Madeleine has been SO excited for this field trip, and I was delighted to experience it with her. All of the children in the class were posing as historical figures from the mid 1800's in our town. Madeleine was Caroline Flagg, who was 12 years old in our time warp back to 1850.
The children were instructed to enter the classroom in two lines, differentiated by gender. They greeted their Schoolmistress and took their seats begin their work.
All students were given a poem to read through and quietly memorize. I remember this from when Julia was on the same field trip; I had been blown away by Julia's perfect memorization and execution of the poem. I was not necessarily expecting the same from Madeleine, given that she tends to get distracted by the wild and creative goings-on inside her brain whenever she is trying to concentrate on something. However, lo and behold, Madeleine got up to the front of the class and recited her entire poem from memory with nary a prompt from the Schoolmistress!:
The kid who gets distracted while telling me even the simplest of things and repeatedly re-starts words after pausing mid-syllable was a genuine elocutionist up there!
The children worked on arithmetic on chalkboard slates after the poetry recitations. The parent chaperones were in charge of checking each child's work and letting them know if they could move on to the next problem or if they needed to re-do their math. This is where the mild panic-sweat occurs for parents, who technically should be able to solve the math problems faster than the children, but sometimes can't because we're out of practice. Plus reading chalk writing is a lot more difficult than reading pencil writing. However, Madeleine is a true convert to chalkboard classwork.
MADELEINE: I was surprised that I liked it so much because first I had to get USED to it, but I realized that I *really* LOVED writing on the chalkboards!!
The children had recess and lunch after math, and the lunch part was no small deal. No anachronisms were allowed in either their food or packaging choices. Madeleine would up bringing a turkey sandwich and some sliced up strawberries wrapped in dish towels. It was the best we could do. The kids were also only allowed to play 1850-appropriate recess games, which meant most of the kids wound up playing tag, Madeleine included. I remember Julia staying off to the side with other girls, playing Ring Around the Rosie, but Madeleine just dove right into a rough and tumble tag game with all of the boys and a few other girls. Caroline Flagg was not afraid to get a little sweaty!
The second part of the day consisted of penmanship, which was done with ink wells and quills:
I had thought this would be the highlight of Madeleine's day, but it turns out she is much more impressed by chalk than by ink quills.
MADELEINE: I was SO excited to use the ink quill but then I *hated* it!
ME: You did?!? Why?!?
MADELEINE: It was too hard.
Okay then. Madeleine still managed to complete her cursive alphabet without strife.
The final part of the schoolhouse experience was a spelling bee. Madeleine came through on a couple of words that stumped other kids, including "civil" and "Quaker." The final word of the game knocked out contestant after contestant, until it was only Madeleine standing.
SCHOOLMISTRESS: Caroline, can you spell the word "tremor?"
MADELEINE: (confidently) T-R-E-M-O-R. "Tremor."
And with that, Madeleine won the Spelling Bee! It turns out her tv addiction is actual good for something.
MADELEINE: Everyone was getting "tremor" wrong, but I already knew how to spell it because of "Octonauts."
She learned "tremor" from these guys?!?:
After school today, I asked Madeleine how this field trip ranks in her school career of field trips.
MADELEINE: (giving two thumbs up)
ME: So good?
MADELEINE: Better.
That's a successful trip, then!
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