Is School more Important than a Family Road Trip?

When you pull a kid from class for a week, you disrupt the lesson plan of the teacher and slow your child 's progress. But travel can develop strong family ties and provide a richer learning environment than any cement building in a kid's home town. If you develop an educational agenda, you can make roadtrips a fun and enriching experience.

About a year ago there was a discussion at Fodor's Forum on whether it was a good idea or a bad idea to take kids out of school for a family trip. Many thought it was fine, some others felt strongly that it was disruptive of the school routine and therefore that it was bad for the kid, bad for the teacher, and bad for the other students in your child's class.

I feel differently.

Travel presents endless opportunities for education, if you let it. My feeling is that the most important things in life are not taught at school. That’s not to say that school isn’t important, but that schools can't teach the critical lessons. They can barely afford a field trip to the science museum, let alone a trip to Europe. You learn by walking around a place, smelling the air, seeing the sights and tasting the (yuk) escargot. And asking questions.

I travel a lot for work; if it's not too far we pack up the family and head out. We feel that every road trip is an opportunity to teach our kids about this country: people; rocks and volcanoes; fish, bees, cactus and trees; government, wars...

Don’t bring the same old books from home for the kids to read, get books from the library about where you’re going. Start reading a couple of weeks before you go. And make scavenger hunt scrap books as escargot describes. We’ve had a ton of success with an old point and shoot digital camera with our son who is now six. Take some time to learn about some cultural or natural history to use as talking points on your trip.

What are the important things to learn in life?

• Compassion, which you learn by understanding many different points of view.
• Diplomacy, which you learn by experiencing many different cultures.
• How to manage your money, which can be taught while traveling.
• How the natural world works, which makes a lot more sense when you’re standing in the middle of it (it’s hard to picture the size of a glacier when you’re in a class room, but a lot easier when you’re standing in Glacier National Park or next to the Mission Mountains as in the photo).

Maybe the most important thing is learning and experiencing new things with your family.

The world needs more smart people making smart decisions and asking the right questions. Much of what goes wrong in the world is because adults do dumb things: lie, steal, ignore the obvious, and fail to ask questions about the big picture.

What do you think?

Children's Museum, West Hartford, CT

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On a day off from school recently, Tinsley found herself with two kids to entertain and no help from Dad (I had to work, it's good Friday, not great Friday). She decided to spend the day at the Children's Museum in West Hartford. She didn't bring a camera as she already had her hands full, but we did convince Tom to write it up for our blog.

Here's Tom's write-up:

In the yard of this really awesome place in West Hartford called the children's museum, I saw and went inside a hollow concrete whale that said facts about its self. But every time I went inside, it fell silent.

Inside the museum there was a room called turtle town. And no wonder! There were turtles everywhere! Turtles! Turtles! Turtles! there were big turtles, little turtles, snapping turtles, box turtles, tortoises, every one you could think of! Eventually we had to leave turtle town.

In the next room, I almost fell down -- practically every thing was made of LEGOS! Boy did I have a fun time in there! But, sadly, we had to leave; my annoying sister convinced us to go back to turtle town.

After that, I got to pet a snake with really scaly skin. I didn't miss my turn! Later on there was this really awesome thing where I saw a scorpion underneath an ultraviolet light. (It looked white.)

After a while something even cooler came to my eyes. I actually saw a fake dinosaur that moved and roared! The last room was the gift shop. I bought a little lizard, a “grabit”, and a rock called snakeskin. They were all awesome! I sighed.

On the way home I had quite some fun thinking about all of the fun stuff I did at the museum. It was really fun, and I wish I could go there again.

Sounds like a good time.
Here are a couple of tips from Tinsley:

• Bring hand sanitizer to swab the kids down with after they pat the turtles and snakes and swarm the LEGO pit.
  
• Parking can be a little difficult in west Hartford, so looking for lunch before going to the museum may be challenging. I recommend the Subway on Farmington Avenue.

Dinosaur State Park: A Good Pit Stop

Stop in for a picnic lunch and explore the museum, craft room, and more than two miles of nature trails through the Dinosaur Park State Arboretum.

In Rocky Hill, CT, just a wee bit south of Hartford you’ll find a geodesic dome built over an expanse of sedimentary rock with one of the largest dinosaur track sites in North America. Inside, you’ll see life-size Jurassic and Triassic period dioramas depicting life in prehistoric Rocky Hill, Connecticut and you'll also see actual dinosaur skeletons, dinosaur footprints, fossils, and learning exhibits.




Five hundred footprints is nothing to sneeze at
The footprints were discovered in 1966 when excavators were digging out to set a foundation for a new state building. The workers found 2,000 footprints (500 of them are on display under the dome, the rest are buried for preservation). The tracks were laid down 200 million years ago.

Did dinosaurs eat walnuts?
In the early dinosaur days, most of the plants we see today were already established: conifers (cone-bearing), ferns, horsetails and ginkos. Missing were the flowering plants, whose pollen first appears in the fossil record about 140 million years ago, and who were prolific by 90 million years ago. The same Laurel, magnolia, sycamore and beach species that we have today were growing back then at the end of the Cretaceous period. Walnuts, barberry, elm and mulberry were prevalent then, and there’s a good chance some species of dinosaur ate walnuts, but there’s no evidence that dinosaur children played All Around the Mulberry Bush. The arboretum has more than 200 conifer species, including such exotics as cedar-of-Lebanon, giant-sequoia, incense-cedar, and monkey puzzle tree.

Cost: $5 for adults, $2 for kids ages 6-12, free for kids under 6.

Open daily 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Trails close at 4 p.m.



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Make Learning Fun and Memorable

Here's a post from Fodor's forum in a discussion about whether or not to take kids out of school so the family could travel. It's from a year ago and when I read it, I was very impressed with the author's system. I just stumbled accross it again the other day, so here it is:

Author: escargotDate: 01/24/2007, 05:20 pm

We are the parents who always pulled our kids out of school if need be - esp at earlier ages - and when they were your kids ages, here is what I would do: Most of my kids teachers gave them some sort of an assignment and/or some work sheets to do with no problem and were thrilled they were going to visit somewhere new and have some different educational experiences. Just my experience, I know not everyone's.

Each child had a notebook that was their trip journal. If they couldn't write - or write much - they wrote a sentence or two or did it with photos, cut outs from travel guides, ticket stubs, pictures they drew and they would often leave spaces for a photo they would have developed later - I used to give them each a disposable camera so they could also take photos of favorite things.

When they were younger, I took the time to make them a "Find Me" book as I called it. I would make a separate notebook with things we would see along our travel, depending on where we were headed, this booklet might include monuments, museums, a famous painting, a Paris street lamp or bridge, a famous street sign or boulevard, double decker bus, whatever. Even key phrases in another language - like a simple hello, welcome, goodbye, etc - so they had to look and listen for things.

The kids would carry the Find Me book along with them and keep an eye out for these things and check them off when they found them. It became sort of a fun competition but kept their eyes and ears open and aware of their surroundings. No matter their age, each child would get to choose one thing we would absolutely do in each location (younger ones needing my help to choose). This is how we ended up taking a tour of the sewers and the entire underground 'world' under Paris ! Yup, an 8 yr old boy picked that one; my daughter was more apt to choose a store, cafe that served the best hot chocolate, or in later years an opera house or ballet to go to.

Also, if there are any books for their age about where you are going, reading those beforehand is always fun, as is renting a movie filmed there, or simply showing them some art books or history books with photos of some things you might see. My kids were always excited when in later years they studied many of the things we would have seen and places they actually walked - living history so to speak.

Nothing like family and travel, for us anyway.

Shadow Puppets: Dog

Tom shows us how to make a dog shadow puppet.

The video is a little dark, but I think you'll get the process if you watch it a couple of times...

Road trip ipod revisited

A discussion at Fodor's Forum about road trip songs.

Paris with Kids

An article in Fodor's Newsletter If you're going to Europe,

Paris is often promoted as an adult destination, but there's no shortage of children's activities to keep the young 'uns busy. If you venture here with children in tow, make sure to buy a Pariscope (found at most newsstands) and check the enfants section for current children's events.

Museums

Paris has a number of museums that cater to the young, and the young at heart. The Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie (30 av. Corentin-Cariou), at Parc de la Villette, is an enormous science center. The children's area is divided into two main sections: one for children from three to five years of age; another for those from five to 12. Interactive exhibits allow kids to do everything from build a house and learn about communications systems throughout history, from the tom-tom to the satellite.

The Musée de la Poupée (the Doll Museum) is a cozy museum in the heart of the Marais, with a collection of more than 500 dolls dating back to the 1800s, complete with costumes, furniture, and accessories. Labels might be in French, but they're not really the point anyway. The museum features a "Doll Hospital," where "sick" dolls and plush toys come to be repaired; the doctor is in on Thursday, but free estimates are offered throughout the week.

The Palais de la Découverte (the Palace of Discovery) has high definition, 3-D exhibits covering everything from chemistry, biology, physics, and the weather so there's bound to be some interesting dinner conversation when the day is done. Many of the displays are in French, but that doesn't stop most kids from having a blast; hands down, the choice between this and the Louvre is a no-brainer.

Sites & shows

A zoo is usually a good bet to get the kids' attention, although you might want to keep in mind that most European zoos aren't as spacious as American zoos. The Ménagerie at the Jardin des Plantes, is an urban zoo dating from 1794 and home to more than 240 mammals, 400 birds, 270 reptiles, and a number of insects. The huge Parc Zoologique, in the Bois de Vincennes, is the largest zoo in Paris, although parts are closed for renovation; the bonus of taking the metro out here, though, are the park's two lakes, both with rentable rowboats. When it comes to spectacles, what child would pass up the circus? There are several in the city, and the Cirque de Paris (115 bd. Charles-de-Gaulle, Villeneuve-la-Garenne) has a special feature called a "Day at the Circus" -- your kids (and you) can learn some basics like juggling, then you'll lunch with the artistes and see a performance in the afternoon.

Of course, the best sight in Paris is the city itself, and a boat ride on the Seine is a must for everyone. It's the perfect way to see the sights, rest weary feet, and depending on which option you choose, lunch or dinner may be part of the treat.

Expending Energy

Most kids are thrilled (at least more than the grownups) at the prospect of climbing
innumerable stairs to be rewarded with cool views: the Eiffel Tower is the quintessential Paris climb but Notre-Dame gets extra points for the gargoyles, and the Arc de Triomphe is a good bet, since it's centrally located at the end of the Champs Elysées.

When it comes to open spaces for running around, Paris has lots of park options, with extra attractions in summer when kids can work off steam on the trampolines or ride ponies at the Jardin des Tuileries. The Jardin du Luxembourg has a playground and a pond where kids can rent miniature boats, and the Bois de Boulogne has a zoo, rowboats, bumper cars, and lots of wide-open spaces.

Iceskating is seasonal but always a thrill, and from mid-December through February, several outdoor Paris sites are turned into spectacular ice-skating rinks with Christmas lights, music, and instructors. The rinks are free to the public; skate rental for adults costs £5. The main rink is at place de l'Hotel de Ville (the square in front of City Hall) but the rink on the Eiffel Tower's first level, though small has prime novelty value.

Underground Paris

There's something about exploring underground that seems to fascinate kids, at least the older ones. Les Egouts, the Paris sewer system, has a certain gross factor but isn't actually that disgusting. Keep in mind, though, that the smell is definitely ranker in the summer months. At the Catacombs, in Montparnasse, dark tunnels filled with bones are spookily titillating -- at least for those not prone to nightmares.

For some cheap underground entertainment without the ick factor, the métro itself can be its own sort of adventure, complete with fascinating station art such as the submarine decor at Arts-et-Metiers, the colorful Parisian timeline murals at Tuileries, or the Egyptian statues of the Louvre-Rivoli station.

And for Treats

All that fun will no doubt bring on an appetite and there's no shortage of special places to stop for a snack in Paris. Angelina (226 rue de Rivoli) near the Jardin des Tuileries is world famous for its hot chocolate -- deliciously thick and yummy, unlike what American children are usually used to. Berthillon (31 rue St-Louis-en-L'ille), renowned for their decadent ice cream, has outposts around town, including on the Ile St-Louis -- though the Amarino gelaterias give them a run for their money. And when in need, a patisserie selling chocolate croissants is never hard to find. French children adore the pastel clouds of meringue (which resemble hardened whipped cream puffs) that decorate almost every bakery's window, and there are all sort of cookies to tempt a smile from a tired tot.

Photo credits: (1) Courtesy Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie; (2) Tuileres Garden, ©Istockphoto/brightlady; (3) ©Istockphoto.

Wacky Summer Festivals in America

America is full of festivals, contests, and competitions. Some are earnest, others completely wacky. Here are 12 that register high on our Outlandish Meter.
(Edited from Fodor’s wire)

International Cherry Pit Spitting Contest
When: July 7
Where: Eau Claire, in Southwest Michigan
How many times did your mother tell you not to play with your food? Well now you can show her who's boss when you bring home the trophy for the 34th annual Cherry Pit Spitting Contest. Qualifying Rounds start at 10 a.m. and the championships start at 1 p.m. If you're not into spitting, you can pick cherries, eat cherries, and celebrate all things cherry. www.treemendus-fruit.com/int.htm

Milk Carton Derby
When: July 7
Where: Southwest Corner of Seattle's Green Lake
More than 100 sea-faring vessels constructed of 50 half-gallon cartons take to the lake for this annual event. If you can't get your sea legs, there are numerous activities on shore to entertain. There's also the Canine Fashion Show. www.seafair.com

Talkeetna Moose Dropping Festival
When: July 14--15
Where: Talkeetna, Alaska
There are lots of events in this annual fundraiser, although no animals are dropped, despite the name. The festival does call for the handling, however, of some unpleasant animal byproducts. For instance, there's the Moose Drop Dropping Raffle and the Moose Poop Toss Game. There's also the Mountain Mother Contest on Sunday that highlights the strength and endurance of Alaskan Moms, who must compete in a variety of activities with a "baby" strapped to their backs. www.talkeetnahistoricalsociety.org/

Central Maine Egg Festival When: July 23--28
Where: Pittsfield, Maine
For 35 years this New England town has been celebrating the incredible, edible egg -- brown eggs to be exact. This year's theme is "Staying Egg-Alive." There's an early-bird breakfast, which uses the world's largest frying pan, the "Egglympics," a chicken barbecue, and a whole lot more egg-tastic fun. http://eggfest.craftah.com/


Great Texas Mosquito Festival When: July 26--28
Where: Clute Municipal Park, Clute, Texas
In addition to the world's largest mosquito -- a 26 ft. Texas mosquito complete with a cowboy hat, boots, gigantic wings and a big stinger -- there's a mosquito-calling contest, a dodge-ball sting tournament, and a contest for the best-looking Mosquito legs. Who will be crowned this year's Mr. or Ms. Mosquito Legs? You'll just have to buzz on by to find out. Don't forget your bug spray. http://mosquitofestival.com

Tug Fest When: August 9--11
Where: LeClaire, Iowa and Port Byron, Illinois
For 20 years, the town of LeClaire has taken on its rival across the river, Port Byron, in the annual Tug Fest. A 2,400-foot rope weighing 680 pounds is stretched across the Mississippi River and teams on either side of the river tug away for bragging rights. This year the tug takes place on Saturday, August 11 at 1 p.m.. The contest also includes live music, rides, and foods. As it stands, the score is Iowa 10, Illinois 9. Who will rule the river this year? www.tugfest.com; www.tugfest.org

---Alexis C. Kelly
Fodor's editors Maria Burwell, Sarah Cullen, Maggie Kelly, Heidi Johansen, and Adam Taplin contributed to this report


Do you know of any WackyFests? Let us know!

Tips for Road Tripping with Kids (#10)

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10. Use a different route on the return trip.
Loops double the excitient of almost any road trip. If you're looking at the same stuff (only backwards) that you looked at when you set out on your adventure, the message to the kids will be clear: We're done, we're going home now, the fun is over. Don't let the return trip cut your vacation short.

Here's a fun loop to Glacier National Park from Missoula, MT.

The Sealy Lake and Swan Lake Vallley is a great return route after heading north into the Mission Valley. Stay the first night in Big Fork and head out first thing in the morning to Glacier. Stay a night or two in the park, and head out to Whitefish for a night and then drive back to Missoula through the Sealy/Swan Valley. And look for the Giant cow where 83 meets 200.

The history of the mountains is really neat along this loop. Like the rest of the rocky mountains, these mountains were formed by earthquakes, and then shaped by glaciers. The Mission mountains are the face of a huge fault line that FAULTED (7.5). Whith a drastic drop, the Missions were formed. But the cool part comes up later in their life; when they met the big glacier of the north. The glacier, which filled the rocky mountain trench (it extends up through British Columbia and into the Yukon) flowed south carving a valley with it until it reached the Mission Mountains. There was a flurry of excitement, but eventually, a compromise was reached. The great compromise consisted of two parts:

1. The Mission Mountains would split the glacier in two, forcing it to fork down the Mission valley and the Sealy/Swan valley

2. The glacier could take as much of the Mission Mountains with it as it could carry.

And so it did, down to around Ronan. That's why the Mission Mountains north of Ronan are very round, (because the glaciers covered then and rounded their tops) and the mountains south of Ronan are so jagged (because the big glacier didn't make it that far).

Read this great article A Freak Preserved by an Accident: The Making of Flathead Lake. It was written by one of my old Geology professors, Dave Alt.

Make Learning Fun on a Family Road Trip

The best way to learn about American history is to experience it first hand. If you drive through the countryside, walk in the woods, taste the local food, and listen to the music, you'll see that they're all related.

History is steeped in the stuff you can see out the side windows of a minivan. Cultural history happens in response to natural history: the Mississippi river cuts a new course daily, creating extremely fertile, but unstable farmland. The fish in the river and crops in the fields are what end up in the cook pot. And the seasonings reflect the climate. The music evolves in response to the daily life. Simply put, when you feel the humidity, taste the gumbo, and listen to the Dixieland Jazz, the natural history and cultural essence of New Orleans makes sense. Geology and biology dictate cultural evolution, and when you see what's happening on a big scale, the little stuff is even cooler. The shape of the barns makes sense.

And all that stuff, put into perspective, gives kids things to look at and think about as you drive through the countryside.

Before and during your road trip, learn about how the place was formed. Discover how that form influenced the local history and heroes. Who were the folk legends and what songs that grew out of those legends?

How did the Rocky Mountains form?
Why are lobsters so grumpy?
How does water get from the ground all the way to the top of a Redwood tree?
Can sink holes eat cars? How?
How about the Appalachian Mountains, how did they form, how did they influence the way the civil war was fought? How did they influence the way of life in Appalachia, and the evolution of southern music, cuisine, and whisky-running (and therefore, muscle cars)?

The answers may just make road trips more fun.
And you may notice the level of conversation with your kids kicking up a notch (Bam! Bam!)

Put this on your Roadtrip ipod

'Bottom-40' Country Music Hits
Foggy Mountain Breakdown -- Flatt & Scruggs (start every day with this song)
Hot Rod Lincoln -- Commander Cody
Highway Patrol -- Junior Brown
On the Road Again -- Willie Nelson
Happy Trails -- Sons of the Pioneers
Georgia on a Fast Train -- Billy Joe Shaver
Slow Train Through Georgia -- Norman Blake
Lost Highway -- Hank Williams
I've Been Everywhere -- Johnny Cash
Ramblin' Man -- Hank Williams
Ramblin' Man -- The Allman Brothers Band
City of New Orleans -- Arlo Guthrie
Alice's Resatraunt -- Arlo Guthrie
Route 66 -- Asleep at the Wheel
Dance with Who Brug You -- Asleep at the Wheel
Amarillo by Morning -- George Strait
Amarillo Highway -- Robert Earl Keene Jr.
Silver Spurs and Gold Tequilla -- Robert Earl Keene Jr.
Car Wheels on a Gravel Road -- Lucinda Williams
Like a Rolling Stone -- Bob Dylan
Big River -- The Highwaymen (J. Cash, W. Nelson, K. Kristofferson, W. Jennings)
Tombstone Every Mile -- Dick Curless
Convoy -- C.W. McCall
She Keeps the Home Fires Burnin' -- Ronny Milsap
Keep on Truckin' -- Greatful Dead
The Fly that Rode From Buffalo -- Southern Culture on the Skids
Old Home Filler-Up An' Keep On-A Truckin' Cafe -- C.W. McCall
Wolf Creek Pass -- C.W. McCall
Broke Down South of Dallas -- Junior Brown
L.A. Freeway -- Guy Clark
Traveler's Prayer -- Dolly Parton (really)
East Bound and Down -- Jerry Reed
King of the Road -- Roger Miller

Soul Music
Soul Man -- Sam and Dave
Night Train -- James Brown

and here's a link from Fodor's Forum on this topic.

What's on your roadtrip ipod?