OLD DRY ROAD FARM
SCHOOL PROGRAM
AMERICAN STUDIES: The Traditional Folk Culture
The Old Dry Road Farm, Inc., a non-profit restoration and living history project, is a unique learning experience for children. The American Studies program is designed to give students the experience of living our cultural heritage. The program presents a series of demonstration lessons that recreate various aspects of daily life of the 18th and 19th centuries in rural America. The demonstrations are given by volunteers interested in folk arts and crafts. Children actually learn by performing the skills once needed for life on rural farms in America.
School Programs at The Farm
HOW DOES THE PROGRAM WORK?
Schools plan their visits with the aid of our program director, selecting demonstrations that are relevant and applicable to classroom learning. The visit to the farm is not a “field trip", but a learning experience designed to supplement the school curriculum.
WHAT HAPPENS AT THE FARM?
When the students arrive, they are given a brief orientation to the farm, its history and its purpose. The students are then divided into small groups of 15 or fewer and assigned to a learning station. They then begin a three- or four-program cycle during which they participate in the preselected experiences of the traditional folk culture. Each demonstration lasts between 20 to 30 minutes. At the end of each session the students proceed to the next learning station on their schedules. At the end of the cycle, students regroup at the orientation center for lunch. Weather permitting, a walking tour of the facilities is conducted after lunch. There are no facilities at the farm other than drinking water and lavatory. Appropriate dress is very important since all activities are outside or in unheated barns.
PARTICIPATION ACTIVITIES OFFERED
• Making hex signs
• Candle dipping
• Churning butter
• Traditional gardening
• Making cider with a press - Fall only
• Traditional children’s games
• Making traditional toys
• Making traditional candy
• Using quill pens/Fraktur
• Quilting
• Scherenschnitte
Programs operate rain or shine.
Availability dependent on volunteer schedules
Old Dry Road Farm requests direct teacher contact; therefore, our program director will contact individual teachers rather than supervisors or principals.
Contact for more information or to arrange a visit:
Heather Yatron
School Program Director
610-678-3381
