Homeschooling
for Academic Reasons - Our Travels
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"Hittin'
the Road" gives resources and ideas
on how to take your homeschool on the road. |
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"Our
Travels" documents some of the places
we've traveled and also how they enhanced our studies.
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"Armchair
Tourist" is a collection of great
reading and other resources for when you just can't
get there in person. |
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Our
Travel Log The link to our blog spot, also
our essays and other writings about homeschooling on
the road. |
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We
all have our favorite authors who write
about far away places. We can study History, Geography, Art, Culture
from books, movies, the internet and that's great. But there is nothing
quite like actually going to those places. Imagine the possibilities
if you take your homeschool on the road. We have done just that -many
times. There are many of us who take their homeschooling "on the
road". Over the years I have met them. They are at highway rest
stops, marinas, camp grounds, airports, train stations. You know them
when you see them, when you engage in conversation with them. They will
be some of the most interesting people you have ever met. They are the
people who will tell you about the "good stuff".
You don't need to be a jet setter to add travel to your curriculum.
You just need imagination and determination. I once edited and produced
a homeschool support group newsletter where I rarely received contributions
from the other members, so instead of sending out a slim two page newsletter
for the 12 dollars everyone spent, I filled it with what I thought were
interesting topics that were local, regional and national. One item
was about an Art show where a rather large collection of Impressionist
Art was going to be displayed at a museum that was in another state
and would have taken 8 hours to drive to see it. A comment from one
of the members of the group was that they didn't like to see items like
that because it made them feel bad that some group members may not be
able to go to things like that. I understood the sentiment, but needless
to say I didn't understand the idea behind keeping an item like that
out of the newsletter for the reason stated. Just the idea
of travel inspires the imagination towards possibilities.
There
are plenty of people who make a living telling other people how to travel
economically, OK, cheap. There are even more who will tell you how to
spend a lot of money on travel. But it really gets down to
how brave you really are. Do you need to insulate your experience with
expensive amenities? Do snakes really bother you? Can you deal with
a place that doesn't speak the language you do? There are degrees of
bravery and with each adventure, you can chip away another fear. The
most important question to ask yourself: Are you willing to be one of
those who take fullest advantage of the beauty of homeschooling by actually
going to the places that many school children only read about? If you
answered "yes", then perhaps you aren't the armchair tourist
you thought you were. You just need an idea and the will to go. The
rest will fall into place, I guarantee it.
Below
are the notes I have managed to keep and how I have blended the travel
with the schooling. I have seen my student grow in many ways in our
travels. We travel "cheap", we travel expensively. Sometimes
we travel to a place to do nothing more than - nothing. We take our
travel very seriously. You won't find tips on how to budget or plan
your travel here, I'll leave that to your imagination. I just hope to
inspire you to add travel to your curriculum. You
may find products we promote here and there, we get a percentage of
some of things we manage to sell through this website, so support our
efforts. If you're going to buy one, do it through this website!
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| Topic |
Subject(s) |
Destination |
Items to Explore |
| Mayan Indians |
World Culture, Geography, Art, Foreign
Language |
Guatemala, Central America |
We
produced a website as a result of this trip. There are also other
notes about Central American travel.
[ View ]
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| Fossils |
Life Sciences, Archaeology |
Delta, Utah |
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| Fossils |
Life Sciences, Archaeology |
Vernal Utah |
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| Native
North American Studies |
Art
History, Science, World Culture, U.S. History |
"Four
Corners" (Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico) |
Includes
Durango, Colorado, Taos, New Mexico, Flagstaff Arizona, Moab Utah |
| Coral Reefs, Manatees, sharks |
Life Sciences, Ecology, Marine Biology |
Key West, Florida USA |
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| Coral Reefs, Sharks |
Life Sciences, Ecology, Marine Biology |
Belize, Central America |
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| Space |
Space Sciences, Physical Science,
Astronomy |
Cape Kennedy, Titusville, Florida,
USA |
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| Renaissance Art |
Art History, Sculpture, Impressionism |
Chicago, Illinois, USA |
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| US
Western Migration, Transcontinental Railroad |
U.S.
History |
Amtrack
Railroad travel from Denver to Salt Lake City, U.S.A. |
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| American
Civil Rights History, Blues and Jazz |
U.S.
History, Music History |
Memphis, Tennessee, USA |
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| American
River History, Mark Twain |
U.S.
History, Music History, American Literature |
Cincinnati,
Ohio, U.S.A. |
Tallstacks
is a fall event where many of the famous paddleboats (river boats)
meet in a famous river city for four days of fun and history. |
| Caribbean
History and Culture |
Caribbean
Geography, History, Culture. |
West
Indies, Caribbean |
We
produced a website as a result of this trip.
View |
| U.S.
Park Services History |
History
of the West, U.S. Park Services History |
Yellowstone,
Cody, Devil's Tower, Custer, Crazy Horse , Mt. Rushmore, Badlands,Wall
Drug, Corn Palace, |
Join
us on our adventure across country with Daphne the Science Guinea
Pig. A photo journal.
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| Architecture,
Carillion Music, Florida History |
Botany,
Conservation, Music on a grand scale |
Historic
Bok Sanctuary |
A
carillon
is a musical instrument consisting of at least two octaves of carillon
bells arranged in chromatic series and played from a keyboard permitting
control of expression through variation of touch.
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| Endangered
plants,
Conservation |
Botany,
conservation |
Cabbage
Key, Cayo Costa - Florida, U.S.A |
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| Map
Reading, Navigation, Canadian History |
Botany,
conservation,Geography, History, Culture. |
Algonquin
Provincal park |
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| Endangered
plants,
Conservation |
Botany,
conservation
U.S. History |
Florida Everglades |
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