Thursday, April 10, 2008

Trip planning = great for geography!

Though our trip is MONTHS away, the girls are already getting INTO it. Last week, we put together a fairly large, blank map of the continental U.S. and began filling it in a bit at a time. The first day it was lakes and waterways, and since then we've begun adding capitals, the missions (Cal.), maps, symbols representing the states (the beaver in Oregon is pretty darn cute), and other items of interest to us all. We've also been talking about what we plan to see along the way.

Today, on our walk to ballet, the girls and I talked about how much work this trip is going to be, particularly with moves almost every day. The girls agreed that they would think of how the pioneers moved without the luxury of a road, let alone cars. When I introduced the idea of my need for their assistance throughout the trip, they began volunteering immediately for their favorite duties. (They're both PARTICULARLY interested in the responsibility for collecting kindling and laying the fires; should I be worried? ;) )

We'll also use the trip in a variety of other academic areas including: language arts (journals, and lots of reading opportunities), visual arts (journals and personal botany books), history (clearly), math (helping to figure mileage, ETA, gas costs and related costs plus managing their own trip allowances), p.e. (hiking galore), geography (they'll not just READ about the varied terrain, but play, eat and sleep in it).

Let the good times roll!

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