Brass Rubbings,Medieval Lessons & Mc Donalds

Last week we went to THIS....

The London Brass Rubbing Center at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Long Beach. We had a great lesson on knights, lords and ladies. We held real armor (which was insanely heavy) and were able to see and hear the history of (the reason we were there) the Brasses.

“Brasses” were engraved with likenesses of Medieval people ( mostly the wealthy and powerful), set in stone slabs, and placed in churches and cathedrals throughout England and Europe as memorials as early as the 13th century. With a kindergartner, we did not come away with all the information that maybe an older child would have. But, when we left Rebekah understood they didn’t have cameras in those days, this is how they would take a picture, so that they could be remembered for generations. A lesson learned.

To be honest my kids were the youngest there, and I took them more out of my own curiosity. This year of homeschooling is all about seeing what is out there and available and I am sure many events and things we do this year we will revisit in future years and, at that time, we will be able to put more background work in before we go and then retain more when we leave. We are exploring this new ground we have ventured onto. 

so here are some pictures of our day of time travel……

 

Sorry for the blurriness of the picture…… The girls trying to lift the armor.

Now for the “activity” that brought us here….. Brass Rubbing.

They had almost 200 brasses there, some almost life size. The originals were life size but we, of course, only saw remakes. I tried to find the most simple of all the brasses for our girls to use……

Final outcome…..

And it has kind of become our field- trip- tradition for the girls and I to go to McDonalds on our way home from our outing. They don’t seem to mind it. ;)

Here they are with their first ever Mc Donalds apple pie. I actually only think I have maybe had 1 in my lifetime. The girls each had change in their pockets (from who knows where) and kept asking if they could pay for something. Well after counting Anna’s 58 cents and Rebekah’s 64 cents, 50 cent apple pies was our only choice. I am pretty sure it was an ok option. :)

A good day!