graders combine to sing the songs of the Hope of America. Over 8,000 students gather from 100 different schools. They sit in the formation of the American Flag. Songs commemorating The Declaration of Independence, tributes to our Founding Fathers, songs of appreciation for first responders and the military, and songs reminding us how much we love America and the responsibility we have to be a light. We are excited to see you there."

Caption: Hope of America was originated in 1995 under the leadership of Kathy McDonald with support from America's Freedom Festival in Provo. Even though she has retired, the students still LOVE seeing Kathy present at the rehearsals and performances!