Heads of the Class
I shared this story in the comments on Sarah’s lovely blog…it’s so funny I can’t resist telling it here too. Several years ago, when we lived in Virginia and my oldest child was about 8 or 9, I took the kids to a living history museum (the ten-awesome Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, VA, which you do NOT want to miss if you’re in the area). That was the first of many happy visits, and a glorious spring day it was: new lambs for the holding, amiable cottage cat jumping into our stroller, Jemima Puddleduck and friends pit-pat-paddle-patting their way along the dirt paths. My three oldest girls were in heaven. The costumed interpreters were extremely nice, allowing the girls to try a spinning wheel (I was writing Charlotte and Martha in those days, and all we had at home was a drop spindle, so the wheel was a grand treat for my little home-based critique group) and answering their zillions of questions.
As we left one of the houses—I think it was the Irish cottage, which thrilled us all with its thatched roof and smoky fire, just like the huts in the Martha books—the interpreter murmured an aside to me as the girls skipped down the path.
“Are they homeschooled?” she asked with a friendly smile.
“Yes!” I replied, delighted, basking in the thought that their eager, intelligent conversation had given them away.
“I thought so,” replied the interpreter. “I could tell from the bonnets.”
Um.
This was the year my girls wore their Little House bonnets everywhere—their own doing, I swear! By then I was so used to seeing them that I hardly even noticed them anymore.
Yeah, I guess that would be kind of a giveaway.
Mary G. says:
Very cool .. I’m going to need to take the kiddoes. We moved down here to Lake of the Woods (15 mi west of Fredericksburg) and we’re loving it.
Where else should we go?
On September 2, 2009 at 2:47 pm
sarah says:
This got a ROFL from me before and it gets one again – really very funny story. Oh, our sorry pride!
On September 2, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Penny in VT says:
LOL – doesn’t *everyone* go in costume to living history museums? We do…
oh, but then again, we homeschool!
Too funny!
On September 2, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Mamalion says:
Oooh, a new place to explore! Is it possible to do it justice in 2-3 hours the first time? We do Williamsburg in costume. And I always get asked if they’re homeschooled. Doesn’t everyone go on vacation with their reenacting clothing?
On September 2, 2009 at 7:37 pm
Melissa Wiley says:
2-3 hours is plenty of time! There are four houses, each representing a different country: Germany, Ireland, England (the three nationalities that settled that part of VA), and an early American farmhouse. Lovely Blue Ridge setting. We had an annual membership and sometimes stopped by for an hour after church. 🙂
On September 2, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Tabatha says:
We were just at the Frontier Culture Museum a couple of weeks ago. We weren’t actually there for the museum, though — we saw a free outdoor performance of Midsummer Night’s Dream. It was awesome! So funny. We also went to the Blackfriar’s Playhouse for a tour. Recommended!
On September 3, 2009 at 8:18 am