National Law Day

We don't have many organized homeschool field trips here. It's not even that we don't do them; there aren't a lot of opportunities. There are several co-ops, but the "big" homeschool group doesn't even have any sort of regular get togethers. It's more of a clearing house to get out information. One of the local moms pulled together a visit to the federal court house in honor of National Law Day.

The court house is conveniently located in downtown Roanoke, and the court staff went to great lengths to provide a full morning for our group of about 35 middle school and high school kids.

The lobby was set up with several information stations just for us. There were flow charts, a U.S. Marshals' vest to try on, photos of evidence, displays with (fake) illegal drugs, and more. Meanwhile, Holly had been randomly chosen to sit on the jury. 

Trevor and Kurt

The kids viewed a mock trial to show them how the system works at a federal level. In addition to the judge spending the entire morning with us, there were also two federal prosecutors, two public defenders, several marshals, a probation officer and other court staff. All provided great insight into their role in the system and were eager to answer any questions our group had.  (Haha, aren't homeschoolers notorious for not asking questions?)

The marshals showed us a number of very cool high tech toys that are often used when searching for bad guys.

We were shown a short video of the "crime" that took place. The defendant was a boy from our group who also plays on our soccer team. His alias was Mad Dog, and he was brought into the court room in shackles.  I called him Mad Dog a few days later at soccer, but he didn't seem to appreciate it.

The jury listened to both the prosecution and the defense, and the defendant was found guilty.  There were a few audio difficulties during the morning, which unfortunately made for too much time where we could not hear anything at all. Overall though it was fun and informative, and I'm glad my kids have seen something more real life than what is shown on tv.

The jury; Holly in the back row, second from left.

 After court, we decided with Kurt and Judy to lunch.  Holly suggested our mutual favorite Alejandro's.

Cool old church downtown

Alejandro's--yum!!

A pretty walkway.

I liked this sign: "Yes. Ladies Enjoy Eating Here."

It was a fun day. I wish we did more field trips.