Great Sand Dunes National Park

Great Sand Dunes National Park in southern Colorado was a surprise. We didn't expect to find a dune field nestled in amonst the Rocky Mountains.

Karson & Kolton learning about lighting at the visitors center



Hiking the dunes was hard for some of us, but not Kane! He was the
sand dune climbing-est hiker EVER!

 

Karson holding Popsicle the salamander

Kalista holding the smiling salamander

Kalista & Karson enjoying some reading material in the
visitors center

Kalista working on her Jr. Ranger book

 

Kane, Kolton & Karson working on their Jr. Ranger books

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

Before heading to national parks in Colorado, I had only heard of Rocky Mountain and Mesa Verde. Black Canyon of the Gunnison was a place definitely worthy of hearing about! Located in western Colorado, this park surprised us with its beauty and history. 

Our first view of the canyon

In the kids' Junior Ranger books they were asked to create a story about how the Black Canyon was made. Here are a couple of possibilities:

 

Once upon a time there was a group of aliens looking for more space and they used their super telescope and looked at Earth. They thought it would be perfect except they were afraid that there would be smart creatures. So they got an idea: They would use their lasers to make a steep gash in the Earth. They failed a lot making all the canyons then they finally did it, but then smart creatures called humans evolved. So they poured water in the gash and lived under the water and that is how the Black Canyon of the Gunnison was made.

By Karson

 



The family upon arrival at Black Canyon of the Gunnison

 

Once a husband and wife lived together. Then one day the wife died. The man in his grief decided to dig the deepest grave ever for his wife, so he began to dig. He dug for a long time, but when it got really deep it started to cave inwards. He realized then that to ensure it would always be the deepest he would have to dig forever. To do this he asked God to turn him into a river to continue his work. So when you look into the canyon you can still see him digging away to ensure his wife's grave will always be the deepest.

By Kane

 



Karson on a hike at Black Canyon

Kalista, Karson & Kane taking a break from a hike

A view at the end of an interpretive hike

Painted Wall in the distance

Kane and Kolton on Painted Wall

On October 6th - Karson's 9th birthday we took a back country hike down
into the canyon

The entire hike was this steep and steeper!

Using a chain, Karson descends into Black Canyon

View of the canyon from the Gunnison River

Submitting their Jr. Ranger booklets and pledging to preserve national
parks to earn their badges.

 

South Dakota: Wind Cave & Badlands National Parks

 

 

In addition to going to Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, we also went to two national parks: Wind Cave National Park and Badlands National Park. 

 

We took a tour of Wind Cave - a very complex maze cave that has never been completely explored.

 

It really surprised me that as cautious as Kane is, he absolutely LOVED the Wind Cave tour, and he and Kolton were interested in pursuing caving as a hobby.

 

"Wind Cave is the first cave where box work was ever found in the entire world." - Kane

"I liked the fact that it's unexplored and most of it is untouched." -Kolton

"It was cold." - Karson

 

Intricate "box work" mineral deposits present in Wind Cave.
 One of very few places in the world these can be found.

Kalista standing over the original opening to
Wind Cave, as the ranger gives her presentation.

The kids getting their Jr. Ranger badges



Rocks along the Needles Highway in Custer State Park

 

We took a drive on the Needles Highway and got to see the sharp rock formations that reach into the sky. We also took a hike into the Badlands that required us to climb a big laddler to reach the end. The view at the end of the hike was of where the prairie meets the Badlands called The Wall.

Crazy Horse monument, still under construction

 

 

 

 

The Wall where the prairie meets the Badlands

Adventures in Home Schooling

We have been home schooling for a month now, and so far I love it. It took awhile to get organized, but I am amazed at how disciplined we have been, the prolific creative expressions I have observed in my children and the cooperation they have exhibited in the process. I was terrified six months ago when I knew we were going to do this. Even though I am trained as a teacher, I feared that I would lack the organization, discipline and patience to be Mom and teacher to our four kids. Those fears have all but dissolved at this point.

We were on the road somewhere between Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks when we started home schooling. This led to some disorganization with curricula at first. However we were immersed in an extended field trip, hiking, going to ranger presentations and experiencing the world, which as far as I’m concerned has been extremely education in itself.

When we returned to Omaha for a couple of weeks I got on the ball, organizationally speaking. I already had most of the texts and materials for each of the four children, but planning and record keeping left a lot to be desired. I purchased “Teacher Planning Books” for Kane, Kolton and Karson each. In these books I have basic “subjects” which reflect Montessori planning: Language, Math and Cultural. Language covers reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary, spelling and speech; Math is self explanatory; and Cultural includes science, history, civics, geography, religion and the arts. For each subject I plan accordingly for each child and we check off the work as they go along. It has worked like a dream. Each boy also has an accordion file in which he keeps his papers and books organized and separated from each others’ stuff. The larger items like text books go in a file box that can be moved to wherever we are working. We generally spend the mornings doing school work and lessons.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not the most organized or disciplined person.  I’m sure the organizational process will be constantly evolving as we go along, and I trust that it will help me grow in discipline as well. As long as I have plans made out for each child, they amazingly get going with very little prodding on my part.

Eleven year old Kolton is and always has been disciplined about his studies. He is always the first one up with me in the morning and eagerly jumps into his lessons with both feet. Therefore he is also always the first one finished with his school work and can be distracting to his siblings once they’re up and working.

Four year old Kalista is usually up next. We spend time going over her “sounds”, which is phonics based reading introduction. I have created two “sound books” that cover letters from the alphabet (not in alphabetical order) and the sounds they make. I’m using the Scholastic “Bob Books” and she is reading the first six of the twelve books to me, Ken, her brothers and their friends and grandparents. She has a “Sound Journal” in which she writes the sounds and words as she learns them. First I write letters or words in highlighter and she traces over them. We also count a lot for math and number recognition. One of the awesome things about having three big brothers is that they each read to her.

My late risers, twelve year old Kane and eight year old Karson come down and get to work next. Kane takes his time and produces quality work. He asks lots of questions and likes to discuss what he is working on. A few times a week we read from “A Brief History of Western Man” by Thomas H. Greer – my college Humanities text book. He takes vocabulary words, and we talk about the content from our reading. I also am having him read George Washington’s “Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior” and instruct him to write his own translations of it to contemporary language. On his own, he is constantly reading anything from novels to instruction manuals (he’s currently following directions on a knitting project – a Christmas gift he’s making for Kalista) to his monthly National Geographic magazine.

Eight year old Karson just finished “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”. He has been very focused on reading, and it has been nice to give him the freedom to read as much as he wants. Each of the boys read novels of their choice (or my choice if they don’t make one for themselves.) Once finished they write book reports. Today I helped Karson summarize his book. I took dictation as he told me the plot points of the book in sequence. Then he read it to me. Next time maybe I’ll have him record his own voice telling the story. What’s most important to me is that he processes what he reads.  Each of the boys has a reading comprehension book that they work out of as well. He read a story about Hank Aaron and answered questions about the reading. He is also working on writing in cursive.

Work time varies by each individual. Nobody starts or stops at the same time. They just get to work and take the necessary time to complete their assignments – again, with very little prodding from me. I am just there to give structure and to oversee their responsibilities.  Ken gives math lessons: Kolton and Karson are working from the same Saxon Math text and Kane is doing algebra.

Having our afternoons free for creative expression is something I absolutely love about home schooling. Kane has been knitting and Kolton has spent hours at his easel painting. Karson is immersed in another book, and Kalista plays, dances sings, draws or paints. We have suspended piano lessons for the year, but the boys sit at the piano and review their music. We have spent afternoons doing geocaching, which incorporates a GPS device to find hidden treasures that are placed just about everywhere. These afternoons are also times of cooperative interaction among the kids. Kane is teaching his brothers how to knit; Kolton has offered to share his easel and paints. Karson will read a book to Kalista. We generally spend this time in peaceful and civil interaction. It is so nice.

Don’t get me wrong, we still have plenty of bickering and discord among us. Conflicts are inevitable, but overall I have been delightfully surprised at how easy and enriching home schooling has been so far. We’ll be back on the road again soon and I know that with the structure we have in place, there’s going to be a lot of learning going on.

 Kane and Kalista working away at the table inside the RV
while at Glacier National Park.

Mount Rushmore by Karson

 

 

These are pictures of us at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. While we were there we walked a small loop and watched a movie about how it was made. My favorite  part of being at Mount Rushmore was the movie.

Devils Tower, Wyoming by Kane

Eight years ago my cousin, my family and I went to South Dakota and Wyoming on vacation. We saw several cool things like Mount Rushmore, a cave and the Badlands, but the thing that amazed me the most (and kind of freaked me out) was Devil’s Tower. After I learned that it was an extinct Volcano my irrational preschooler mind got scared that it would erupt. It was one of the strangest things I had ever seen.

Fast forward eight years along our August RV adventure trip when I learned that we would probably be going back to Devil’s Tower I got pretty excited. When I finally saw it again I thought “it looks smaller.” We did a hike around Devil’s tower that eight years ago was my very first mile hike then it was pretty hard but now after hiking seven miles on the Grinnell Glacier hike it was quite easy hiking one mile on fairly flat terrain. But with all of this it wasn’t like I didn’t learn anything new, because I did learn about porcupines from a ranger talk that day, and also we did the hardest junior ranger booklet we’ve done yet. I know that someday I’ll want to see it again.

 

Some German tourists saw us sitting together on a bench at Devils Tower and
asked us if they could take this picture.

 

Grand Teton National Park: Hike to Phelps Lake by Kolton

Kolton

This is me jumping off a thirty foot rock

Today we got in the car and drove down to a hike that went to Phelps Lake in Grand Teton National Park. We parked the car and then walked for about five minutes, trying to find the Death Canyon trail head. Then we began the hike. We walked about a mile to the Phelps Lake lookout point. We took a few pictures then we went on. We walked past a ton of mint plants, they smelled really good. At last we made it to Phelps Lake and we got changed into our swimsuits. I was the only one in the water and I played around for a while. Then we ate and walked on to a huge rock it was about thirty feet tall! Dad and I said we were going to jump off. Dad procrastinated for about thirty minutes then he jumped. “Now it’s my turn!” I said. So I got up on the highest point on the rock. I could not jump. It was like I was glued to the rock for another thirty minutes, procrastinating. Dad’s camera battery started running really low. I panicked then Dad started counting down: “5, 4, 3, 2” and then I started to jump and then stopped but it was too late. I tripped and fell over the edge, then I smacked the water. It hurt but it was amazing! Karson was sad. He wanted to do it but was too scared. It was hard for me and Dad to do it. Even Dad was scared. So we began the hike back and we all played in the water. We were all thirsty, so Dad and Kane went off to filter some water to drink.  Mom read and Karson, Kalista and I buried each other in the sand. Dad and Kane came back and I took a small drink of the water, and while Karson, Mom and I got our shoes on Dad and Kane started hiking back to the trail head. They were already way far ahead of us. Mom was tired so I volunteered to carry the backpack. It was hot that day and I was thirsty. I noticed that we were actually climbing a mountain. It was uphill and then downhill to our car along with the backpack. It was hard, but at about the half way point we met up with Dad and Kane. There was not much water left, so we hiked to the car and I drank a whole bottle of water. Then we drove back to the R.V.  Another amazing adventure!