12.9.11

vacation school

     "Do you have to do school while you are on vacation?" has actually been a fairly frequent question to my children as they have been sharing about our upcoming plans. Would you be surprised to hear that they are looking forward to the school tasks that I have planned for them? When we discussed plans they were all happy to learn they will be leaving most (but not all) of their books at home. But they were also excited about the way we will be learning geography and about our nation as we visit the places.

     They have been making their own sets of memory cards with index cards each week, and they will take these and their scripture memory notebooks. They will also be taking some geography lessons that we will add to as we travel.

     Several months ago we received a selection of lapbooking products from Pear Educational Products. We decided to make memory books of our trip, and the kids each picked which product they wanted to use for their project base. I'll keep all the printed maps from Wondermaps and Amy Pak in the Fold-Up Project Extended Base and add my own memorabilia to that as I remove handouts for the kids. I also found stickers and die cuts to enhance the pages. Heather chose the largest 12"x12" blank project book with pocket for her state book. She plans to do a page for each state and already has some interesting ideas. Emily chose the 9 1/2 x 11 book and Joseph the 6 x 8 inch, which is my favorite size as it is easy to hold. Be watching for a complete review of Pear Educational Products as the kids complete their travel logs.

     I also gave each of them a small notebook they can use for journaling throughout the trip. I have been perusing maps and vacation guides, excited at the many options for this trip to states that I have never seen before. Today I realized that almost all of the places we will visit were part of the Louisiana purchase. We have an atlas and child's atlas which is full of games, and I found these coloring sheets from Crayola that I printed for Joseph. The kids all have colored pencils as crayons might melt in the car.

     If you have any ideas about places along our route that we can't miss, let me know quickly and we just might squeeze it in.

     I'm adding a link to the TOS Homeschool Crew's Not Back to School Bloghop. We actually take a big family vacation each fall as part of our flexible school at home routine. Check back as I'll be sharing highlights throughout this journey.
Crew Blog Hop
Jennifer

13 comments:

  1. It sounds like you guys are going to have a great time! I recently read a post about someone who had a much better field trip because they had some activity to focus on. I think I missed the post on your route though - what states will you be hitting?

    Recent Post: Homeschool Online Resources for Games & Printouts

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  2. Dear Gidget, I'm still missing the route ;)
    Somehow we will drive from Lotuisiana to South Dakota, with a few possible routes to be determined as we go. I printed info on the 13 states we could possibly hit.

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  3. If we are taking a long car trip, I will usually pack some sort of school to do along the way. And sometimes my dd brings her journal to the zoo or on the field trip.

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  4. I love vacation school! Sounds like you have some good plans. My kids always love going to new states. Can't wait to read about your trip.

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  5. Have a fun car trip. Haven't been to Louisiana yet but South Dakota is absolutely beautiful! My kids do journals while we are on vacation. I might occasionally bring a work book but not often. I am hoping to add notebooking soon.

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  6. My Adventurer friend, my girls have kept vacation journals in the past, and still enjoy reading them. This is the most I have preplanned for them to do that actually coordinates with a trip. It might be considered notebooking, sort of.

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  7. Sounds like a great trip! Thanks for following me over at The Sojourner Reviews! I am now following you, too!

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  8. Hi Jennifer, A few years ago we took a family trip to Europe. I had the kids build journals of all the places we would see then leave pages to write on while we were there. The wrote while we rode from one place to another. They still pull those out and look through them. A great learning activity and keepsake! :-)
    April

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  9. Our vacations are not much different than any other day unless we go somewhere. So we still do school at times that many others don't.

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  10. following you from the TOS Crew Hop and Nice to meet you
    Sounds like a wonderful vacation
    Enjoy your year

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  11. Sounds like a fun, educational trip. We love taking advantage of different learning opportunities while on vacation.

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  12. That's another great thing about homeschooling! You can take it with you! trips, appointments, parks, wherever!

    I'm glad you're having a nice time. Keep making great memories!
    -Catherine

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  13. Sounds like a fun trip! My kids would definitely do better on a long trip if they had something educational to keep them busy.

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