Homeschool journal

We are headed to the World in December for 2 weeks. I homeschool our two oldest (so far), and am making them a journal to keep for the trip. They will get tons of educational info while we're there, and I want to be able to remind them of it when they return home. I have general pages with questions asking about the weather, best part of the day, where we stayed, etc., as well as pages for AK with questions like, "In AK, I saw these animals... My favorite was... One cool thing about that animal is...," and for Epcot like, "In Epcot, we visited these countries... This is how they say 'hello'... They celebrate Christmas by..." However, I am struggling with coming up with educational questions for MK and DHS, on a 2nd grade level. Any ideas? Thanks!

How fun! We are homeschooling our oldest because of his health issues.
For MK, you could really focus on some American history with the Hall of Presidents.
Perhaps a little about frontier/pioneer living in Frontierand. Even in line for BTMR you can talk about the mining boom.
For DHS you could focus on some art history with history of animation.

"it's a small world" could form a starting point to talk about other cultures. You could also tie in some math related to spending money. Frontierland could lead to some discussion about American history.

Carousel of Progress---> advances in technology. :-)

I've homeschooled my children for over 13yrs now. You would not believe how many times I've referenced Disney in our studies. You're correct in that as fun and magical as Disney is, it's also a wealth of knowledge and learning. There are probably very few rides or attractions that couldn't teach something educational!

YES! That is a great idea for STEAM!

We always had fun with the various means of transportation getting so many people to, from, and around the MK - be it the bus or the monorail or the resort boats or the ferry boats or the trams (if you park there). Then the transportation in the park, like the steam engine.

Magic Kingdom - history of steam engines - ask the kids to think of a question to ask the conductor and record the answer - this could lead to research later; Liberty Square - history of stocks - why is the pavement brown in the middle of this section of the park?; communities - Main Street, USA - notice the windows and write down some of the names in the windows along Main Street - find out who they are or were

You could try a five senses approach. In each Land in MK, list interesting sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and how things felt. When they have their lists, use them to do a compare and contrast. Have them offer opinions on why each Land is different. I like to use this project on field trips with my fourth grade class.

Go on the Behind the seeds tour at Living w/ the Land. Aquaponics, hydroponics. Very cool stuff. You can order home hydroponics sets from Ortho if you wanted to continue the lesson/experiment.

Well in general it might be fun to give your son a pedometer, and ask approx how many steps equal miles, feet, etc.

In MK how about transportation through the ages: steam railroads, paddle boats, trolleys, cars, horse drawn conveyances, rocket ships?

Also in all parks the lost art of deciphering a map!! Ask them to find where they are and get you to the next place!!

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Originally Posted by g8rgirl29

Also in all parks the lost art of deciphering a map!! Ask them to find where they are and get you to the next place!!

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Good idea. You could tie in orienting the map and using a compass, too.

Thanks for all the great ideas! I'll be using lots of them!