Field Trips: Near and Far

The following photos were taken on a spur of the moment quick trip to Gettysburg on a Sunday night.  Since I rarely go anywhere without my camera, I was able to document this little jaunt and count it as a field trip, as the boys did hear a bit of history as we were there and told them what we knew and read some of the signs posted there.  And, since it was a spur of the moment trip on a Sunday evening, you know it's not too far from home.  It was not a planned field trip and we did not see much of Gettysburg, but the boys got a taste of it.  The big boys have been there three times before:  once when the Sunday School Class that my husband and I were a part of got a personal tour from one of our Sunday School classmates who was a Civil War re-enactor, the second time, the same Sunday School classmate took the class back one evening for a Ghost Tour, and we went and toured the Welcome Center/Museum on a homeschool field trip.  This Sunday evening trip, however was the first our youngest has been there, and it was a very cold, windy evening.

My four men bundled up on top of the tower (as far as they could go) and the head just peeking past Nick, is our friend, Ben.

Colonel Patrick "Paddy" O'Rorke was killed in battle on Little Round Top in Gettysburg on July 2, 1863 and they put this up to honor his memory. (Notice how shiny his nose is?  Look below to find out why.)

Yes, people rub his nose in the superstition that his Irish luck will rub off on them.

Devil's Den

Then there are vacations, where we go farther from home, but they count as field trips none-the-less, because we always include something educational.  The following photos are from a trip we were blessed to be able to take last month with some good friends from church.  We went to my favorite place (a place I dream of living one day), Williamsburg, Virginia.  It has such rich history.

Nick and Anthony were not thrilled that Mom wanted them to get into the stocks for a photo.  This was outside the courthouse (which was in the process of having a new roof put on).

Chowning's Tavern

The Print Shop

The Shoe Shop

My favorite tavern, King's Arms Tavern

The butcher on his way to . . .

the butcher shop

This lady took some time to speak with us and give us some history about Williamsburg.  She also shared the fact that Colonial Williamsburg is one mile long from William and Mary College to the Governor's Palace.

A beautiful old church.  They still have service on Sunday mornings.  I hope to attend sometime, but we were not there on a Sunday this trip.

I was surprised to see so many green things growing in the garden in February.

We stopped to examine this tree because we found the trunk fascinating.  It didn't seem to have bark like other trees, and it felt much smoother than other trees.  (Who but a Christian homeschool family would stop to study the trunk of a tree when on vacation?)

The boys with a very good friend among some very tall bamboo.

I'm not sure what these gentlemen were making, but they were stripping all of the bark from these tree trunks.

The Governor's Palace and below a carriage arrives at the Governor's Palace.

We also visited the Living Museum in Newport News, Virginia.  They had a tortoise shell that was preserved and you were allowed to crawl into it and take photos.  We were pleased that ALL of the kiddos were good-natured enough to do so for photos.

They had a large earth suspended from the ceiling, and I just had to get Nick (my basketball player) to pose for this shot -- spinning the earth on his finger, like he can a basketball.

Our youngest loved the touch tank area, where a lady would pull different small animals out of a tank and allow him to touch them and see them up close.  This is a spider crab.

This was so fun!  We got Chelsea and her friend Kim to climb into this hollow log, Chelsea with her head out one end and Kim with her feet out the other end, to make it look like Chelsea is really long!

I was in awe of this majestic bird.  I had never seen a bald eagle so close before, and he is just beautiful and proud.

Great Blue Heron

It was a great trip, even though we had quite a bit of rain.  We definitely want to go back again and spend more time and see more Colonial Williamsburg demonstrations.  We also want to visit Jamestown and Yorktown, none of us have been to these two places.

The Flexibility of Homeschooling

One of the things I have loved most about homeschooling, besides being able to teach my children about the Lord and his word, is the flexibility.  We can create any schedule that works for us and we can change the schedule if something important or an unexpected opportunity comes up.

I have always found it works best for us to school in the morning.  If we do something fun in the morning or something keeps us from schooling in the morning, my kids are not interested in doing school later.  So, we do school in the mornings because then we have the rest of the day to do whatever we want.

I know people who school in the afternoons, or who school according to whatever shift Dad is on if he works a swing shift or just a second or third shift.  I know people who school four days a week.  We tried that our first year, but I didn't like it too much.  It seemed to take us too long to finish our year that way.

I also know people who choose to take the entire summer off, some who school all year round with scheduled breaks throughout the year, or like me, school take the majority of the summer off, but do some schooling over the summer just to allow for unexpected days off throughout the normal school year.

The flexibility is also great for field trips because you don't have to take your vacation over the summer and go to a place filled with people during peak season.  You can take your vacation whenever you want to, and going during the off season works out really well because you might get a little more attention or information about the place your touring because the tour guides have smaller groups and more time.

So, flexibility is a big plus because you set your own schedule and can take a day off, if needed.  It helps to keep the stress level down.

A Book Review of Gentle Ben by Walt Morey

I just finished reading Gentle Ben by Walt Morey to my eight-year-old a little over a week ago.  We loved the story, and sometimes it made me cry and my little boy would simply look at me and wait for the tears to subside enough for me to continue reading.

Gentle Ben draws you into the life of Mark and his parents and into the life of this poor, mistreated bear cub.  Ben ends up becoming Mark's pet, but the story has so many conflicts that cause you to fear for Ben's life.  While reading this book, you learn about Alaska, brown bears, salmon and salmon fishing, friendship and the love of family.

I would say that the ending of Gentle Ben is a bit of a surprise as well.  But, the entire story is just so enjoyable, and it's hard to put down at the end of each chapter, but we only read a chapter a day, because we have other things to do for school too.

Gentle Ben is a  great story and it's a great story for boys.  I love reading to my boys and having them read to me.  Books are such a treasure.  We read many great books for school and some, like Gentle Ben, we just read and absorb.  Others we read and we may create a lapbook, notebook or a simple book report about.  Books have taken us on some of our greatest adventures.

This year my eight-year-old has also enjoyed reading Henry Huggins and the Veggie Tales:  LarryBoy chapter books.

You can look at my bookshelf on my sidebar for other books we have enjoyed in our homeschool.