Hot Mama Summer Camp - Week 2
They say those who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it…and I’ll be damned if I’m gonna have my babies out here lost in these streets. So for Hot Mama Camp Week 2 - we dug up the past and had a fun-filled history week! Let’s see how it went shall we.
Now on the real tip, your girl went into Week 2 a little drained and a bit behind on her work. So I set the daily schedule for this week to have some Mommy blocks built in so I could properly sit down with the 9-5. But I also had to make sure the boys were occupied with their own stuff that didn’t require my full supervision like cooking did. Cuz man, me and those boys were bonded at the hip for cooking week, chile…
On Monday we took it straight to the Motherland and kicked off history week with some ancient African history (you know the good stuff that they don’t refuse to teach us in school). So my husband and I put on our “teacher at the front of the classroom” cap and had a quick lecture/convo with the boys about geography, the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and how our specific family roots are West Indian because of that route. We then watched Part 1 of Africa’s Great Civilizations, which is a super dope documentary series from PBS that you should definitely check it out if you haven’t seen it already.
Tuesday - Thursday were pretty structure-free as I’m not the only one in the house who is behind on work. The boys also have a shitload of summer homework so after breakfast on those days, I made them have a HW block while I caught up on my work. But we also went to the park a few times and watched some Empire Games on Netflix, where we learned about some Chinese and Egyptian history .
Now for the highlight of the week, on Friday, we did it field trip-style and the whole family went to the African Burial Ground National Monument in lower Manhattan.
Photo credit: National Park Service
This national monument is a sacred space in Manhattan that is the oldest and largest known excavated burial ground in North America. It also protects the historic role that slavery played in the development of New York City.
The website was super easy to navigate and I signed us up for the full experience, which included a short film, a guided tour of the museum, and a guided tour of the monument itself. Our group was led by Ranger Betty (who was amazing btw) and we learned so much about the Lenape tribe and the indigenous origins of Manhattan (formerly known as Manahatta); and the growth of our great New York City through resistance, slavery, and colonization. As a born and raised New Yorker, I have some pretty conflicted feelings about learning some of this information for the first time, but I am so grateful for the experience and really glad I planned this for my family. It was a perfect way to end the week for the boys especially since we began with African history. We then stopped off for lunch at one of my favorite sushi spots, Akimoto Sushi and the boys got to try sushi for the first time, which my younger son loved!
And that’s our History Week wrap-up! All in all this week had a much calmer pace and less structured vibe than Cooking week, but it was still all good. I got to catch up on some work and the boys got started on their summer HW as well. The highlight was definitely our trip to the museum and I think it was the perfect way to end the week. Next week will be a science theme so tune in next week to see how it all goes down.
Till next time good people and remember EMBRACE THE CHAOS AND LET’S GET LIT!!
