World Schooling – On the Road

It’s fun to keep track of our world schooling activities. I keep a simple list from our trip of activities that are educational in some way or another for the kids. I was scrolling and scrolling to the bottom the other day and realized it’s getting pretty long.

And since I haven’t posted in a while, I thought posting the list with some pictures might be a good way to catch up a bit.

Education is a unifying theme for our year long trip. We have a traditional online school program that we follow, but we also try to do things that engage the kids in a more experiential manner. Where did our ancestors come from? Well, let’s go see their names memorialized on Ellis Island. What is Congress? Let’s take a tour of the Capitol.

So here are some highlights of the world schooling list to date. Note that this doesn’t include simply fun things like going to the beach or hiking or visiting friends and family, though those are also very important.

We’ve focused on nature and science when traveling to parks during the summer on the first part of our trip on the West Coast. And then we’ve hit a lot of historical and cultural sites in the big cities through the autumn on the East Coast.

La Brea Tar Pits – Los Angeles, CA

Yosemite Junior Ranger Program – Yosemite National Park, CA (Did we say the kids LOVED Yosemite?)

Jelly Belly Factory Tour – Fairfield, CA (Yes, I do view this as educational.)

Redwoods Junior Ranger Program – Redwoods National Park, CA (My favorite park!)

Olympics Junior Ranger Program – Olympic National Park, WA

Olympics Hoh Ranger Nature Walk – Olympics National Park, WA (Our kids are not shy about asking questions. Sorry to the other hikers.)

Port Angeles Discovery Center – Port Angeles, WA (On a bike ride near here we got to observe otters in their natural habitat!)

Bruce Peninsula National Park Tour – Bruce Peninsula, ON

Niagara Falls Tour – Niagara Falls, ON (How is it possible something this cool exists?)

College Visits – MA (Visiting the alma maters. Good to see the Geo profs and the old observatory.)

Acadia National Park Junior Ranger Program – Acadia, ME

Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Making Tour – VT (This visit was purely educational in nature.)

Maple Farm & Syrup Making Tour – VT (I think I want to own a maple syrup farm.)

Freedom Trail Walk and Ranger Talk – Boston, MA (Super enlightening for the kids.)

Freedom Trail Junior Ranger Program – Boston, MA

Charleston Shipyard & USS Constitution – Boston, MA

Boston Science Museum – Boston, MA (This is the best science museum for kids I’ve visited. By far.)

Boston Children’s Museum – Boston, MA

Raul Revere House Tour – Boston, MA

Plimoth Plantation – Plymoth, MA (Very experiential. And don’t ask me why they’re spelled different, but they are.)

Plymoth Rock and Historic Town Tour – Plymoth, MA (Plymouth Rock was way smaller than I expected.)

Cape Cod National Seashore Junior Ranger Program – Cape Cod, MA (Yeah, we didn’t catch EEE.)

Newport Mansions Tour – Newport, MA (I want a summer cottage like this!)

Newport Parade and Town – Newport, MA

Walden Pond – Concord, MA

Statue of Liberty – New York, NY

Ellis Island Tour – New York, NY

Broadway Play – New York, NY (Just about the most special day ever for the girls! Way better than the movies.)

Wall Street, Trinity Church and Times Square – New York, NY

American Museum of Natural History – New York, NY (The butterfly exhibit was the favorite of the day.)

Freedom Tower Visit and Twin Tours Site Tour – New York, NY (The tour was intensely powerful and the view from the Freedom Tower very impressive.)

Huguenot Town – New Paltz, NY

Mushroom Farm – Kennett Square, PA (I always joke we’re going to a mushroom farm instead of whatever place we’re really going. But this time I meant it.)

National Cathedral Tour – Washington D.C. (A true wonder.)

White House Tour – Washington D.C. (It’s incredible we live in a country where the average citizen can visit a place like this.)

Freer Art Gallery – Washington D.C. (The kids managed not to break anything, so I consider that a successful visit.)

Air and Space Smithsonian – Washington D.C. (“Sooooo cool!”)

Washington Monument Visit and National Mall Walk – Washington D.C. (Just like I remembered from my childhood.)

National Zoo – Washington D.C.

Smithsonian Natural History Museum – Washington D.C.

U.S. Capitol Building and House Floor Tour – Washington D.C. (I’m amazed we were able to get onto the House floor. This is a picture from the balcony of the Speaker of the House.)