Civil War Field Trip

Joshua was much better so we were able to drive to Petersburg, VA for the field trip. This by far was the best field trip I have been on. I'm not a history buff, but this trip was very interesting. We had a FABULOUS tour guide! (I should have gotten his picture). You could tell this was something he was passionate about. It wasn't just a job to him. He made it so interesting and the way he could answer the kids questions amazed me. He was very patient with them too. They had a drummer that went with us part of the way. He showed the kids how the soldiers loaded and shot the guns and even let them have "hands on" with "fake guns". He then took us over and showed us how the soldiers life would have been like. After all this we went and saw a brief movie followed by going out where part of the war took place. We ate lunch and then visited a real plantation house and then took us out and showed us how the slaves worked in the field, and showed us what a slaves "house" would look like. I was amazed that 12 year olds were "taxed" back then and they were expected to hoe or plow an acre lot in a day!! The end of our field trip was a museum with 9 rooms which was really nice! The boys loved the room that showed the soldiers fighting. You could feel the floor shake and a bullet breeze by your head. The incredible part is that when you pull up, it doesn't really look like a lot, but we didn't even see everything that was there. Hands down an incredible field trip!