…my best field trip suggestions would be:
In addition, you can order an excellent brochure, Texas Forts Trail, free of charge from the Texas Historical Commission. The ruins at Fort Phantom Hill are a favorite of mine!
…you are have many great field trips nearby!
The play, TEXAS LEGACIES, is an annual summer tradition in the Palo Duro Canyon. In my opinion it’s well worth the cost and effort, and is a fine way to get kids excited about their state’s history or make sure your school year ends with “a bang instead of a fizzle.” The show runs through the summer season, but seats fill quickly! It’s not too early to begin planning to attend.
Until then, you can enjoy a number of other field trips in your area:
Even if you’re a tea-totaller, the Texas wine industry is one to take note of. Rising from humble beginnings, Texas now ranks as the 5th largest wine-producing state.
It’s not too surprising, perhaps, to find vineyards in the Hill Country where many German immigrants settled, but vineyards can be found in almost every region.
Grapes are harvested in the fall. Contact a winery near you for a great field trip!
Texas does sport Autumn color, but you may have to get out a bit to enjoy it!
This is a great time of year to plan a family outing to one of our great state parks. After a nature hike, how about a picnic or cook-out, complete with s’mores? Don’t forget the marshmallows!
It is natural to view history from our own perspective, but we can learn interesting things by putting ourselves in another position to see how things looked from that side.
Imagine, if you will, that you are a Native Texan living when the first explorers arrive from Spain. It must feel like an alien invasion! The men wear metal breastplates and helmets that gleam in the sun. Their faces are covered with hair (uncommon among native peoples) or a chain mail buffe that makes it difficult to see their features or read their expressions. They ride large, strange beasts that you have never seen before. (Horses were unknown in the New World before the Spaniards arrived.) They tower over you.
Do you feel curious? Scared? Wary? Defensive?
When they speak, their language is strange. You don’t understand. You try to guess what they might be saying. “Who are you?” And you answer. “Tejas–friends!” (Maybe because you hope they won’t attack you.) Many of the words the explorers wrote down as tribal names translate to “People” (as opposed to whatever it is you and that animal are) or “the best of men” (…so don’t try anything).
And when you learn, through a series of gestures, that they landed on the coast and ran afoul of a mean-tempered tribe there, you exclaim “Attakapa!” The Spaniards write it down as if you’ve told them the name of the tribe they encountered. What you actually said was more like, “Oh, my goodness! Those guys eat folks!”
It’s amazing the things you can find on the internet. Really. And if you have an academic bent and love history, you can learn a lot by chasing down links from article to article.
I am such an “academic.” For those of you who are not, that translates “dork” and you can go to sleep now and save yourself an excursion that is sure to bore you to sleep anyway. For the rest of you…
LOOK WHAT I FOUND!
(Seriously, only a dork could be this excited over a 470-year-old list of “Things to Bring”…)
This is the muster list of equipment* that Francisco Vasquez de Coronado’s men took with them on their expeditions:
Cavalry Equipment (225 horsemen)
Armor:
Weapons:
INFANTRY EQUIPMENT (62 men, 5 of whom also had horses)
Armor:
Weapons:
*Many thanks to the National Park Service’s Cabrillo National Monument website
On Oct. 26, 1930 the Southern Methodist University Mustangs took the field against the Indiana Hoosiers in the first football game ever played in the brand new Cotton Bowl in Dallas Fair Park. The new stadium could hold 46,000 cheering fans–three times as many as the old Fair Park Stadium that had occupied the site since 1921. As they inaugurated a classic Texas landmark, perhaps it’s fitting that SMU won the game 27-0.
Though they look very dashing and cavalier in the pictures, the conquistadors may have been a more motley crew.
Officers were likely noblemen or at least wealthy, so they were better equipped with horses and gear. But the price of a full suit of armor was comparable to buying a luxury car. Besides, can you imagine riding in hot, humid Texas weather and baking inside an metal oven? A breastplate and helmet may have seemed a favorable option.
As for the soldiers, there was no standard uniform. Each man was responsible to provide his own, though a weapon, a helmet, and a shield were often required as a minimum. The commoners who signed on as cavalry and infantry opted for a quilted cotton jacket or a vest or sleeveless shirt of chainmail to protect their torsos. Price was a consideration more important than fashion, and sometimes more important than safety or effectiveness. Fortunately, there were always soldiers willing to unload their obsolete armor at a discount to poor adventurers headed for the New World.
And those “pumpkin pants”? Probably not. That anachronism belongs in Elizabethan England. Even the name “Conquistador” was not coined until over a century after the expeditions.
And I’ll let you guess how many changes of clothes they brought along…and then imagine how they smelled.
Our family recently signed up for a new adventure. We offered to host a foreign student from the local college, inviting her to our home for meals and generally making her feel welcome during her time in Texas. That, plus an article I read in the archives of Texas Highways Magazine about “True, Texas”, inspired me to think…
Please feel free to comment on this post. I’m open to suggestions for ways to make visitors feel at home!
If your family is outdoorsy–enjoys camping, hiking, hunting, fishing, bird watching and the like–then you don’t want to miss the Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine (http://www.tpwmagazine.com/). You can follow them on Facebook or subscribe to RSS feed to read their articles online OR you can subscribe to a print copy of the magazine for just $12/year and get a gift subscription at the same time for $8 more. That’s about as affordable as homeschool educational materials get!
And the Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine is educational. Click the “Keep Texas Wild” Teacher Resources button on the homepage to find lesson plans on Texas Rivers, Buffalo Soldiers, indigenous wildlife, and more.
And, like Texas Highways, they have great sections on Travel and State Parks where you’ll get all sorts of ideas for field trips in your area.
To extend your student’s interest in Texas, I give the Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine two thumbs up!
