This is not an academic post. Today I wouold like to wish my wife a very happy 8th Anniversary. It has been a great 8 years hun and I miss you dearly today. Thank you so much for letting me go on this trip two years in a row and miss this special day together as you have stayed home and taken care of our two wonderful boys. We will celebrate when I get home, promise. Love you hun.
P.S. I promise I will not be having lunch by a Lighthouse or eating or Maine Lobster for dinner this year. 
Having a wonderful mother-in-law who is Mennonite and over the years has exposed me to that religion as well as the Amish in both southern and Northern Indiana I came in to today knowing a bit more then some in our group but even I experienced some things an learned some things I never knew about these two amazing groups of people. Before I get into how I would use today’s experience in the classroom I just want to comment on what a rare treat today really was for all of us. As I said before I have been around the Amish before and though they have been polite to me and even my wife’s mom who they grew up around they kept a distance from us not wanting to get to friendly with us “English”. Tonight that family treated to something you just don’t get everyday. What a beautiful and amazing family, the food was the best we have had on the trip, and when they sang for us, well that was a a rare treat indeed.
How I would use today’s trip in the classroom. I suppose the best place to bring these people up in a U.S. History class would have to be when I would discuss the Pilgrims and their reasons for coming to the new World. I don’t think many people realize that the Mennonites were being persucuted for their beliefs back in Europe and that they just like the Pilgrims came to the new world for a new start. You could also work them in as you discussed with your class the different colonies and talk about how William Penn and his belief that all religions and people should be welcome to his colony. You could also use he Amish and the way they live as an example of what life kind of was like in the America’s since so many of the things they did back then they still do today to an extent. The last thing you could do is talk about the social responsibilities the Amish has taken on over the year’s and how these folks have given a hand to those in dire need and show how they have helped victims of hurricanes and tornados and such.
I am extremely grateful for the late stat we got on this day, my tank was leaning a bit towards empty and I needed a break. First off I would love to talk about the building itself, wow what a great place to have it and what an amazing structure. Our tour guide told us the reason for the design as wel as many of the other buildings in the city had a “Greek” influence to it is because at one time it was concsidered to be the “Athens” of the West because of the democracy that took place here in the creation of our country. That in itself would be a great teaching point in any American History class.
How would I use the “American” collection in my classroom? Although I myself grew up in the mountains of hick town USA LA Veta, Colorado; My parens who had grown up in Thousand Oaks, California and London England made a point to take adavantage of any arts we had in La Veta and drag us up to plays, musicals, art museums in Pueblo, Colorado Springs and Denver in a n effort to make sure we appreciated that part of society. OVer the years as a teacher I have tried my best to do the same with my students, at the Connect School they already do that to an extent but for those 9 years at Vineland those kids needed to be exposed to that element of our culture. The arts need to be a part of our kids life and using the online versions of some of our countries artists give the kids an appreciation for just how important it was for those people to establish themselves and give America its own unique style of art making our country even more different and more seperated from our colonial roots. Below you will find a small sampliing of some of my favorite pieces of the museum as well as for the capture the kids attention picture of the Rocky Statue that I would use as a hook to get the m into the rest of the art.
