Normal. What is normal anyway? I don’t have the answer to that. I know our current version of normal, and it probably looks different from yours, and that’s ok!
Homeschool vs. School at Home
This post is as much for me as it is for anyone reading this. Writing helps me process my thoughts. It helps me sort them out. And I’m needing a heavy dose of reminding of what homeschooling is all about. And it is NOT the same as school at home!
I am a recovering “School at Home-er”. Is that a thing? Part of it stems from my few years in the classroom as a 4th-grade teacher. And part of it just stems from my rule-following, slightly rigid personality. If you’ve read my post: How We Became Outside the Box Learners, then you already know that our homeschool has transformed from what it originally was. I’ve had to tweak things over the years to find a rhythm that works for our family. It is a constant work in progress by the way. And it’s been a bumpy road at times getting here.
A Unique Start to the Year
We had a unique start to this school year. The first few weeks of the year were spent out west in Yellowstone National Park! That actually stressed me out a bit. I mean, I wanted to start strong with our routine here at home. It’s part of my rule-following nature. But truly, what nature experience can compare to Yellowstone. My kids learned a ton – a ton of info that will actually stick since it was interesting and in the context of real life, not just a textbook.
When the kids arrived home from the trip, I got sick and we lost a couple of days. The days were not really lost but I had to command the ship from the bed – which shouldn’t have but did leave me to feel defeated. Then we had a few days with appointments and such. And now, it’s October! Aaaagh!
Breathe Katie, breathe…
Checking or NOT checking the boxes
So, here I am reminding myself that homeschool is not the same as school at home. It’s ok if the boxes aren’t all checked each day… It’s ok that the first few weeks of the year were not at our house. It’s ok if some days we spend a few hours on math, but zero on reading. Or if we spend the day or part of the day serving together as a family, but don’t get to read as much. Or if handwriting for the day is writing something completely unrelated to what’s in our handwriting workbook. I am constantly learning to watch for cues of my kiddo’s brains being engaged and then trying to run with that.
After all, “Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire”.
You can find parts 1 & 2 of this series here and here.
Homeschooling in the Grand Tetons
We left Yellowstone on a sunny Tuesday afternoon and entered the Grand Tetons minutes later. This post is dedicated to our time there.
In preparation for the trip, I pretty much put all my energy into learning and studying Yellowstone. I didn’t spend much time preparing for the Tetons, and therefore everything there was novel for me, though I had been there about 20 years ago when I was a teenager. Since we had filled our days in Yellowstone to the BRIM the Grand Tetons was a time to relax a bit. We all welcomed that!
History of Grand Teton National Park
Grand Teton National Park was established in 1929. It originally did not cover all of the area it does today. Horace Albright, who was the Yellowstone National Park Superintendent, sought out the financial backing of John D. Rockefeller Jr. to help conserve all of the land we know as Grand Teton National Park today. Rockefeller semi-secretly bought the land bit by bit with the intention of enlarging grand Teton National Park. It was a frustrating process that took many years. In 1950, President Truman included Rockefeller’s acquired land into what is now known as Grand Teton National Park.
Jackson Vs. Jackson Hole
If you ever travel to the Grand Tetons, you will find out they are closely entwined with Jackson Hole. You’ll also hear about Jackson, WY since that is the largest city in the area (population is roughly 10,000). So what IS the difference between Jackson and Jackson Hole? I actually was wondering the same thing and discovered the answer on this trip! Jackson is the actual city and Jackson Hole is the geographical area. The area is called Jackson Hole because it’s surrounded by mountains. Confusing the matter a bit, the airport there is called the Jackson Hole airport (it’s amazing by the way!). Interesting side note – Jackson Hole Airport is the only airport in our country located in a National Park!
Though Jackson is a fun and bustling little town, it was a bit too bustling for us, so we did not spend much time there. We did get this cool photo of the kids in front of one of their (many) Elk antler gates.
We also did our laundry there, at the cleanest laundromat EVER! It was actually an enjoyable experience! We did some real-life math there with Joe. 🙂
How many quarters do you need to hit $6.00?
Wildlife
Wildlife was the theme of our time in Grand Tetons. At least, we tried for it to be! Each evening at dusk, we went out driving attempting to see some bear or moose. We did see some female moose and elk at night, but our most successful wildlife venture was early one morning when we drove down Moose Wilson Road – a road that boasts of much wildlife. That early morning we saw a black bear foraging in the woods as well as a female moose and her child.
Jackson Hole is home to the National Elk Refuge where thousands of Elk come to each winter. Surprisingly we saw very few elks.
The Tetons also have a brand new visitor center with tons of information on wildlife and an educational video, not to mention flush toilets… bonus!
Photography
One of the highlights for me was getting to experiment with photography on my iPhone The mountain setting was so majestic and I enjoyed using different editing techniques. The morning we got up early proved to be an excellent time to get some photos. There were clouds at the top of Grand Teton (the highest peak of the Tetons), but that was ok! I got some great shots at Mormon Row and Schwabacher’s Landing – two popular photography locations.
Mormon RowSchwabacher Landing
Hidden Falls
One of my favorite excursions of the trip was a hike out to Hidden Falls. To shorten the 5-mile hike, we took a shuttle boat across Jenny Lake and made the 1/2 mile hike to the falls. Not only were the falls delightful, but the hike was as well. The kids and I also went another 3/8 mile up to an observation point. Breathtaking.
Hidden FallsPretty creek shot on the hike to Hidden Falls.Taken from the shuttle boat on the ride across Jenny Lake.Hiking around Hidden Falls.
Grand Targhee
One of the unexpected thrills of being on the Tetons was driving up into Targhee National Forest and visiting Grand Targhee Resort.
We took the beautiful drive up from Jackson through Driggs, ID to get there. Once there, we hopped on a chairlift to go to the top of Fred’s mountain. From the top of Fred’s Mountain, we could see the back of the Tetons.
View from top of Fred’s Moutain.Lydia wanted her picture in black and white. 🙂Joe at the lookout near Freds Mountain.
All in all, it was an amazing trip! We loved both the Tetons and Yellowstone and hope to return to both!
You can find Part One of this series here and Part Three here.
We had a fantastic time in Yellowstone. We had amazing weather – sunny and 70’s every day. Surprisingly, it was very crowded which we were not expecting as it was after Labor Day.
Roosevelt Arch, the original entrance to Yellowstone
Yellowstone’s Geysers!
Geysers were definitely the high point of our time in Yellowstone. We also learned about fumaroles, mud pots and hot springs. Yellowstone was a piece of heaven on earth for Nature Smart kiddo. To learn more about the 8 great smarts, check out this post.
Geyser eruptions were abundant and we made it to almost every geyser basin in the park. It felt a bit like Disney (running around to get on your Fast pass ride!) as we were rushing around to see all the erupting geysers.
While at the park we learned about an app called NPS Yellowstone Geysers. If we ever go back we will definitely use that app to maximize our viewing of geyser eruptions!
5 Geyser Basins
We went to five geyser basins. All with their own unique qualities.
1)Norris Geyser Basin
Norris geyser basin, which is one of the larger geyser basins, was the first one we checked out. We didn’t get to see many erupting geysers there but there was a geyser we nicknamed Little Faithful. The actual name for that geyser was Vixen Geyser, and it erupted many times each hour.
North geyser basin is the home of Steamboat Geyser – the biggest geyser at Yellowstone. It erupted the day before we visited and it was still steaming.
2) Lower Geyser Basin
Lower Geyser Basin is actually divided into two locations. Our most favorite geyser moments of the trip happened in the second lower geyser basin we visited. We got to see Great Fountain Geyser erupt!
Great Fountain Geyser
Great Fountain Geyser is bigger than Old Faithful and you are able to get a closer view. It only erupts twice a day. While waiting for Great Fountain to erupt we could see White Dome Geyser erupting in the background.
And on our way out of that geyser basin, we got to see Pink Cone Geyser which is adorable little geyser that erupts every 18-25 hours.
That was icing on the cake! We were flying high as we left Lower Geyser Basin.
3) Upper Geyser Basin
Perhaps the biggest mistake of our time in Yellowstone was not spending more time at Upper Geyser Basin. We arrived there late in the afternoon right before dinner time, which was a beautiful time to be there. However, there is so much to see that you need at least 3 to 4 days if you are even somewhat of a geyser enthusiast.
Upper Geyser Basin is home to Old Faithful and is also the hub of Yellowstone. Besides all of the natural wonders you will find there, they have an amazing lodge, inn, and visitor center with videos and a mini-museum type area all about geysers!
We watched Old Faithful erupt and then Joe and I did the 3-mile trail to see even more geysers and hot springs. Since that was a very busy day, Joe was tired and I had to give him a few piggyback rides, but it was worth it. We got to see Morning Glory Pool which is just stunning.
And on our walk back to the lodge, we had the privilege of seeing Riverside Geyser erupt.
What a treat! Joe also got to see Beehive Geyser which is one that he was looking forward to checking out.
4) Midway Geyser Basin
This is probably the smallest geyser basin but, WOW, worth visiting. I would say we were out of there within 30 minutes. Midway Geyser Basin is the home to the Grand Prismatic Spring.
5) West Thumb
We visited West Thumb Geyser Basin on the way out of the park. Joe had been anticipating West Thumb for a while. West Thumb is unique because it is right on Yellowstone Lake which makes it such a contrasting backdrop to the geysers and hot springs
Other Geothermal Features
We also went to Mud Volcano which was smelly yet interesting!
We were staying in the Mammoth Hot Springs area so we got to see them every day and we did a hike of it one morning. Pretty magnificent!
Here Joe got to see the Liberty Cone, which is now dormant (dormant is the newest word in Joe’s vocabulary).
We didn’t get to see as much wildlife in Yellowstone as we had hoped. Thankfully we were staying in the Mammoth Hot Springs area which is where the elk congregated at night. We got to witness the mail elk bugling to attract the females, which was amusing AND amazing! We also saw a coyote, mule deer, Buffalo and an osprey nest with two baby Ospreys. Bears are a very real threat and wonder to behold in Yellowstone. We would have loved to see a bear from afar but that did not happen. We did get an education in how to use Bear Spray as we chose to rent some to use for our two-mile hike to a waterfall.
Waterfalls
We got to see many waterfalls and even hike to one that was a little more remote – Mystic Falls.
The lady I sat next to on the plane on the way out had this wonderful book of hiking trails in Yellowstone. If When we go back to Yellowstone I will definitely be getting myself this book as it had tons of info on the different hiking trails in the park.
Our favorite waterfalls were:
Lower Falls
Firehole Falls
Mystic Falls (we had to hike further back to get to this one)
Moose Falls
Everyone’s MOST favorite waterfall was Moose falls. It is the smallest of all the waterfalls we visited but also the one we were able to get the nearest to. There’s just something special about being able to get so close to a waterfall and feel the mist. This is a waterfall I saw when I was a teenager and I was thrilled to visit it again with my kids. How perfect that this was our final stop in Yellowstone before heading to the Tetons!
Lovin’ Moose Falls
In part one of this series, I mentioned that we were going to use the GyPSy Guide App. Everyone in the car agreed that this was an invaluable purchase. We learned so much about the history of the park which really enhanced our experience there.
Please make sure to check out part three of this series, where I talk about our time in the Grand Tetons and Jackson Hole.
Disclaimer: In the name of full transparency, please be aware that this blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost to you).
This blog post contains Amazon affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost to you).
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:
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.
We also did our laundry there, at the cleanest laundromat EVER! It was actually an enjoyable experience! We did some real-life math there with Joe. 🙂
That was icing on the cake! We were flying high as we left Lower Geyser Basin.
