Oregon Trail Interpretive Center

Leaving Rexburg early in the morning, we headed across Idaho to Oregon. The desert was seemingly endless, but we passed the time listening to audio books and singing songs from Grandma Kingsley's collection of fingerplay games.

 In Oregon we searched out the National Oregon Trail Intrepretive Center, perched high atop a mountain next to Hell's Canyon. The view over the valley was breathtaking, and we could see the ruts of the original Oregon Trail below us. See the little brown path below?

 The admissions clerk gave us free access to the museum when she found out we were home schoolers, which was an unexpected and welcome treat. The center itself was very interesting. We were given a packet of educational materials to accompany our visit, so the children quickly began a scavenger hunt among all the displays.

Our favorite display by far was a miniature covered wagon that the children could pack with supplies for the trip. It was such fun to pick and choose what to bring, then load the little wagon with all the crates and barrels.

Everyone loved looking at the original Oregon Trail with binoculars.

They also loved exploring the wagon circle outside the museum.

We also started another smashed penny collection, so the children have had such fun picking out patterns at every smashed penny kiosk we find along the trip.

Last glimpses of the day: 

And, before I forget, before we left Rexburg we enjoyed a game night at Uncle Robert's home and spent the night there. Mother's Day was Sunday, and Nathan had conspired with Robert to send me a bouquet of flowers and a bar of dark chocolate. It was an unexpected surprise! He also emailed me a lovely letter that fed my soul. I was so touched by his thoughtfulness! (For those of you who don't already know, I'm doing this 7-week trip solo while Nathan is back home holding down the fort and working. We just couldn't get enough time off of work to do this trip as a family, so I am doing it alone. I've always wanted to try Road School, so this is it. We have a box of school supplies and we do the book work each morning before focusing the rest of our energy on Experiential Learning activities. So fun, so memorable, so unique. It's a ton of work, but I think they will remember this forever as a highlight of their childhood. So there you have it.)

Here is a glimpse of our school hours in the hotel before we head out in the morning for the next leg of our journey:

Our English assignments most usually involve writing prompts that are written in their daily journal, so they can record the memories of this trip. The prompts vary each day but cover a wide variety of writing styles and all are tied to what they are seeing or learning.

During a break this morning, we played Uno and Joseph learned how to play for the first time.

His favorite card of course is this one:

Fun times. For dinner we enjoyed a fresh veggie tray, ciabatta rolls, and cheese. So yum.