Home School Online

I have learned enormous amounts through travel.  And I remember trips that I took as an adolescent in which I learned much.  At least from the perspective of today, I remember them as very education

Today I’m a parent with three kids (ages 15, 12, & 10) and I’m finishing a two week family trip through Colorado.  While the primary purpose of the trip was to have a family vacation together, I would like to think that it contributed to their education.

But, did it?  I’m not sure that it did.  Many of my efforts to exploit teachable moments appear to me to have been heavy-handed and not that successful.   

There was some success.  Most notably, the trip to the ancient ruins of cliff-dwellings in Mesa Verde.  If you haven’t visited these with your family, you should. They are in the extreme southwest corner of Colorado.  There’s a national park which is primarily a series of archaelogical sites about some ancestors of the Pueblo Native Americans who built amazing cliff dwellings.  The kids  got both to climb and to listen to park ranger talks about this mysterious place.

What successes have you had?

What hints have you got to share about blending vacation with education?

1. Going to the country or National Park. In my case, we are going to spend the next two weeks in Colorado: rafting, climbing, hiking, camping, and whatnot. Birding too.
2. Turning off the electronics. I will not be blogging, twittering, or facebooking about it. Neither will my kids be listening to their ipods. The chargers will all be left at home. One charge for everyone for two weeks (except for my iphone).
3. Reading. I’m back to my favorite authors: Larry McMurtry and Orson Scott Card. Plus, I’m be reading all the books that my daughter is bringing for her school summer reading which oddly, includes some Mary Shelley (Frankenstein), Dickens, Chaim Potok, and Kurt Vonnegut.

That’s it. Short list. What’s yours?

How different can you make the summer? How long a “total” vacation is OK for an elementary or middle school student?  Can they feel like they’re having a total vacation but can you slip in enough education to keep them from backsliding?  You know that a two or three month summer vacation can result in serious back-sliding. 

Here’s my answer to this question:
1. A summer reading program. Fit it into everyday. Maybe for 30 minutes after lunch. Maybe after dinner.  Maybe it’s comic books or other light-reading. But thou shall read daily!  My daughter had a trip to Rome planned: I had her (high school) read Angels and Demons.  Ok, maybe it wasn’t the best choice, but it did give her some perspective on what she was about to see.
2. Explore ideas. Talk about history and social studies and math as you see its traces in your travels.
3. An alternative summer study program for 30 minutes per day. And I recommend Time4Learning.  Depending on your child’s needs, you can focus on math, language arts, or do both.  Take a look. 

And I’ll quote Time4Learning:

Your child works hard during the school year and needs a summer vacation in order to come back refreshed. The sensible part of you knows that it would be foolish to waste the summer months, since a long vacation without study can result in backsliding. The sensitive part of you feels guilty about asking your kids to do work while their friends are spending their vacation doing other things.

 Here’s a solution:

Have you noticed how much your child enjoys using the computer? If you haven’t, you should. Kids are constantly surfing the web. Whether they’re checking out a video game or chatting with their friends, they are (without a doubt) online. So, it makes sense to turn to the web for a fun alternative to summer school. Time4Learning’s online interactive curriculum provides a web based summer learning program that they won’t mind using. In fact, they might even like it!

Time4Learning’s Web Based Summer Learning Program might be your answer.