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Beyond the Books: Incorporating
Curriculum Away from Home (Part 2)
by Krista Thomas |
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How to Plan Your
Travel-Schooling Adventure?
Read HSF!'s first
article, first appearing Nov.
2007. |
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This feature, part 2 of our travel
schooling adventure articles, will show you how to incorporate curriculum no
matter where you go!
Under the guise of reading, history, science, writing, and arithmetic, you can
make the trip fun through real life learning. First, you should prepare an educational
checklist. Write down every learning opportunity as you prepare your journey.
For example, if your travels take you near a National Park, make a point to
spend 2 hours. Everyone will enjoy the break and your kids can work through the
park's inexpensive (and most of the time free) junior ranger programs. Engage
kids with science, geography, math, and language arts by planning
factory tours --
many of which are free all over the country!
When homeschool mom
Stephanie Rubeling planned her cross-country trek, she encouraged
her kids to journal the day's activities at the end of
the day. Her kids could draw pictures or write down their experiences. Either way, the journal
presented an opportunity to remember moments otherwise forgotten when the trip
concluded. (Taking her cue, I provided a special
diary or scrapbook with space to write, draw, or attach souvenirs or postcards.)
Engage your kids with the simple
on-the-road ideas. When playing games, don't forget to have
small tokens to boost participation and to produce a winner.
Whenever you fill up with gas, create a game of estimation for how much the fill
up will cost. Or,
figure out your vehicle's miles per
gallon. Every time
you eat out, encourage kids to figure out the tax. Every time you buy groceries,
figure out how much each meal costs and include the per person figure. Create
additional math and geography games with mileage from city A to city B. You can
even provide a map so your kids can track progress from point A to point B every
day! For language arts, bring along
literature (poems, short stories, books on tape) from authors of that region.
Lastly, we play conversation
To break boredom, grab activities from online sources. Simply, print car
games and go!
Travel
Scavenger Hunt for big kids (c/o Mom's Minivan)
Travel Scavenger Hunt for preschoolers (c/o Mom's Minivan)
License Plate Game (c/o Mom's Minivan)
Road Trip Activity Pack
(c/o Family Fun)
Our story in pictures? In an upcoming issue, check out our
6000-mile edu-trek through our
photograph gallery. Your next vacation could be so much more with a little
creativity for a memorable homeschooling-on-the-road
adventure.
About the author: This summer, Krista's family planned and executed an
exciting "Out West
Adventure." Travel schooling stops included numerous National Parks and National Historic Sites in
their 6000 mile educational journey. Krista is already prepping for the next
homeschooling venture to Texas for spring 2008.
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Have You Traveled Cross-Country with Your Family?
HSF! would love to hear from you! What
tips would be helpful to homeschool families as
they trek across America (learning beyond the books)? Please
email your feedback for possible inclusion in our series.
Homeschool-Owned Business Owners...
We're introducing a new feature! If you own a
business and your family schools at home, let's tell HSF! readers all about you!
Email HSF! for details...
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We're proud to introduce family-friendly
businesses and organizations who help
support this site. Our sponsors ensure another issue of HSF! will be
available to area homeschoolers free of charge! Please thank our sponsors by
utilizing their products and/or services. Tell them
HSF! sent you!
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