claude moore colonial farm...

We are blessed to be a part of a field trip group, where a different mom will organize a field trip for the children to go on twice a month.  William and I went on our first field trip ever to Claude Moore Colonial Farm.  The farm mimicked what it would have been like to live in the 1770s.  The program that we were in not only allowed us to walk around the farm, but to also do some hands-on activities at various stations.  Some of the activities included pounding corn, carding wool, spinning with a drop spindle, dipping candles, and playing 18th century games.  William was hesitant at first to try anything, but was more willing after getting used to the new surroundings.  It was a wonderful experience for him to learn just a little of what life was like about 400 years ago.

 The first live turkey William has ever seen.  Maybe the first live turkey I've ever seen?

 Dried tobacco hanging from the rafters in a tobacco house.

 The tobacco house...

 Carding wool...  That was hard work!

 Spinning wool with a drop spindle.  William did great with twisting the spindle to turn the wool into thread!

 Pounding corn to make flour.

 Dipping wax to make a candle...

 This was the result after dipping for about 15 minutes.  Not very rewarding...  We decided to move on to something else.

 Here's some of the wool we carded and some of the thread that was spun on the drop spindle.

 Playing 18th century games... Bowling!!

 Riding the see-saw...

 Since we had already rotated through all the stations, we decided to go back to candle dipping since the program was almost over.

 And voila!  We were able to plump our candle up.  Not a very pretty candle, but it's all about the process, right?

 We are learning about the letter O, so I've been photographing when William sees the letter O.  I'm hoping to make an alphabet photo journal of our year, but we'll see if I can keep up with it.

 After the program, we stuck around with a few other families to explore the rest of the farm.

 We went to see an 18th century garden growing vegetables.

 Of course, every garden needs to be weeded.  William is learning a little about weeding, which is a common chore that children his age would have done.  Some of the people there dressed in period costume to answer questions and talk about what life was like back then.

 Looking for cows in the pasture, but to no avail.

Having fun running through the farm with some new friends!

We had a wonderful time learning and meeting other homeschooling families.  We pray that the Lord will continue to provide new opportunities to build into new friendships within our homschool community.