Summer Homeschool Field Trips Part 3

Our most recent homeschool field trip was last month at the Conway Homestead in Camden. I have to admit, I wasn't expecting much. I would love to spend a whole day at an historic homestead and try to imagine life as it was back in the day. But Jed? Not so much.

So it was with great pleasure that I learned my expectations were off-base - the day was full of hands-on activities! These folks know what they're doing when it comes to making history interesting for children. :)





















The first item on the agenda was the tinsmith area. The children got to decorate a piece of tin the old fashioned way - with a hammer and a nail. Their designs turned out surprisingly well.

The next stop included a tour of the actual homestead (on the original building site, no less), circa 1770. For those of you reading this outside the US, that means this house was built before there even WAS a US. I don't think this fact impressed Jed like it should have, but he did enjoy seeing the children's room and their toys. We were hoping for a taste of the corn chowder bubbling in an iron pot in the fireplace...the aroma followed us all the way to the blacksmith's shop, where we were treated to blistering heat and red hot iron. We were all melting into little puddles by the time the lunch bell rang...maybe the good old days weren't always so good. :)


After a picnic lunch on the grounds, it was time to meet the new schoolmarm. The children were instructed to bow (or curtsy) upon entering the one room schoolhouse, as was the custom in that day, and they took their seats with solemn gravity. I'm not sure if it was the formality of the environment or the dunce's cap in the back corner that kept them on the straight and narrow, but whatever it was, it was wildy amusing. :)

The schoolmarm instructed the children in the fine art of italic print, using the chalkboard to illustrate each of their names and guiding them in the use of quills and liquid ink.

There were no untoward events (much to our relief), and the students went diligently about the task set before them. We were just a tad disappointed that no one was made to wear the dunce cap. :)







The last formal activity of the day was dipping candles. This was quite a bit more involved than I would have thought...although the process is simple, the candle has to be dipped dozens of times to layer on enough wax to be a standard taper size. We didn't have time to even approach standard size, so Jed's candle is a little on the wimpy side, but it was great fun. As was the entire day, for both of us.