2nd part of the job summary

Very typical in this office, something came up and I had to leave my entry. I’ll pick up where I left off.

The other option is to get a standard tour of the houses, Woodland Home and Steamboat House, along with the school’s choice of demonstrations should they so choose when scheduling the tour. The demonstrations that are offered are: Kitchen- where we make popcorn for them and describe the kitchen uses during the 1850’s; Black Powder- tools homesteaders back then would have used along with an explanation and shooting of the black powder rifle; Historic Toys- show the toys the children would have played with and explain how toys where made from what materials they had available to them on the homestead and only given 1 toy a year on their birthdays; Blacksmithing- explain how the shop/ area was run, tools involved, what was made, how it was made, and a few things examples made; Social Customs- give the students an idea of the customs and dress, table manners, social manners, fan talk, morning information; One Room Schoolhouse- what subject children learned (the 3 R’s- reading, writing and arithmetic), all ages taught at the same time; and Medicine- surgical tools used, leeches, how to remove a bullet, cures of sickness and how sicknesses would have been dealt with, etc.

The classes or groups of students rotate through the stations or rotations. The most students that we are able to accommodate here at one time is 150 only because that is the number of seats we have in the Auditorium. Plus saying the same thing over again 6 or 5 times can get pretty tiring and you can get yourself tongue tied. I have found that at times I’ll leave something out of the spiel for one group, remember it for the next and leave it out for the next group. If you don’t have a bottle of water or cough drops with you, you will regret it later. I am actually going to start looking for something to use as a water canteen that might have been used back then so I won’t have to worry about not being period accurate with a water bottle.

Now to jump start to today…

I did toys again. Last time for a while, at least till next year. I love it because it is so much fun. Once you get tired of talking then you can just let them go play. I have gotten really good at some of the ball and cups and the pawawangas. It was the last work and play of the year so we are going to give everything a good wash and then store it till the next season for them. Where the storing will be, not sure but I am guessing somewhere in the costume closet.