Pioneer School and Log Cabin Village

Last Thursday, Sheridan and the entire 2nd grade of LCA went to Log Cabin Village for a field trip. First, we had to find "proper" Pioneer attire for her to wear. Then, we had to pack her an "authentic" pioneer lunch, maybe with some pretending! How'd we do?!?!

There were actually some outfits that looked authentic, but most of the parents of girls went online and ordered costumes for their girls to wear. We decided to go the economical route and put something together. The skirt and shawl came from Sheridan's Mimi. I found the shirt and a pair of black ankle boots at Once Upon a Child (resale shop) for her. The basket is mine, but she had an authentic tin cup that she drank out of. The cup belonged to Mimi's Great-Grandfather, and he used it next to his well!

For her lunch, we had to pack food items that we would have found in the 1800's, so nothing processed or plastic (for food packaging or drink containers). So we "pretended" that we made our own bread and slaughtered our own turkey for our turkey sandwiches. Didn't you know that we also raise our own chickens so that we can have boiled eggs?!?! We also ate beef jerky and cornbread muffins. By the way, Sheridan's dad has become a great blacksmith and was able to make us mini-muffin tins so that our cornbread muffins wouldn't be too big!!! Finally, we raise our own cows so that we can get fresh milk and make our own cheese too! See...pretending can be fun!!!

The kids spent the morning in a Pioneer schoolhouse and got to experience what school would be like. I think that Sheridan likes her 21st century school much, much better! During school time, the moms met at the nearby vintage Panera Bread Bakery & Cafe for our own "Pioneer" snacks and mom time! We met the kids for our Pioneer lunch and picnicked on the grass. Then, we spent the afternoon taking a tour of the Log Cabin Village to see how Pioneers worked and lived.

It was a fun day, and I hope to take our family together, maybe next Spring or Fall, when Colin's a little older. There's one house that the kids can actually go into and touch the furnishings, etc. They will dress up again and act out a "day in the life of a pioneer child," i.e. churning butter, washing clothes, ironing clothes, pumping water, collecting eggs, etc. However, this house can only handle "small" groups of kids, so they didn't let our big tour experience this part.

This field trip was actually nostalgic for me. I remember going to Log Cabin Village when I was in the 2nd grade too! However, we did get to do more of the hands on things. In one picture, you will see an older woman (the oldest employee in the city of Fort Worth) talking to the kids behind a plexi-glass window. When I went, we didn't have the windows separating us, and we got to touch and experience lots. We even got to try candle dipping! How times have changed!

I think the best part of the day was just spending time with Sheridan and experiencing/learning with her! By the way, she likes our house much better and doesn't want a log cabin...didn't like the idea of sleeping on the wood floor with her 6-7 other siblings in the same room!!!