Highlights From North Central OK Field Trip

We had quite a list of things to see on our field trip to north central Oklahoma this weekend, and ended up seeing them all plus some other unexpected sights!

Following is a brief run-down of what we did and saw:

Friday:

Ponca City, OK - Toured the Pioneer Woman Museum. Also ran across the new Standing Bear Memorial Park. (A very nice older couple told us where to find the labyrinth inside the park.)

Pioneer Woman Monument

Saturday:

It poured rain on us almost all day on Saturday, so we were unable to take outdoor photos of some of our stops....

Perry, OK - Toured the Cherokee Strip Museum (Learned about the Cherokee Strip Landrun of 1893.) Also toured the historical buildings behind the museum, including the Rose Hill School.

Zach, Testing His Vision Using an "Ancient" Eye Chart! Rose Hill One-Room Schoolhouse

Pawnee, OK - Toured Pawnee Bill's Museum and Mansion. Fascinating stuff here, especially the house. (And to think I'd never heard of Pawnee Bill before!) We drove through the buffalo preserve behind the museum; got to see some buffalo, longhorn steer, and horses up close!

Jenna at Pawnee Bill's Museum

Yale, OK - Toured the home of Jim Thorpe, once proclaimed "The World's Greatest Athlete"!

A Sampling of Jim Thorpe's Medals!

Stillwater, OK - Drove through the Oklahoma State University campus. We also ran across the Indian Meridian sign, from which we learned about how and where the Indian Territory and the Unassigned Lands were divided.

The Indian Meridian Sign

Sunday:

Langston, OK - We located the Indian Meridian monument, a fascinating historical marker chock full of interesting information. We also drove by Langston University, Oklahoma's own African-American college.

The Indian Meridian Monument

It was a great trip! We saw a lot, learned a lot, and gained even more appreciation for the history of our state. (And even Socrates had a good time!)

Socrates, Our Mascot and Favorite Four-Legged Friend!

Oklahoma History - 2

We're taking our second Oklahoma history field trip today. We're off to Ponca City to see the Pioneer Woman Museum, then to Perry to see the Cherokee Strip Museum and the Rose Hill School. Tomorrow, we're planning to go to Stillwater to see Oklahoma State University, (that's where I went to college!), and then to Pawnee to see the Pawnee Bill Museum. If we have time, we'll take a jaunt over to Jim Thorpe's Home.

This is the way history was meant to be learned: through seeing actual artifacts and exhibits, and through reading "living" books! (Wish my history teachers in public school had taught history this way!)

Oklahoma History

I can't believe it's September already! Where did August go?

We have been homeschooling a couple of weeks now, and just took our first "major" field trip. Since we're studying Oklahoma history this term, I thought it would be good to see some of the historic sites around our lovely state. So last weekend we drove east to Oklmulgee, Muskogee, and then on to Tahlequah. (If those aren't Indian names, I don't know what are!) We just happened to be in Tahlequah for the Cherokee National Holiday!

We went to several Indian museums and came across some wonderful exhibits, information, and people. The most fascinating person we met was the Cherokee National Blowgun champion, who gave us a lesson in the art (or is it sport?) of blowgun shooting. It was so much fun we had to buy a couple of them!

Since learning that the kids and I have some Cherokee blood in our veins the things we saw and heard became more significant to us. The Trail of Tears, for example, was a focus of one of the museums, and hearing stories from "true" American Indians (via video tape) who have lived that heritage was moving indeed.

Tomorrow we get back to the usual schedule after a long weekend.

And still I have so much planning to do before we take our month-long road trip to the Northeast!