School Field Trips

We went on a field trip with our co-op to the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library which is located at his birthplace in Staunton (about 20 mins away). The girls did the tour, while the boys and I ran errands. So the pictures were taken by Hannah, though they were limited by museum rules. They got a guided tour of the library and the museum, which is located next door in an old mansion. They got to dress up in period clothing, see the famous Pierce Arrow limousine of the President, learned about the Treaty of Versailles, and saw other pictures and memorabilia of the President, from his time in office and his childhood.

We also went on a field trip to Crossroads Valley Brethren Heritage Museum. It is about the local history of the settling of this area by the Brethren/Mennonites. It has an old homestead, school house, blacksmith, kitchen out building and museum. We went on a guided, hands on tour. It was very nice, but a very cold day. The buildings are from the mid 1800's to early 1900's. Though the initial Mennonite settlers arrived well before then.

The house sits atop a hill, so you can see the city and valley around it.

Of course farm animals are always a big hit.

Aaron was so captivated that he forgot how cold it was outside.

Lauren playing an old suitcase pump organ. They used to carry this to peoples houses for Sunday service singing. It was very small, hard to imagine a grown up playing on it.

The one room school house. The lady giving the tour's grandmother attended school there.

The parlor to the main house, where they did a demonstration of carding and spinning the wool for knitting or looming.

They also had a music demonstration in the parlor with some fun instruments and an old pump organ.

The main house also had a kitchen, that had been added on to the original house and they demonstrated cooking over an open fire and talked about the ways this kitchen was different from the one the kids have at home. They got to make some butter and taste homemade apple butter.
We also toured the ice house/kitchen and the blacksmith barn. A fun but very cold and windy day.

Lauren cooking one of our school meals, this one with a Caribbean theme ~ jerk chicken, black beans and Caribbean rice. We also made some fun fruity drinks. She loves doing these meals and it's a fun way to try new things.