At the museum, the kids got to go into several buildings and learn about life in Troy in 1877. The first stop was a log cabin. The kids learned about cooking, cleaning, beds, gardens, water, and much more. They also got to make butter from cream, and ate it on rolls, right in the log cabin!
The next stop was the old Troy city hall/meeting place. The kids learned about candles, and got to make their own beeswax candles.
Then we had lunch outside. All the kids brought their lunch in baskets or in hankerchiefs, and they were supposed to minimize things like ziplocs & plastic packages. Most kids just brought "regular" lunches, but Katie & I went all out and brought authentic pioneer foods - smoked salmon, bread, cheese, and carrots, all wrapped in wax paper, and canned pears in a small canning jar.
After lunch, her class went to the one room schoolhouse. This was their favorite part! They had to take on the name on the desk where they were seated, and they had to follow 1877 schoolhouse rules, like asking permission to speak. If they were noisy, the punishment would be to sit with the boys. If they dropped a book, they would be called to the front of the room and forced to hold a book in each hand out at their sides for 30 minutes! If they chewed gum, they would have to stand with their nose on the chalkboard for 30 minutes! The kids loved it! They did do some real work, too, they read from a reproduction reader, and did math problems from a reproduction math book. The kids learned a lot about what it was like to be in a one room schoolhouse.
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| Class picture in front of the schoolhouse. |
Then we came back to the classroom to do more projects - calligraphy with quill pens, sillouettes (sp?), writing in a homemade journal, dying wool yarn with onion peels, etc.
It was an awesome day, and I'm so lucky to have gotten to tag along!
Katie needs to teach me how to dye yarn!!!
ReplyDeletePS I like her name--Flora!