Learning with the Amazing Race

  We needed a good geography study again.  A few years back, we utilized our enjoyment of the tv show The Amazing Race.  We would make a lapbook and do crafts associated with the countries they visited.  It went really well.  We gave it up when during one episode they were in Vietnam and they had the teams sing a Communist propaganda song.  As a daughter of a Vietnam veteran I took extreme offense to such a thing and we boycotted it.  But, it is an effective tool to use for a curriculum base. It's entertaining:  The teams' challenges reflect local customs; It's quick paced: at an episode per week you have to keep moving with it, there's no putting it to the back burner; It's multi-media: you can incorporating, reading, art, music, geography, dvds, etc... all within one subject.  So, The Amazing Race was on again!
  This time around, our schedule is such in the evenings that we don't always have a chance to catch the Race on primetime, so we accessed an older season with our Amazon Prime membership and scheduled an episode per week.  That's enough of a spread to get some good crafts in and keeps the kids temporarily at bay when they are begging to watch the next episode ;)
  Watching on primetime requires a trip to the library each week to gather resources.  This time around, I can browse the episode descriptions and plan out our library gatherings a couple weeks in advance.  Things we check out are things like this...

This is part of our selections for the England/Scotland leg of the race.  For the Viking craft, we created our own Viking brooches too.  We found instructions for them over at : angelicscalliwags.com

We read aloud Paddington by Michael Bond too.  The kids really enjoyed it!  Bubby absconded with it and finished it in short order and the other two listened with rapt attention during each chapter.  We made our own Paddington bear as a craft.

We used a cork for his body, then puff balls, pipe cleaners and puffy paint.  The adorable hats we found at Hobby Lobby.
  We amped it up a little bit for the big kids and I am having them do lapbook parts on World Governments thanks to a Hands of a Child lapbook I had on hand.
   This might become our winter project each year.  Something that is a lot of hands on when its too cold to want to get outside!

Museum Selfie Day: Kansas Riverkings

  We had a field trip planned this week.  Tomorrow is the school day symphony for kids from around our area in Kansas.  It is fantastic!  So I was not looking for another trip into town this week.  But then there came across my Facebook newsfeed #museumselfieday, January 20th. *pause* Now I really want to do it.  Something fun and spontaneous and would satisfy my 11 year old asking, "where are we going for our next field trip?" for the last several days.  So then I justify it... I do need to get the oil changed in the van... I can take some library books back... I do need to get milk from the dairy.  Well, as much as we didn't need to take another trip this week, we got one ;)
  We didn't need a big one and I had the perfect addition to our schedule The Kansas Riverkings museum is located on the Kansas riverfront in Lawrence, KS.  To find it you need to go into the Abe and Jake's Landing entertainment center.  Abe and Jake's is named for two African-American commercial fishermen who made their living on the river and had shacks just right below the current Abe and Jake's Landing.  We got our picture taken with statues of them...

Mookie and Shorty with Abe and Jake

The Riverkings museum is much of what I expected, a single room with all kinds of fishing implements.  It does an excellent job of telling the story of the local fishermen and how they did what they did.  From the making of their traps and hooks, to how they "called up the fish" with an old telephone that would electrify the water. 

Mookie taking a picture of some of the tools of the trade

I love this picture Shorty took of some of the hooks.  How do you keep a pre-schooler who needs a nap under control?  Give him your camera (with a strap to put around his neck!).

The attendant was very knowledgeable and made sure to point out interesting facts to the kids.  That's a big bonus for me - any kind of extra engagement is good for learning!
  When we finished with our tour, we headed down the stairs in the Landing to take a gander at the Kansas River.  On our way we had to stop and see the HUGE commercial fishing traps hanging on the wall...

And then look at the gulls on the frigid river.  Mookie took her "selfie" responsibilities very seriously and took several with her own tablet :)

I sure like my at home time, especially on a cold and slick day where I relish being a homeschooler.  But, we had a blast doing something new and exciting!

Field Trip: Rochester, Minnesota

  We were done with field trips for the year, or were we?  I have learned to never count anything out.  We made a took a trip just before Christmas to visit a family member at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN and gave it a little zip of learning.
  While visiting at Mayo, we stretched the kids' legs a bit and wandered the halls.  We were on the St. Mary's hospital campus and there was a small (the size of a walk in closet) museum in one of the buildings.  It had some cool artifacts from the early days of the hospital.

One of the items was a spoon, the size of a serving spoon, that was used to remove gall stones - yuck!

See the operating table with the slats and trough underneath?  I won't explain that one, you can figure it out ;)

 This was one of my favorites from artifacts scattered on display in the halls.  It is a bronze cast of the Madonna's face from Michelangelo's Pieta.
 And then a lovely 3/4 size nativity...
 

This didn't even scratch the surface of all the lovely and interesting sights we could see within Mayo, but we needed to get out and about a little more so we took our show on the road.  And went to the History Center of Olmstead County.  I'll tell you, the Children's Museum at Rochester almost won out, but we had a limited time in town and we've been to general childrens' museums before.  We needed some local exhibits!
  While it was fairly small, the History Center did a great job presenting the highlights of the county.
We found a solar compass, which apparently Shorty has "been always wanting for my birthday!".

And a place to have our pictures taken with Dr. Charlie and Dr. Will Mayo...

I debated posting this picture, but someone's serious pic was too serious ;)
There were lovely outfits from the mid 19th century that made it on to Mookie's wish list...

And a Lego model of one of the Mayo buildings that Bubby was thrilled with.  He took pictures of every angle.  Including this one ;)

It would have been nice to be there under more relaxed circumstances and explore more, but we got to hang out with family made it fun and learned a little along the way.  That's what it's all about :)  We even got our fill of a White Christmas going home on Christmas Day (ok, a little more than we wanted by going through a snow storm, but Hubby got us home safe and sound).

On the way home before the storm

Update: When I wrote this blog I forgot the best story!  We went out in a snowstorm on Christmas Eve Eve to go get some of Rochester's homemade ice cream at Flapdoodles.  The guy at our hotel (Econolodge - which was the best hotel experience we'd had in a long time!) said it was phenomenal.  So, out we go in the driving and accumulating snow (crazy Kansans ;) ) to get said ice cream.  When we get there we're piling out of the car and Shorty grabs some of the parking lot snow and eats it!  Parking lot snow!  We are about to have frozen deliciousness (and it was) and he eats parking lot snow.  *sigh*