Mother and homeschooler Jessica Parnell knows how to turn any place into a learning environment--even the back seat of the car on a road trip with her children.
"We found ways to take the basic [subjects] and turn them into a game," says Parnell. "This not only helped to pass the time, but brought out the creativity in all of us."
Here is a selection of some of Jessica Parnell's fun and educational on-the-road games.
English and Grammar
Adjective game Take special note of the changing scenery in your travels by challenging your kids to find as many descriptive words to create a verbal picture of what they see. When Parnell's children were in the Grand Tetons, they came up with a whopping 103 adjectives! Whoever compiles the most creative list is the winner!
Dynamic Action Try to find as many different and more interesting ways to say a specific verb. For instance, Parnell's children replaced the word walked with words like strutted, strolled, bounded, leaped, skipped, crept, stumbled, hiked and many more.
Fun Adverbs Buidling on the Dynamic Action game, use the same verb (i.e. walked) to create adverbs to describe how an animal or person walked. Some ideas may include walked crazily, uncertainly, funny, quickly, slowly, dynamically, confidently , etc. "The more we tried this one," remarks Parnell, "the better we became."
Math Games
Addition and Subtraction Parnell divised a simple game combining math and geography. "I taught my eight year old how to calculate the number of miles from place to place on a map," Parnell says. "She loved pulling out the map and making the calculations." To encourage her, Parnell gave her a challenge including several different positions; her daughter would first find all the mile markers, then add up the numbers to calculate how many miles the family would travel. Each time they completed a leg of the trip, her daughter subtracted the number of miles from the total. "Believe it or not, she never tired of this one!"
Older children could also be invited to figure out what percent of the total trip is complete at each mile marker, then convert that percent to a decimal.
Probability Parnell's 13-year old came up with a game where each family member would select a color and count the number of cars they saw that were that color. After 5 minutes, they add up the total number of tally marks from each kid and figure out the probability of seeing each different color of car.
History/Science/Nature/Creativity
Whose Clues Challenge your kids to figure out an inventor, sports figure, historical figure, scientist, etc. based on a series of clues. The clues may progress from very vague information to more specific and recognizable. "To review what everyone learned, experienced or saw at any given stop," recalls Parnell, "each person constructed a list of clues for a person, place, animal or event and challenged one another with our riddles. This was a lot of fun!"
Creativity Day by Day Want to know what really makes your children tick? Ask them. Throw out some personalized trivia questions, and prepare to be surprised by their responses. Try questions like, “Who has more freedom, children or adults?” or “If you could have 1000 of any one thing, what would it be (besides money)?” Like Parnell's crew, you'll soon delve a little deeper into family personalities, values, ambitions and much more. "This became such a favorite that we are still going strong with it now that we are home," she says.
For more information: Ready to road-trip? Check out Budgeting for the Best Family-Friendly Hotels.
Interested in homeschooling? Read up with Tammy Takahashi, LA Homeschooling Examiner.
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