How was Abbie’s and Seth’s daily life different from ours today?

What expectations were there for children’s contributions to family life in the early 19th century? And now?

What would happen to Abbie and Seth today if their mother died and their father could not be found?

How would Abbie’s and Seth’s live have changed if they had had modern communications tools such as telephones?

When did Abbie touch the carved eider duck? What did it mean to her?

What do you think happened to Abbie and Seth after Stopping to Home ended?

Would you have liked to have been Abbie or Seth? Why, or why not?

What did the town of Wiscasset look like in 1806? Draw a map of the town based on the information in Stopping to Home.

Village Square, Wiscasset, Maine

Talk to your parents, your grandparents, or someone else you know who is older, and ask what their world was like when they were your age. Did they watch TV? What games did they play? Did they help out at home? Do they know any stories about THEIR parents or grandparents?

Making quilts was a way women used up scraps of material and demonstrated their artistic abilities, at the same time making something useful for the home. No time or material wasted! Design a quilt square based on one of the scenes in Stopping to Home.

Do you wear hats? When, and what kind? Look at a book on the history of clothing, or costumes, and see what hats Widow Chase, Mr. Bowman, Abbie, and Seth would have worn. Why do you think people wore hats most of the time in 1806?