Camping is S-cool!

Last week we went on our ward camp out. In preparation for the weekend MY LB got Friday off so we could go up early. You know, because we home school and we can do those sort of things.

Your kids can just do work in the car on the way up right?

That would be nice to just take days off whenever you want.

Are you aloud to do that?

You all know me so you know that things like this don't bother me. I will actually laugh with you if it is funny enough. As a matter of fact, all of the questions and comments really got me thinking. I have come to the conclusion that camping is actually one of the best places to learn. You need proof? OK!

1. Behavioral studies: Patience; Are we there yet? How much longer? They learn that we are almost there means, please quit asking.

2. Science: They learn that after four children women need to stop more frequently when traveling.

3. Math: How many bags does it take to pick up a stink load of litter left behind by uncaring individuals? The answer is two big bags.

4. Science: How long was the stinky squirrel decomposing in the baggie before Matthew (we drew straws, just kidding we used the good old parental dominant species law) had to pick it up and it put it in the garbage bag. There was also an optional lesson of counting the different species of bugs that infected it.

5. History: Old creepy abandoned cabins get the brain stirring and wondering about who lived there? We found out later that it was built in the 1880's for a cattle drive. It also provided good Literature, we learned lots of new words and now we know for a fact that Jon loves Jan.

6. Language: We learned the proper use for the words and phrases; sharp, not sharp, dad's knife is better, blood circle, thank you, pocket knife, hunting knife, and of course your knife is bigger than mine. Maybe we learned how to use the phrase, Not Fair, too.

7. Science: Stinky mud holes have all kinds of Science waiting to be explored. Do you know what a sink hole is? Do you know how to identify dry mud from wet mud? We also found out that it is easier to catch frogs with your hands than a cup, which was not what we predicted.

8. Behavioral: Hygiene; Stinky mud makes you stink. Stay out of stinky mud when you do not have running water readily available.

9. Science: The zip line was so much fun! We did a little Science experiment to see if an adult, or rather me, would zip down the line faster or slower than the crazy kids. My prediction is that my weight would carry me faster, I was wrong. Spencer made an excellent Scientific observation that I was the only adult that was using the zip line. He also observed that I should be quite embarrassed. I wasn't!

10. History: Pirates may have been quite disappointed to not find the booty! Or they could be even more disappointed to find out that the booty was a table ware trade. But alas we felt the sweet joy of success when we found real plastic gold. ARRGH, we love treasure!

11. PE: What better way to work out your legs and bruise your behind then to go rock climbing.

12. Economics: Do you know what a Smoke Jumper does? After talking to the ranger in the look out tower, Matthew has decided that if being a Scientist doesn't work out, he is going to smoke jump. I am not putting a lot of stock in his decision though. When he was three all he wanted to be when he got older was a "Paper Maker", yeah we don't know either.

Seriously, really I am going to be serious.

We had an excellent time with our friends and it did turn out to be an educational trip. We were able to find many things to reinforce the things the children have been learning. With the GPS we looked for Geo Cache and Maggie helped us with our cardinal directions and Matthew and Spencer helped out with our intermediate direction. The cabin became a fun starting point for a writing assignment in which together we wrote about what we thought life was like in the cabin in 1880. It also helped Maggie understand how historians used artifacts and clues to sort out history. We also visited a look out tower and the ranger gave us a grand tour. He talked to Spencer about weather and asked him some questions that he answered like a genius (mom bragging, sorry).

So you see even if you are not a home school family, any and every time you go camping you are entering a world that is super, S-cool.