library house: another trip to DC and Virginia

The week before Thanksgiving, we went to DC and Virginia again - AC had some training for work in Charlottesville and we all went along. We started this trip in DC with visiting the American History and Air & Space Museums. I was a Bad Homeschooling Mother and took no pictures. I was a little busy juggling the small fry.

Sunny wanted to see the Star Spangled Banner flag - the original flag that hung over Fort McHenry during the War of 1812 and inspired the poem that became our national anthem - at both the beginning and end of our visit. When we went through the 2nd time, she stood at the window and sang The Star Spangled Banner quietly.

Posy's favorite part of the American History Museum was the First Lady exhibit - all the dresses were pretty. Her favorite of Air & Space was the "how things fly" hands-on section where she could play with things. She pulled a balloon down but it popped back up.

I seriously cannot get enough of that city - when the kids are older, I'd love to move back there and have our family volunteer at the Smithsonians as guides. How cool would that be to put on a homeschool transcript: "For my US History course, I gave tours through the Presidents exhibit at the National Museum of American History, and read ___ biographies of the Presidents of the United States." Hello! Better than anything I ever did, and I have a college degree in history!

In Charlottesville, we enjoyed their Children's Discovery Center - we go there every time we go to Charlottesville (this is our 3rd visit there). The air-flow tubes were new. You poke a ball or handkerchief into an opening at one end and you can watch it fly through the tubes and spit out at the top. Sunny and Posy did that over and over and over for a long time and laughed their heads off. I wish we could replicate it at home somehow.

We also visited Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home, per Sunny's request. When we first got into the tour of the house, our girls were getting restless after just a few minutes. There were a couple of extra docents at the back of the room, and one of them asked if we'd like our own private tour. YES. Of course it was so we wouldn't disturb the other guests, but it made it A LOT nicer for our kids. We went ahead of the main group so we could move faster through the house, and did a 30-45 minute tour in about 15 minutes. And our tour guide was fantastic. When we were introduced to her, she immediately started talking directly to the girls - she did the tour for them at their level, literally. She knelt down to look directly at their faces, and even sat on the floor a couple of times. She told them things about Thomas Jefferson and his grandchildren that would interest them, and as soon as they got a little antsy, she'd move us to the next room. It was awesome. Kudos to Ms. Susan at Monticello!

The visitors center at Monticello also has a children's room with models of Jefferson's tools. Sunny used his double pen thing, which he would use to write a letter and a duplicate at the same time. She also thought weaving was fun and wants AC to make a loom for her.

And then to Williamsburg for a couple of days to visit cousins, and we spent a day at Colonial Williamsburg. (If you are a homeschooler, get your tickets at the group sales office and identify yourself as homeschoolers, and you will get half off the admission price. They have special homeschool events in the spring and fall, but that's the every day homeschool deal.) In some of the shops around W-burg, the re-enactors weren't very interactive. We had the best time at the book binding shop and the weaving shop. We also enjoyed the drum and fife corps parade at the end of the afternoon, with a demonstration of the battle lines and firing a cannon.

It was a great trip - we had an excellent time learning a lot of history and science. I love field trips like that, and I hope our children get as much out of them as I do.

Children's Discovery Center, Charlottesville VA: