For the study of the Great Depression, the 8th grade students live a week on 90rmb ($15). On Sunday, we went to the store to find Emersyn food for the week. The students had to purchase the food at a store that would give a receipt, therefore, we couldn’t buy at the wet market. We have a local store, Jia Deli, across the street. Emersyn’s goal was to get foods with protein or she would be hungry. She was going to buy apples, but two apples cost 12rmb ($2) – too expensive! The only vegetable she could afford was Bok Choy because it is cheap. Here is the break down of her food for the week:
Great Depression Food Costs rmb ($):
Bok Choy……..4.30 (0.71)
Noodles……..10.70 (1.76)
Rice mix…….13.60 (2.24)
Peanuts……..11.50 (1.89)
Spice Mix…….2.90 (0.48)
Spice Mix…….2.90 (0.48)
Eggs (8)……..8.20 (1.35)
Jelly…………..9.50 (1.56)
Peanut Butter..17.90 (2.94)
Bread……….10.00 (1.64)
Egg less 2….(2.06)(0.34)
TOTAL……….89.44 (14.70)
Since she was over 90rmb, she took 2 eggs out of her food for the week to be at 90rmb.
Below are rules and assignments for the Great Depression experiential activity. This experiential activity will help you better understand the hardships that many people experienced during the 1930s and early 1940s. Please remember that while you will only spend one week under these conditions, the Great Depression lasted for over ten years. As you struggle with daily living and going without modern conveniences, think what it would be like if you had to live the next ten years of your life under such conditions.
Activities and Rules:
November 2nd – Great Depression experiential experience begins at 6:00 AM (Saturday)
Turn in all electrical appliances to parents, including iPods or MP3 players, cell phones, and electronic games.
Eat meals as identified on approved seven-day meal schedule.
Students will not use hot water on this day.
Write a journal entry immediately before going to bed.
November 3rd – Great Depression experience day two (Sunday)
Eat meals as identified on approved seven-day meal schedule
Walk for forty-five (45) minutes in your area
Write a journal entry immediately before going to bed.
November 4th – Great Depression experience day three (Monday)
Eat meals as identified on approved seven-day meal schedule.
Students will not use hot water on this day.
Spend fifteen (15) minutes entertaining your family (board games, cards, storytelling)
Write a journal entry immediately before going to bed.
November 5th – Great Depression experience day four (Tuesday)
Eat meals as identified on approved seven-day meal schedule.
Do your homework by candlelight/flashlight
Write a journal entry immediately before going to bed.
November 6th – Great Depression experience day five (Wednesday)
Eat meals as identified on approved seven-day meal schedule.
Students will not use hot water on this day.
Wash your uniform by hand, do not use dryer and wear the following school day
Do your homework by candlelight/flashlight
Write a journal entry immediately before going to bed.
November 7th – Great Depression experience day six (Thursday)
Eat meals as identified on approved seven-day meal schedule.
Begin writing Great Depression report. (Handwritten using cursive writing)
Do your homework by candlelight/flashlight
Write a journal entry immediately before going to bed.
November 8th – Great Depression experience day seven (Friday)
Eat meals as identified on approved seven-day meal schedule.
Students may not use hot water on this day.
Students may eat lunch at a “soup kitchen†on this day.
Continue writing Great Depression report.
Experiential experience ends when student goes to bed or at midnight.
Algebra exception: Students in algebra may use their laptop computers if needed, but students must work in a common area, such as at the dining room or kitchen table. Students will not need to use their laptop computers for English, Social Studies, or Science. Textbooks, pencils and paper will be used instead of computers.
Camera exception: Students will need to have parents take pictures of their home experience. Parents may take as many pictures as they wish. Students will need four pictures that will be used to develop a bulletin board to display this experiential experience.
Emersyn divided her food into seven days so she knew how much she could eat. Her noodles were packaged into 18 bundles. That gave her two bundles for dinner with four left over.
Day one of the Great Depression – Saturday
This was a busy day for Emersyn. She rose early to enjoy her last big breakfast. She packed her half pb&j for the day. Emersyn needed to be at Concordia by 8am to help with the Robotics tournament. This was a hard test as there were cookies and sandwiches for all the student helpers…just not the 8th graders! She ate her lunch at Hayden’s before they went to a workshop together in Puxi. A quick dinner run back at our home after the workshop for her noodle dinner shared with friends. Hayden had fried rice with chicken. She has three pieces of chicken for the week. Bella had a potato and an apple.
Emersyn dash from her dinner to the One Republic concert with a few of her 9th grade friends she meet on the leadership trip. Her first concert with friends with NO adult supervision. Of course, Mr. Nie drove so I knew they would be safe!
Day two of the Great Depression – Sunday
Eleri, Jim and I left Emersyn sleeping – when you are sleeping, you can’t think about hunger. We took the metro to the dive shop and then to lunch. When we returned, our teen was so excited to see us. We don’t usually get that kind of a reaction. The quiet house was too quite for her. The 45-minute walk requirement was easy for Emersyn. We do it often taking Roxi for the last pee walk of the night. It is a great time to catch up in the life of my teen. We always do “one more loop” which adds up to three more loops.
Day three of the Great Depression – Monday
Emersyn discovered that an egg for breakfast and half a pb&j was not enough food – she was starving by the time she arrived home from school. With the extra four noodle packs, we added noodle for breakfast. She would eat half and save the other half for lunch. She also saved her rice for lunch. Now, her meal plan included noodles morning, noon and night!
Day four of the Great Depression – Tuesday
Emersyn did her homework by candle light in her room. With the lights off, she could truly enjoy the view from her room.
On this night, the WFC had picture of ladies in the lights. The picture would vary to four different ladies. The angle from the deck was a bit off to see the true beauty of each lady in lights.
Day five of the Great Depression – Wednesday
Wednesday is fencing night for Eleri and we arrive home late. First, Emersyn took her cold shower. She is like me and LOVES a nice, long hot shower. Next, she hand wash her uniform. I told her to wring it with a towel to get all the water out as it will make a big difference in a wet or dry uniform the next day. She did a great job as she had a completely dry uniform to wear…with a big smile.
Day six of the Great Depression – Thursday
Emersyn now has plenty of food as she has enough bread to have a FULL pb&j sandwich. She has her noodles, wild rice and peanuts for lunch. Noodle soup for dinner!
Day seven of the Great Depression – Friday
To enter the “Soup Kitchen” for lunch, students had to memorize a bible verse. Emersyn is so tired of her noodle soup that any other soup would be better. She went to the “soup kitchen” for minestrone soup and bread – bonus! She said it was DELICIOUS!
After school, Emersyn went to Bella’s home for her last noodle soup. Then, Bella, Hayden and Kaitlin went to the High School Play. After the play, the girls have organized a pig-out sleep over at our house for the final night. The girls came home at 10pm. Jim and I had just returned from LaCasba with their pizzas. The girls decided they would eat their hot pizzas at 10pm, but wait until midnight for the “goodies”
The pig out began at Midnight!! I purchased America chips for 35rmb ($6) a bag. I picked up Ben & Jerry’s ice creams at 69rmb ($12) for a small tub! I made homemade chocolate chip cookies for the girls. Kaitlin brought plain m&m’s, gummies and other candies. The pig-out session was welled stocked! They also raced for their electronics at midnight.
Jim and I were in bed as they were laughing and having fun at midnight. This apartment has concrete walls so we don’t hear a thing…just a bark from Roxi when they get too loud. They were up until 4am when they dropped!
I believe the week was a good lesson in life about basic needs. Emersyn now knows what it feels to be truly hungry and unable to get more food. For Emersyn, there was an end – for some people it is everyday with no end in sight.