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WINTER 2018
HOMESCHOOL IOWA 21
See that red shirt up the path? That is me letting go of my
18- year old son as he explores paths that I won’t follow.
Trusting the lessons repeated for a decade of home education
are firm: look where you step.
One of our hikes included fording a creek that had swelled
to a stream with late snows melting in the high altitudes.
It was Ben’s job to decide if we could safely cross. And, no,
we didn’t attempt a crossing. This task was one way to
encourage a teenager to make a decision based upon few
facts and the unknown current.
ers, and then left by breaking out the driver’s side window while
the parents and kids were huddled in the pickup topper.
Again,
planning is imperative to a successful adventure.
I like to plan stops on long drives. Sometimes we don’t vis-
it each one, but it pays to do the research in case you want to
stretch your legs. After you plot the drive and where you want to
visit based upon your research and notes, you’ll have options for
each day. For example, if it is raining, you skip the hike, but can
tour the cowboy museum. The National Park Service organizes a
program called Junior Rangers. You’ll find this information avail-
able at every national park. Trained to teach all ages of young-
sters, these rangers offer coloring books and stickers to fulfill the
Junior Ranger badge requirements. Following the instructions
is easy, and you don’t have to make up a lesson plan. Again, this
information is right on the National Park websites.
2) Permit flexibility
Permitting time flexibility is important to enjoy these parks.
Stopping to use the binoculars as a grizzly bear waddles his way
up a grassy mountainside is exactly why you are on this trip with
the family. Permitting time for extra moments to watch a moose
herd wading in the sloughs, lifting their majestic heads, grasses
dripping frommunching mouths, that is not going to be a scene
in Iowa.
Permitting time for a bison herd to sit on a Yellowstone road-
way that you want to travel is necessary, even when it takes an
extra 480 minutes. Remember, you planned for this with color-
ing books, games, and binoculars.
Permitting others to share their experiences gave me pa-
tience to deal with my own family traveling. I researched the
parks for months, watched videos, read travel books, and asked
neighbors for tips. But the most valuable information I learned
was from other moms in the hotel breakfast rooms as we drove
west. Asking one woman if she was on her way west or east, she
shared, over coffee, how she and her teenage daughter spent a
week at a dude ranch and were now headed home. The trip was
a renewal for them after the murder of the older son in a large
city. “It has been an expensive trip, but exactly what we needed,”
she affirmed. “We don’t know how many days we have here, so
I’ve learned to treasure each one.”
Permits! Buy a park permit to travel through the parks prior
to leaving. We ordered ours online and drove the “fast” lane to
enter parks.
Permit time to be grateful. Permit time for experiencing God’s
creations with your family.
What children learn from travel experiences will vary. My son’s
report, finishing his homeschool years on this trip, when com-
pared to an eight-year-old’s national park report, will read dif-
ferently. They climbed the same mountains, breathed the same
crisp air, shivered in the Tetons (although, maybe you kept the
extra blankets that we left at home), and both shared irreplace-
able family time. The quiet moments spent looking at God’s
creation standing on the shores of Jackson Lake was invaluable.
No words were needed as we listened to snow runoff crashing
down ravines. God made this America for us to enjoy. He means
for us to share these moments as families. Plan, Permit, and then
take pleasure in these moments.
Our journey included a brief stop at the Corn Palace in Mitch-
ell, S.D. I was the only one to get out in the rain to see the unique
building up close. Again, permitting flexibility kept the atmo-
sphere inside the vehicle peaceful.
The Minuteman Missile National Historic Site on Interstate 90
east of Wall Drug was a long-held goal of our son’s. Watching the
educational film, learning the site’s history, and buying a deck of