Is there time for Art Appreciation in your schedule?

Not in mine, either! But I wish there was. I’ve tried a little. But I knew there wasn’t really any time or energy, so although I gave it all I had, it wasn’t very much.

I went to a conference workshop a few years back on integrating famous works of art and classical pieces of music into your homeschool. It seemed all so simple. Only 10 to 15 minutes a day – and you rotated every 3 weeks or something. It was all so easy to set up, implement, and the kids were going to come out having memorized and appreciated all this great stuff!

But I couldn’t do it, no matter how much I wanted to. I didn’t have the mental energy.

Now some day I might. And I am so excited for that someday. And if I can find a way to do it, I will. (See, even in homeschool, at least mine, the arts are the first to go. sad.)

But right now I have 5 little children. I need to wait for them to get a little older and a little more independent. Their education isn’t going to crumble if they don’t have a strong and solid art appreciation course streaming all year long. (As perhaps it would if I didn’t develop and foster their reading, for example.)

But oh how enriching it would be if I could do that now. *sigh*

Which is why THIS link caught my eye. http://enrichmentstudies.com/art-appreciation/ (this is where I got the cover photo – just citing my source, dotting my i’s, hopefully this counts)

I think it will work. So much so that I am almost willing to spend the money to a packet. Except lets be realistic, then I have to go get them color printed which is going to cost me a bunch more. I’m almost willing to do it. I’m so wanting to be willing to do it.

Have you tried it before? Let me know, I want to hear your experiences so I don’t end up wasting my money – or wasting a great opportunity to fill more beauty and goodness into these little hearts and minds in my care.

BUT WAIT!!! There are FREEBIES!! Click here for some a free set to start out with. I just did! http://homeschoolgiveaways.com/art-study-set/?c144112Le

We are not alone!

This article may quell some fears. Homeschoolers on average actually score higher on standardized testing, are better socialized, and are actively recruited by high ranking universities. May favorite quote, if you want to skip the article though, is about socialization and it goes like this…

“But it’s one of the surprising advantages of homeschooling that homeschooled kids tend to be more socially engaged than their peers, and according to the National Home Education Research Institute survey, demonstrate “healthy social, psychological, and emotional development, and success into adulthood.” – See more at: http://www.educationnews.org/parenting/number-of-homeschoolers-growing-nationwide/#sthash.pm7Cjr1A.dpuf”

Here’s the article – it’s actually pretty short.

http://www.educationnews.org/parenting/number-of-homeschoolers-growing-nationwide/

Preschool round 2! I and i

I was not as prepared as I usually am for my turn with preschool this week. But even so I feel like we had a wonderfully successful time. And I will now tell you ALL about it…

Our letter/sound of the week was long I. That seemed kind of difficult at first. But on day one we talked about our eyes (I know, not an I in the entire word!) and different kinds of eyes. I found a great book called “Eye to Eye” about different animal eyes and how they functioned. We didn’t read any of the book, just looked at the pictures. The kids enjoyed that. Then we used our own eyes by looking at “I Spy…” books. I was worried this would be too difficult, you know, too much focusing for the little kids, but with one exception (because there is always an exception) they all were pretty interested and looked at multiple books.

And now that I’ve figured out what the kids will/will not eat, snack time usually goes pretty well too. We also played “I spy with my little eye…” during snack time so that made it really fun.

After snack time we  made “magnifying glasses” that we could use with our next task – the High Five Magazine’s hidden pictures! Originally I wanted to make full on spectacles out of pipe cleaners and beads, but lo and behold, the morning of preschool I discovered we had a grand total of 6 pipe cleaners. Thanks to a desperate Facebook plea and willing and generous neighbors I did end up with plenty of pipe cleaners, but I changed my mind twice and we ended up just making magnifying glasses. I always feel like putting beads on a string (or pipe cleaner) is good for little children in helping them get their fingers ready for writing.

Day 2, today, we reviewed a little of Monday’s theme and then we talked about ice and all the different things you can do with ice. We came up with build an igloo out of it, skate on it, and lick it! Yum! And cold! Then we read the following two books about ice skating and ice fishing. The ice skating book prompted an argument on WHO could be Angelina Ballerina on ice because although one child said everyone could, another insisted that was NOT true and she was the only true Angelina. I’m glad Angelina is so popular.

Then we made our own ice cream! This was our highlight of the week. I did most of the work, but the kids all got a chance to pour various ingredients in the tub and they got to see how it worked. I think they enjoyed making the ice cream almost as much as eating it!

We went back down stairs while the cream was churning and the kids colored three different flavors of ice cream cones, whichever flavors they liked the best. The most unique award goes to the flavor Grass, while Chocolate receives the most popular award, maybe because one child colored all 3 cones brown for chocolate. Gag reflex award goes to the Maple Syrup flavor, but you know, whatever floats your boat.

Coloring done! It’s time to eat! And here I quote a 5 year old, “This is the best ice cream I have ever eaten in my entire life!” It was pretty good, I have to admit.

Normally I would have had some sort of worksheet – I still have a special place in my heart for worksheets even though I think they are kind of on the road out of here. But I forgot to refill my ink cartridge even though I was at Costco yesterday (sheesh!) so we skipped that. I’m not too concerned about the kids being able to write their letters perfectly at this point. I’m not big on pushing academics at early ages, although some children are definitely ready for it and they really enjoy it. For me, our little neighborhood preschool is for social interaction, exposing children to new things and new experiences, and learning to work and act as a group.

Everyone went home happy, although some children briefly refused to even go home, so that makes me feel like I did a pretty good job.

Round 2 is over. Only one round left to go before another year of preschool is over.

(Just FYI, technically I’ve done this more than twice this school year, but this is only the second time since the opening of the blog.)

Exo and Endothermic Experiments

Disclaimer: I did NOT make up these experiments. I got them out of our Chemistry Level 1 book from Pandiapress.com. And I highly recommend them.

Plugging along with our year in chemistry we have come to chemical reactions. First we had to get through protons, neutrons, electrons, atoms, elements, molecules, and a few other fun little things, and now we’ve made it to the Bill Nye exploding stuff, right? Not quite. However, these experiments were so fun. I was kind of skeptical that I could get them to work right. I would never have made a good scientist probably of any kind, I’m not a good baker for the same reason – something to do with measuring things? But after a little trial and error, we nailed these guys!

Our exothermic reaction occurred when we added yeast to vinegar. The kids stirred it up, oooo’d and aaaahhhh’d at the bubbles, and then felt the temperature start to rise in their cups. This was so fun that we had to do it twice!

Our endothermic reaction was a little harder to pull off. The first time we did it nobody could feel much of a temperature change. But the kids really liked the bubbling so for fun I just kept adding more baking soda to the lemon juice to see if we could keep the bubbles going. And what do you know? Our little cups gold colder and colder the more baking soda I added and the more they stirred and stirred. You know, I know it is science and explainable and all, but sometimes it feels kind of like magic! Just because you know what is going on and why, doesn’t it seem magical when you can create a change like that. All those little molecules rearranging themselves and stuff, it’s just kind of neat.

My greatest success of these experiments was not that they worked, but that, thanks to our study of latin prepositions, I finally wrapped my head around the phenomena of endo- and exothermic reactions. Exothermic makes sense – heat right? One of their products is heat. But endothermic was explained to me in IB Chemistry in high school as a chemical reaction that used the surrounding heat as a catalyst to make the reaction happen, therefore the reactants, or the new products I guess, would be cold. To a high school mind using heat to make something cold was hard to swallow. Thankfully somehow it has clicked. Exo – heat exiting equals warm/hot to the touch. Endo – heat going in equals the absence of the heat and therefore cold to the touch. Easy peasy.

Here is proof that even if you ran out of ink in your printer and couldn’t print off the worksheets to go with the experiments AND even if you had you couldn’t totally complete them anyway because your cheap-o thermometer from Walmart broke after only a few days and now you are without, your kids can still have fun doing science. (And even though they don’t actually answer my question in the video, they did answer all my verbal questions correctly during the science lesson. It’s just kind of hard to compete with bubbling concoctions at your fingertips!)

Confessions

This is the first of what may be a long series of posts. I’m choosing not to keep track – just keepin’ it real.

1. I haven’t done any homeschool planning in about 4 weeks. But somehow we are all still moving right along. It’s awesome. And although I feel a pull inside of me to start planning again because you know, it is the responsible thing to do, I’m not going to before the year is over.
2. I am really looking forward to being done with this school year. As much as I LOVE homeschooling and feel it is the very best choice for my family for so many reasons, I secretly, or not so secretly now, wake up every morning and contemplate taking a vacation day and just curling up on the couch and reading books all day long.
3. Probably the main reason I haven’t done any planning for 4 weeks is because after the kids go to bed, I curl up on the couch and read books all night long. It’s a form of self-medication. That and M&Ms.:)
4. I realized the other day that I should probably take down the Valentine’s decorations hanging in our “school room” window. And the more I thought about it, I figured I should probably take the Christmas cards hanging up on our wall in the kitchen too. It is April after all.
5.  During soccer season, when we have games every evening Tuesday through Friday, we mostly eat cold sandwiches, mac and cheese, or cereal for dinner. And usually at 4:30 in the afternoon. I ate a balanced meal probably 95% of my growing up life and I feel bad for my kids that they have to eat macaroni and cheese at all.
6. I think mac and cheese is gross.
7. I am really enjoying our impromptu Native American studies. But I think our books are dumb. As in I really think they are dumb. They are too dumbed down. There is a need out there for more complete books on Native American’s tribe/nation by tribe/nation for elementary school kids.
8. Also, while I’m at it, every single book talks about how peaceful and loving all the Native American’s were. I’m not saying they weren’t, I’m just saying when I grew up, 1, we didn’t really even learn about Native Americans to be honest, but 2, what we “knew” about them was that they were warriors and kidnapped people, tortured and murdered them, and were extremely brutal. I feel like we’ve gone from one extreme to the other here. I wish there was a way to actually know. I don’t believe they were all “savages” at all. But I don’t believe they were all peace loving pacifists either. Maybe it’s because all the books I’m reading are for elementary school kids. Or maybe I just grew up in the 80s before people kind of worried about minority groups to such an extreme and nobody cared if what they were teaching was correct or polite, just if it fit the cartoons and old western novel depictions. Anyway, I’m allowed to think about things that aren’t politically correct, even if people might gasp at the thought that I’m thinking it.
9. Doing science with my kids makes me frustrated. The science books are cool. But the potential messes drive me bonkers. You wouldn’t know that I cared about making a huge mess in my kitchen by the fact that I haven’t mopped my kitchen floor in a while. hmmm.
10. I have about 5 drafts of different blog posts in the works and for some reason I can’t seem to finish one and get it online. My two blog readers are going to wonder where I have gone to.
11. Sometimes I notice my own grammatical mistakes – like prepositions at the end of a sentence – and shrug, leave it there, and consider it part of my personal style.
12. Speaking of grammar, since when is “dove” as in the past tense of “to dive” not grammatically correct. Sorry guys, I just revert it in my mind every time I see it in print. Does that not sound wrong to anyone else? Seriously, “He dived off the platform.” Sorry, I just can’t move past with that one. He dove.
13. I think I have become trunky, gotten senioritis, or whatever it is you call in when you are a homeschool mom and the sun is finally out again and you are almost done with the school year! Maybe we call that excited, proud, satisfied (or anticipating satisfaction), tired, a little worn out, and too addicted to YA fiction – just finished the latest Michael Vey and starting Brandon Mull’s “5 Kingdoms.” Plus I just read a neat book about Mary Jemison (look her up! fascinating!), a book called “Storybound” and another called “The League of Beastly Dreadfuls.” That was a strange book.
14. These last few weeks have been a doozy (hence the reading overload and M&Ms.) This last weekend I just walked about kind of in a stupor. My poor husband. And then today at lunch I said to myself, well, at least it’s almost the weekend again. Except it’s Monday. I’m just going to laugh that one off.
15. It is about this time of year that I start gearing up for next year – I really, really, really get excited about buying our new school books for the next year!!! That is my nerdy secret pleasure. I can’t wait to buy Latin for Children: Primer B!!! If that doesn’t make me a complete nerd, I’m not sure how else to qualify.

There you go. Confession list one? Check! Now I feel I’ve accomplished something tonight. Back to my book!

Only a Penny to Spare: Budgeting and Curriculum Reviews

Wow. Check out that budgeting. This is called “Cutting it Way Too Close.”

The reason this works is because the 2nd grader and kindergartner (next year) will be using our hand-me-down math textbooks that the oldest child received brand new. We just have to buy the new workbooks, etc. This will also work with grammar once the 2nd child gets to level 3 and so on, and Latin as well when she gets to 3rd grade. In fact, the more I think about it, most of our textbooks are reusable and just come with cheaper workbooks.

So the oldest child will always cost the most, in our system at least. Our spelling book never changes – we can use that through high school if they still need it – it is essentially a list of spelling words grouped by like phonograms or something.

The really nice thing, as long as you turn them in on time, is the books from the library are FREE! (Library post is in the works. We go there A LOT.)

Also, at LoveToLearn.net a friend just pointed out to me that you can buy an entire year’s worth of curriculum by grade – so a 6th grade packet, a 7th grade packet, etc. It’s way cheaper, but you don’t get to hand select what you use. And of course, I didn’t see any Latin in there, so you know, you guys would be missing out on Latin which I know would break all those tender little students’ hearts. Or just mine.

If you would rather hand pick your books (or investigate the books sold in curriculum packages), check out these websites and ask around.

http://www.homeschoolreviews.com

http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/homeschool-curriculum-reviews/

http://www.homeschool.com/productreviews/

http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/homeschool-curriculum-reviews.html

Grammar will Change the World!

“Words – so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.”-Nathaniel Hawthorne

 

Words can be highly influential and have lasting consequences. They can move people to do things they never thought of on their own. Words can change the course of history. As an example, think about a persuasive political leader – that shouldn’t be too hard since there are 4 major political leaders blasting the headlines every day right now. Think of the words they use AND the way they use them.

People who control words, in a way, control the world because they control how people think. Take mob mentality for example. All those out of control people didn’t get worked up into their frenzy by listening to someone tentatively and cautiously hem and haw and um, like, and you know their way around something they obviously do not know very much about. No, the speaker has a way with language and has chosen his words carefully and confidently (whether accurately or not -or whether he knows what he is talking about or not – is another debate). Words and communication are deeply connected with emotions and emotions lead to action – for better or for worse.

In addition, those who have mastered language also are in the position to alter language. Certain key words or key phrases take on new meaning depending on how the speaker wants you to feel and think and act. Again, think about any persuasive political leader – listen to one of their speeches or interviews, preferably when discussing controversial topics. They use certain words and phrases in certain ways. They use language to their personal advantage.

Now I know by using politicians as my example we are all thinking about the harmful affects of language abuse – lies, manipulation, and coercion. But there is just as much power for good in words as well. Powerful, straightforward, and enabling and ennobling truth will build up and fortify where other forces have torn down and tried to destroy.

But no one will hear it or believe it unless the speaker can masterfully command language and clearly communicate to the audience. To continue building up and fortifying where others continue to break down, we need good, upright and honest people who have mastered those language skills and communicate hope, truth, and motivation.

I would like to forcefully add TRUTH and HONESTY to the list of our potential future leaders. Learning how to be persuasive, on which federal standards focus a lot, should NOT be the end goal of language mastery. Using language to incite strong emotions in other people so that they will believe what you want them to believe and do what you want them to do, whether for their benefit or not, should NOT be why we master language and communication. Language should not be a tool to manipulate, but a tool to serve, edify, and clarify.

The very basic building blocks of this mastery and tool for good is grammar. Those boring predicate adjectives, compound subjects, and prepositional phrases. Yes, a noun is the name of a person, place, thing, or idea. A sentence is a group of words which expresses a complete thought. Sentences begin with a capital letter and end with a punctuation mark. Ain’t ain’t a word.

Happily and gratefully, it hasn’t been difficult for me to find a good grammar curriculum. I use First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind. (I’ve also only heard great things about Shirley Grammar, but it is out of my price range.) Grammar takes us 5 to 20 minutes a day – usually on the shorter end of that range. For the most part it isn’t difficult at all. And for those topics that are more complicated, there is a lot of repetition to reinforce and solidify slippery concepts. I didn’t understand some of that nominative predicate stuff at first. But don’t worry, I’ve got it down now. And so does my 3rd grader.

If you are using First Language Lessons and your child is relatively bright, I wouldn’t bother with level 1, but just skip to level 2 in second grade. Using the level 1 book with my 1st grader has kind of been a waste of time – not totally, just kind of.

We do grammar three times a week. Our grammar instruction includes oral usage lessons, poem memorization, copy work, dictation, and sentence diagramming. How exciting! But truthfully, it is fun to be able to deconstruct a sentence, know all of its parts, and how they all work together. I should also mention that our grammar curriculum comes with a student workbook and teacher manual. Everything I need to say and do is written out for me in my book. If I wanted, I could seriously just read verbatim from my text (and I actually do most of the time, with interesting inflection as a bonus when needed).  There is enough information and repetition there that  we have both understood all of the concepts and have a good grasp of the subject, whereas before I couldn’t have told you how to diagram a conjunction (see photo below) or that diagraming a conjunction was even possible.

I leave you with a few last words of wisdom on the topic, hopefully to motivate you and your learner to take their language lessons seriously as they are the first step into helping the world become a better place for everyone.

“Some people have a way with words, and other people…oh, uh, not have way.”
― Steve Martin

Field Trips with a Purpose: Immersion Education

Yes, all those other field trips (vacations, virtual, just for fun, etc.) have wonderful benefits and learning opportunities. But the best are those where the children are immersed in an education experience they would no way be able to experience at home or in the classroom. I mean, really, think about it. Field Trip. Off into the field to learn how all these things look like in the great big world.

Since we are focusing right now on state history and we live in the West we went to This Is The Place Heritage Park for our immersion field trip. Unlike the Cove Fort and Hamblin Home experiences, we had the entire day to explore and learn, instead of just an hour or so.

I love this place. I wish there were things like this set up for every child in every state. In the village there are a number of actual pioneer homes that have been relocated from around the state to this one location. Most are filled with actual tools and instruments that had been used by the inhabitants -or replicas or other pieces from the time. There is a staff member instead most of the homes prepared to tell you about the items, explain why they were necessary or useful, how they worked, show you how they worked, and give you a good sense of what it would be like for the family who lived or worked there. We went to a homestead, a middle class home, the bank, a sort of bed-and-breakfast, a tanner’s shop, a drug store, a blacksmith, a wilderness man’s camp, a Native American teepee, a little farm, an apple orchard planted by the pioneers, a gristmill, the telegraph office, a tithing house, and a Relief Society Hall (My personal favorite. If you know me, you’ll know why!) And more! I know, how can there possibly be even more!

We learned all about different leathers from different animals and how to tan them, how to spin wool and dye and weave it into cloth, how to plow the fields, do the laundry, play pioneer games, which herbs to grow for home use, how to mine for gold – and we even got some too! One of the greatest things about this place is that each home/shop has it’s personal history preserved. When we went into the drugstore we learned about the man who loaded 22 wagons of supplies from San Francisco to open that particular drugstore, the first between San Francisco and the Missouri River. We learned about the Jewkes Family who lived in the middle class home. We learned about the Hooper and Eldredge Bank which through time and buyouts has become Wells Fargo. And we got to pet a baby lamb and pick up chicks and ride ponies. That was fun for the kids, too.

The only thing I was disappoint in was their Native American village. The last time I had been there it was fantastic! Since we are also doing an extended Native American study unit I was really looking forward to this. Sadly, the teepee village is under construction and all they had was a teepee made of synthetic material set up on the grass and a woman dressed in semi-traditional Ute clothing helping kids make necklaces out of pony beads. *Sigh* Well, you don’t always get everything you want.

So you can see how an adventure like this would enhance any serious student’s understanding of early pioneer life in the West. We would never have experienced this just from a book – or even 20 books. We are fortunate to live not too far from many wonderful experiences like this. And chances are you probably do too. Sometimes you just have to look a little.

The nice thing about parks like this, educational in nature, is that they tend to have homeschool pricing available. I think I saved about 50% on this trip. At this particular park, and I’ve noticed other places around the country do to, they have 2 specific days designated for homeschoolers in particular. We were given the field trip pricing and a field trip wristband for being on their homeschool list and coming on that particular day. Look into this. Especially since these things also tend to be really expensive. Being a home school you have the opportunity to take field trips all the time with far less limitations than the public schools. However, the limitation we all still share is finances. You can check out websites but my favorite is to just find a phone number and call. (I kind of like to actually talk to actual people!) And what I have learned this year with our trip to the zoo is that you better call way in advance or you miss out on those lower priced days. 😦

Here are some of our favorite photos of our day in our immersion educational experience.

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Of course at the end of the day we got caught in a random thunder and lightning storm and came out pouring wet. Welcome to spring in Utah. I asked my kids what they learned from the day and my five year, old chowing down on Brigham’s Donuts, said, “well, I wasn’t really… well… you know….I didn’t learn anything!”

All right. No guarantees.

Just for Fun Field Trips

Just a comment, not a positive or negative, but have you ever noticed that field trips and some activities done in the schools seem to be family activities that many of us lower income families can’t afford very comfortably. I sometimes wonder if the schools try to even things out by doing family activities through the school so that those kids who won’t get those experiences at home can still enjoy a trip to the zoo or aquarium or local kids museum or other museum/attraction type thing? Have you ever had the experience of setting up your annual family traditions and then had your public school child tell you, “oh, we already did that at school.”  Hmm. This may or may not be significant.

Moving on.

Any field trip can be made into an overwhelming educational experience. In my heart of hearts I still have the desire to do this. Animal reports for the zoo and aquarium – or habitat reports. Botany reports for trips to the park – or physics experiments! Oooooh! Leaf and pinecone reports for a simple walk down the street in the fall. Really, a trip to the grocery store can become an extreme educational experience – price comparison, budgeting, simple math (or complicated math!), health and nutrition analysis and grocery store layout. Really, so many possibilities.  All of them sound fun to me. And worthwhile.

But for littler children sometimes just BEING there is plenty of education by itself. No need for formal reports or posters or whatnot. Just thoughtful questions – and children in the habit of giving thoughtful answers and making thoughtful observations. In fact, the more often you visit interesting places with your children and ask them those thought provoking questions, the more curious they will become and the better they will be able to question things and think for themselves.

Since I figured our neighborhood school heads to the zoo once a year (at least the kindergarten does), we might as well head there too. We hadn’t been in 2 1/2 years and my 3rd grader really, really, REALLY wanted to see the giraffes again. (He went to public school in kindergarten and giraffes were his teacher’s favorite animal. This is a great example of how much impact a teacher can make on a child – for better or worse. In our case it was for better. His kindergarten teacher was the kind all parents hope and pray for!)

I had no agenda on this trip. Just for fun. Just to see and experience. I had a question for the kids here and there, and here and there they had a question for me. But overall we just had a fabulous time.

The downside of our zoo is that they have NO homeschool pricing. So I am glad that the public schools take the children to the zoo. Not very many average families could probably afford to make the drive and pay for the tickets to get in very often. Well, not if they are super cheap like me. I think we’ll head back, but not for another 2 1/2 years or so.

The following photos are those taken by my 3rd grader. He got a $25 camera for Christmas. I started taking a bunch of photos and realized I would probably never look at them again, so I stopped and let him take a bunch for the blog. So you know, if you have issues with the photographer, just remember he is in 3rd grade. 🙂

 

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Virtual Field Trips

Sometimes you just can’t physically get to where you want to go! But sometimes you can still go there virtually. Which is awesome.

When we were studying the Revolutionary War it was impossible for us to take a 2 month vacation/field trip over to the east coast and see all the sites. *sigh* Someday, right? But even though we couldn’t physically go there which would have been the ideal, there were a number of things we could “visit” online. Some sites are awesome and you can actually take a virtual tour. Others are nice and you can see photos or maps of different artifacts or items there – this isn’t my favorite option because how is that really any different than a book? I guess maybe the novelty of doing it online? (For future reference the Monticello website is fun – virtual tour here – and the Plimoth Plantation has great virtual field trip videos too for Thanksgiving or just early American history.) Seriously, if there is anything too far away to go see, just google said place with virtual tour and see what you can come up with – maybe place a few parental controls on your computer first. Sadly, you never know.

By far – so far -the BEST virtual field trip we have done was this last week during our limited tour of Utah. It has to be limited because we’ve got other things to do, too! Ever since I’ve heard about the Kennecott Copper Mines I have wanted to go there (I only heard about them maybe 5 years ago. Definitely NOT a Utah native!) But after a major landslide or explosion (or most likely both) a few years back, visitors are no longer allowed. To compensate for not being able to go visit the largest man made hole in the world visible from space (this is only cool to some, mind you, as I learned trying to find photos of the pit from space) they have created an EXCELLENT virtual tour. It really is very good.

Now if you are thinking, Wait! If we don’t actually  GO anywhere, won’t my kids miss out on the opportunity of getting tired and annoyed with each other, sitting in the car for long periods of time, being hot and bored (yes, sometimes on tours this does happen for those littles) and hungry and having to go to the bathroom at the most inopportune moments? Well, yes and no. Many of those most unpleasant events will be missed. However, if you plan it just right by NOT having wifi AND a long enough cable to hook up your laptop to your TV, be assured you are in prime position to have a “his head is in my way” meltdown. If you are lucky, the meltdown may start a series of other just as unpleasant destructive reactions from the other children. And when the meltdown/firestorm/earthquake does begin you will have your opportunity to, in a firm and serious yet not yelling sort of way, let your children plainly know that there is ample room for all three little bodies to fit. The screen, though small, is surely big enough, and if we really need to we can all take turns. Now be quiet and listen to the tour guide tell you about smelting! This is really important for your everyday wellbeing people!!!

If I were you, I would seriously look in to the virtual field trips. In all honestly, they are wonderful. If you have any virtual tours you have taken that you have really enjoyed, I would love to hear about them in the comments. Budgets may restrict us to certain geographical areas but we pretty much all have the internet – or a library with access – so really, we can go just about anywhere.