Old Sturbridge Village Homeschool Day

This morning we packed up and headed to Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts. Brian was able to take the day off too and come along for the fun. The weather was, well not quite perfect, but good for March! The clouds and sky were so beautiful all day long. At one point we had hail! It was tiny and we headed into the Asa Knight Village Store to talk to the interpreters so it didn't disrupt us.

My 2 favorite people!

Isn't the sky wonderful?? The clouds! 

This sheep wants Maddie to come back!

Can you find the robin?

This is maple sugaring time so we got to learn about the process as it was done in the early 1800s. Almost all the sap was boiled down into hard sugar which could be stored for the year rather than syrup that needs refrigeration. 

Maple sugar cones. The ladies in the house said they would've preferred the lighter colored sugar since they used it for everything. It has a very light maple taste compared to the darker colored cone.

Making the syrup. Once it was syrup it would be taken into the house to finish off by boiling further to hard maple sugar.

spile and trough to catch the sap...more on spiles in a minute!

Baking at the farmhouse. Using the maple sugar to make an apple pie.

Maddie took 2 classes today. One was on making a penny rug which actually turned out to be a maple leaf not a true penny rug. She still enjoyed it quite a bit!

Then she took a class on carving a wooden spile which she loved! She asked on the way home if she could make one of those benches with Daddy so she could carve some more. Ummm...I don't think so. The man teaching this class was a retired shop teacher and he kept sprinkling in other things while talking. He told the girls that he knew they wanted Prince Charming to come along but it would be really good to find something they loved to do, a passion, a career goal and see if they could learn more about it. The other girls had a bit of deer in the headlights look but Maddie was nodding her head and grinning away at him. That advice is probably easier to understand when you have your goal already all set! Maddie did like the kids in her group. At the end after they had cleaned up the teacher asked them to assemble back on the benches which got one of the boys to yell "Homeschoolers Assemble!". 

First they had to poke a hole through the center of their wood. It was sumac which is very soft so it was not too hard but....

still required a little Daddy assistance.

Then on to the carving. This is the bench she wants to have! I do not know where we would put such a thing even if we managed to produce one! 

Checking in with the teacher.

Ta da! 1 Wooden Spile

Here are some more photos of our fun day!

The shoemaker...who turned into the printer in the afternoon! 

I love the squashes scattered about with the toys like a child had been playing with them.

Aren't these horses just beautiful?

Maddie carding wool.

A traditional spot for a photo! To see how much Maddie has grown check out this post...the video at the bottom of the page

Despite hail spring is coming! 

I had to take a photo of this because my own knitting was in our backpack with needles in a similar holder! 

Maddie wants to go back again...so we haven't outgrown this yet!