Wild Idea Wednesday - Our Capitol Flag

Need some new ideas for keeping learning fun? I’ll be sharing our favorites each week on Wednesday. To be honest, the thought of committing myself to having one great idea every week is stress-inducing, so I’m going to put it out there in advance that I will probably borrow heavily from all my wise mama friends.

Okay, this one gets a big photo because it's the big excitement in our house today. I'm putting it under Wild Idea Wednesday because, hey, it's Wednesday and also because it was a pretty wild idea to march up the steps of Capitol Hill at midnight with my four-year-old so she could ask the guard with the really big gun all about her favorite DC landmark.

For some reason, visiting the Capitol building was Ava's only request for our visit in DC, and there was no way she was leaving without seeing it. Her unwavering determination fueled our late-night adventure through the streets of the city.

Though she was disappointed to learn that she couldn't go inside and "see the bills" at this late hour, we did discover that with proper planning you can in fact tour the Capitol - and we plan to do this on our next visit. The guard also tipped us off that you can contact your state representative to request an actual U.S. flag that has been flown over the Capitol building - they fly a new flag each day.

Fast forward two months, and a Capitol flag is the newest addition to our homeschool classroom. Ava was so excited when it arrived this past weekend, along with a certificate bearing her name. It stated that this flag had been flown over the Capitol on October 14, 2010 for Ava Marin Long!

Of course we are happy to have a nice flag for our classroom, but more importantly, it will always remind me of my determined little girl and our amazing adventure together.