Stay with your chaperones
This morning we headed down to the Chicago Historical Society for a quick field trip. It was just three families who met initially... and one of them was not the P. family, so our numbers were quite low for us. (The P. family joined us a little later, which is probably just as well, as you will see.) The museum is free this month and since the H-S family has been studying Chicago, they invited us to join them.
So, it's about 10 am on a weekday morning in September which means that the school field trips have yet to resume in overwhelming quantities. The museum is not busy with just a few other visitors. We enter the museum. I have 7 children with me, there are 4 H-S children, and 2 children belonging to our friend who made up the third family. (I told you we were a small group.) As we approach the desk to gain entrance to the museum, we are waylaid by a museum employee, "Excuse me, but what are you? Are you a school group?"
"Well, no, we are just three families. We do homeschool, though." said by three different mothers in unison.
"Why don't you just come this way. This is the way the school groups should enter. We don't want to clog up the entrance lines," as she marches in another direction and beckons us to follow her. "Here are some school group museum maps. Please don't use the elevators. And remember, the next time you come, be sure to phone ahead so that we know you will be here," she continues.
In the meantime, children are starting to get antsy and ask questions, such as, "What are we doing?" "Why is she doing this?" "When do we get to go see the museum?"
And then, just to prove a complete and total lack of understanding as to who is standing before her she begins to talk to the assembled children. "Remember to use your indoor voices and be sure to stay with your chaperones."
Chaperone. That is what I think I will call myself for the rest of the day.
So, it's about 10 am on a weekday morning in September which means that the school field trips have yet to resume in overwhelming quantities. The museum is not busy with just a few other visitors. We enter the museum. I have 7 children with me, there are 4 H-S children, and 2 children belonging to our friend who made up the third family. (I told you we were a small group.) As we approach the desk to gain entrance to the museum, we are waylaid by a museum employee, "Excuse me, but what are you? Are you a school group?"
"Well, no, we are just three families. We do homeschool, though." said by three different mothers in unison.
"Why don't you just come this way. This is the way the school groups should enter. We don't want to clog up the entrance lines," as she marches in another direction and beckons us to follow her. "Here are some school group museum maps. Please don't use the elevators. And remember, the next time you come, be sure to phone ahead so that we know you will be here," she continues.
In the meantime, children are starting to get antsy and ask questions, such as, "What are we doing?" "Why is she doing this?" "When do we get to go see the museum?"
And then, just to prove a complete and total lack of understanding as to who is standing before her she begins to talk to the assembled children. "Remember to use your indoor voices and be sure to stay with your chaperones."
Chaperone. That is what I think I will call myself for the rest of the day.
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