Einstein and Louisa pose on the Oregon Trail!
The General Store
Time to buy supplies to load up the wagon!
The lady who ran this presentation was called in last minute. She was very dedicated to teaching history and she must really love it, because she was actually laid off 3 months ago because of budget cuts, and the 2 remaining workers couldn't come in this day. One was sick, and one was on leave, so they called her in desperation, and she came in. I was very impressed that she put this long program on without a hitch when she was so out of practice. She was an amazing and graceful woman; I have great respect for her!
A few weeks ago, the kids and I had a wonderful homeschool field trip at the End of The Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. I found out something I never knew before: an Interpretive Center is where you have people dressed in the costume of the time period, there to teach and answer questions: basically they are "interpreting" the history for you. Very cool.
This is a wonderful center, and it was worth the long drive to Oregon City. The entire museum is shaped like a giant covered wagon. That was fun. We started in the first room which is totally decked out to look like a general store from the western frontier in Independence, Missouri. There, a lady in pioneer costume gave us a 45 minute presentation using music, slide shows, and lots of fun props. She was VERY good at her presentation, and got a lot of laughs!
Einstein was VERY excited when he got called on to demonstrate how kids CHURNED THE BUTTER. He got to go up on the stage in front of everyone and use the butter churner and answer all kinds of question.
Einstein has read all kinds of books about the west and last year his favorite PC game was The Oregon Trail, and so he was pleased to be able to answer lots of the question correctly. Even Louisa paid close attention and answered lots of the questions. I had to stand in the back while entertaining Jewel and keeping Angel out of trouble. It was a little stressful, but worth it.
The next room was beautiful. They called it the Cascade room. It was a movie theater, but the seats were in the middle of what appeared to be a giant forest. The trunks of the trees were gigantic, and reached up to the VERY TALL ceiling. The sounds of nature were everywhere, and Duckies' favorite part was a very realistic waterfall in the front. She thought it was real water, but it was just a great imitation. There was a huge panoramic theater screen in front, wide enough for 3 movies at once, and then a smaller screen to the lower right.
The hour long movie was very clever, and beautifully done. My kids really appreciated this movie because we have read a lot about pioneer children and the American West. We even heard some of the stories that we've read together. That made it extra special and meaningful for them.
The kids had a wonderful time (we spent HOURS here!) in the newly refurbished hands-on children's room. The kids got to play in a canoe, in an Indian house, in a pioneer house, and their favorite was playing school in an old fashioned one-room school house.
Louisa and Ducky played that they were Laura and Mary from Little House on the Prairie
It was fun to dress up in all the pioneer costumes that they had. The last room we were in had a real life-size wagon box that you were suppose to load. The challenge was to load it with all the supplies and still have room left for the people! The older kids had a great time taking charge and bossing the younger ones . They were trying to play that they were the Mom and Dad, but the little kids didn't want to play. Angel wanted to be the Mom herself cause she just wanted to "cook". It was such a nice day to come, because even though we had expired our "alloted" field trip time of 90 minutes, we got to stay for an extra 2 hours and play because no one else was scheduled behind us. Oh, the benefits of homeschooling!!! If this had been a normal class sized trip, it would have been crowded and hurried,and we wouldn't have gotten nearly so much out of it! It was a perfect homeschool day!
It was fascinating to learn why Oregon City was called the End of the Oregon Trail, even though it wasn't. Maybe all you Oregonians out here already know it because you took State History, but I'm new to the State, so I was amazed to find out that EVERYONE who wanted to file a land claim, whether in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, or parts of Wyoming had to come IN PERSON to the federal office in Oregon City to file their land claim in order to own that land legally. Wow. Can you imagine going hundreds of miles out of your way to do that? For a while, the land trail did end there, and then you had to go off on your own or pay for a ferry down the river to get where you wanted to go. The history of the Oregon trail is wonderfully rich and varied, and this was a great place to learn more about it. I highly recommend it!!!
Einstein and Louisa are becoming regular pros at doing the dishes and clearing and washing tables! It is SO wonderful! Little by little they are becoming more thorough and capable: it is a delight to watch!
It was fun to dress up in all the pioneer costumes that they had. The last room we were in had a real life-size wagon box that you were suppose to load. The challenge was to load it with all the supplies and still have room left for the people! The older kids had a great time taking charge and bossing the younger ones . They were trying to play that they were the Mom and Dad, but the little kids didn't want to play. Angel wanted to be the Mom herself cause she just wanted to "cook". 
