Our Eclipse Trip 2017

Usually my blog posts on Boyschooling are about lessons learned from nature or other homeschooling insights, but this one is just a plain ol’ show-and-tell of our trip to see the total eclipse on the 21st of August.

The best my iphone could do!

If you’re anywhere between Texas and Maine in 2024, please block out a chance to get to a place of totality for yourself. Though we had to drive a total of 32 hours in three days to see it, we all feel it was wholly worth the trouble.

The main reason is this: you cannot fathom what a total eclipse looks like until you see it - my pictures can’t do it justice, and certainly, when I tried to take photos of it before the sun was completely covered, there was very little indication that the sun was almost fully covered.

The sun just basically looked like the same sun!

You can't tell the moon has almost
covered the sun in this photo.

Well, just indulge me a bit as I give you more of a photo montage of our journey and exploration: I think you’ll like it, especially if you are a nature-study-kind of person.

First of all, we had to drive from Round Rock, Texas, to Steelville, Missouri - that’s 731 miles each way via the shortest route. We went in two cars because there were eight of us: my hubby and 3 of my kids (one stayed behind because she hates road trips, and she wanted to help grandma who had just had surgery), and my friend from England with her two children.

One of the four states we visited

We took frequent stops for gas and snacks, bathroom breaks, and just because drivers should stop to refresh every two hours. With daylight fading, my friend and my hubby - both mathematicians - got into a big philosophical debate about the origins of the universe. I swear this delayed us by half an hour!

No ... but yes ... but no ... but ...

Finally, we arrived at our cabin in the woods near the Meramec River. This place was absolutely heavenly. Four bedrooms that slept 9, two covered porches with tons of bird feeders, frequented by all kinds of birds from woodpeckers to goldfinches to hummingbirds, a large dining room, utility room, three bathrooms, and two living rooms.

Definitely the queen at her palace!

Our big worry on the eclipse day was cloud cover. Weather reports were worrying, but long story short, we had the most glorious weather. In fact, for about the first hour as the moon crept across the sky, it was hot, hot, hot! We couldn’t sit in the shade because — well, it’s obvious if you think about it — you can’t see the sun if you’re shaded!

Making use of the eclipse glasses

Partway through, the temperature noticeably dropped. Everything got a weird gloaming glow about it: like sunset but with short, high-angled shadows. When the moon finally blocked the sun altogether, the cicadas stopped whirring but the crickets started chirping and the tree frogs started their serenade. That last all of about 2 minutes, but it was like time stood still.

Teens looks at the big screen in the sky

Then as the moon started receding, the sunshine came back on like flipping a switch, and the temperatures started to climb again, most of us lost interest in watching the second half.

Before long, we were hiking to the river and introducing our British friends to “tubing” - that is, sitting in an innertube and floating down the river. I didn’t want to reveal to them that I was stalking upstream in search for the tell-tale s-shaped ripples that one sees as a snake meanders down the current.

I thought that information was best kept to myself.

There's a flaw in his technique

We also skipped a lot of rocks. I mention this because I was the winner with 17 skips. My husband couldn’t even do one. That’s growing up in the UK for you (Just joking)

Timmy came second. SECOND!
Just want to make sure you get that.

Later, we went into Steelville to a little ma-and-pa country diner, the kind I used to go to as a kid: chicken-friend steak, catfish, bbq ribs, porkchops. 

Trying to eat ribs in a dainty way???

We literally closed the place down, but they loved all our accents so agreed to a group photo in celebration of my friend’s birthday.

Great end to a birthday of a lifetime!

We would have taken to the road nice and early the next morning, but a band of heavy rain was pushing through the area we’d be driving through for about 2 hours, so we lingered, watched the birds, drank coffee. My hubby and friend argued more about the universe.

What's the middle bit?

Finally, the rain moved on, so more or less retracing our path from Sunday, we arrived home early Wednesday morning about 1:30 am.

Still a loooong way to go

My friend wants me to add something here. When we left on Sunday, the day was cloudy. When we returned on Tuesday, the day was cloudy. All week since, it has been cloudy with showers, or as it is while I’m writing this, bucketing with the deluge from Hurricane Harvey.

Only Monday during the eclipse was a bright and beautiful day, and say it’s a coincidence all you want, but my friend had traveled over 5000 miles to see it for her birthday, and God made sure she got the present she was hoping for. What a good God!

Happy Birthday, Friend!
(PS Near totality: see how gloomy it is?)

English Civil War Workshop in Oxford

Traipsing around Oxford in the pouring rain in the wettest
winter on record (almost), we met up with 11 other homeschoolers at the Museum of Oxford for a workshop on the English Civil War.

Flood Times in February

Our hands-on portion was led by Kate of the Education Department, and she had the children try on replica clothes and think about what it would be like if suddenly 6000 extra people were billeted in a city of 10,000.

Kate Dresses a Cavalier

This discussion session usually takes about 45 minutes (so we were told), yet you know what homeschoolers are like:

• What do the beeswax candles smell like?
• How tall were the pikes?
• Did soldiers have to carry their blankets and food with them?
• What would water taste like if you drank it out of a leather flagon?
• Why would you even drink the water, if 6000 extra people were throwing their sewage into the Thames?

Look at all those raised hands!

So the 45-minute session turned in 1 1/2 hours, capped off by the chance to write with quill pens on parchment paper.

Getting the Knack with Quill and Ink

"Dear Mom, I gave my wife the
keys and she won't let me in
the house. Thanks."

The last part of the 2-hour workshop entailed some time in the museum collection, but unlike the previous incarnation of the museum, with lots of bits and bobs from the Civil War era, the current displays have very little to see of any era, and was very disappointing. Judging from the website, this is only temporary as the real galleries are due to open next month after refurbishment.

Killer in a Bowler

To me, the best part of these workshops are meeting other homeschoolers in the area. Today's group seemed especially wonderful, for some reason. Attentive and inquisitive, knowledgeable and keen, the kids seemed to get a lot out of it, and let others get a lot out of it, too (including the four mums and dads who stayed to join in).

A Mum Lurking for Her Turn
with the Quill Pen!

Meet My Kids

I had a glance at my blog today, trying to see what it would say about myself to a friend whom I've not seen since at least high school.

My first thought was that, though it showed I was busy, homeschooling, and seriously "into" my projects, it also seemed to wrongly suggest that I had only two boys.

So, here's a recent photo of my family: girl, boy, girl, boy, and hubby, and myself.

Cheers!

Top of Helvellyn, September 2013
I'm saying "ow, ow, ow" because I'd set the camera timer for 10 seconds, tripped over a rock, ripped my thumb, & tried to smile for the photo.  L to Right: Hubby, Busy Timmy, Phoenix, Rocky (with a sweet in her mouth), Killer, & myself.

Training for September

While many homeschooling families are starting their school year, or getting geared up to start, we're still in holiday mode, and preparing instead for a week of walking in the English Lake District.

Garden Views at our Favourite Holiday Cottage
in Ambleside, Cumbria, England

Ten minutes from our house is Blenheim Palace, a World Heritage site that has not only a beautiful stately home to visit, but also a brilliant 4-mile driveway which encircles the park, taking us over picturesque bridges, through Ent-like ancient forests, and fields of baby pheasants which are just changing into their adult plumage.

We decided to use this route for our training because we have an annual ticket to it, so we get in free, and because there are such good facilities at the beginning and end of the walk, especially ice cream!

Exercising in Style!

For three days, we tackled just a single circuit.  At the end of these walks, we stopped off at the walled garden and played in the maze, on the playground equipment, and challenged each other to giant chess.

Busy Timmy Swings,
Killer and Rocky Play Giant Garden Games

The fourth day, we wanted to attempt a double circuit, that is, 8 miles. We enlisted some help. First, our friends from nearby: Misses P and R, and Master F.

Friends make the Miles Seem Shorter

After a picnic, we were joined by a large crowd, all siblings.  Mayhem helped while away the time.

Many Mouths Make for a Noisy Trip!

We even think we discovered where the Ent-wives of Lord of the Rings have gone!

Busy Timmy with some Busy Buddies

We were very pleased with our 20 miles this week, and hope the weather remains dry and warm for the next week as we make our preparations.

I was reminded of how this week is similar to homeschooling in general. Take it slow and steady, keep the end in mind, don't be afraid to reward, and sometimes it's good to invite others along for the journey.

Taking the Train after a Job Well Done!

Camping When It's Term Time (School on the Move)

One of the advantages of homeschooling is the ability to go on holiday when the prices are lower, the venues are less crowded, and the field trips can be clustered if they're far from home.

Recently, we took a camping trip in June for just that reason.

A tranquil little tent by the pond.

June? you might say.  Yes, in England, June is still smack in the middle of term time.  Even the private schools, which break up much earlier than the state sector, are limping toward the end of their term in June, not finishing till the first week of July.  Only A-level students, finished with exams, and some university students, are free for the summer by then; everyone else has to wait till July.

We decided on our campground based on an eclectic range of criteria: within 2 hours' drive, affordable price, allows campfires, working farm, fishing, and proper toilets/showers that aren't coin-operated. We chose Lower Hill Farm near Much Wenlock in Shropshire. Although this is a very handy place for the wonderful collection of Victorian-era museums in Ironbridge, we had already been there a few years before, so we opted instead for some English Heritage sites: Much Wenlock Priory and Wroxeter Roman City.

Our campsite, being on the footpath along Wenlock Edge, was close enough to the village to take a lovely forest stroll there and back.

Kids walk faster on their way back to camp!

The priory at Much Wenlock is near the town centre.  It's a tranquil little patch of a ruined priory, interesting to me for two reasons: first, it's about the only Cluniac church I've every seen (most are Cistercian or Benedictine, I think), and is, I think, the only one in England to have a lavabo, which is a big outdoor washing station for about 16 monks to use before going in to dine.

It wouldn't be a set of ruins that I'd take a special trip to see.  Not so much remains of it, and even the lavabo looks like a giant wheel-cog stuck in the middle of a little grassy square, having lost most of its carvings and its octagonal roofed structure in days gone by. It is, however, pleasant for a picnic, and fits into the wider study we've taken about medieval churches -- tiles like Winchester cathedral, a chapter house with some Viking-style carvings, a clear distinction between dressed stone versus the softer, more distressed stone underneath (now weathered and forlorn), and the knowledge that a woman saint was once buried near the eastern columns (now only circles in the grass), attracting pilgrims in much the same way as St Albans, St Birinus, St Thomas Becket, and the many other saints we've seen over the year.

Some walls still standing at Much Wenlock

The next day, Wroxeter required a car trip, along the smallest, narrowest, most challenging roads I think I've had the unlucky privilege to meet! Yet, it was worth it.  They have a number of interesting ruins to mooch around on one side of the road, and a recreated Roman villa on the other.  The villa seems to be a new project, with only some of the rooms furnished, but I was glad to be able to see it as a replica, helping me understand Roman life even better.

Recreated Roman Villa at Wroxeter

The great advantage of English Heritage sites is that, as home educators, we are able to apply in advance for free entry to the sites as an educational group. We don't even have to be members.

Back at the campsite, we had another educational experience when we learned to fish the English way.  First of all, the easiest and cheapest equipment were poles called "whips", which are basically telescopic poles with a bit of line on the end, a bobber, and a small, barbless hook.  Bait?  Just kernels of sweetcorn or even plain white bread.  No rod and reels, no lures, no worms -- nothing I grew up doing in Texas.  Also, no keeping the fish either.  In England, angling is strictly a sport, and though there are a few places which will let you keep the fish for eating, they will be few and far between, and are closely regulated.

Rocky and Killer use a net to get the carp

Another lesson was that of perseverance.  Poor Phoenix.  She sat and sat and sat, baited and re-baited, tossed out her line again and again and again, and in the end ...

Phoenix with her hard-earned catch

... caught the biggest carp of the day!

The nights of an English summer are very long in coming.  The fishing pictures above were both taken after dinner, probably about 9 pm.  It was about then that I lit the evening campfire, we sat around the flames, and told ghost stories (but not too scary, or the kids would have nightmares, and I'd have to cram too many people in my sleeping bag!).  

Family focus around the fire

We also continued our tradition of using wooden skewers to paint interesting patterns in the night sky -- a bit like sparklers without the spark.  We are very fond of this method, and highly recommend it to Americans whose children are afraid of sparklers on the 4th of July.  This is perfectly safe, and provides a lot more fun for the money.

Busy Timmy makes a halo with his skewer

Staying at a working farm had some great advantages, including being able to buy fresh sausages, and pork-and-apple hamburgers right out of the farmers' back door.  On my night to cook, I bought 15 burgers for our little homeschooling party of 10.  Two vegetarians, and yet, all burgers eaten!  Wow!

Rachel the Roaster BBQs some "dogs"

Finally, we came to packing up on the Thursday after three wonderful nights.  Having had no rain, all the equipment was dry (rare in England), and even though we'd eaten most of the food I'd brought, we were still struggling to find places for everything to fit in the van.  The biggest triumph was my being able to fold up the pop-up tents successfully -- having watched the instructional videos many-a-time, I felt proud to have been able to do it for real.

One 4-man tent, twisted and folded to the size of a bike tire

A Homeschoolers' Kind of Field Trip

In April (2013), our history co-op arranged a workshop with a local National Trust property called Upton House. The remit was to discuss a number of their medieval paintings, learning to de-code their symbolism, and also appreciate what was medieval about them.

Upton House
A National Trust property near Banbury

Upton House is a great place to do this kind of in-depth study of art because:

• it offers its educational workshops when the house is closed, so we can have the place to ourselves;
• its education department is very good with young people, and handles any behavioural issues like Asperger's very well.
• its works of art are deliberately displayed without glass in their frames, at eye height, and without ropes to prevent getting close, so that people can best appreciate them;
• its art collection is extensive and of high quality, including works by painters like El Greco, Hieronymous Bosch, Tintoretto, and others (later painters include Hogarth, Canaletto, and Gainsborough).

For 1 1/2 hours, the co-op students were face-to-face with some of the works of the greatest painters in the Middle Ages, studying symbolism of flowers, of characterization, of colour, of fable, myth, and legend.

The Co-op examines Hieronymous Bosch (1450-1516),
"Adoration of the Magi"
One of them said, "Oh, how much like Dali it is!"

After the workshop, we adjourned to the lovely gardens on a beautiful spring morning. We had our picnic lunches and let the children play in the woods and by the ponds, on the stairs and amongst the flowers, waiting for the house to open to the public so that we could wander around the house and view some more of its vast art collection.

Picnic in the Park

We also were keen to get back into the house to see what changes had been made since we'd last come here three years previous, when we had visited as part of a study of the 1930s. The excellent Education Department had, at that time, assigned each of the children a role in the household staff and proceeded to explain all their duties during a typical weekend of that era. The Education Officer played the role of Lady Bearsted (of Shell Oil fame), and even my volatile 8-year-old (elevated to the stately role as butler) was the picture of duty, submission, and importance.

Last Time at Upton House
"You just can't get the staff!"

And yet, in true homeschoolers' fashion, we ditched the planned return to the interior of the house and left the children to the roaming, the exploring, the delighting in the senses, soaking up the sun and bathing their feet in the cool water of the "Mirror Lake". One of the few days so far this year with some warmth (we all got sunburned), and we decided to let the children just BE.

Exploring the Gardens

Enjoying the Sun and Friends at Mirror Lake

So, we never did get "back to business", yet it was one of my favourite field trips we've ever taken.

Oh My Gosh -- Is that Baldrick????

Is that ...? Is that ...?
It IS!!! Baldrick from Black Adder
(not that my mommy ever lets me watch that show!)

Through the Oxfordshire Home-Ed grapevine, we heard that the actor, Tony Robinson, was going to be giving a talk to primary-aged students in Oxford, sponsored by Blackwells, the local publisher and book shop.

Perhaps you know Tony Robinson as Blackadder's sidekick, Baldrick, or more recently, as the front-man for the documentary series about archeology, Time Team.

Tony Robinson explaining why we started a half-hour late:
it was a broken train!

Robinson has recently embarked on writing a series of Horrible-Histories-style books about the empires of Egypt, Greece, Rome, and Great Britain, and is soon to release two books about the World Wars.

Although we have read the one about the Romans before and thought it was so-so (the highest marks went to the translation of "There's a banana in my ear" into Latin), we didn't want to miss a chance to hear an author talk about his work.

He was high-energy, interactive, entertaining. He finished off with a quick story about empires and their desire for gold, having the audience shout out "gold" whenever he held up the prompt on a placard.

It wasn't, however, like talks we've seen before at World Book Day such as those given by Chris Bradford (Young Samurai series) or Andy Cope (Spy Dog/Spy Pup) with their slide shows and demonstrations (Bradford showed us some ninja skills, and Cope brought his dog, who was the basis of the Spy Dog books).

Book Signing

Perhaps that was because Robinson was late, his train having been stuck behind a broken one, and couldn't set up anything all-singing and all-dancing.  Still, for about half-an-hour, the 100-plus kids were spell-bound and focused, and then there was the 15 minutes or so of obligatory book signing.

All in all, a good afternoon out, even if the event itself was rather short-lived. I suppose if the weather had been tipping with rain, I might think differently -- the sunshine meant we had a lovely walk in the ancient city of Oxford regardless.