As homeschool parents we are always looking for creative ways to do things and interesting ways to integrate learning ideas together while making it all interesting. I enjoy commingling all of this with technology to give my children a cutting edge experience that will serve them well in the future.
Geo caching is a new game that has homeschool, technology and fun written all over it, if you have never heard or geo caching it is simply a world wide scavenger hunt. It utilizes GPS, the internet and good ole hide and seek.
The basic premise is that you find a geo cache in your area, which is basically just a hidden stash, the coordinates can be found on the internet, and a handheld GPS unit must be used to try to pinpoint the coordinates and find the cache. It may sound easy, but caches are usually hidden in remote areas like parks or forest. It can be quite a journey and there could be many obstacles like rivers or gorges in your way.
Talk about unschooling! This will give you the opportunity to teach about all things wilderness, including respect for the environment, camping, survival, map reading, geology, forestry, etc. The list is up to you. When you find the cache the tradition is to log it in the log book in the cache, practicing writing, and take an item and leave an item of equal value, usually some type of little trinket. When you are finished hide the cache in the same location you found it and log it on the internet.
I am not even going to go into how many lessons you could work into something like this or you could just use this a reason to get out into the great outdoors with your kids and do something fun. There are geo caches all over the world, some are hard to find and others are child's play, but no matter where you are I am sure there is one fairly close.
This activity gives kids the opportunity to get up close and personal with location aware technology. I am sure they have seen similar technology in the car or on your phone but this is a much more exiting application and one that they are sure to remember.
Technology and different types of home school software give parents the ability to take their child's learning to the next level and have fun in or out of the class room.
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