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?