So the Little Lady and I went with Honey’s mom to check out the home, barracks, mission and so forth in Sonoma of General Vallejo. Of course I was stupid and for whatever reason, I who always carries her camera to new places, did not take it. Hopefully there will be a reason to go back and I can do so then.
Anyway, if you want to teach your kids some history about hard work and strife, this is the place to go check out. They have guided tours, but we didn’t go on one of those, and you might enjoy it more if you do so. It’s basic California history that we were learning and the reason we started doing this was for the Little Lady (not so much for me, but I learn new things, too) since she wasn’t here to have California history in 4th grade.
That was something new I learned as well. Every school in the state has a specific type of history you learn each year. 4th grade is California history, like I mentioned and when the Little Lady started school here in 7th grade they did Middle Eastern history. In 6th grade it would have been Egyptian. They don’t do anything like that in the schools in Ohio. You move from one district to another and you are most likely ahead or behind, depending on how well the students learn. Also in Ohio they do Ohio history, but it’s not all that indepth and certainly not for a whole year. You move from local history to national history to world history and then they go into governmental studies and that’s about it.
So we had a great time learning about General Vallejo and his family, looking at the barracks he and his men stayed in, looking at their Victorian styled home, and the mission was great. We also learned about the Bear Flag Revolt, which didn’t even last a full month before the good ole’ USA took their flag down and replaced it with the Stars and Stripes. That’s right, less than a month. They only have a copy of the flag in the barraks because the original was destroyed in the fires following the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco.
Overall it was great to learn about the history of the state and how it became part of the US. There are some amazing paintings in the mission of other missions by Chris Jorgensen, yes he was Norwegian, in watercolors. He had an amazing eye and incredible talent the years he painted the other missions. So if you’re ever in Sonoma and want to get a touch of history, these would be the places to go. Hopefully next time I’ll have photos! Laters.
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