Earlier this month, I was asked to take part in Multi-Cultural Day at Covington Classical Academy (in partnership with Community Montessori) to teach the classes about Ukraine. I was totally honored to be asked to represent Ukraine, but at the same time I felt really nervous. After all, I have really only fully been on my own ancestry journey for the last 2 years now and felt that a native would have been a lot more knowledgeable.

I wore my Vyshyvanka & my Vinok so that the students could see an example of  Ukrainian clothing. I brought handmade Nalysnyky (Ukrainian crepes) with me that I still had frozen from the Ukrainian Food Festival, accompanied by a delicious cherry sauce for each student to sample.

First we went through the PowerPoint that our Ukrainian teacher had put together. That included information about Ukraine, it’s location, famous Ukrainians, and foods from Ukraine. I explained that the Ukrainian flag is blue to represent the sky, and yellow to represent the wheat.

I explained to the students what UNWLA (Ukrainian National Women’s League of America) is, who we are, and what we do. I shared photos from previous Cultural Arts classes we have hosted.

I brought my older girls, Елла і Мія, with me to show off what they have been learning in Cincinnati Ukrainian School. They helped me teach the class how to say “Hello, my name is ___, what is your name? It is nice to meet you.” They would break down the sentence and then have the students repeat after them. Then the students would repeat the phrase to the student across from them.

We then taught the students how to spell their names in Ukrainian language. I had them try to find their name out of the list and then write it down. It was really impressive how quickly the students were able to find their own name in a language they had no prior knowledge of.

I passed around Ukrainian Hryvnia (their currency) that I had from my own childhood that my Тато had given me.

I then passed around a photo book I have about Ukraine and Ukrainians, along with Ukrainian/English translation books while students tried on Vyshyvanki from Chernivsti, a necklace we made at one of our cultural arts classes last year, and the vinok. We took a polaroid photo of each student (who wanted to participate) in Ukrainian dress to send home with them.

I feel like we did a pretty good job for our very first teaching event. I felt much more confident by the second presentation. I learned what worked and what I would do differently next time:

• I would like to have a visual presentation board
• I would like to collect authentic jewelry, vinok, & other items to have for show.
• I would like to incorporate music or National Anthem
• I would like to teach more about Ukraine’s history & geography than culture.
• I would bring Varenyky for food item.

The teachers & students sent us thank you letters, explaining their favorite things we taught them. I omitted the student’s signatures for their privacy.

I am, again, so honored to have been asked to represent Ukraine for Multi-Cultural Day. When I first began homeschooling it was a huge goal & priority for our own family to learn about where our family came from + the language. I never imagined that one day we would be asked to go to a school to teach their students what we have learned. It’s amazing where following your dreams leads you.

Until next time ♡ Mama Morozov

We took a field trip downtown today to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center Museum today to learn about our country’s history & present day.

The general admission cost is $16.50 per adult (or $14.00 for seniors 65+), $11.50 for kids (ages 3-12), or free for children under 3. They also offer membership which was $52 for a family of 2 adults & 10 kids, so we went with that option. They do offer a homeschool discount, and if you plan a field trip with at least 15 students, they offer a field trip discount of $8.00 per student & chaperone. 

There is educational materials available to print HERE for grades 4-12 for self-guided tours in the museum and other learning resources available HERE for grades K-12.

The museum begins on the 3rd floor and you work your way back down to the 1st floor. It is intense and there are a lot of sensitive issues to take in. My family does not believe in censorship & we do not shelter our children about such topics in any way, but I do not recommend taking small children. They could not understand what was going on and wanted to play with the displays, which was either prohibited or way beyond their level. It was difficult for them to pay attention, making it difficult for us to learn.

The 3rd floor was really neat- it took us through the very beginning of slavery to present-day human-trafficking. We didn’t make it through the 2nd floor, which was the Underground Railground, so I would really like to go back myself, as well as with the older children now that we are members, to be able to slow down and actually take in more information & see everything we missed. 

There is no parking directly for the museum, but there are paid parking garages nearby or street parking available if you know how to parallel park. I do not.

There is a gift shop, but no consessions so you’ll need to plan accordingly around meal times. Water is permitted.

Overall, I am very glad that we have this resource available for us to learn about American history. I am looking forward to going back.

Until next time ♡ Mama Morozov

We made the hour & 15 minute drive to Dayton, Ohio yesterday to visit The National Museum of The United States Air Force at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

I am going to admit that my immediate thought was that this was going to be a really boring field trip. We went to check out the Cincinnati Warbirds last year and other than standing on a plane, we were so bored we wrapped it up early. I expected this would be the same, but I am always up for a field trip, especially somewhere we haven’t been before.

The museum itself is free, but they ask for a donation in exchange for a map of the Museum. They have put together a scavenger hunt for kids to keep them engaged and reading exhibits. Parking is also free. They also have strollers, wheelchairs, and mobile scooters to borrow for free while you are visiting, if needed.

The kids really enjoyed being able to climb inside the jets, walk inside airplanes checking out the differences between them, and doing the Virtual Reality simulation (although it did scare Sasha a bit.)

I really enjoyed checking out the various artwork from different insignias, planes, jackets. I loved looking at different times throughout history. The real life displays were very cool.

They have many displays about Women in Aviation throughout history as well which is especially nice when you have 4 daughters.

The food was affordable, but the selection was very small. Vegetarian options included an Uncrustable PBJ or a side Mac & Cheese. There are several meat sandwich options, both cold and hot. Meals include chips & a drink. We chose water bottles so we could take it in back the museum with us.

Buildings 1-2 were about early airplane history and wars. Buildings 3-4 were missiles, NASA, and the United States of America Presidental planes.

It is a very big museum and I recommend splitting it into 2 separate field trips: buildings 1-2 first then going back for buildings 3-4. There was way too much information to be able to fully take in in just one trip.

We all had a really good time and I really appreciated that the kids were allowed to be very hands on at this museum; that made it a very fun experience for them. We also really liked all of the photo ops for the kids. They thought that was really fun.

Overall, it was a good field trip. The kids asked to go back. Next time I’d like to bring some extra money for the gift shop as well as our own water bottles to refill.

Fun fact: My husband made and inspected the wire ropes within this museum.

Until next time ♡ Mama Morozov