Prepping for our Big "Field Trip"

Soon we will be on our way to the ultimate homeschool field trip. Sure, most people would call it a vacation, but we like to view everything as an opportunity for study. We will be visiting my sister and her family who live in Rochester, NY. While there we are going to be taking a ride on the Erie Canal, visiting Niagara Falls, going to the Buffalo Bills training camp (well, that's just for the boys) and going to the Strong Museum. I have to thank my sister for coordinating everything. She just emailed me a schedule of events and I said "looks great" - how's that for service?

Here's some of what we have been reading to prep for our trip:

This book is the well known song about the Erie Canal - it has all of the lyrics and piano music as well. The kids love to sing it while I play the piano.

This book is actually a part of Miss B's Sonlight Core 3 curriculum. It is such a beautiful book (I've got a post ready to go about just this book, in fact!) and is about a canoe that makes the journey from Lake Nipigon (Canada) out to the Atlantic Ocean.... via the Great Lakes and Niagara Falls. It really cemented the geography for the kids.

Miss B. actually noticed this book listed on the back of one of her other Boxcar Children mysteries and brought it to my attention. We are almost finished reading it - it is of course another good Boxcar mystery and references the Maid of the Mist (which we will be going on) and lots of local Niagara Falls geography. I have the visitor's guide for Niagara Falls and the kids like looking through it while I'm reading.

We will be approaching the early 1800s this year in Miss B's history curriculum, so she will learn about why the Erie Canal was so important in the westward expansion of our nation. We've also learned that Niagara Falls is the second largest waterfall in the world (second to Victoria Falls) and that a huge amount of the world's fresh water passes over the falls. It is awesome to think about.

A great find on the internet is the site "American History for Kids". It has a section of American History coloring pages, and since GMan loves to color I'll print out the Erie Canal sheet for him this week. I'd like to take the kids' journals as well, so they can write a little bit about what they thought along the way.

We're all looking forward to a break from this oppressive heat and having the chance to see family and have lots of fun -- because once this "field trip" is over, we need to get back to WORK. Have I mentioned how much I love homeschooling?

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Fact or Fable??

This book has been sitting on the window seat next to our kitchen table for a week now - and if it's kept my kids' interest so much that they want to use it almost every time we sit down for a meal, then I thought it was worth sharing.

I picked this up at a used book store for $1.00 -- and come to find out it is out of print and a fairly sought after book! Who knew? The illustrations are just beautiful and drew me into the book. We sat down with it one day and I just thought I would read for fun to my kids. The first thing we talked about was what is a FACT and what is a FABLE -- then I launched right into the book.

I can't tell you how many times my children have wanted to quiz me, their dad, their babysitter - they even quizzed grandma on the phone about various facts and fables! I would like to show my kids the illustrator's website because she gives a lot of information about herself when she was a child. It turns out her grandmother was also an accomplished artist as well.

Back to the book --- here are some of the FACTS or FABLES:

Fish climb trees.

You can tell the temperature by a cricket's chirps.

Red makes bulls angry.

Elephants are afraid of mice.

Snakes always "charm" their prey.

Camels store water in their humps.

A porcupine shoots its quills.

You would be surprised how many of these adults miss! I'm not going to tell you the answers. You'll just have to get this book at your local library to find out the answers! It's worth looking for, because your children will enjoy it!

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