Colonial Williamsburg's Electronic Field Trip, Soldier of Liberty, gave us an unexpected surprise today. Scheduled to air at 10am, the kids were anxious for it to start. In preparation I went to the web site shortly before 9am.  Oh no! It was already on the air! There were the actor interpreters and the historian, the teenage announcers, the live call in questions, everything! How did that happen? I knew I checked my e-mail announcement and it said there'd be a 10am start. Did I miss something? This is entirely possible because we are in the middle of a move from Texas to Virginia and are currently in a hotel. We were watching the EFT on the laptop as we have with every other EFT.  Strangely, things seemed rather different during the Q&A. Nothing major, just a lot of little things seemed off. Then when they went to the 7 minute movie segment, it fast forwarded right before our eyes. Then there was another Q&A, shorter than usual, and another fast forwarded 7 minute movie.  Back to the Q&A, but this time we were excited to see my daughter's e-mail question featured!  It seemed to take them all by surprise and I guess the Loyalist and Sgt didn't want to touch that one. The historian gave us the answer we were looking for.  More on that later. Anyway it was all over and done within thirty minutes instead of the usual hour.  How did they do that? We were extremely disappointed. Here we are in the same state and I thought I'd have an easier time getting the time of the broadcast right, without factoring in CST vs EST.

     Greatly disappointed, I made a phone call to EFT support. After explaining the situation I wailed, "What happened? Did I have the wrong time? Are things done differently now? Was the live-stream merely going beserk?"  She was confused; so was I!  After a few questions she finally realized what happened. She assured me that the real broadcast would be at 10am and informed me that we saw the dress rehearsal!  W-o-w!  Incredulously I asked, "We got to see behind the scenes?"  She laughed and said yes. I laughed too and said we are big fans of Colonial Williamsburg (major understatement), so this was neat!  I got off the phone and told the kids and their disappointment quickly turned to enthusiasm!  We had the best time telling my husband all about the behind the scenes footage we got to see when he got back to the hotel from work!

     Sure enough, at 10am, the real broadcast began! As usual, it was terrific! Soldier of Liberty is about the day in the life of a soldier. We learned answers to all the questions we've been asking ourselves when we've gone to Colonial Williamsburg.  What is the difference between the militia and the army?

Why do they wear purple shirts? 

Why are their hats shaped that way?  We also learned why there was no standing army after the American Revolution. We learned about the most important weapon. We learned why the soldiers position themselves the way they do during battle.

We also learned what most of their days looked like. 

We even learned about some of the diseases in the camp, their treatments and prognosis. Everything really seemed to fall into place with this field trip. We had heard some of these things before at Colonial Williamsburg.  We even covered some of the same information during the Yorktown EFT. However those times we were experiencing information overload. =)  At last, it all made sense!

     The story revolved around Nathaniel Hutcheson, a teenage boy who is in love with his childhood sweetheart, Penny. The plot intertwines around three different perceptions of freedom. Nathaniel and his friends sought freedom from England.  Parliament, in England, was taxing the colonies to pay off England's debts from the French and Indian War.  However, the burgesses, the representative body in Virginia, were not allowed to have any representation in the taxation.  The Loyalists, on the other hand, did not have issues with Parliament levying taxes.  They felt they had plenty of freedoms from King George III, despite the taxation without representation. Penny's father was a Loyalist. He had always felt that Nathaniel would make a good husband for Penny, until their political differences caused them to choose sides in the war. When the war began, Virginia's Royal Governor Dunmore allowed slaves of patriots to be free if they joined the army of the British. The Hutcheson family slave, Maddy, ran away to join the Ethiopian Regiment and serve under the king, in return for freedom.

     Last night, the kids e-mailed questions to Nathaniel.  My daughter asked, "In order to be an officer, what kind of education was needed?" I didn't think to have her clarify what she meant, but she was basically asking how one got to be a commissioned officer vs noncommissioned. She knows that today that is primarily due to education. During the dress rehearsal, the historian addressed the question in that way, and explained that it was due to social position at that time.  Her question was featured again during the second broadcast and that time the historian did address it from an educational viewpoint, basically extending the question to add that educational pamphlets were written on drill instructions, etc. 

     My son e-mailed Nathaniel: "We learned that doctors give the patient opium as a pain reliever after amputating a limb. Why didn't the doctors use the opium before amputating a limb, so it wouldn't hurt quite as much during the amputation?"  He got an e-mail back with definite 18th century flavor!  Those are always the most fun.   

"Master ______________, Yours is a most worthy query. I have had an opportunity to talk to the Camp Surgeon who Informs me that this is the way they were trained. At the heart of the practice is the fact that there is usually a very limited supply of Laudanum and coupled with the fact that a number of wounded do not live through the surgery, the Surgeons felt that by giving the relief prior to knowing the outcome of the amputation that they were in fact using it needlessly.

I trust that this answers your query adequately and that I do not have to undergo such a procedure.

Your most humble and obedient,

Nathaniel Hutcheson"

      When we get these e-mails back, I am teaching my kids to notice the style of writing and compare their responses. Whereas my son got an 18th century styled answer, my daughter received a 21st century styled answer from Nathaniel, including a reference to modern day West Point.  We had to laugh about Nathaniel stepping out of character to make a modern reference!  We think my son's was answered by an actor interpretor and that my daughter's was answered by a historian. =)  

     Our favorite web activity took us to the Magazine where armament and ammunition were stored. First, Patrick Henry explained to the kids that they were to be Quartermasters and were given a budget and a limit of 8 items to purchase to supply the troops.  Then they got to learn about the different items in the Magazine before making their purchases.  When they were done, a video of a soldier told them whether the troops won or lost the battle as a result of the purchases. 

     This is the final EFT for this season. Made affordable through an arrangement between Colonial Williamsburg and Homeschool Buyer's Co-op, this was the first year homeschoolers were able to participate. Personally, I was elated to discover the affordability last summer, since I have been desperately wanting my kids to be able to  participate in these field trips for a few years.  Worth every penny, they have been fun breaks in the regular school year. Additionally, they have richly supplemented our studies.  For example, Freedom Bound co-incided with our pre-Civil War studies. Making History Live has enhanced our unit celebrations.  The Will of the People was well timed, being presented before the 2008 Presidential election.  In Pursuit of Science was an impressive look at the advance of science in the 18th century. Remember the Ladies gave us a surprising view of precisely how the ladies of the 18th century stayed "Within the Compass".   Yorktown and Soldier of Liberty have enhanced not only our understanding of the American Revolution battles, but have also broadened our understanding of battles throughout all of history. 

     By the way, last autumn, when I first started reviewing the EFTs on my blog, I found a comment from Homeschool Buyer's Co-op asking me to send them the links to my reviews. I have never been paid to do this. I had planned all along to review each of the EFTs simply because I enjoy Colonial Williamsburg so much that I want everyone else to see how wonderful they are.  Each of my reviews are in my category list in the right column. If you'd like another viewpoint, there are more reviews here, underneath the ones listed for my blog. Incidentally, I've just discovered this. I knew that Homeschool Buyer's Co-op sometimes linked to my blog in their weekly newsletter, but I had no idea I was linked at their site as well. I'd like to thank Homeschool Buyer's Co-op for the lovely little description of my reviews.  It makes me feel very special. =) 

     On that note, Homeschool Buyer's Co-op recently received the good news that we can participate again next season! We can't wait!!!! You can see the preview for next season here. It looks like it will be a great season! Stay tuned...