A Week in Washington DC with Kids Part 2

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A Week in Washington DC with Kids Part 1 and Part 3

For Part 2, I'll tell you what our Tuesday and Wednesday looked like.
Here's what we did:
Tuesday:
Because it opens so early, we started at the White House Visitors Center.
Our hotel offered a shuttle to the closest metro station. From there we were able to stay on that line and get off as close as we could to the WHVC.
We found out quickly that in DC, the escalators are two-laned. If you want to stand and ride the escalator, stay to the right because the people rushing to catch a train and running past you on the left. Wait, you say, escalators aren't that wide. Yes, you are correct. :) Stay to the right. lol
After we figured that out, we were able to get ourselves to the visitor center easily. They have a short 14 minute film that features former First Families talking about what it was like to live in the White House.
(I didn't start planning our trip until we were about 4 weeks out, so I missed out on the opportunity to get tickets for a tour inside the White House itself. We had so much planned that I'm not sure it's a bad thing that it didn't happen. It would have taken some serious rearranging to fit it in. Perhaps next time. :) )

I'm thinking photography wasn't allowed because none of us have pics from the visitors center. :)

The metro tunnels creep me out. This is no time to panic!!

Next up, we navigated the metro system again and headed to the International Spy Museum. We were able to get a package deal from our tour bus that included discount tickets to the museum. It was money well spent.

Hanging on like James Bond

Playing it cool like Bond

James Bond's Aston Martin --- um, Love!

I'd look good in that car. Right? ;)

The museum had a lot of Bond exhibits but there was so much more. The history of spying, a mission for visitors to try, spy gadgets, interactive stations for kids... If you want to read and see everything (lots of short videos), give yourself 3-4 hours.

After the Spy Museum, we ate next door at the super crowded Shake Shack. It was okay; not the best cheeseburger I've ever had, but it filled us up.

We went to the National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum next. We made it there a few minutes after a tour had started, but we were allowed to join in. The docent walked us through all of the presidential portraits on display. She had lots of little anecdotes about the paintings so we stayed for the whole thing even though our time was limited.

Our PA prez - James Buchanan rocking the faux hawk

One of my fav portraits, George W Bush; He was the only president to be painted w/o wearing a suitcoat and tie. It was a great likeness and very warm and welcoming portrait.

There were other exhibits but we breezed through the rest of the 2nd floor and then headed out for sake of time. Looking back, I probably should have had us go down to the American Origins exhibit on the 1st floor.
Speaking of skipping things, we were also going to walk by Ford's Theatre (another place I couldn't get tickets to. It's free to see but you have to get a timed entry ticket. They were booked up for the days we were there.) Since we were tired and the theater was in a different direction from the next thing, we didn't bother. And we didn't get to the NGA Sculpture Garden. It was too late in the evening by the time we finished at The National Archives.

After the National Gallery of Art, we headed to the Archives. Good thing. We had to wait about 45 minutes to get in to the gallery to see the Declaration, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. It was so crowded, we didn't get to see the entire Constitution. And no, they didn't film National Treasure inside. We asked. :)

No pictures inside.

That was it for the day. The Spy Museum and Portrait Gallery need quite a bit of time, plus the travel (walking and metro) in between sites.

Notes and Tips for the White House area:
*Other than tickets for the Spy Museum, everything today was free.
*Wear good shoes.
*Reserve White House and Ford's Theatre tickets as early as you possibly can.
 *Do the National Portrait Gallery tour.
* Do NOT go to DC during spring break. It was so crowded everywhere we went that it took time away from enjoying the exhibits because we were waiting in line or rushed through.
*Stand on the right; move on the left. ;)

My original Tuesday itinerary (in case you're planning and want to do things in a way that makes sense geographically) was:
White House Visitors Center
National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum
Lunch
International Spy Museum
walk by Ford's Theater
National Archives
National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden
Dinner back at the hotel (we had sandwiches and lunch food that we had brought with us.)


On Wednesday, we:
Had the worst day ever because I picked the worst tour bus company ever.
I thought CitySights DC was a great deal online. They had 3 tour loops that you could do, hop on and hop off, plus a package deal for the Spy Museum and Mount Vernon.
I should have read the reviews. It was so bad, I wrote reviews and posted them online.
You can read one here.

Soprano and I huddled down between the seats of the upper deck of our tour bus and freezing to death.

Because the bus tour was so terrible, we didn't spend much time seeing the sights.
The plan was to do the yellow loop (Arlington) and then the purple loop (Embassy Row, Georgetown), then come back and do the red loop (Monuments, National Mall) and get off to see all of the monuments and memorials.
We didn't get to the purple loop at all. But did see some of the monuments and ate our packed lunch at the Washington Monument visitor center (and use the restrooms! lol).

Washington Monument from the W.M. Visitor Center area

WWII Memorial; We saw this 11 years ago just being finished. The fountains weren't operational at that point. It's really pretty.

WWII Memorial

My shutterbugs

The Lincoln Memorial

Looking down the mall

Vietnam Memorial -- this was much more meaningful having just studied it the week before our trip

A park ranger getting a rubbing of a name

When a bus finally showed up (grr! see my Trip Advisor review), we rode part of the red loop over to Union Station. We went next door to the National Postal Museum. (Bass having worked in a mail industry position for 10 years really wanted to do this one.) It was one of the best, most family friendly museums we went to on our trip.

 

After the museum, we ate dinner at Union Station.

The Roman soldier statues covered with shield for modesty's sake. ;)

Um... crazy! It was so busy! But there were lots of places to eat and fun shops to browse through.

And it was super easy to get the metro there and head back to our hotel to collapse. :)

Notes and Tips for the White House area:
*Other than tickets for the bus tour, everything today was free.
*Wear good shoes. The memorials and monuments are not close to each other.
*Do NOT, seriously DO NOT, no matter what other reviews say, DO NOT take a tour via CitySights DC. Pick Big Bus, pick Old Town Trolley, pick anything else.
* DO go to the Postal Museum and give yourself a couple hours.

My original Wednesday itinerary was:
DC CitySights tour purple loop (starting at the Lincoln Memorial)
DC CitySights tour yellow loop
DC CitySights tour red loop (getting off at Jefferson Memorial, WWII Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, and the Washington Monument)
National Postal Museum
Dinner at Union Station
Hotel

A Week in Washington DC with Kids Part 1

I respectfully ask that you not pin pictures of my children to Pinterest. Thank you!

Every year we try to take a big field trip to a place that fits in with the history that we've studied during the school year. Last year we spent a week visiting Philadelphia and Boston. After learning about U.S. and world history from 1850 through today, we decided to go to Washington D.C.

We've also studied all the U.S. states and presidents over the past 2 years. There was a lot in D.C. that tied in to that too.

Here's what we did:
Monday:
We left in the morning and drove down to Arlington. We couldn't find the Teddy Roosevelt Memorial with our GPS so gave up and went to the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial.

If you're driving, there is zero parking at the Pentagon. Bass had to circle the parking lot while we walked to the Memorial, which is on the far side of the Pentagon building. You can park at the Fashion Centre Mall and walk or take a bus over, I believe.
Since Bass had to circle, we didn't stay long at the memorial but headed to the metro station at the Pentagon to buy our SmarTrip cards.
Um, helpful tip here... the metro sales office is on the other side of the building, ground level, by the bus stops. It's not up either set of the big stone steps where there are key-code-entry-only revolving doors and a multitude of security personnel who don't like lost tourists. Just an FYI. :)
We bought our cards (one per person) and added money to them immediately. You can buy fares at the metro stations but it's easier to just get a card and preload it.

After our security debacle, we left the Pentagon and went to lunch at the mall. There's a big food court in the lower level with lots of options. From there we went to the Air Force Memorial.

We don't have any family or friends that have served in the air force but it was still moving to see the tribute to those who have served. The spires are immense!
Our last stop for the day was Arlington Cemetery and Arlington House.

Robert E Lee was quite the gentleman. :)

So much loss and sacrifice. It's almost overwhelming.

And the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I didn't know there were unknown soldiers from each major conflict buried here.

We saw JFK's gravesite and the eternal flame, the Memorial Amphitheater, and the mast of the Maine. I wanted to see the Nurse's Memorial but we were getting tired and wanted to get into the next available tour of Arlington House.

The mast of the Maine.

Arlington House has a great history connected to it. We got to tour through the house from the basement to a sneak peek into the attic where Union soldiers had written their names on the roof beams. I was tickled to find out they had a school room in the house. lol The slave quarters are interesting too. It's definitely worth visiting.

I liked their taste in literature. :)

Part of Arlington includes the Women in Military Service for America Memorial. We didn't have a lot of time there since they were closing, but we did find my grandmother listed in the registry. She served as a WAAC for 10 years.

We wanted to visit the Iwo Jima/Marines Memorial but it started to rain and Arlington was closing, so we called it a day and headed to our hotel in Falls Church, VA.

Notes and Tips for Arlington and the Pentagon:
*Other than a small fee for parking at Arlington, everything today was free (except lunch and the metro cards. lol)
*Wear good shoes. Arlington is huge and the "big" monuments and memorials are a distance from each other. Give yourself enough time to see everything too. You could spend an entire 8 hour day here and still not see everything.
*Do NOT walk up the stone steps at the Pentagon. Especially the week after there's a shooting at the Capitol. :)

My original itinerary (in case you're planning and want to do things in a way that makes sense geographically) was:
Teddy Roosevelt Memorial
Iwo Jima Memorial
Air Force Memorial
Arlington House
Arlington Cemetary
Pentagon Memorial
LBJ Memorial Garden
Dinner at Fashion Centre Mall
Hotel

A Week in Washington DC with Kids Part 2 and Part 3

Old Window to Jewelry Organizer

About a year ago, we redid Soprano's room to reflect her tween-ness (and to fix the paint issues.) Part of what I wanted to add to her room was a jewelry organizer.
I did a lot of searching online for ideas using an old window, but didn't find exactly what I wanted. I ended up pulling ideas from a bunch of different places to come up with our end result.

I love using old windows! We had a bunch from when we replaced our old windows, and I used a few, gave a few to my mom, and got rid of the rest. So we had to go shopping to get this one. We found it for $3 at our local Habitat ReStore, along with a window screen that we disassembled and the small hooks for necklaces.

The first thing I did was decide on how to use each pane. I went with 2 for specialty necklaces, 1 for rings, 2 for bracelets, and 2 for earrings. The last panel has a Bible verse in it. (The King is enthralled with your beauty; Honor Him for He is your Lord." Psalm 45:11)

 To make the bracelet and necklace panels, Bass drilled spaces for the knobs (Hobby Lobby).

Then I added a layer of batting

Then I added some fabric, using a staple gun. (Like upholstering furniture.)

The front-side of the panel:

The last step was to make a small x-shaped cut in the fabric so Bass could stick in each of the pegs.

The earring panels were easy to assemble; just folded up on the edges, then stapled in to the sides of the window pane on the back side. Same process with the verse panel. (I printed the verse on cardstock for sturdiness.)

The ring panel was a little more involved.

I bought two packs of curlers at the dollar store and doctored them a bit to make them the right length.

Dollar store bendable curler

Pop off the end 'cap' and pull out this wire so you can cut the curler down

Add your cut piece to the end of a second 'upcapped' curler. A bit of hot glue will hold it together.

I started by gluing a bit of the fabric to the edge of the wood panel. Then I glued on a curler, tucked fabric around it - gluing it down, then added the next curler. And repeat. My tip would be to glue the curlers really close together so they'll hold your rings securely.

Start gluing them on. But closer together than what I'm showing here.

Bass used a staple gun to hold all the panels in place, stapling them into the sides of the panes on the back side of the window. Along the bottom, we added a row of tiny 1" 'L' hooks (ReStore) and a decorative dahlia knob (Hobby Lobby) in each corner.

We put it all together, and now it looks like this.

The left side

The right side

It fits her room perfectly now, but I think it will grow with her. And with a little bit of work, she can always change out the fabric.

 I think I want one. :)

Linking up to some or all of these great blog parties:

Sunday: It's Overflowing; 
Monday: Inspire Me Monday at Sand and Sisal; Tutorials and Tips at Home Stories A to Z; Monthly Before and After at Thrifty Decor Chick; The Scoop at Worthing Court
Wednesday: Wicked Awesome Wednesday at Handy Man, Crafty Woman; Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts; 
Friday: Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest; Flaunt it Friday at Chic on a Shoestring; Friday Finds at Craftaholics Anonymous

School Summary - India and Israel Gain Independence, South Africans and Chinese Don't

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A Summary of March7-18

It's a little sad that I'm already looking forward to our spring break, isn't it? These two weeks, when we got our first hint of spring outside, seem to have been the most "just get it done" weeks of our school year.
Here's what we did:

Things that were scheduled:

Math

Tenor's math has been killing us. It takes him so long to complete. I've been talking with other homeschool moms and it seems like he's taking a bit too long. I'm going to order the Saxon Math plans from My Father's World and see if he can retain comprehension and get done faster.

Language Arts (Grammar with Writing and Literature for both; Spelling for Soprano)

Soprano finished Call of Courage and started The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

Electives:

Greek and Computer Science (Tenor), American Sign Language, Photography, and Sewing (Soprano)

If it isn't math that's dragging us down, it's sewing. If it's not sewing, then it must be Computer Science. This course has so many projects/papers that he's never going to finish. We're going to have to cut down on the amount that's assigned or we'll be doing school until school starts again.

My Father's World 1850 to Modern Times
These two weeks touched on events going on in the world post-WWII. I think we hit 5 of the 7 continents in 2 weeks.

Bible: This year we will be learning (reviewing) basic Christian beliefs and memorizing key Bible passages. We spent two more weeks working on verses from Psalm 46.

 

History and Geography: 

Project-wise: we did the yoga poses (I was away adjudicating at a music festival so Bass did school but no pictures) and the Apartheid and Supporting Laws activity.

We've done dam construction before so we skipped that one, skipped the cooking (although we ate jelly doughnuts from the store) and skipped making little red books. I think the youngling and padawan are getting to that age when small craft projects don't really speak to them anymore. We also did the outlines and writing from outlines, timeline pieces, and maps.

 

Science: We're also using the World of Science reading assignments to review what we learned this summer.

Other MFW: 

Music:  We have the iPod playing at lunch most days. We listened to Gershwin for another week, then used The Young Scholar's Guide to Composers to learn about another American composer, John Williams. (Being pretty big Star Wars fans, this was a fun musician to study.)

Art: Another week of marker techniques.

And we squeezed in a field trip. Every year our state offers free admission to state museums on Charter Day. We went to the state museum which had a range of exhibits.

His hair spike looks like the duck's feather spike. lol

When the Turnpike was fancy

 

 

Extras:

Web:

You can see them all in my Youtube playlist for weeks 17-34.

Magnets and Springs interactive animation

Videos:

The Presidents by the History Channel

Favorite Books: 

A Country School House by Lynne Barasch
Behold the Trees by Alexander
Dirt on Their Skirts by Doreen Rappaport
The Memory Coat by Woodruff
Watch the Stars Come Out by Riki Levinson
When Jessie Came Across the Sea by Amy Hest
Dwight D Eisenhower by Mike Venezia

School Summary - World War II, the Atom Bomb, and the Holocaust

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A Summary of February 15 - March 4

I changed our school calendar around to allow for some time to help my parents get settled after a recent move and to host a girls' only crafting weekend at my house. We did a few days of school, took of the rest of the week, the weekend, and the beginning of the next week; then, we finished week 2 with a few days of school. So our winter break was in there somewhere. I think. It didn't feel like a break. lol That was followed up by a regular week of school.
Here's what we did:

Things that were scheduled:

Math

Soprano is moving along with Saxon and adding in Life of Fred for a fun supplement. We had been doing Life of Fred rather slowly but I realized that we should be completing more than 1 book a year. Now, each time I assign it (after every 7 or so Saxon lessons), she does 4 chapters in Life of Fred. She's on Dogs, right now. (And loving LoF days!)

Language Arts (Grammar with Writing and Literature for both; Spelling for Soprano)

Tenor finished up his 1st of 2 literature units, The Prince and the Pauper. Next up is a unit of the poetry of Robert Frost. It'll be our first concentrated effort in poetry analysis. I'm looking forward to it. 

 

Electives:

Greek and Computer Science (Tenor), American Sign Language, Photography, and Sewing (Soprano)

Sewing. sew.ing. *sigh* Sewing is killing us. Soprano is more of a flight than a fight, so when a new skill is difficult for her, she tends to want to give up without really trying. Sewing has been difficult for her. However, it's a useful skill and we've spent quite a bit of money buying all the supplies to make these projects so she has been told that we're going to finish it. All the bits and pieces of a pieced doll quilt are laying on the table at this very moment.

My Father's World 1850 to Modern Times
WWII. This era of history really touches me... I'm not sure why. Perhaps because my grandparents served in the military then? Or I'm just a 1940s gal at heart.... then the atom bomb and holocaust... I cried my way through most of the history readings and the videos we watched.

Bible: This year we will be learning (reviewing) basic Christian beliefs and memorizing key Bible passages. We spent two weeks working on verses from Psalm 46. With the presidential election nonsense, it's very timely to recall that "...know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth."

 

History and Geography: 

Project-wise: we figured out the winning parties at the Elections at Bundestag

and Identified War Planes. We also did the outlines and writing from outlines, timeline pieces, and maps. (We skipped the optional research projects though. We had lots of book basket titles to read and movies to watch.)

 

Science: We're also using the World of Science reading assignments to review what we learned this summer. Because of time (and energy), I didn't pull out the magnet kit. We did it over the summer, and I thought I'd let them try the cards again for review. It didn't happen.

Other MFW: 

Music:  We have the iPod playing at lunch most days. The Gershwin playlist has been my pick for these two weeks.

Art: More marker techniques this week. I suppose I could let them use my nice Copic markers to really work on shading... um, yeah. No. :)

Extras:

Web:

You can see them all in my Youtube playlist for weeks 17-34.

D-Day By the Numbers infographic

D-Day Then and Now pictures

Pearl Harbor Attack infographic

WWII Rationing timeline

WWII videos

more WWII videos

WWII Battles animated

WWII Key Dates

Printable Paper Tank

Printable Spitfire model

WWII coloring pages

Corrie Ten Boom Virtual House Tour

Anne Frank Virtual House Tour

WWII resources for middle school (extra study)

WWII Field Trip Guide

Videos:

The Presidents by the History Channel
Pearl Harbor (we did some fast forwarding and muting)
The Sound of Music
I Am David
Swing Kids (can be intense for younger kids)
Grave of the Fireflies
Midway
The Miracle of the White Stallions
Molly
Tora! Tora! Tora!
Valiant
D-Day and the Providence of God

Favorite Books: 

American Girl Molly books
One Splendid Tree by Marilyn Helmer
You Wouldn't Want to Be a World War II Pilot! by Ian Graham
Always Remember Me by Marisabina Russo
In My Pocket by Dorith Sim
The Cat with the Yellow Star by Susan Rubin
The Cats in Krasinski Square by Karen Hesse
Harry S Truman by Mike Venezia

School Summary - Mussolini, Japan and China, the Great Depression

I respectfully ask that you not pin pictures of my children to Pinterest. Thank you!

A Summary of February 1-12

Just more of the same for these two weeks with a little extra deep cleaning around the house going on. :)
Here's what we did:

Things that were scheduled:

Math

Language Arts (Grammar with Writing and Literature for both; Spelling for Soprano)

 

Electives:

Greek and Computer Science (Tenor), American Sign Language, Photography, and Sewing (Soprano)

 Tenor was finding it hard to complete his work some days so I rearranged his schedule. He now does science on Monday and Tuesday, Greek on Wednesday, and Literature on Thursday and Friday. It seems to be helping a little bit. Math is taking him a long time each day (like 3-4 hours long). We need to find a solution for that. No pun intended. Lol

My Father's World 1850 to Modern Times
We read about Mussolini and Japan and China (including the Long March). Then we dove into the Wall Street Crash and the resulting Great Depression.

Bible: This year we will be learning (reviewing) basic Christian beliefs and memorizing key Bible passages. The curricula allows for several weeks of reviewing verses of our choice. We finished reviewing James! They did really well considering we haven't worked on it at all since the end of the last school year. (I'd love to upload a video but it's 15 minutes long

 

History and Geography: 

Project-wise: we read about the Fasces (Soprano colored hers) but didn't make them

 

They colored the Chrysanthemum throne emblems

 

We did the Long March math activity and the Inflation project.

We also did the outlines and writing from outlines, timeline pieces, and maps. 

Science: We're also using the World of Science reading assignments to review what we learned this summer. We added in AIG's World of Inventions lesson 33: Moving Pictures.

Other MFW: 

Music:  We listened to several pieces by George Gershwin and used the Gershwin chapter of The Young Scholar's Guide to Composers for review.

Art: Using markers (Hooray for it not being more painting!!!)

Extras:

Web:

You can see them all in my Youtube playlist for weeks 17-34.

Spirit of St. Louis paper model

Great Depression cooking

Great Depression videos

Great Depression and Dust Bowl PowerPoint presentations

Kit Kittredge movie curriculum

Dust Bowl images and cause

Videos:

The Presidents by The History Channel
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Singin in the Rain
The Grapes of Wrath
Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Kit

Favorite Books: 

Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, and Franklin D. Roosevelt -- all by Mike Venezia
American Girl Kit books
Make Your Mark, Franklin Roosevelt by Judith St. George
Mimmy and Sophie by Miriam Cohen
Something to Tell the Grandcows by Eileen Spinelli
The Babe and I by David Adler