Marching through History

My IRL friend, Dorothy, sent me these great pictures of her three sons enjoying Marching Through History.  Taking place in Chino, CA, this festival celebrates the various military campaigns throughout history with full costume and reenactments.

Dorothy tells me "Here are some pictures of the marching thru History event we went to in Chino.  It is really great.


We spent about 30+ minutes talking to this guy about Roman battle techniques.  Including how they could wear these very heavy chain mail.   And he showed the kids how they marched and fought.  

We also talked to a middle ages mercenary from Germany, who told us how much they got paid and why they did it.

We saw a Civil War re-anactment.   Cannons and all.

5 hours and we only talked to 5 people in depth.

Learned all about the first flint guns.  Lots of people really into history...

Lots of fun."

It's enough to make me want to move back to California!!

Next years event will be October 1 & 2, 2011.  Anybody wanna meet there?

Now, to stack the deck:  Notice what time periods were of particular interest to each child.  And strategically place books on that period around the house for them to "discover".  

I know this works, because my Jor Man, who is fascinated with Greek myths ate up a book that had been on our shelves, but he had missed.  Sometimes kids just need to see the cover, or even the inside of the book to get interested.  I left D'Aulaire's Greek Myths lying open on the sofa - and the next day, he had devoured it.  

How great are these costumes?  Getting to play the part adds such richness to the learning experience.  Some kids are kinesthetic learners, and really need this type of experience.  But everyone can benefit from coming at a subject from many different angles.

I'll bet these boys will always remember this day!

The Redcoats are coming!!  

Pirate training!

Current day warriors

Wish you were here!