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July 23, 2007
Growing Up
Every once in a while I backtrack from giving ideas about learning to where I got a lot of those ideas. Or at least where I had the opportunity to try a lot of those ideas out. Where? On my kids, of course.
Many of you were readers as my four children grew from young children into the twenty-something crowd. I, of course, have not aged, but they have gotten older and, I believe, we've all gotten wiser.
This weekend my youngest, Carolyn, will go back to college. She'll be a junior this year. Actually I think three of my four are juniors this year. Each is getting there in their own way. Wherever they are in the college process is fine with me.
I have truly enjoyed Carolyn being around a bit this summer. I've seen her change a great deal in the last two years. She's a great deal more mature, has a real mind of her own, and has opinions that at times are similar to mine and at others are totally different. We have interesting conversations that way.
My next to the oldest (by two minutes for those of you who have twins) will be at Travis Air Force Base this week. Carolyn and I are planning to have dinner with him one of the nights he's in town. Travis is a lot closer than Oklahoma or anywhere else in the world he might be.
I was in Phoenix last week and hoped to see the oldest. He's also in the Air Force stationed at Luke Field. I left him several messages, but, like the rest of us, he's not always on top of his voice mail. He'll probably call sometime next month wondering if I'm still in town. No, I won't be and he missed out on a great and free dinner.
Jennifer is the closest and, of course, the one I see least often. It's partly due to her living relative close by, but it's also her very busy schedule and mine. They mesh once in a while, and it's always a pleasure when they do.
For those of you who ask about the kids now and then, thank you. They're doing fine. It's nice to see them growing up. Scary too. They were so little just a short time ago.
Posted by Dr Joni at 03:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 11, 2007
Travel Activities in Science
I mentioned in my last blog travel ideas for parents and kids around history/social studies. Now let’s look at science fun. I found all kinds of science events to explore. Try one of these on your next trip.
Weather fun. The trip I just took included sunshine, rain, hail, wind, and snow-all on the same day, some at the same time. I watched storms form in front of me and rain falling but not hitting the ground.
As you travel, ask your child what kinds of weather she’s seeing. What makes the rain happen? Why is it snowing? Where does the wind come from? You can check temperature gages if your car has one to see what the temperature is outside the car. Is the temperature outside the same as inside? What makes the difference? You can tell there are all kinds of questions and discussions to be had around weather.
Rock hound. Everywhere I went in Arizona and Nevada the last few days, there were rock formations. Camelback Mountain in Phoenix has some great history, but even more fun are all the tall tales about the Lost Dutchman’s mine in the Superstition Mountians. You can’t go looking for gold unless you know what gold looks like.
Picking up rocks can make for a fun afternoon events. Let you child find a few rock that catch his attention. Then using a rock book or the Internet, see if he can find what kinds of rock’s he’s discovered. A rock and gem shop is a nice follow-up to a little work finding rocks and matching them to what he thinks they are. Look out. Next he’ll want a rock tumbler.
Flora and Fauna. I grew up in the desert and, being the child I was, I didn’t find it attractive. This trip I certainly saw it differently. In the spring the desert is full of like. There are blooms on the tops or the saguaro cacti and flowers on the prickly pears. Everything was green and that’s saying a lot for the desert.
Any area has its own vegetation. If you’re traveling anywhere your child can learn a bit about the plants and animals in the area. There may be cactus in one area and tall pine trees in another. Talking about what makes the difference and why things grow where they do make for fun discussion.
In my recent travels I saw a herd of wild burros, a wild horse, a couple jackrabbits and a coyote. Fortunately for the rabbits the coyote didn’t see them.
What’s on your trip? What’s in your neighborhood? Find out and promote a few more learning activities with your child.
Posted by Dr Joni at 07:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 08, 2007
Travel Activities History/Social Studies
I’m always looking for fun things for parents to do with kids that create some learning. I just took a short vacation that provided all kinds of interesting activities especially in the science and history/social studies arenas.
Social studies is actually a large topic that includes such things as geography. In the last week, I’ve been in a lot of different geography, used a number of maps and GPS systems and tried not to get lost. Any trip out of your area can provide the same kinds of learning experiences for your child.
Here are a couple examples.
How do they know what direction they’re going? Some cars come equipped with a system that tells them North or Southeast. Let your child find the location on the car device, but who knows it could be wrong. Have them double check if you have a GPS. Most GPS systems have the ability to do directions. They may also give longitude and latitude position which could be an interesting discussion about what information those coordinates provide. Just to be triply sure have your child check on the map. Maps are the basic guideposts for direction, so be sure to do some location checking with the map. Besides finding your directions you’ve just saved yourself several hours of the inevitable question-“Are we there yet?”
Social studies also includes history. Did you know the little town of Tonopah in the Nevada desert boasts of two museums? Did you know Howard Hughes was married there? I found those things out just by staying overnight in a place where they had a notebook full of interesting facts about the area. Phoenix and Flagstaff also had all kinds of historic events to explore and poke around in.
It doesn’t mater if the town is big or small or way far away from home or pretty close. There’s always some history to be discovered. You and your child can uncover that history. Let your child look up where you’re going on the Internet. Find out what kinds of things happened in the area. What is he most interested in seeing? A few blog entries ago I talked about how excited the second graders were over the dinosaurs in the area. That’s really long ago history, but most kids love it. There are more recent historical events too-gold mines, shoot outs at the OK corral, and ammunition fields. All it takes is a little exploring.
Do a little Internet exploration then when you arrive in an area you’ll have some idea about what’s there to see. I missed Scotty’s Castle in Death Valley and I understand there’s a mine there that might be interesting. Guess I’ll have to go check it out.
Posted by Dr Joni at 03:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack