Today my girls had the day off of school and I wanted to find something fun for us to do. I have been wanting to take a ride up to the Institute for American Indian Studies for a very long time and finally had the chance to check it out today.
While the museum is small, the girls had so much fun. There are many exhibits and also an outdoor area set up as a village. We were excited to see many different corn husk dolls around just as we make each autumn at home together.
Native Americans lived in such a mindful and spiritual way. A way that I wish our society would embrace. My heart hurts when I think of the pain and suffering their people went through and I do my best to explain these things to my girls as truthfully and tenderly as possible.
The handwork and art were so beautiful - you could look at one piece for so long and find something new in it over and over again. And there is such meaning behind so much of what we saw. I do not have a photo to share but there was an infant cradle board and on it were carvings of the tribe's family tree - with symbols to represent the males and females that were born in that generation.
I love watching my daughters learn new things and be excited through the entire process. They were voluntarily reading and absorbing new information and interestingly enough Brianna, who is just six years old, remembered facts from our last Woodlands Indian Field Trip with a local homeschool group and shared them with us as we were walking around this new place. I really was so surprised how much she remembered - more than I did. It was wonderful.
It was a great day with just me and my girls. We missed having Dee with us. I think I will take her up there when she comes home in October for a visit. I think she would really like it.
There are many programs and events we can attend. I found this beautiful Harvest Festival prayer in one of the pamphlets there and I just love it.
The children's room had a questionnaire and a map for the children to learn more about the American terrain. The girls spent a very long time finding all of the correct answers (to win a free maple syrup pop) - this is a perfect example of what I meant by my created term "Waldorf Afterschooling". I hope these experiences that we fill our free time up with will stay with the girls as they grow older and help to bring some holistic learning into their public school educational experience.
Isn't this owl beautiful? I would love to create something like it at home. Maybe inspiration for one of my e-books?
At the end of our visit, the girls got a souvenir each. Maia got a sling-shot! She is going to use it on a simple target - not animals, of course.
On our ride home, we pulled over to a local farmers market. He had horse and cows outside and the girls really loved looking at them. The horse wanted to come to us when he saw us. I think he was hungry.
We brought home a special winter squash to enjoy one night with dinner. The colors are so beautiful I think that we may keep it on our nature table for awhile first for decoration.
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