An Elementary approach to D.C.

It was after 10 p.m., and my boys were dozing off on either side of me. But as the taxi approached the city, I could see the gleaming monuments, bright lights reflecting off their white marble surfaces against the dark sky.

"You should wake them up," my husband said from the front passenger's seat.

I did, and they opened eyes to the striking height and brightness of the Washington Monument at night.

"It's even bigger than I thought," said my drowsy 6-year-old. He had spent the past couple of weeks perfecting his line drawing of the Washington Monument on yellow squares of Post-It Notes. They were a study in three-dimensional drawing, with the careful edges of two sides of the monument showing, along with the circle of U.S. flags at the base, smaller at the back, larger in front.

My 10-year-old spotted the U.S. Capitol just beyond, also bathed in light. In the darkness, these structures -- the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Capitol -- glowed like the moon.

It was a dramatic start to a weeklong family trip to Washington, D.C. Stories of American history, along with news of politics and presidential elections, had begun to seep into my school-age children's understanding. We were eager for a trip that would connect real places and people to what my boys were learning from books and the news.

Washington, D.C., is always busy with tourists, so traveling there with children requires some strategizing. We went the first week in April, spring break for many schoolchildren, and the height of cherry blossom season. And, according to one tour guide, it was the week that all the ninth-graders in the country were visiting the capital on class trips. She was exaggerating only a little, it seemed. Luckily, we came prepared with a few tricks for making the trip fun and educational, while keeping our sanity amid the crowds.

Plan ahead

Many government sites require advance tickets, often obtained through your representative's office. We had scheduled a tour of the Capitol through Rep. Keith Ellison's office, but had called too late to get tickets to visit the White House. And the advance tickets to go to the top of the Washington Monument were already sold out on the National Parks website several weeks before. Contacting your representative's office by phone or e-mail is easy -- just do it weeks, even months ahead of time. (Same-day tickets to the Capitol and the Washington Monument are distributed in the mornings and go fast.)

Stay close to food

We booked a hotel near the Dupont Circle Metro station, an area rich with cafes, groceries and bookstores. At the end of a busy day of sightseeing, having those comforts close to our beds was ideal. We quickly learned that taking time for a midday break was important. Given the choice between a cafeteria line and a real restaurant, we chose the latter. That was our chance to retreat from crowds and lines, and just sit and talk about what we had seen. When sitting down to a slower-paced meal was not an option, we would at least linger on a park bench or in a museum cafe with a coffee or an ice cream cone.

Wake up early

Lines are inevitable in Washington. We realized that if we really wanted to see something, it was worth arriving early. When we wanted to see the Supreme Court justices hand down opinions, we set the alarm clock and ate breakfast while waiting in line. Our efforts paid off: Our ears perked up as we listened to Justice Kennedy read from an important environmental law opinion. Words my children recognized -- greenhouse gases and global warming -- grabbed their attention. The next morning over a more leisurely breakfast, my older son held up a newspaper with a front-page story about the opinion we had heard.

Arriving early also proved effective for getting into the National Archives, which houses the Declaration of Independence, among other important historical documents. We joined a line that already snaked around the corner half an hour before the building opened. But with our coffee, newspaper and books, we were ready. And early in the morning, before growing weary of crowds, the guards and the other tourists were still cheerful.

Travel light

Oversized bags are not allowed in many government buildings and museums. No bag larger than 14 inches wide, 13 inches high and 4 inches deep makes it past security at the U.S. Capitol, I learned from its website before we left town. Also, food and water bottles are often not allowed.

Take tours

Another thing we have learned traveling with our curious, but still young children: Take advantage of tour guides and audio tours. We gained more from a knowledgeable tour guide than from reading the little signs and brochures along the way.

The guide at the Library of Congress proved the point. She was a volunteer and got around on a speedy automated wheelchair. She sent our group to the stairs, zipped over to the elevator and met us at the top. Everything she told us, from the story of why the stone steps felt uneven (years of people walking up and down them) to the explanation of how one gets into the reading rooms (you need a special library card), planted in my children's minds. They stood right next to her wheelchair as she spoke, taking in everything.

We all stood quietly on the balcony overlooking the main reading room under its elaborately decorated rotunda, and imagined poring over books brought to us on a special cart. My boys, frequent patrons of our neighborhood library, learned that they could not get a reader's card until they had graduated from high school. We promised them we would be back.

At the National Gallery, we purchased audio tours. They bought my husband and me time to linger and learn more about the works of art. They worked the same magic on our children. And it became a treasure hunt to find the signs next to the paintings that indicate the numbers to punch into the audio tour handset.

Work with the weather

On a sunny, warm day, we postponed our Smithsonian museums outing and instead hopped on the Metro for a long ride to Mount Vernon, the well-preserved estate of George Washington. The wait to get in to see the old house was more than an hour. But it was a beautiful day, and my husband and I took turns waiting while the other went off to explore the grounds with the kids. When my husband returned from his outing, the boys were eager to lead me on a "tour" explaining all they had learned from reading the signs the first time around.

The slaves' quarters drew mixed emotions. On the one hand, Washington owned many slaves. On the other hand, the signs told us of the better conditions they lived in compared with other slaves of that time, although the quarters were cramped. Past the slaves' quarters and down the hill toward Washington's tomb was a memorial to those slaves, at a site where some were buried. At Washington's death, all were given their freedom.

While my husband and I still waited in line, the boys rolled around on the grass in front of Washington's home. Then my 10-year-old called out in excitement: He had lost his last baby tooth. This drew the interest and delight of the others waiting in line. His tooth would be a candidate for Washington's dentures, we all told him. We had just seen a museum display that included those very dentures, made of human and hippopotamus teeth.

The next day was cold and rainy: a perfect museum day.

Give kids purchasing power

Let children buy their own souvenirs. My children had been saving up allowance money for months, so each had a bit of cash. Searching for just the right souvenir became its own educational experience, tied in with decisionmaking, prioritizing and math. It also took my husband and me away from the pleading and discussion over what they could and could not have. My older son indulged in a blue bead necklace from the Museum of the American Indian shop and a T-shirt from the National Geographic Society, while my younger son relished the miniature statues of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and the fake parchment copy of the Declaration of Independence.

At week's end, our children's backpacks were stuffed with souvenirs to take home. But more important, their imaginations were filled with stories of our nation's founders and images of the places that honor those beginnings.

The following week, back in Minneapolis, my younger son took his backpack to school. He arranged his souvenirs on a table and sat down in front of them to begin his report on Washington, D.C.

Vina Kay is a Minneapolis-based writer.