Field Trip Friday: Antarctica Edition

****Disclaimer: We did not actually go to Antarctica. Just in case you thought we hopped a plane from Punta Arenas or Christchurch. Although I hear this is a good time of year to visit.****

For our family school this week, we learned about Antarctica.

Fact: Antarctica is the driest place on earth. It receives an average of 2" of snow per year. It is also the coldest and windiest place on earth.

Because too many of the kindergarten kids are still trying to figure out how to count past 10 and the letters of the alphabet, Cole doesn't get much time to learn science or history or geography - any of the subjects he's interested in, so on our family school days (Wednesdays), we learn about those kinds of things.

Fact: On December 14, 1911, Roald Amundsen (Norway) became the first man to reach the South Pole (well, he and the rest of his team). A month later Robert Scott (England) and his team reached the South Pole. Sadly, he and the rest of his team were caught in terrible winter weather and all perished.

So on Wednesday, I enthralled the kids with stories of Antarctica, Cole taught us how to draw penguins, and using some of Cole's 4 billion plastic animals and an old white sheet, we set up Antarctica. For our weekly field trip, we went snowshoeing. Well...the kids actually rode in sleds while the adults pulled them. I guess we were like the sled dogs. We pretended like we were Antarctic explorers. Some of us are better pretenders (Katie, Cole, Annie) than others (Floyd, Ben).

Fact: Polar bears do not live in Antarctica. Penguins do not live at the North Pole. Yet somehow, writers of children's books and makers of children's clothing always seem to get confused about this. Just a little personal pet peeve of mine I thought I would pass along.

For movie and popcorn night, we rented Eight Below. The kids liked it. And I like it because a few weeks before my Grandpa Johnson died, Cole and I went to his house to spend the afternoon and watched it with him. It's a special memory for me and if Cole remembers Grandpa Johnson, that's probably the only memory he'll ever have of him.

So, until we make it to the real Antarctica, the North Ogden divide, some hot cocoa, and a little Disney magic made a good substitute.