May. 24, 2006
Another Great Field Trip
Posted in Homeschooling
|
Aahhhh! Finally a moment to relax and
blog. Our life has been a bit crazy the last few days. Whenever we have
had a chance, we've taken the kids to some place (like Historic Forestville) to see history, as opposed to just reading about it. Last Friday I took my second oldest to a pioneer museum (Arches Museum) that is only about five minutes away from my home. My oldest had a fever so she stayed home with the two younger ones and my hubby. I had seen the museum many times, but it had a sign that said "Closed for Season" on it. I happened to ask a employee at a nearby Kwik Trip (gas station/convenience store) if she knew anything about it and when it would be open. Amazingly (at least to me) she volunteered there and she was able to tell me who to call, when a 3rd grade class would be going through, and the possibility of tagging along (good). I was thrilled. On Friday I didn't know what to expect. It looked fairly small from the front. But, actually, it also had a small, pioneer school; a log cabin; a log barn; a covered bridge; and a wishing well that had all been moved there from other nearby locations. We broke up into small groups and were given 30 minutes each in the school; the museum; the log barn; and the log cabin. Volunteers were somewhat dressed up in 1800's garb and were able to tell us a lot about that time period. The museum itself was amazing. A man named Mr. Rahn collected things for years about pioneer living. He was an amazing craftsman and crafted many miniature models of pioneer life - barns, log cabins, plows, etc. I was only able to see just a small part of the displays because of time. I would love to have my husband come with me next time. I'm sure he would be fascinated with all the models also. I don't think any of them were from kits; from what our guide told us, it sounded like he created them all. Amazing! At the log cabin, a lady was making pancakes on a real, wood-burning stove and serving them to the us with home churned butter and brown sugar. (Very yummy!) The log cabin was so small, but quaint. It was furnished with many authentic pieces and actually had people living in it up until 1956 I think they said. They also showed the children how to hang up laundry with old fashioned clothespins. My daughter thought this was neat, and kept saying, "Just like we did, Mom," referring to when my dryer was out of commission for three days or so. The day before we went to this museum we had made clothespin dolls out of some of the old-fashioned clothespins we had bought for the laundry. My daughter told the volunteers about it, and I talked to them a little, and they thought it was wonderful that I was homeschooling and doing a Unit on the 1800's. They told me if I wanted to come volunteer, they would love to have me. I think I'd like to do that sometime. While we were doing the session in the schoolhouse, an announcement was made that in July and August they would be holding Pioneer School - a three day session each time. The funniest part was that I found out that my next door neighbor/landlady would be the one teaching it. My girls would really like to go and I was told that they can wear prairie-style dresses and bonnets if they want to, but it's usually warm in the schoolhouse. Wouldn't that be fun? As a kid my favorite show was Little House on the Prairie and I would have loved to have that kind of opportunity. Each child is $20 - kind of spendy. But I'm tempted, that's for sure! |
Comments
May. 25, 2006 - Untitled Comment
|
|
|
|
|
Posted by May. 25, 2006 - I love field trips!
|
|
|
|
|
Posted by