“My name is Kristin, and I’m a homeschool mom.” This is a phrase, 15 years ago, I never thought I’d say. Kinda like when I announced to my husband, “I’ll never drive a wood-grained paneled mini van.” You guessed it! That was the very, next car I drove. I ate my words.
Nine years ago, I embarked on a new adventure, the one of a homeschool mom. Our family sold our home, our belongings, packed it up and moved to Hawaii for a few months where we were training to serve abroad. I didn’t have a choice but to homeschool. Really, I was getting schooled, quickly! Our travels took us around the world and it didn’t take me long to realize my kids were learning from life experiences in ways classrooms and books would never be able to deliver. We studied about castles and knights, months before we knew we were headed to Ireland to explore old castle ruins. My oldest four kids were getting a real life education.
So, when Little Man came along, I knew from jump the value of real life experience learning. He just started kindergarten this year. A couple of weeks ago, I was approached by Medieval Times. They invited us to come and have a Medieval feast. I jumped at the chance! Little Man is right at that age where sword play and “good vs. bad” guys is the theme in every make believe game. He even has his action figures arranged in his room with the “good” guys on one side of the room and the “bad guys” on the other.
He had been begging me all last spring to take him to Medieval Times. I can’t begin to tell you how fun it was to tell him we had reservations! He did a little dance.
He got his crown and was quickly greeted by the falcon and his handler.
We sat down at our banquet table, ready for the show to begin.
And my husband and I watched the show through the eyes of our five year old.
He took in every knight, every sword, every battle move and fight stance. How do I know? Because he’s been recreating them almost every day since we visited.
The feast of roasted chicken and ribs, filled us up, the servers in character made the evening more realistic and the show came to life for our Little Man. I think Medieval Times is a great place to take the whole family, but if you take kids between the ages of 5-10, it will inspire a love for learning through a real life experience!
Thank you Medieval Times for your hospitality and for kicking our homeschool, kindergarten year off right!
*I was invited along with my husband and son, to Medieval Times’ Baltimore Castle, as their guest. The opinions about the experience, however, is entirely our own.
