Star of the Republic Museum Fieldtrip

We had the most beautiful day for a great fieldtrip!  We have really been loving the weather starting to cool and were so pleased to spend most of the day exploring something we had never seen before.  Star of the Republic Museum and Barrington Living History Farm have homeschool days on Thursdays in October and you don't have to sign up with a group (my favorite kind of trip)!  Some of our  besties joined us, but unfortunately they divided us up into 2 groups so we hardly got to hang out.  But perhaps that was for the best cause my kids focused on the lessons instead of their friends.  :) They did get to hang out together for our picnic lunch and some playground time.

Isn't it just beautiful?  Made me miss being in College Station... love the landscape up there.  We were so surprised with our little Annie!  She sat and listened to all of the lectures.  Like, really, really listened.  She was so adorable cause the lady was explaining who used to live in the house and 2 of the people happened to be named Mary and Charles.  So of course Annie was instantly excited cause she thought we were at Laura Ingalls' house.

After they got a bit of history the kids were able to roam through the house and backyard checking everything out.  Not to sound like Annie, but this trip was extremely timely since we have been reading through all the Little House books.   This is a bit earlier in history, but still so much of it is the same.  The kids were excited to try carrying the yoke with water buckets, just like the old man working on the railroad in Silver Lake.

They also scoured the yard and garden for caterpillars and got to feed them to the chickens.  I was shocked Annie picked them up but she was happy to be just like the rest of the kids.

They also tried their hands at washing clothes and hanging them on the line.

At the end of this section all the kids gathered together and the ladies asked if anybody had questions.  Crickets were chirping, all except our dear Annie, who proudly raised her hand.  I was a bit mortified cause I had no idea what she was gonna say!  The lady was so sweet and called on her and Annie asked, "How you chop those trees down?"  Noah and Wyatt were so tickled at her.  Josh and I were too - she is so different from the boys.  Not afraid to ask questions in front of 20 people!  She reminds me of her father in that respect!  You can see in the first picture how proud of herself she is asking that question!

We also toured the slaves quarters, learned about animals on the farm, and learned all about cotton.

Noah cracked us up cause the first thing he did with that cotton was smell it, just like his grandpa! They also let the kids get a taste of chores on the farm by stacking up firewood.

Next we took a big break and has lunch under the pecan trees on the banks of the Brazos River and it was beautiful.  We got to visit with friends and relax a bit!  Love this shot of Annie and her buddy Madelyn.

After our farm tour we went to the museum and learned about all kinds of stuff. And this is my favorite moment of the day!  Little girl cuddling up with her biggest brother.  This moment right here is a HUGE part of my motivation to continue homeschooling.  This is how learning is meant to be done - together with the people you love the most!!

Then the kids got to make some toys.  These straw/ball doodads were a big hit!

After all the official tour stuff was done we spent an hour or so exploring the museum.  It was so interesting! We had to get Josh back to bed so we rushed through, but we will definitely return.  The kids loved it and so did Josh and I.

Days like this are when homeschooling is easy!  It got us really excited about the trip we are planning next spring to explore all of Laura Ingalls Wilder's homes.  We can't wait!