US History - 4th - Living in NoVA

[WIS0320]

Planning for 4th grade US history (exploration - 1900) next year and I want a great field trip monthly from Sept. through May. 

 

I live on the outskirts of NoVA and I'm thrilled to be so close to all the action. 

 

Here's what I have on the agenda so far:

 

 

Native American National Museum

 

Colonial Williamsburg (2-3 days) 

 

Mount Vernon

 

Sully Plantation

 

National Archives

 

National Museum of Am. History  (First Lady dress exhibit, Star-Spangled Banner Exhibit, etc.). 

 

 

Any other great ideas?  My younger children will be grade 1 and PreK and YES - they affect the type and length of daily field trip that is reasonable for all of us to undertake.  

 

 

[Mom2TheTeam]

There are tons...there are battlefields all over.  Monticello (Jefferson's home).  And tons more that I can't think of right now.  Battle of Antietam is my favorite.  It's in MD. 

 

I live about 1.5 hrs from DC.  I grew up closer.  I've lived in the area my whole life.  Great place for studying US history.  :D

[Aspasia]

We just moved to Fredericksburg, and it's a fabulous place to visit: George Washington's childhood home (Ferry Farm), his mother's house, lots of Civil War history, etc. I think it would be worth a day trip from anywhere in NoVa.

[Guest Amyliz]

Manassas National Battlefield

Madison's home - Montpelier (on the way to Charlottesville)

Gettysburg is also close enough to be a day trip.

 

Amy

[almondbutterandjelly]

Jamestown is really nice and much less expensive than Colonial Williamsburg.  Very hands on.

 

[Chris in VA]

You can come to our church--Pohick, 6 miles from Mt. Vernon. We have docents and give a nice tour.

 

And I hear the Rector's Wife gives brownies to homeschooling visitors who pop by the Rectory....

 

(George Mason's house is nice, too--we are also about 6 miles from that; Mr. Mason and The General were both on our Vestry, and wanted their church to be built closer to their properties, but they settled for building it in the middle...)

[Farrar]

Seconding the battlefields, especially Manassas as it's close.  We read Bull Run by Paul Fleischman before we went and I highly suggest that as well.  There are a ton further south and as mentioned you can get to Gettysburg or Antietam as a day trip as well.  We went to some of the battlefields around Richmond and also went to the Civil War museum that's in Richmond at the old factory there and that was very well done.

 

And seconding a trip to Monticello and doing Montpelier as a side trip.  Charlottesville is a good overnight trip and worth the time taken.

 

St. Mary's City in Maryland is a good full day trip and they do really cool activities around archaeology.  They have family days on some weekends and a homeschool day though I forget what time of year...

 

Lincoln's Cottage was a really nice one for us...  but some of that was the quality of the tour we had.  Still, that's another possibility - it's at the Old Soldier's Home in DC - they give a nice perspective about what DC was like then.  This is one that's less good for the younger kids though.

 

The Museum of the American Indian is good and they have good story times and a nice children's room, but it's a little muddled when it comes to history (things are just all mixed up - history is clearly not one of the museum's missions).  When you're first starting, if you do a whole Columbus and conquistadors history of Americas thing, there's an excellent exhibit at the Library of Congress that's much more clearly historical.  In general, the LoC is just a nice field trip if you've never been.

 

The Portrait Gallery is definitely worth a trip for history.  There's a lot of good stuff you can do around the exhibits there and it's flexible in terms of timing - it fits in at any time.  Go on a day when they're having open studio or story time or when you can check out their family discovery kits.  They have really good family outreach - good crafts for kids and a cool little classroom right off one of the galleries where they do all their programming.

 

When you do the War of 1812, Fort McHenry is a worthwhile day trip if your little ones have it in them.  It's fun to run around on the hills and the earthworks there anyway and you could combine it with other good Baltimore stuff.

 

Since we're DC'ers, it was important to us to do the original markers for the city and read about Benjamin Banneker.  We also did a bunch of stuff about the Circle Forts - DC's original defenses.

[happypamama]

Fort McHenry and St. Mary's City, and do try to make the trip to Gettysburg, preferably in September or in the spring -- it is stunning here then, and it'll be very pleasant to visit. There is a lot that is fun even for the small ones.

[mlktwins]

:bigear: