Friday, February 19, 2010

A Trip Across the USA in an Hour and a Half.....

This past Tuesday, Joy and I were lucky enough to be able to take an educational trip across the USA in about an hour and a half! We participated in our homeschool support group's annaul geography fair. If you remember from past years, we usually focus on various countries (Joy has done South Korea and India)....but this year our group decided to focus on studying states. Joy chose Alaska.

Although we have about 30 families in our homeschool group, only 11 families actually participated by exhibiting a state. There were others that came to support and listen and glean knowledge from the presentations. The states represented by the 11 families were: (US Territory) Puerto Rico, Tennessee, Arkansas, Alaska, Florida, Arizona, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Kentucky, Montana, and Texas.

The way it works is each family takes time to read and study about their state. Then they gather the info that they would like to present and put together an exhibit. This usually is a variety of exhibit boards, hands-on-projects, educational hand-outs, dressing in costume according to your country/state, and/or sharing a food from that area.......it can be as simple or involved as each family wishes. Then the children have 3-5 minutes for an oral presentation for their state/country. (When we studied countries, we also had our passports and each family had a stamp to put on each child's passport from that country). However, no passports were needed this time, since we didn't travel out of the country!

Here's a few highlights from our trip across the U.S.....

Joy with her Alaska presentation.....


She and her daddy had fun on this little project. During our study of Alaska, we did alot of reading on the Eskimos (Inuits) from Alaska. They built an igloo from sugar cubes with mortar made from powdered sugar and egg whites.


It was fun reading about the life of an Eskimo family. the Northern Lights, the Iditarod (dog sled racing), the animals of Alaska, and the beautiful landscaping of Alaska. I never knew that the only way to reach Juneau, Alaska, was by boat or plane! I know after studying it that I would one day love to visit there!


Here's Benjamin, Madeline and John Alex presenting Puerto Rico...


Dunnivan and Suzanna presented Arkansas (shown here with their mom and Dison)...


Weslea and Sydney presented Tennessee....


Isabella, Sophia and Alaina presented Florida....


Sarah presented Arizona....


Bobbi and Tyler presented Pennsylvania.....


Daniel and Ellen presented South Carolina and Kentucky (couldn't find them for the picture).....


I did get a shot of Daniel during his presentation of South Carolina...


Drew and Lilly presenting Montana.....




And Graham and Eli presented Texas......


As you can see the exhibits were set up around the gym.




The kids would sit in the floor in front of each display table as that state was being presented, then we would all shift around to the next table to listen to the next presentation. When it was over, everyone went back and visited the tables again, tasting the foods, reading the exhibit boards, and picking up hand-outs from each family that had them.


And here's Joy and her little sidekick....Lilly. We think she's pretty adorable! They were much pretty stuck to each other the entire time. You know how Joy loves little ones and I think the feeling might be mutual between them! :)


I think we had another successful year with our geography fair! I just love our little homeschool group and each and every family, and I'm proud to be part of it. I imagine we'll be back to countries next year and I have a sneaking suspicion that Joy will choose the country of China for her presentation........hmmm.......I wonder why! :)

12 comments:

Sharon said...

Thanks for the photos. It sounds like it would be a real interesting events to have been at.
I love reading about other places too.
Great job Joy.
God bless

Mandy said...

Yeah for Tennessee!(Nashville to be more specific!) Looks like ya'll had some wonderful projects.

We just spent two hours with our homeschool group at drama practice this morning. We had a blast! While driving home, I felt so blessed to be a homeschooling family. I wouldn't have it any other way! (Most days . . .)

At Home With Amy said...

Now how fun did that sound. What a wonderful project for the kids. They did a great job. Give Joy an extra "atta girl" for me on a job well done.
Hugs,
AMY

Lee Hill Primitives said...

They looks adorable. Is nice to see that kids here learn about US territories like PR, Guam and VI. I know some people here in VA that didn't know about Puerto Rico and they think that it is part of Mexico and no part of the US, LOL.

Dan said...

Tammy~ It looks like you all had a great time! What a good idea. When I taught older kids, I used to love to teach the states and capital! I hope you are having a great day! ~Dan~

Never So Simple said...

That looks like so much fun. I love the igloo. I can see Luke now attached to Joy's hip. She is going to be a great big sister.

Donna

Pam the Realtor said...

What a fun project for the kids! Being from Arizona, I would have loved to see what that presentation was like, especially after seeing the picture.

I stumbled across your blog a few weeks ago and really enjoy reading it!

Kim said...

Hi- I just wanted to let you know that we are also a BAAS family and our daughter has SB. She is 2 years old. We are currently waiting for our LOA and more than ready for it to get here! Just wanted to say hello! Kim
www.catecomeshome.blogspot.com

Mc Allen said...

Hi Im Leah and I also Homeschool my $ girls. (8~16). You guys did a teriffic job and it looks liek ya had fun doing it(the most important part ;) Where do you live? That looks like a local church.We live and love just outside Tulsa! Great to find ya~ Im also all country @ heart! xoxo LA

Nancy M. said...

We did that last year, it was really fun! I love the igloo Joy made! That's really cool! It looks like everyone did great on their projects. It's awesome that you really love your homeschool group!

A Bit of Colour said...

Takes me back to when I was in school. Looks like all did a great job. Nice igloo & even the details of how you put it together.

Blessings~Kim

Kimberly said...

Fantastic! Joy did a wonderful job... they all did!

Julianna is knee deep in her science fair project right now. She's one of about only 5 kids in her class who opted to do one.

And happy belated b-day to Joy!