Hi!
Recently, my siblings, myself and our mom went to a field trip to the Sheboygan County Museum, as a part of our homeschool group. We went with two of our friends who are siblings. They are also in our homeschool group and we drove them there and back. We actually met their family at Mass that morning and after we got in the car with them we stopped at Johnston’s Bakery, an amazing bakery in town, and we all got donuts!
We have been to a field trip at this museum at least two times before. Their programs are always very organized and thought-out. This year the theme was on Native Americans.
What’s something you liked about it (and why)? One of my favorite parts of the actual field trip was when we got to do a little basket weaving! They had it all set up and started for us so it wasn’t that hard, but I have not thought much or had forgotten how you would even do that so it was very interesting to see and it was fun to do!
My favorite part of this day though, which it doesn’t fully have to do with the field trip so maybe it doesn’t count, but we just had so much fun with our friends and mom that day! Right from the start, after we picked them up, we got in a very funny, joking around and laughing kind of mood. It continued during lunch and probably got to the culmination after we left the museum for the day because we had just watched a certain video at the end of the program and, still being in this mood, got pretty hysterical from a joke one of our friends made. Most of what made us laugh that day came from him. It probably was not very nice to be laughing at what we did so I do kind of regret that. But it was just so much fun to hang out with them and our mom that day, she was all the way into these shenanigans too! Us and our friends were each other’s main people that we knew at the field trip and we stuck with them throughout the day. I loved it because it’s nice to have good friends who you can stick with over the course of the day, who you have history with and who you can just be funny with! And also because the stuff we were laughing at was so funny!
What’s something you disliked about it (and why)? These field trips are really geared toward younger kids. Most of the of the activities were for younger kids, all the kids sit on the floor and even just the way the volunteers talk is very much meant for little kids, which there were several younger ones there which is probably why, it just makes it a little weirder for us older ones. Now, I still learned a lot, and it’s fine to have a field trip geared specifically towards younger kids but since they do allow older kids to come (at least in our homeschool group) I wish it were a little less like that or that they would have talked to us more like older kids. I just disliked all of this because it was less interesting and made me feel kind of awkward and weird.
Also, I really don’t enjoy the space they had the field trip in. It’s the same rooms they’ve done a majority of the field trips in before, and since this one was in the winter we didn’t even get to go and see the historical buildings they’ve brought us out to in the past. It’s in this basement space with no windows, just a big open room with pretty low ceilings. They also have another area that’s closer to their museum section, so it does have taller ceilings but it still has no windows, it’s big, open and it’s very dark. It’s just not fun to be in those settings for several hours in a row and it kind of weighs down on you.
What was your biggest takeaway or lesson? I learned quite a bit throughout the day! One of my big takeaways was just how resourceful the Native Americans were and how they made certain things. It’s really cool to see how they used things like sticks, birch tree bark, rocks, reeds and turtle shells for making their wigwams, shovels, arrowheads, baskets, etc. I even learned that one of the things they’d use as string to tie arrowheads onto sticks was thin, cut up strips of the inside of an animal. I also thought it was interesting how they made certain things, like a canoe. They’d heat up rocks over a fire and then lay them on a tree trunk, which would burn away the wood and make it hollow.
I also learned, or maybe was reminded of since I might have known some of this, that parts of their culture or religion is pretty sinful and against God. We watched a video about a modern-day Native American man who grows rice. There were some things he said that got my attention, like how he’d pray to the rice and he said something about how he thinks the world will end if they stop doing something they’re doing. We determined afterward that they’re praying to and worshiping the creation, not the Creator. God wants us to enjoy nature and His creation, but not to the point where we start worshiping it. That’s sad, and I want to keep praying for Native Americans who participate and believe in sinful things.
What is something you’re curious to learn more about as a result of this experience? I’m curious to learn more about history around this time, especially about the pioneers and Europeans who traveled to our country and to Wisconsin. We didn’t learn a ton about them today but it reminded me of some of what we learned about them on past field trips there and I find their lives interesting.
Thank you for reading!
Lucy