They may be authentic, but no one has yet asked for buckle shoes.

I find myself leafing through books with titles like: Period costume of the 1700s. How People Dressed in Colonial Times. Colonial Patterns for Stage and Screen.

Sometimes you’ll hear home schooling parents talk about rabbit trails. “We follow a lot of rabbit trails,” people will say, or “Be sure to leave plenty of time for following rabbit trails.” Meaning unplanned stuff. Meaning following the kids’ interests.

Then there are others who warn that if you’re not careful, you could spend a whole day following some rabbit trail or other. You can almost hear their noses wrinkling at the idea of all that lost productivity.

You will not, I imagine, be surprised to find that we are staunchly in favor of rabbit trail following. I kind of think that following rabbit trails is the whole point. Really, our home school could be described as a wild field of rabbit warrens, with the occasional signpost to keep us headed in the right direction.

For the past few weeks the kids have been interested in colonial times. So, okay, we’ve requested dozens of library books, we’ve read about blacksmiths and taverns and patriots and loyalists and mob caps and tied-on pockets.

Abigail is reading about colonial schools. “Mom?” she calls. “What are whispering sticks?”

And I don’t know, but they sound kind of nice! Like wind chimes, only whisperier! And wooden! Yeah, they’re not. I looked it up. Now I have to decide whether to explain the various methods by which a colonial schoolmaster might torment her charges. Abigail will make notes in her project journal.

But back to those period-costume-books. Abigail chose a half dozen of them, and seems quite certain that I can just whip her up a few gowns to enhance the authenticity of her studies. Part of me thinks: surely I must be able to do this! Colonial women didn’t even have sewing machines! And yet there are whole chapters dedicated to sleeve construction, which ought to be my first clue that I’m in over my head. But really, think of all the sewing techniques we could learn…

I love this stuff, even if it is rabbit trails within rabbit trails. I love the idea of costumes, even if making one means I have to make four. Or more. Which means we probably won’t make them at all. Still, I like the idea. Now if only colonial households were known for their chocolate cakes. (Oh wait! Pie! Now I know how we should spend our afternoon.)