We went into Manhattan today with the homeschool group to the Center for Jewish History for a Garment Factory Workshop. In honor of Women's History Month, the kids heard about turn of the century women working in sweatshops for measly wages and cramped quarters. We aso learned about the Triangle Factory fire in 1911, and how so much was reformed after that. Then the kids got to be part of an assembly line, making denim aprons. 5 groups of kids all had a different job: stitiching up the middle, stitiching up the sides, sewing on the label, attaching the belt part, and punching in the rivets. Then they got to take an apron home. It was geared toward middle-school aged kids, but the younger kids had fun too.

After the museum, a bunch of us went to Union Square Park to hang out and play. It's a weird park - smack dab in the middle of the street, it seems. There were lots of nanny's there with their charges, looking indifferent and like they wanted to be somewhere else. The farmer's market wasn't there today, but there was some kind of bike race going on (sponsored by the Subway sandwich chain). We also saw some jugglers and a ton of squirrels.B works nearby, so he met us at the park and we went for lunch at Chat 'n Chew. Good stuff. Very family friendly. The waiter was a rip, lol, and asked the kids why they weren't in school. The girls said "we're homeschooled" at the same time and the waiter asked "oh so that means you must be smarter than everyone else". The girls said "Yup!". It was so funny.
After lunch, we said goodbye to B and hit the Juicy Couture store that K was dying to go to. We were running a bit late and had to bypass the Coach and American Eagle stores, but I think K will live, lol. The subway ride home was nice and we made it to dance with time to spare. I think we all had a really great time today.