Antibellum Mansion

My parents encouraged us to read the road map for them when we were on vacation. My mother, who loves history and English, would quiz us on how to spell the names of rivers, cities, states and other landmarks. Yes, we visited every Civil War battleground and antebellum mansion in the southeast. Trips took longer because we stopped to read the historical markers!

My engineer/scientist/inventor father would show us how to compute driving time to the next destination. Or he would ask how many miles to the next Tennessee Valley Authority engineering project–we saw all of them.  One year we frequently stopped by the roadside to take pictures of rare wildflowers. [Disclaimer: don't pick them! My dad was commissioned to take pictures for a book and was allowed to pick one sample to submit to the scientist who was looking for new species, but that was it.]

All of those experiences made long boring driving trips fun. It took two days of driving time to reach the grandparents’ homes. My siblings and I didn’t realize how much our parents were teaching us along the way. Even though we went to public school, we were partially homeschooled–so to speak.

Besides using a United States map, a great way to memorize the names of the states is with CDs. Two that come to mind are States and Capital Songs Kit from Audio Memory and Twin Sisters’ States and Capitals CD and Book Set.

I thought I saw...

Oh! Don’t forget to point out the wildlife along the roadside, particularly the kangaroos! If we were too quiet in the back, my father would tell us he thought he saw a kangaroo. No, we weren’t in Australia. He was stationed there in World War II and loved kangaroos. It was a family joke.

Blessings,

Harriet

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