Old-Timey Learning

Yesterday we went on a field trip to the Naper Settlement with CAHFT and had a great time. We had been there once before as a family last summer, wandered around all the buildings, watched the living history guides doing their tasks and learned a lot. Being there as part of a guided tour group was even better!

We visited the blacksmith shop and learned all about that craft. We learned why our letters are called uppercase and lowercase at the printing shop. We went to a one room schoolhouse, which was amusing for the parents. The guide was pointing out differences between one room schools of the 1860 and school rooms of today to a bunch of kids who had never been in school! While many of her references were lost on them, we parents got them. And the children learned about schooling. From there we went to a frontier log cabin, also one room and the children participated in chores that were typical for children their age.

My older two chattered the whole way home about what they had experienced. All the kids were split along an age line to accommodate the size of the buildings, so they were separated. They eagerly told each other what they had seen and learned. When we arrived home we heard the wonderful call of migrating sandhill cranes overhead. After searching the sky, we found them flying right above our house! It was the perfect end to our field trip.

And when Mark got home in the evening, my little man kept saying "I went to 'chool!" I highly recommend the trip. You can join the CAHFT (Chicago Area Homeschool Field Trip) group here:

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