HOMESCHOOLING IN YELLOWSTONE
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Check out Part Two of this series here and Part Three here.
Preparing for Yellowstone
In two days my big kids (ages 8 & 10) will head with my parents out west to the Black Hills, Yellowstone National Park and Grand Tetons. I’m excited for this amazing opportunity for them. We have been reading about and discussing their upcoming trip for months now! And since we studied U.S. History and geography last year, they will get to put real life pictures to some of the places we learned about.
Being a nature-lover myself (and maybe a little nature-smart!), I’m thrilled that I will get to fly out and join them for the second of their two weeks. (Thank you to the hubby for staying home with our 4-year-old!) In anticipation of the trip, we’ve checked out loads of books from the library and purchased some too. We have also found some great documentaries. We have studied maps, learned about geysers, and are ready to go. Excitement is high and I’m pretty sure the trip will “deliver”.
Car rides
The kids, along with my parents, will be flying out to Rapid City, SD and starting their journey there. In case you’re not up on your U.S. geography, the ride from Wisconsin to South Dakota is a pretty flat one, so they will get to bypass all the “not as interesting” terrain and start with the “good stuff”.
They will be spending a lot of their time in the car on this trip, as that is just the nature of getting from all of the beautiful Point A’s to breathtaking Point B’s. Normally my kids have their nose in a book when we are in the car. Since we want them to be looking out the window and taking in all the scenery, we got audiobooks for this trip.
Homeschooling in the Park
The only “schoolish” activity I will have my kids do while in the parks is record what they see and do in their journals. I want them to just take in their surroundings without having to worry about workbooks and such. I consider this an educational vacation. I’m hoping that all the studying up we have done in preparation will really help cement those connections of all they will see there. My son is most excited to see the geysers, and my daughter can’t wait to encounter all of the wildlife. As for me, I’m hopin’ and wishin’ we see some moose! And I can’t wait to see the mountains again.
Check out this journal designed for younger children to document their explorations. Each page has a space for a drawing and then some lines at the bottom to write a few sentences.
Other Yellowstone Educational Resources
Here are some of the resources we used to prepare for the trip:
Your Guide to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks (True North Series) (creationist perspective)
Who Pooped in the Park? The title should be self-explanatory…
Yellowstone National Park: Adventuring With Kids This small (yet packed with great info) book tells you what to do based on how many days you are spending in the park.
What I Saw in Yellowstone: A Kid’s Guide to the National Park This book is specifically for the kids! It is meant to be brought along to the park. There are boxes to check off things you see and write more about what you experienced, almost like a journal. He is really excited to use it in the park.
Spectacular Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks This is a giant hardcover book with STUNNING pictures.
Documentaries – We watched quite a few different documentaries from different sources (library, youtube, Netflix, Curiosity Stream).
Apps to Use While in the Park:
Yellowstone GyPSy Guide Tour This app provides commentary while you are driving in the park. It can be used offline too!
NPS Yellowstone National Park Gives lots of helpful information such as geyser eruption times and road closures.
