The movers drove away and we packed up our vehicles with as much of our belongings as we needed/could. A three week trip requires certain things, that certainly shouldn’t take up all the space in two vehicles. We’d like to just take our suitcases, but there are things we don’t trust with the movers. So, we made sure there was enough space for the kids and off we went.
packing up the carsit all fit!Where’s Waldo helps us say goodbye to North Carolina
We drove from North Carolina to South Carolina and stopped for the night to visit family.
South of the Border is a good old stand by when you’re traveling between the Carolinas.Where’s Waldo helps us say goodbye to NC!
We left the next morning and drove to Atlanta to visit friends. As we drove through each state, the girls were finding out and filling in the answers to their state pages. We stopped at the visitor’s center as we entered Georgia and the girls asked the people working there for some of the answers.
Welcome to GA!Georgia On My Mind
We didn’t do any touristy stuff during these days. They were more for visiting. The touristy stuff is coming up soon! . . .
Lately it has been my desire to do more roadschooling – traveling with the intent of learning while we’re on the go. This summer I GET TO DO JUST THAT – in an EPIC way for us. We are moving from the East Coast to the West Coast. And we’re taking three weeks to make the drive. 18 states! 21 days! What better time to get some schooling in than during the hours that we’ll be driving AND with all the sites that we’ll be passing.
Driving through Atlanta
I took several months to plan out the curriculum. Naturally, the places we’ll be going to and the experiences they’ll have will provide a lot of education in and of themselves. I wanted to make sure, though, that we were getting specific subjects in as we traveled. To do this, I mind mapped what I was sure I wanted them to learn. I then spent lots of time online compiling information, finding worksheets to use, and creating my own.
Here are the things we’re working on:
I created a “daily page” that would work on each day. It includes copywork, some math work (deals with our gas each day),
I created a state page for each state we’ll be driving through. The girls have to find the state tree, flower, and bird, the motto, the date of statehood, the number of electoral votes, etc. We’re going to try to taste local food from each place we go, so there’s also a place for them to record the food they tried.
They’re going to journal on most days about what they did and what their favorite parts of the day were.
We’re also going to learn about:
the earth’s layers
the continents and oceans
the countries of North America
the 50 states
the 5 biomes of the earth
the 8 eco-regions of the USA
the water cycle
the rock cycle and rock identification
caverns and bats
the Grand Canyon
the Hoover Dam
The girls each have an atlas so they can plot our progress and learn about the states. They’ve got a map to mark off license plates that they see. They’ve got some grammar pages to work on each day. We’ve got audio books to listen to. And, of course, we have the Barbies.
WHEW! It seems overwhelming and I’m not sure how it’s all going to actually pan out. I hope to document each day as we go along. The key is to be flexible and know that, even if we don’t get everything covered that I had planned they still ARE learning.
Pictures are coming soon of our school bins, folders, and days!
We woke up one Monday morning and went through our regular morning routine. As we sat down to do school I opened up our history binder to quickly glance over what we’d be learning about throughout the week. (If it were the beginning of the school year I would have already prepped and read through all the material over the weekend. That’s too much effort at this point. . .)
Daniel Boone. Hmm… I remembered that he was a pioneer but not much else. We started reading a brief biography on him and learned that he spent much of his life in North Carolina. North Carolina? IN OUR BACKYARD?!
Well, not technically our backyard. Metaphorically in our backyard, which could be the Carolinas and southern Virginia.
We Google Mapped the location and a crazy idea came upon all three of us at the same time.
We should drive there! TODAY! N-O-W!
I briefly balked at the idea since the first site we would want to visit was 2.5 hours away. The next site was an hour past that, and the third site was maybe an hour past that. Isn’t this flying a little too much by the seat of my pants? Do normal people just do this sort of thing. BUT, then I remembered that I want to do more ROADSCHOOLING. More adventure. More learning by doing and not just sitting in the house. And no one could ever accuse me of being normal. Ahem.
“Get in the car, girls!” (I ran upstairs and quickly put on make up. And appropriate pants.)
The girls did their other schoolwork in the car. And I didn’t mind the drive. I love driving, especially down country roads, and especially when there aren’t slow tractors or elderly drivers who don’t drive above 30MPH. We didn’t see a single tractor or elderly driver.
Our first stop was Boone’s Cave Park.
We’re here!
One of the great things about visiting tourist attractions during the week (or off-season, even) is that there tends to be no one else there. Homeschooling is great for that.
At the rest areaWoodsy WalkBloodroot grows here. (Bloodroot is also one of my favorite books, written by Amy Greene.)
We walked down a winding path through the woods and could tell we were getting closer to water. ((We could totally survive in the wilderness. Except for the bugs. And the lack of food. And the lack of fresh water.)) We rounded a corner, right along the water, and walked right up on the cave.
Boone’s Cave
If the Boones lived in that cave while they were building their house, I feel very sorry for them. It was pretty tiny. On second thought, we would not be able to survive in the wilderness. I guess, when your house is a tiny cave that you can’t even stand up straight in, you spend most of your days outdoors. . . where you learn to hunt and survive in the wild. I’ve always said God knew what He was doing when He placed me in the 20th/21st centuries.
She’s so cute stooping.
There aren’t signs posted giving any information about the cave. It looks like they just replaced some of the wooden steps leading back up to the parking lot, so perhaps they’re going to put up some info signs soon. Fortunately, I had cell service and could Google it. We weren’t even sure we were at the right cave, but pictures on the internet confirmed that. Because you can trust everything you read on the internet.
Flowering (back at the rest area)
Our next stop was an hour away at Shallow Ford. It’s a narrow part of the Yadkin River where the Boone’s FORDED the river. What’s so cool, is that it’s also the place of a skirmish (go Whigs!) and where Lord Cornwallis crossed during the Revolutionary War. WHAT. I love history.
Shallow Ford – 600 yds south
So. You can’t actually go to the exact place of the ford. It’s on private property now. You can, however, cross the bridge 600 yards to the north and careen your neck and catch a quick snapshot.
Where Cornwallis and Boone crossed the Yadkin.
Totally worth the 3.5 hour drive to get here.
By this point in the day, none of us was up for driving several hours west to the town of Boone. Kind of disappointing, but I know our limits. We headed back home with new experiences and memories under our belts.
So, if you are hesitant about getting out there and exploring and experiencing what you’re learning in school–stop it! Just get it the car and go already!
It’s springtime! The weather has gotten more beautiful and life has gotten even more crazy busy. Today I took the time to get up close and personal to our gardenia bush. . . and a spider.
I love how you can see the pollen on the close up shots. I’m no botanist, but I think there are six stamen surrounding the pistil. Please correct me if I’m wrong! I think we’ll end up dissecting one soon to see the different parts of the pistil.
Spidey was hanging out with me on the screened-in porch.
Good morning!
Unfurling
smells heavenly!
loves the sun
double image
pistil with pollen
The pistil and stamen
Hello!
I hope you’re enjoying spring wherever you are! Not So SAHM
Recently we visited the Biltmore house and Asheville, NC.
THE BILTMORE
(no photography is allowed inside, unless you’re a rule breaker, and I saw a lot of those on Pinterest when I was looking for inspiration photos. . .) We spent over three hours touring the house. Even the girls enjoyed it!
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THE GROUNDS
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The grounds were GORGEOUS! Springtime is definitely a good time to visit (we still haven’t been during the holidays, which is supposed to be beautiful inside).
ASHEVILLE
Basilica of St Lawrence
statue in the park square
Yes there were drummers, but they were all dancing to their own beats
Twisted Crepe! Delish!
*the* place to eat sweets
Liquid truffle – buttery!
Ginger cookie & lavender macaron
yummmmm
Farm Burger – good burgers!
Now for Asheville: We’ve been through here twice now, and the main thing we do is eat. We’re never in town during the day to shop in any of the stores. The kids did NOT like the Asheville nightlife.
Hippies who haven’t showered in days. Performing in various downtown doorways, on street corners, and in the park square.
My nose was a little offended, but otherwise I considered everyone harmless. The girls, on the other hand, were pretty uneasy. It’s funny, because they didn’t express this much reserve when we visited NYC. Maybe they just didn’t verbalize it then. The Asheville pics were taken with my iPhone. Not So SAHM
During our field trip to Charleston, we walked up and down East Bay and East Battery. There were lots of cars and construction, so it was hard to get good shots of the houses that line the street. Here’s what I got:
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Two more –
US Customs House – Instagram
The Customs House is located along East Bay St. The bridge isn’t, but I just had to post it again.
one of my faves
Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to the waterfront with the huge porch swings. Our stomachs were demanding food and we had to eat before our ferry ride out to Fort Sumter. That just means we have to go back sometime. . . Not So SAHM
Not So SAHM
Not So SAHM 