On farms, much of the work was done by hand as well as human and animal muscle power. Many families had lots of laborers to work their fields. Sometimes the children didn't go to school because they were needed to plant and harvest. The day's work was long and hard.

    Before using manure in field soil people had to wait a whole year before they could plant the crops which were very important to their lifestyles. The Dutch were the first to put manure on their crops. Even though no one knew what manure (animal poo) did for their crops, it was the idea that spread for crops. Now the people could have wheat and other things like it every year. The manure made it possible for the people to have things such as turnips and other garden vegetables while fields were resting from larger crops. Regular usage of the fields allowed people to raise more crops to sell, therefore making more money.

    The spindle could make only one thread, but in 1730, John Kay made the Flying Shuttle that could make eight threads at one time! The flying shuttle allowed work to go much faster. The flying shuttle was the first invention for the cloth industry which helped speed up the cloth making process. Previously, the weaver had to use two hands for teh spindle but only one with the Flying Shuttle.

    The factories needed more coal for the steam engines running the machinery and for making iron. More and more coal mines were opened. Humphrey Davy made the first safety lamp with a contained flame so there were less explosions in the mines. Children as young as five spent hours in the mines opening small doors to let the coal carts travel on through the mine. Mining was dirty, dangerous, and the pay was low. Many of the workers suffered from lung disease because of the coal dust.

    People found uses for tar and coal gases which they usually discarded. Tar could be made into dyes, explosives, and chemical fertilizer. Coal gas was heated to make coke. The gas was also used for lighting houses and street lamps. Charles Macintosh mixed tar and rubber, making the famous waterproof overcoat also known as a Macintosh.

    Canals were a big thing in their time. People who owned canals made a lot of money. Canal boats were almost the fastest way of transportation. Coal became cheaper by 50% once canals were utilized for its water transportation. By 1800, there were almost 4,000 miles of canals, changing America's transportation routes.

    Houses for workers were small, cold, and crowded. There were often five or more people in a bed! Childen rarely saw the sun and they only could play in long, narrow alleys. The people that lived in these houses usually had to pay high rents. Some factory owners tried to give mill workers better conditions by building chapels, schools, hospitals, and public baths.

    The waste from the factories contaminated drinking water and caused many illnesses. In 1842, New York was the first city to have sewers. Soon after, many other cities followed New York and made sewers, too. The cleaner water caused big changes. The amount of people getting diseases was going down. Workers in the factories were getting better meals. Workers didn't work so long and hiring children under nine was illegal.

    The poorer people started to riot. The reason they rioted was because of the low wages and the scarce food. These people would destroy machinery and try to burn down factories. In 1841, a sewing factory was destroyed by these rioters.

    The use of electricity helped people communicate better the telegraph communicated by tapping a metal bar with electrical current. Alexander Graham Bell invented the "talking telegraph," the telephone. There was even a wire from New York to England along the floor of the Atlantic Ocean!


(2.)   Spinning Jenny Poster
Here's a picture of the poster kiddo made for the Industrial Revolution invention she chose, the Spinning Jenny. (i've also typed up what she wrote about it.)

(3.)  Weaving Project
Last year I'd bought a wooden loom from a local thrift store. It finally came into use with our study of the Industrial Revolution. Kiddo opted to make a rug for her American Girl Dolls' area of her bedroom. I gave her a brief lesson on using the loom (she was already quite familiar with how to weave in general) and away she went. Except for that initial start-up lesson I didn't schedule her weaving time into her school day, but rather would inquire about its progress from time to time. It didn't take but a few days for her to complete it. She was quite pleased with how it turned out.


(4.) Samuel Slater's Mill
I read Samuel Slater's Mill aloud for the week and boy, was I glad I did! It was a truly delightful and enriching book. I'd never heard of Slater previously and reading about his life and the influence his brilliance truly had on the world as a whole was just amazing. I've already sold off the book to another TOG user or I'd have scanned the cover for use here.

(5.) Industrial Revolution Timeline page
We haven't been keeping any sort of timeline book or wall line since early in our days in Hawaii. However, since this era was packed with a lot of inventions and we'd read about many of them, I found images online for some and she made up a timeline page.