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History Trippin' 

Adventrue In March of 2008 our family of four (plus 1 dog) hit the road for a yearlong tour of the United States, focusing on American History.  Come with us! Through this website we’ll pass along how we homeschool on the road and specifically what we’re learning about  American history. In our newsletter we'll provide lesson plans and activity suggestions so that you can learn along with us!  Continue...
Tricks for Remembering State Capitals
Roadschooling - School
Saturday, 17 May 2008

During our travels we’ve been learning the capital of each state that we travel through.  To help us remember, we’re using “movies” in our minds.  Here are the movies to help your children remember too:

Tennessee - Picture a tennis player smashing a large pill over the net, instead of a ball.
Smash+pill=Nashville, tennis = Tennessee

Virginia – A very rich man asked a cute girl named Virginia for a date.
Rich+man=Richmond, girl’s name=Virginia

Maryland – You see a woman dressed as a bride dangling an apple from a fishing pole.  She’s trying to hook her groom, not a fish.  She really wants to land this one and get married.
Apple+pole=Annapolis, married+land=Maryland

North Carolina – Think of the North Pole and carolers.  These carolers aren’t singing Christmas songs.  Instead, they’re cheering, “Rah, Rah, Rah!”
Rah=Raleigh, North Pole Carolers=North Carolina

Pennsylvania – You’re a cartoonist and you’re using a pencil to draw a cartoon of a hamburger with weird punk-rocker hair.
Hairy hamburger=Harrisburg, the cartoonist’s pencil=Pennsylvania

New York – Picture the Empire State Building in New York City (New York is the Empire State).  Now picture a bunch of bunnies hopping all over it.
All bunnies=Albany, Empire State Building=New York

New Jersey – Your favorite football player took off his brand new jersey and stretched it out on the ground.  Then he put a tent on the jersey.
Tent+on=Trenton, football jersey=New Jersey

Connecticut – Picture a giant heart flopping around in the back of a Ford truck.  What keeps it from bouncing out of the truck?  It’s connected with a rope.
Heart+Ford=Hartford, connected by a rope=Connecticut

Rhode Island – Picture a small island that you can hold in your hand.  On the island is a tiny road.  You see a professor walking down the road searching for evidence of a lost civilization.
Prof+evidence=Providence, road+island=Rhode Island

from Kids Learn America! by Patricia Gordon and Reed Snow

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Art on the Road
Roadschooling - School
Friday, 16 May 2008

lighthouseart.jpg Although we had planned to go to Bar Harbor, a few days ago it became apparent that we weren’t going to make it (budget constraints, scheduling problems, etc).  Rather than miss the state of Maine entirely, I began to search for alternatives.  What I came up with turned out to be one of our best days yet.  We drove the van to Portland and spent the day doing a unique Art project. 

The Portland area is special because it has six lighthouses within 20 miles of the city.  We packed up our pencils, paper, colored chalk, oil pastels, crayons and our lap desks and drove to all six lighthouses.  At each location we scattered, art supplies in hand, to what we considered was the best vantage point to capture the scene.  We sketched each lighthouse, paying close attention to every detail.   Then we gathered our supplies, went back to the van, and moved on to the next lighthouse.  Some places inspired us to stay longer – like the area where Cape Elizabeth Light is located.  We sat on the rocks with the waves crashing around us to draw the lighthouses (there are 2 of them there), but then we had to do a little more exploring.  The boys crawled around on the rocks and watched the ocean waves.  Later we returned to have dinner there at the Lobster Shack.

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Graduation Day is Coming
Roadschooling - School
Tuesday, 13 May 2008

My boys are about to graduate from the 1st and 2nd grades and I’m upset.  We're messing with tradition.  This is how it’s supposed to look…

At the end of the school year I make a scrapbook of all of the things they’ve seen, made, participated in, accomplished and experienced that had anything to do with school in the past year.  (I take LOADS of pictures throughout the year because you just can't keep everything.)  Then we invite all of our friends over for a huge Open House to celebrate graduating to the next grade.  The kids act as guides, explaining everything to their guests.  We put the scrapbook out for everyone to peruse.  We make appetizers and desserts.  The boys also alternate giving a presentation every year to practice their public speaking.  They have to research a topic, make a presentation board, memorize their “speech”, and then give it to the group (without fidgeting), which is usually between 20 and 30 people.  We've done it the same way every year for the past three years.

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Biking the Battle Road Trail
History By State - Massachusetts
Saturday, 10 May 2008

battleroadtrail1.jpg Today we hauled our bikes to the “Battle Road Trail” at Minuteman National Historic Park in Concord, Massachusetts.   It’s the same road that Revere, Dawes and Prescott used to warn their neighbors “the Regulars are coming out!”  (They did not say “the British are coming”…at the time they were all British.)  We started at the Visitor’s Center where we watched the multimedia theater program The Road to Revolution, which gives a great introduction to the park, Paul Revere’s Ride, and what would come to be known as “the shot heard round the world”.  Once on the trail, there are signs and monuments scattered here and there that tell the story.  We pedaled along 10 miles of the actual road where British soldiers retreated under intense gunfire from the colonial militia after the first skirmish of what would become the Revolutionary War.  It happened April 19th, 1775.  It’s remembered here in Massachusetts as Patriots Day and if you’re lucky enough to be here on the actual anniversary date you can get up early and watch the re-enactment.  It’s supposed to be incredible.  We all agreed this has been one of our favorite days so far.  The weather was perfect, the scenery looked like something from a movie, we had fun, and we learned about history at the same time.  Perfect.

 
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Site Reorganization

blog.gif Wow! Thanks to all of you who are following along with us on on this incredible journey. This site has grown increadilby over the few short months we've been live. So much that we need to reorganize just a bit, a little housekeeping, nothing major. In the future we'll be adding the majority of content under the blog heading and highlighting featured articles on the front page. To read all about our fantastic journey click the link at the top of the page and climb aboard. 

Flat Stanley

We're excited to be able to partner
with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
in Memphis, TN to offer some of their
patients the opportunity to participate
in a Flat Stanley exchange with us while
we’re on the road. Continue...

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