Day 2 - Boston Common and Gardens

The girls enjoyed their first subway ride by eating a Duncan Donut. There are Duncan Donut shops everywhere in Massachusetts. Sophie couldn't resist and bought one for her cousin as well.

The Boston Police were out in full force when we came out of the Tube at Boston Common.  Don't know what was going on but there were tons of fire trucks and all sorts of firemen swaming the tube station.

 We walked through the common and looked at all the different monuments and statues. There were many and we didn't know who all of them were memorializing.

 The common was lovely and green

Here are the girls with George Washington. We recognized him!

 The flowers were beautiful.

We also recognized these Duck statues too. 

 There were swan boats on the lake just like in the story book.

 So we had to take a ride!

 And there was an island in the middle of the lake where lots of ducks were resting. There was even a little ramp from the island into the water to make their home even more accessible.

 Back into the Commons we saw a hillside covered with American Flags. Since it was Memorial Day weekend there was an event in the park where people were able to place a flag in memory of a loved one. There were lots of flags and when we walked by more were being put into the hillside.

This was a memorial to Civil War Soldiers.

We loved our morning in Boston Common and visiting the Gardens.

Not a Leisure Trip! This is a Field Trip!

I got to spend the past week with Sophie and her cousin and my Sister-in-law on an eighth grade history trip sponsored by my Dad. He decided these two girls, and their teachers, needed to see some historical sites up close and personal so he sent us on a plane to the other side of the USA.

We boarded a plane in San Francisco (9:15 p.m. Pacific time) and six hours later we were in Boston (6:00 a.m Eastern time).

 These two girls were so excited! They even thought the shuttle to the rental car place was fun.

No sleep for the weary! We jumped into our rental and drove out to Lexington to make the most of Day 1 of our trip.

 We actually ate a picnic breakfast in the green at Lexington.  After wandering the square, and gaining some maps and info from the Visitor's Center We were on our way to Minute Man National Park.

 We were all amazed at how green and lush everything was.  Coming from drought stricken CA to this beautiful Spring day in New England was quite the contrast.

 We watched a short film at the Minute Man park visitor's center that told the history of the events that took place here in Lexington.

With not much more to see in Lexington we started off for Concord.

Before you get into the cute little city of Concord there was a special home I wanted to visit.

We had prepared for this trip the last few weeks by listening to the audiobook of Little Women. We were very excited and ready to visit Orchard House!

They don't let you take pictures inside the house. But it was really fun to see where Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women and where the story takes place. We happened to be visiting in May which is when Anna, her older sister and inspiration for Meg in the Little Women, was married. They had her wedding dress on display. They said it is only brought out in the month of May.  We also were able to see Lousia's younger sister May's (Amy in Little Woman) drawings and painting throughout the house. May's room even had drawings on the walls and around the windows. She truely was very talented.

Next we went to visit the Old North Bridge in Concord. 

This is where Ralph Waldo Emerson said the "shot heard round the world" took place.  Of course the first shots were fired in Lexington Green. But evidently the first shots the American's shot and at the British was here on this bridge.

 We had to walk down the hill from the visitor's center to get to the bridge. The fields were so green an covered in buttercups and dandelions. We took our time walking down and enjoyed the beauty of the hillside.

Here is the Minute Man statue at the bridge

 Just to prove I was there I had to have a picture with Sophie on the bridge.

On the other side of the bridge and up a little hill is the "Old Manse" where Ralph Waldo Emerson and then later Nathaniel Hawthorn lived.

Very beautiful and covered with lilac bushes.

This isn't a lilac but I couldn't help but take pictures of the beautiful flowers as we walked through the countryside.

 We had a brief lunch and picked up some Boston Baked Beans candy.  I am sure you can buy these anywhere but it was fun to eat them while in or at least near Boston.

Our next stop was Walden Pond.  The actual pond is actually a popular swimming spot here in Concord so wouldn't be the peaceful place where Henry David Thoreau spent 2 years living in a little cabin on the shores.

 There is a replica of the cabin,

 and a statue of Thoreau.

Here is the inside with all the things he was supposed to have had with him. However the list said he had a flute with him and we couldn't find it. 

After visiting all these different literary homes and such we thought we should go and see where these famous authors now rest. We went up to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (we thought perhaps this is where the Legend of Sleep Hollow is supposed to take place but it isn't. That is in NY not MA.). 

 This is where Thoreau,

 The Alcotts,

 Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Nathaniel Hawthorn (sorry didn't get a picture) were all buried in a part of the cemetery called Authors' ridge.

 By this time we were tired so headed to find our hotel and finally get some much needed sleep!

That was quite a long Day 1.

Netflix History

 I admit that Spring time is always the hardest time for me to stay motivated to homeschool. My kids just want to play outside and I am worn out from months of being "the enforcer" as far as school work goes.  Every Spring it is the same. I hit the point where I am just not as motivated and my kids aren't motivated so we start getting less and less accomplished. History and Science are usually the first subjects to fall by the way side.

But my feelings of guilt are overcome a bit because we have been using out Netflix Streaming a whole lot and watching some great shows that really have taught us a lot.

We started the History Channel series How the States got their Shapes.  The first half of the series was great! We were learning all sorts of things about why our states are shaped the way they are and tons of history along the way because you can't tell the history of a states' shape without filling in some of the history of the region.  We never finished all the episodes. We lost interest when the show started to be more about how the US is polarized politically and such rather then discussing the actual states and their shapes.



We moved onto another History Channel series called The Men Who Built America. This one was so interesting. A little gritty at times. Vanderbuilt, Rockefeller, Carneige, Morgan and Ford were pretty ruthless in their business dealing. But there is a lot of history taught and we had some great discussions as we talked about each of these men and what they did, good and bad.   There was a whole lot of history here that I didn't know. My History education was sorely lacking. I knew little more than the names of these men and couldn't have even told you what they did before watching this show. Now my kids play Monopoly and call each other Rockefeller or JP Morgan.

David Macaulay books have been a favorite at our house for years. So I thought we would watch this great series called Building Big. Each episode covers a different type of structure. We watched all 5 shows  so we learned about Bridges, Dams, Tunnels, Skyscrapers and Domes. This is a PBS show and sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the American Society of Civil Engineers so I guess you could count this more as science rather than history. But what was really great about this series was that we had already watched those other two shows and the kids knew some of the history behind the structures discussed. So the science was backed up by History they had already studied.

Yesterday we finished yet another History Channel series, The Ultimate Guide to the Presidents. Again another great series that seemed pretty fair or balanced in the telling of each president's history. It explained the sentiment of the nation at the time each president was elected or took office (not all were elected!) And pointed out some of the highlights or low points during their years in office.  The series spent more time on the older presidents and skimmed through the more recent ones but I feel like I learned a lot. Again my poor History education showed in my lack of knowledge about many of these presidents.

 I enjoyed watching all these shows because they filled in so many holes. I know my kids enjoyed them. They were always asking to watch the next episode when the credits ran in the one we were currently finishing.  We often discussed the subjects and people we learned about with their Dad when he came home from work each day. He, being a History major in college and just an all around history and trivia buff, knew most of it already.   I on the other hand need it presented in a very visual way and I then it starts to be made clear. 

Thank goodness for Netflix. It has served us well the last month or two. Our History curriculum would be sadly lacking without access to these great shows.  Thanks also to the History Channel for making them and having them in the Netflix catalog.