Last Saturday was Smithsonian Magazine‘s Museum Day 2009. A bunch of different museums throughout the country were offering free admission to anyone who brought in a printed form from the Smithsonian Magazine website. I wasn’t really planning to go to any of the free museums, because I’m allergic to crowds and figured that it would be a busy day. But somehow I found myself on the website perusing the list of museums and one jumped out at me: the Whaley House Museum.

I’ve been walking by the Whaley House, a 19th-century home and general store that’s been turned into a museum, for years but had never gone inside. There are so many free things to do in Old Town that the $10 admission never seemed worth it. I figured I should take advantage of the free admission if I ever wanted to see the inside of the place.

I bribed Annalie with the promise of running around the park and maybe a piece or two of saltwater taffy, and off we went to Whaley House. We handed our get-in-free pass to the docent who greeted us at the door, and in return we got laminated cards printed with information about the history of the house and the Whaley family, and a cheery, “Feel free to take lots of photos!”

We wandered around downstairs first, peering into the gated front parlor. I pointed out an embroidery hoop sitting on a sofa and a basket of crocheting by a rocking chair to Annalie, and we talked about how women used to do lots of needlework and sewing and knitting, in the days before TV. “Like in the books we’ve been reading, how Laura and Mary make clothes for their dolls and Ma knits in the evening while Pa plays his fiddle,” I said, suddenly realizing that the Little House books were set in almost exactly the same era that the museum memorializes.

Upstairs we saw a child’s bedroom, with a puzzle spread on the floor that was a map of the United States, just like one Annalie has. There was an alcove at the end of the upstairs hall with a window wide open to catch the breeze, and three chairs arranged around it. It was such a pleasant spot that Annalie and I sat in the chairs and looked out the window for a minute. We took our our Day 58 photo for Troy there.

We could actually go into the upstairs front bedroom that the Whaley family leased to the Tanner Troupe to use as a theater for various plays. We sat on the benches and looked at the stage (a recently-restored replica of the original) and imagined what it must have been like to have theater-goers trooping in and out of the house, and theatricals going on down the hall from your bedroom.

Although I suppose that’s not any stranger than the courtroom that was housed on the ground floor for a couple of years, in what was originally supposed to be a granary. The County of San Diego leased the one-story room from the Whaleys.

And of course, the General Store was on the ground floor of the main house as well. That was actually the primary purpose of the building, to house Whaley’s store. Annalie looked around with interest at the various items displayed, spending several minutes paging through a binder filled with old photos. I made the Little House connection again, telling Annalie that when Laura and Mary went to town with Ma and Pa, the store they went to was a lot like the one we were standing in. She thought that was pretty neat.

Blue willow ware, just like the set that originally belonged to my great-grandparents. Annalie spotted this and immediately said, “Hey, those are just like Aunt Julie’s dishes!” I have a blue willow tea set packed away somewhere, too. It belonged to my mom and Aunt Julie when they were kids. Once Annalie’s a little older we’ll get it out and have tea parties.

And that was it for our tour of the Whaley House. Annalie was done and ready to leave in less than 15 minutes. Granted, it’s a small house. Still, I was very glad we’d gone on a day when we could get in for free. I did talk Annalie into stopping at the museum gift shop for a quick look around, and I’m glad I did. They sell some cool stuff there! I’ll be going back there to buy a few Christmas presents.

We headed over to the section of Old Town that’s a State Historical Park to wander around for a bit. We walked through the Estudillo House, as we usually do, and admired the grapes on the arbor over the old well. It was all I could do not to reach out and pick a few, they looked so good!

I found myself explaining condensation to Annalie at one point. I don’t know exactly how we got there, but there we were. When I finished my as-simple-as-I-could-make-it explanation, I said to Annalie, “You probably won’t really remember this, but that’s okay. Someday when you’re older you’ll be learning about condensation and you’ll think, ‘Hey, I remember walking through Old Town with my mom when I was five years old and her telling me about condensation. How weird.’” I know this for a fact, because I can remember sitting in the backseat of our 1975 Dodge Colt when I was about Annalie’s age, eating an apple and asking my dad why apples turn brown. He gave me a long explanation about oxidation that involved cars rusting. I definitely didn’t take it all in that day, but I learned the word “oxidation” and I still remember that conversation.

Maybe that’s really why I’m homeschooling Annalie this year. Maybe it’s because I selfishly want her to learn as much from me as I can teach her, before she learns it from other sources. I don’t feel like I’m doing all that great with the homeschooling so far. Most days, it’s extremely informal and heavy on the art (drawing) and physical education (running around the park) and reading, with occasional forays into math and writing.

Annalie keeps telling me she loves being homeschooled because it means she can go to museums and learn to bake cupcakes as part of school, and I’m glad she feels that way. I know I love having her at home and being the one to teach her those things. And when I can put two and two together for her, connecting events from a book with items in a museum, or using her water bottle to explain condensation, I love it too. I don’t know if we’ll homeschool forever. I think Annalie probably would like more social peer interaction than she’s getting right now, and I’m working on that. It’s all a work in progress, much like life.

We ended our afternoon with an early dinner at Annalie’s favorite Mexican place. Chips and salsa, rice and beans, handmade tortillas, and saltwater taffy for dessert. It was a good day.