6/16/2011

The Wee Guy's Geography Lesson

For the past couple of weeks, the Wee Guy and I have been doing some map work as well as learning some fascinating facts, by living vicariously through OMSH's family holiday.

Okay, their vacation.

Almost every leg of the amazing family holiday they're having has been chronicled on the OMSH blog (or, on PW's site). 

Their trip began in Texas, where they live, and so far, they've travelled through Oklahoma, 

Kansas, 

Colorado, 

and visited a snowy Yellowstone National Park inWyoming. They crossed into Montana, 


and visited the Grand Canyon in Arizona and New Mexico.

The fact they're in New Mexico tells me they're coming close to the end of their trip. They are almost home.

(In real life, they are actually at home now, but we're working some days behind them)

When we took our (almost) four week holiday to the US two years ago, we visited none of the places the OMSH family have seen, and yet, reading of their trip is bringing back some wonderful memories for me: 

the excitement of visiting places, previously only seen online or in photos; 

the enjoyment of each other's company, with the feeling of freedom that being on holiday brings; 

the joy of meeting friends - some of whom we'd never met before; others we had been missing for some time, and longed to see again;

and the (possibly unexpected) enjoyment of long trip together in the car.

I've loved 'travelling' with the OMSH family, and following an actual trip like this brings map reading to life for the Wee Guy.

Okay, and for his Mum!

As well as the Wee Guy finding individual towns, roads and parks in an Atlas (as seen below), we have also been sticking dots onto a map of the whole of the USA to give some perspective of the journey.


On the individual atlas pages, we place tape giving a rough idea of the roads they travelled. This is Wyoming, on Day 7 of their holiday. They travelled to the Yellowstone National Park and (I think) drove into Montana for a short time. (Did they do this just for the fun of having another state to add to their holiday? I don't know, but I do know that we did this on our trip!)

You can head over to the OMSH site to read more of their trip. Over the next week, we will finish their journey at our kitchen table, and I'll show you their final leg when we're done.



11 comments:

  1. Wee Guy, you have a terrrrrrrific Mom!!
    (Great work, Anne!)

    ReplyDelete
  2. It is so fun to track a trip! My husband and son, Joshua flew from Portland, OR to Cleveland, OH. on Tuesday. - Their mission is to drive a car back to the northwest for a family w/ 4 young children (the family is flying to the northwest!) They've been looking forward to the father/son time for quite a while! We are tracking their progress!

    ReplyDelete
  3. We did this when my sister and her family went on a road trip across the U.S. It was fun to live vicariously through them. I wish we would have done it as in depth as you have. Wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  4. O I have loved seeing OMSH's posts too. Especially of the Grand Canyon since we were going to visit there but then couldnt because the roads were closed from a "freak" snow storm.

    We traveled from California (up just north of the state capitol) all the way south then into Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and then into Virginia.

    We didnt see very many interesting things because we were pressed for time but the roads were beautiful and it was quiet a family adventure.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Now that is an inspiration... we have been reading away through their awesome sights... but you take "following" to a whole new level!!! Love it!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. A few years back, we drove through several states for a vacation. We rented a car to do this. We saw several sites and enjoyed the time together. When we returned the rental car, they were shocked we put over 5,000 miles on the car! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Good Morning!

    What an amazing lesson...this is truly what homeschooling is all about! Making learning real for your children...a life-long experience to be enjoyed and embraced. Thanks for sharing!

    Have a blessed weekend!
    Laura

    ReplyDelete
  8. A great, and interesting, lesson for the wee guy.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Such a fun way to learn!!! Don't you love this part of homeschooling:)) (Along with everything else of course:)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Pam said...

    Loving catching up on your blog. Those sheep in previous post are heart warmers. Great pics.

    We have just completed this whole trip in the last month, what a coincidence... at least all but Texas and Oklahoma, which we exchanged for California and Nevada. I love seeing it all mapped out.

    You will have to bring the Wee Guy and the rest out for a visit, and we can start you on a tour of the same trip.

    Much Love,
    Pam

    20 June 2011 06:08

    Word verification

    ReplyDelete
  11. I followed their whole trip too and I cannot wait until my kids are old enough to enjoy something like that. How neat that you got to use it and learn like that :)

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts with Thumbnails