Historian in the Making

Corbin's book order came in yesterday - Scholastic's Encyclopedia of Presidents. He was very excited to point out that Obama was included (even though a couple of weeks ago he informed me that he is a republican - my little Alex P. Keaton). He is reading about the presidents in order, so right now he is reading and telling me about George Washington. It warms my heart that he loves learning like this. He may have his issues sometimes at school, but he is definitely an active learner. And, while he needs to get his sh*t together behaving in school (he's not any worse than any other boy), I'd rather him be a creative and engaged learner than be one whose learning stops when he exits school.

So I am going to make a list of historical places to visit (on a budget, so close by) to build on this interest. Maybe a trip to Hannibal? St. Charles? Springfield, IL? Any suggestions? Any places in St. Louis that we should definitely check out?

I have a friend who works as a lobbyist in Jeff City, and I have talked with him about figuring out a Friday when Corbin has a half day or day off and going to Jeff City to tour the capital building. He has some connections so we might get to see other things. We could also do the tour of the governor's mansion and other museums.

Cute discussion that we just had:
Corbin is reading about one of Washington's treaties being criticized.

C: 'Criticized'...that's mean.
M: Yes, but a lot of presidents get criticized about the decisions they make. It is a tough job. You know, George Bush was criticized a lot about different things.
C: Yeah, because some people thought he lied, but you know weapons are dangerous. I do agree with him on that.
M: That weapons are dangerous?
C: Yeah.
M: Well, that's right. Weapons are dangerous if they fall in the wrong hands. George Bush was trying to make sure that our enemies didn't have weapons that they could use to hurt us.
C: Yep. I'm glad he did that. I agree with him.

This age tickles me because one minute, he can be very mature in making comments like that, and the next he is standing on his head on the couch, telling me about how is toot smelled. Ah, boys.