Where should we go today?

... how 'bout heading out to the mountains?

Sunday, with friend from Denver in tow,we headed out (after Mass, of course) to Sky Meadows State Park for some great Fall fun. Here's a photo-essay of what we did:

Playing "period specific" games like hoops, "Our Lady's Grace" and generally having a great time in the Fall weather




Here's our wonderful friend from Denver, doing one of her greatest gifts -- taking pictures!

What a wonderful day of learning, playing and companionship!

Where should we go today?

Well, if you have a wonderful friend from the Rockies out to visit for a week ... you go back in time ....



Back in time to the 1700s and the time of Mr. George Washington. Yep, head to Mount Vernon and get steeped in GW time!



What a blast.

Mr. Washington was 6'3" and Martha was 4'2" or so ... these statues are life-sized (with two of their grandchildren in the pose too. Heading back in time was a fun time for all of us ... we tried wood puzzles from the time period (here Lego Maniac is working on building a pyramid from 7 pieces of wood) and chatted with a wonderful woman dressed in period-costume who was in the process of mending period-appropriate britches.Whilst talking to that wonderful woman, I noted an interesting bug in "friend from Denver's" hair and we did a mini-nature study, nature-appreciation time while we played with our new found friend (who, although winged, didn't fly away even being transferred from hair to hand to hand to map to hand ... )

Mount Vernon is a fabulous place to visit -- especially if you haven't been there in the past 25 years. I visited a quarter of a century ago ... when much of the house was renovated, but nothing more. NOW, this is a living museum to compete toe-to-toe with Williamsburg. Mount Vernon has amazingly educational hands-on exhibits which teach all -- kids and adults -- just exactly what Mr. Washington stood for ... what he fought for ... what he lived for.

Mount Vernon is a fabulous place to visit -- especially in light of the debate last night and the upcoming election in less than three weeks. I'm thinking EVERY candidate who thinks he/she is worthy to sit in the same position Mr. Washington did for eight years (humbling demanding that he be released after eight years of governance ... not allowed to serve for "life").

Mr. Washington was dedicated to service to his country -- whether it was risking his life in the French-Indian Wars under the direction of the English or leaving his wife whom he loved deeply for the EIGHT YEARS (with one 3-day trip home during that period for a war council at Mount Vernon) it took to complete our separation from England.

This was dedication ... and honesty ... and faith in God's providence ... and truth ... and service ... and most of all, humility! Something all politicians and really, all Americans, need to embrace. All Americans really need to try to join the hordes of annual visitors to this secular pilgrimage site -- Mr. Washington's home when he wasn't serving the newly established United States of America.

Subjects: American History

I LOVE American History ... but hate how I was taught the subject in school. Memorizing dates, names and places held no interest for me. I loved reading primary sources (although I probably didn't use that term) about what life was like ... how scary the voyage was for Columbus ... what kind of jobs people did to make a living ... how families existed ... how the Church helped out through the centuries.

I loved learning about American History ... I hated being taught American History.

With my own kids, I want them to love the learning.

I don't want them to have to memorize anything in a vaccuum. I want to link themes, ideas, events so that they can see the big picture. Yes, they know that it was Christopher Columbus who led the voyage to the new world ... but I want them to "live" the journey through historical fiction like Pedro's Journal or the DVD, The Magnificent Voyage of Christopher Columbus. I want them to see the Missions in California and understand the distance between Catholic Spain and the New World that was bridged by brave, intrepid explorers.

I want them to be able to see, hear, touch, taste and smell the experience of American history.

So throughout this school year, we'll be taking advantage of our proximity to Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia -- as well as further afield if we can. We'll spend days in D.C. -- exploring museums and walking the way of the presidents and politicians. We'll use period cookbooks and taste what they ate (we've already made jerky and dried fruit like the sailors on the Nina, the Pinta and Santa Maria). We'll build replicas of forts, ships, homes -- and populate them with period-dress figures. We'll have a blast!

At least, that's the idea for now.

We're off to a good start already, with trips to the Smithsonian and Marine Museum, Gettysburg and Baltimore. This past week, we spent two full days in Washington, D.C. with relatives ... Aunt and Uncle came up from South Carolina for a visit and a chance to show Auntie the Nation's Capitol. Sunday we spent the day in the District, walking around on a gorgeous fall day and taking in

Jefferson Memorial,

the Mall and it's monuments .

The next day, just the littles and I met up with Auntie and did the museums along the Mall -- particularly the new Ocean Hall (which is fabulous if a bit iffy on their science facts vs theories) in the Natural History Museum (we love checking out the elephant in the rotunda and finding all the dung beetles, etc housed below!), the Art Museum (saw Cassats, Monets, Renoirs, Rembrandts, Della Robbias, and others ... wow!), and ended up at the Air and Space.

When we do outings like this it is so fun to learn right alongside the kiddoes ... to discover old interests or kindle new ... to try new hands-on exhibits. The whole time we're walking around, we're talking about who, what, where, when, how and especially discuss theories of WHY! This is real learning at it's best.

We have more visitors coming ... and thus, even more reasons to explore our new area and to learn outside the vaccuum!