Living History: Checking out Old Sturbridge Village

Old Sturbridge Village was having a homeschooling day today so we headed there to check it out.  They hold these events a few times through the school year and offer special programs and discounted rates for families.



Evan woke up cranky because he doesn't like the village and was determined to have a bad day.  This made me worried for the kind of day the rest of us would have.
   
We arrived at Old Sturbridge Village and stayed for 7 hours!

Evan was wonderful and hardly complained at all!

We had a great time.

The whole day was centered around the war of 1812 so we got to go on a scavenger hunt to put together a soldier's pack.  We saw musket and target shooting practices.


We watched the blacksmith forge a boarding ax and the saw mill in action cutting boards.   This was such a huge hit with the boys that we went back to visit the blacksmith shop three times and the saw mill twice.  We stayed for a good length of time each time and they learned a lot.



The only things they talked about on the way home today was the heat temperatures of the fire, the colors heated metal will turn to and what they mean and all sorts of blacksmith trivia bits.

At one point during the day Alec an Ian made paper Shako hats that some of the soldiers wore.  I was also able to show the boys the room where their grandparents got married and had their wedding reception 20+ years ago.



   
I had signed the two younger boys up for an optional art/ craft project at the end of the day.

They painted a picture of the white house and since hardly anyone showed up for the last class the teacher offered to let Ian participate too.

They learned a reverse painting technique and chose to paint their houses... well... not white-- Alec's was a rainbow, Ian's was read and green and Evan's was yellow with white windows and a bit of green moss growing on the side.

Next time I think we'll sign up for an early morning class and then we won't have to stay all day.



 
Amazingly enough even with having been there all day there were still a few building we didn't get to see and many demonstrations we skipped. 

We went to turn in our scavenger hunt findings and discovered our free gift was a postcard.  I was so excited because I was going to buy some earlier in the day and have the kids fill them out for a writing assignment tomorrow!

It was a wonderful day!

Linking Up With:
JENerally Informed




Comments

  1. Jeremy BarnesSeptember 12, 2017 at 1:29 PM

    this was on our list to this summer but never got there. maybe next summer!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mother of 3September 12, 2017 at 2:45 PM

      It is a lot fun, they have a lot more hands on exhibits than I remember from when I was a kid.

      Delete

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