Home School Day – August 27, 2025

Home School Day | August 27, 2025

Join us for our August Home School Day on Wednesday, August 27 or Friday, August 29! Home School Days offer you and your family the opportunity to explore the Village and participate in activities. This is a great opportunity for kids to gain exposure to many aspects of 1830s New England life in an interactive way. During this Home School Day, we’ll explore the written word, looking at examples of books and letters, examining cookbooks and their authors, and crafting items to aid in your creativity. 

Admission and Ticketing

On Home School Day, homeschoolers (ages 4-17) get in at the discounted rate $12 and one adult is admitted per homeschool youth at the discounted rate of $17. Additional adults above the 1-to-1-ratio are admitted at the full rate of $30. As always, members get into the Village for free.

Workshops are an additional fee.

Purchase admission for Home School Day on August 27, 2025

Things to know:

• Unless otherwise noted, workshops will take place inside or outside the Museum Education building. You may park at Museum Education during the day; click here for directions.
• The Museum Education building closes to the public following workshops due to our after-school program
• Home School Days are rain-or-shine programs.
• Pre-registration is required for all activities listed below, unless otherwise noted.
• All events are limited to 10 students, unless otherwise noted.
• We are offering two identical Home School Days in August to accommodate the demand for these workshops. Out of courtesy for your fellow homeschoolers, please consider signing up for workshops on only ONE of the two dates listed, not both. 
• Please respect the age requirements for the workshops. They are set for the benefit of our educators and all program participants.
• These are not drop-in programs and our staff will have a list of registrants for each workshop.
• Please let us know as soon as possible if you need to cancel your workshop tickets. As these workshops are in high demand, refunds for workshop fees will only be given up to one week prior to the event date, or in the case of cancellation by Old Sturbridge Village.
• Students’ guardians must stay in close proximity of the program location for the entire duration of the activity for safety reasons.
• Workshop times are approximate. Please stay close by during your child’s workshop.
• Meeting locations for these workshops may change. Stay tuned to your email or signage at the Visitor Center on the day of the program for any potential location changes.
• When visiting the Village, please note that children must be accompanied by an adult when visiting the Miner Grant Store or Ox & Yoke Mercantile. Guests are welcome to eat at picnic tables around the campus but due to limited space, guests are not permitted to dine in the Bullard Café unless purchasing food.

Check back the week prior to the event for more information on in-Village activities.

Hands-On Workshops

Stories and Crafts: Breaking into Print | 50 Minutes | $7 

Sign up for 10:00 (Ages 5+)

Enjoy storytime with a classic picture book, then try out a craft or activity relating to the tale. 

This tale tells the story of the creation of one of history’s most important inventions: the printing press. After we read the book, we will examine printer’s type, look at books from the Village’s time, and make our own block prints. 

Stories and Crafts: Balderdash!: John Newbery and the Boisterous Birth of Children's Books | 50 Minutes | $7 

Sign up for 11:00 (Ages 5+)

Enjoy storytime with a classic picture book, then try out a craft or activity relating to the tale. 

Enjoy this delightful tale about John Newbury, an 18th-century author who believed that children’s books should be fun and imaginative and not just full of lessons and rules. After reading the story, we’ll look at some kids’ books from the Museum’s collection, play a storytelling game, and make a storybook craft.

Stories and Crafts: Six Dots: A Story of a Young Louis Braille | 50 Minutes | $7 

Sign up for 1:00 (Ages 5+)

Enjoy storytime with a classic picture book, then try out a craft or activity relating to the tale. 

We will read Six Dots, a picture book about Louis Braille, the French educator and inventor who developed the Braille system of reading for the visually impaired in the 1820s. After the tale, we will learn about communication in the early 1800s and create a tactile craft. 

Hearth Cooking: Herbed Cheese and Crackers | 50 Minutes | $7

Sign up for 10:00 (Ages 6+) SOLD OUT
Sign up for 11:00 (Ages 10+)
Sign up for 1:00 (Ages 8+) 

Using 19th-century kitchen implements and tools, we’ll together by the hearth to follow a 19th-century “receipt” for soft cheese and crackers. While our treat bakes, we’ll make a soft cheese with seasonable herbs, and examine examples of 19th-century cookbooks and the people who wrote them. Ingredients will include:  milk, vinegar, salt, herbs, flour, butter, yeast 

Handwritten Letter Appreciation Society | 50 Minutes | $7

Sign up for 10:00 (Ages 8+)
Sign up for 11:00 (Ages 6+)
Sign up for 1:00 (Ages 10+) 

Before email, social media, and phones, writing letters was the main method of communication for 19th-century people. During this workshop, participants will look at letters from the Village’s collection, emboss notecards, and create your own wax seal. 

*Shhhh* Writing in Secret Code | 50 Minutes | $7

Sign up for 10:00 (Ages 8+) SOLD OUT
Sign up for 11:00 (Ages 10+) SOLD OUT
Sign up for 1:00 (Ages 8+)  SOLD OUT

People have been writing in code for a long time in order to keep their messages safe. Other codes, like Morse Code (developed during the Village’s time period!) and semaphore, were created to make communication easier. Learn about the history of codes, sew a secret journal, write in invisible ink, and then decipher and encode your own messages to share with friends. 

Weave a Bookmark | 50 Minutes | $7

Sign up for 10:00 (Ages 8+) SOLD OUT
Sign up for 11:00 (Ages 10+)
Sign up for 1:00 (Ages 6+) SOLD OUT

Participants will learn the basics of weaving on a loom, and then start weaving a small and useful bookmark to take home with them. 

Working with Herbs | 50 Minutes | $7

Sign up for 10:00 (Ages 10+) SOLD OUT
Sign up for 11:00 (Ages 6+)
Sign up for 1:00 (Ages 8+) 

In the 1830s, most rural families had at least a small farm or garden. Herbs and flowers were used to flavor and preserve food, heal the sick, dye plants, and repel insects; and many natural remedies were influenced by Indigenous practices. We’ll talk about the ways that 19th-century people used herbs; look at examples of remedies and advice literature; and sew a simple hops pillow, used in the 1830s to help provide a restful slumber. Younger students will make a fragrant herbal sachet. 

Woodworking: Make a Pencil Caddy | 50 Minutes | $7

Sign up for 10:00 (Ages 9+) SOLD OUT

Use hand tools to make this simple pencil caddy, ideal for holding your pencils, pens, or markers. Try out several implements on your own and learn about tool safety. 

Botanical Watercolors for Beginners | 50 Minutes | $7

Sign up for 10:00 (Ages 6+)
Sign up for 11:00 (Ages 6+)  SOLD OUT

Learn the basics of watercolor painting as you paint from examples of real-life flowers and other growing things. We’ll look at examples of watercolors from the Village’s collection before we let our creativity fly! 

Games Sampler | 50 Minutes | $7

Sign up for 10:00 (Ages 6+)
Sign up for 11:00 (Ages 8+) SOLD OUT
Sign up for 1:00 (Ages 6+)

Many 19th-century children’s games were educational, often featuring a moral message. Others were imaginative, active, or strategic. Participants in this workshop will try out a series of activities from the Girl’s and Boy’s Own Books, including calisthenics, enigmas, and group games. Then, decorate a wooden top to take home. 

Woodworking: Make a Wall Box | 90 Minutes | $12

Sign up for 1:00 (Ages 10+) SOLD OUT

Practice some basic woodworking skills while making a wall box, perfect for recipes, utensils, or trinkets. Try out several implements on your own and learn about tool safety. 

Extended Hearth Cooking: Peach Pie | 90 Minutes | $12  

Sign up for 10:30 (Ages 12+)
Sign up for 1:00 (Ages 12+)

Using 19th-century kitchen implements and tools, we’ll together by the hearth to follow a summery receipt for peach pie. While the pie bakes, prepare a beverage to enjoy with the pie and look at examples of 19th-century cookbooks. Ingredients will include:  peaches, butter, sugar, flour 

Flower Power: Botanical Motifs and Watercolors | 90 Minutes | $12 

Sign up for 1:00 (Ages 8+) SOLD OUT

Draw inspiration from the early spring in one of the Village’s gardens, as well as floral motifs throughout the Salem Towne House, to create your own botanical watercolor paintings. Participants will look at examples of botanical art from the Village’s collection and learn techniques for working with watercolors.  

Ink and Pens and Inkwells, Oh My! | 90 Minutes | $12

Sign up for 10:30 (Ages 10+) SOLD OUT

Calling all stylophiles*! Participants in this group will develop their own collection of writing implements, from a hand-painted inkwell to a quill pen. Write with a nib pen, make your own ink, explore the advent of the pencil, and learn about the ways that 19th-century people recorded their thoughts and dreams. 

*people who love pens 

Young Fashion Plates: Stitching and Godey’s Lady’s Book  | 90 Minutes | $12

Sign up for 1:00 (Ages 12+)

Godey’s Lady’s Book was an extremely popular fashion periodical, published between 1830 to 1896. Led by its “lady editor” New England author and activist Sarah Josepha Hale, the Lady’s Book not only showed changing styles in clothing trends, but also changing attitudes. Participants will learn more about this groundbreaking publication and its editor, then embroider a simple project based on designs from its pages.