We just finished reading A Single Shard, a great book about making pottery in Korea several hundred years ago. (To read more about using a literature-based history program, click HERE.) It was also about time for a field trip. I found a pottery shop in Intercourse which is only about twenty minutes away from our house. We visited an insect shop across from the pottery store and included some science as part of our history and art field trip. There were lots of tourists at these shops. One lady from Brooklyn asked me if I was a Mormon. (That's a new one. I've been asked if I am Amish, a nun, and the coach of a basketball team, but never that one before.) So, this lady and I had a nice little discussion about religion.
Then we got to the pottery store and enjoyed seeing all sorts of wonderful stuff. I had called about this ahead of time, so at the store we asked for directions to the studio so that we could see the potter actually throwing clay. The next part was fabulous. We got to see the potter making pitchers, his assistant glazing plates, and the kilns where the firing is done. We talked about air bubbles and oxidation in the firing process.
I decided to pass up my favorite quilt store as we were getting a little hungry and I still had algebra lessons to grade. We stopped for a pretzel and a pop on the way home. Yay for field trips!
