Road Trips, Moving, and Homeschooling
I am sharing here some things we did with 'what we had in our hands' that was somewhat specific to our needs and situation. However, just because your needs or circumstances are different, that doesn't mean there isn't anything here you can use. What do you have in your hand is a principle, not a rigid recipe. So as you read, think about your needs and goals, and how you might meet with them with what YOU have in your hand. This list is meant to be a sort of brain-storming starter, an illustration of how the principle might be applied in one circumstance. The idea is universal, the application will be personal.
Because we moved so often I wanted to find some materials I could use both to keep my children occupied (idle mind's, not hands, are the devil's workshop) and to homeschool during and after a move, before our things arrived. I needed them to be inexpensive or free, because an enlisted man's salary is not something with which to be profligate (actually, nobody's salary is something with which to be profligate). And I needed them to take up very little space and be easy to keep around, because there's very little surplus space either in our vehicles when we're traveling, or in billeting when we were waiting for military housing in the new place. Here are some 'things in my hand' I used to accomplish our goals:
License plates- Besides the obvious geography application (find that state on the map) or bingo game option, you can do license plate math- tell the children to use the license plates as flash cards. They can add, subtract, or multiply the first two numbers, the last two numbers, or the first and last numbers. They can practice adding a series of one digit numbers by adding up the numbers on the plate. They tell you how many months it is before that car will need new tags. Small children can you tell the biggest number or the smallest number on the plate. What even numbers do you see? This develops some speed math skills, since often the car is moving on before they are done with the problem.
Maps and road signs- A trip is a great time to teach your children some basic map reading skills,and you have to have a map of where you are going anyway. Use road signs and the map to have the children figure out some word problems- if we have enough gas to go fifty miles, what's the furthest city we can reach? How many miles will we have driven when we get to our lunch destination? Look at the map and find the next rest stop. How many miles is that? How long will it take us? If we were going to go to Tucson today, how many miles would that be? How many hours would it take? We are at mile-marker 135. What's the next town? The fifth town?
Hymnal- we like to sing in the car when we travel, so we usually travel with a hymnal. Hymnals are also great all in one homeschooling resources. We have used them for:
Poetry study
Copywork
Dictation
Music (besides singing, you can have the children identify the notes)
Language Arts- find all the rhyming words; why are these words capitalized? Rewrite this verse in your own words/find all the synonyms for .../list the verbs/ find two proper nouns/ find apostrophes
Recitation/memory work
A Bible could be used in similar fashion, in addition to offering some great stories to read and narrate, and of course, the spiritual treasure trove therein.
A few tapes or CDs with songs to sing along with and stories to listen to.
I went to the library and looked up games to play that required no equipment (or movement) and adapted them for educational purposes. I wrote these down on an index card I kept in my purse so that I didn't forget what I wanted to do.
Historical markers- we stopped at every one and read the signs.
These are just a few starters. What have you done to repurpose one item (a hymnal) in other ways?
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5 Responses to “Road Trips, Moving, and Homeschooling”
October 5th, 2007 at 10:54 am
I love your ideas! You do a good job of reminding me of how consumption-oriented we are.
Remember Laura Ingalls? I seem to recall that a child’s school supplies consisted of a chalkboard and a pencil. A speller was shared among several children. Most families felt privileged to own 2 or 3 books and still managed to be literate and well-educated.
Now much of the populace is surrounded by reading material that they can hardly read and don’t care to read anyway.
October 5th, 2007 at 11:56 am
When my girls were little, they loved to play with shoes!! :0) No lie. They would get pairs and pretend they were a daddy and mommy and then use their smaller shoes for the kids. ;0) They would go down the hall and play this for hours!! It was so cute, I wish I had a video camera to keep to show others.
Another good thing to have is buttons. Obviously this is not for littles, but my kids loved playing and creating with buttons. They would use string and make people, make games, button designs on paper, ect….
A great homeschooling tool is a Dictionary. The kids can take turns looking up words, do random word spelling bees, ect….
Fun, fun, fun!!! :0)
October 5th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
My son loves [still, at 13] to pick up information on the local attractions at Rest Stops. He tries to figure out from the local maps if we are close. He also will actually READ the pamphlets [he HATES reading]. Road maps are also great. He even decorated his room with them for a while.
Otherwise our “American Heritage Girls” squad played license plate spotting for our Travel badge. The badge is earned, but mine love to do this still. The math idea for license plates is SUPER! We’ll try it out on our drive tomorrow!
October 5th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
I absolutely love old hymns. The lyrics are incredible. My church sings mostly praise songs (which I also love), but I miss the richness and conviction of the older writers. I love your idea of rewriting hymns for Bible study and prayer time. Personalizing the lyrics really cements the meaning in our hearts!
October 5th, 2007 at 7:37 pm
I would love to make a family songbook for trips. We usually just go with books on CD from the local library.
As for repurposing…
We like to take our old towels and use them as car seat liners on road trips. That way, it’s easy to shake out the food crumbs upon stopping. Then, we use these extra towels for the beach or lake destination.
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