Cumberland Gap Field Trip

Even though homeschooling is technically out right now for Christmas break, learning never really stops around here! ;)

Before starting our break, the last person Big Brother had read about in history was Daniel Boone. Since we live in Kentucky, this part of American history is especially interesting to us.

Daniel Boone is best known for exploring and settling Kentucky. He paved the way for thousands of pioneers to move west through the Cumberland Gap.



Cumberland Gap is now a beautiful National Park. While making our annual trip to visit family in the region, we decided to take a field trip there.

There is a nice visitor's center at the park, and there are no admission fees whatsoever. We enjoyed browsing through the small museum and gift shop. There is a theater upstairs where we watched 2 different short films.

The first film was about the natural phenomena of the Cumberland Gap itself. Other than several references to "millions of years," this film was interesting.

The second film was more about Daniel Boone and the historical significance of Cumberland Gap. Big Brother really enjoyed this film the most. (This film did depict some violence, and some children might find the scenes where Boone's sons are killed disturbing. Big Brother had already read about these events and was expecting to see them depicted. Just use your own judgement here.)

Outside there was a real Civil War canon. We learned that during the Civil War, both armies at one time or other controlled Cumberland Gap as it was a very strategic location. But there were no major battles fought there.

There are all kinds of hiking trails in the park, and visitors can actually walk some of the original trails used by Boone and the pioneers. We did not have time to do this, but we did make a quick drive up to the Pinnacle Overlook to see the amazing view of Cumberland Gap and the surrounding towns and scenery from its height. It was absolutely beautiful!!!

I love how homeschooling really allows us the freedom to explore Big Brother's interests this way...even when "school" is out!!!

For more information about Cumberland Gap, or to start planning a fun field trip of your own, click here

Learning About Cousin Henry + Printable!

Right now Big Brother is enjoying reading biographies for our history studies. He finished his 2nd grade ABeka history before Christmas break, and now we are choosing interesting people to read and write about.

My mother was recently studying our family tree and discovered that we are distantly related to many famous historical figures! Big Brother has found this facinating! One of these distant cousins of ours happens to be The Great Compromiser himself, Kentucky's own Henry Clay!

When we visited our KY State Capitol building, he saw the statue of Henry Clay in the rotunda and was eager to learn more about him...especially with him being our kin and all! :)

So we are currently reading through the book Henry Clay: Young Kentucky Orator which is part of the Childhood of Famous Americans series. We are both learning more about this great man!! I would love to get to visit his estate called Ashland in Lexington, KY perhaps this spring or summer!

As he reads about different people this year, I am having Big Brother write me up a few sentences about the person. I created a simple notebooking page for him to write about Henry Clay, and I am offering it now for you to download. :)

Click here to purchase your printable Henry Clay notebooking page! (This is a pdf file.)

I am working on lots more downloads and printables to offer here for you.


(This post contained affiliate links. I receive a small commission when you make purchases through those links at no extra cost to you. Thank you for blessing our family this way!)

Learning With LEGO! - History and Geography

Starting next week, I will be teaching a Learning with LEGO class at our local homeschool co-op! Big Brother is a big LEGO-lover, so we are both very excited.

We have discovered lots of neat ways to use LEGO in our homeschool to make learning more fun and engaging.

At the beginning of this school year, we did a week-long unit study and lapbook all about LEGO that I found here. (There is even a Jr. Version for preschoolers!!) We had a blast and learned so much that week!

During that study, we learned that LEGO were invented by a carpenter in Denmark named Ole Kirk Christiansen.

So we took some time to find Denmark on our globe and on our world map. Big Brother colored in the country of Denmark on a blank map for his lapbook.

Then we looked up the flag of Denmark. Using his red and white LEGO bricks, Big Brother created the flag of Denmark that is pictured above!

You could do this with any state or country you may be studying in history or geography.

You can also have your child fill in a blank map or flag of a particular state or country with LEGO bricks to make a LEGO map or flag!

If you have a large map, you could call out the name of a state or country and have your child place a LEGO on it.

Studying states (or countries) and capitols? Make a game of it with LEGO bricks! With a dry erase marker, write each state (or country) on a LEGO brick. Then write the capitols each on their own LEGO bricks as well. Then have your child match them up!

Another great idea is to have your child use LEGO bricks to build something related to what they are studying in history. Big Brother has built the Alamo several times and reenacted the battle there pretending his mini-figs were Davy Crockett or Jim Bowie! Other times he has built his own Titanic or Mayflower. He enjoys acting out these stories through play with his LEGO toys. For an older child, you might extend this into a writing activity.

With a little creativity and a lot of imagination you can make otherwise boring information (names, dates, places, maps, etc.) come to life with LEGO!

I look forward to sharing more LEGO Learning fun!!!

Visit CBD
or Amazon to find all kinds of LEGO products to use in your homeschool!!

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