Wanderlust

Number of days we have lost with our daughter due to the negligence of the state of Illinois: 15

I'm realizing that there is a theme in our homeschool studies this year and that is long, long travelling adventures. We've just finished the travels of Marco Polo and are now going back to the rest of the Middle Ages, and having finished the human body are now starting another unit study, this time on Lewis and Clark. I don't think I fully realized we were doing so many travel narratives when I was putting it all together. Or if I did, I didn't remember it until I started reading our Lewis and Clark book this morning.

This is probably more of a reflection of my own interests than anything else. I love to travel and well written travel literature is one of my favorite genres. (I've also been known just to check-out travel books such as Fodor's or Rough Guide from the library on places I'm interested in.) My list of destinations I want to go to is very, very long.

More than a couple of my children share my wanderlust. Last Friday we sat down to watch the DVD, In the footsteps of Marco Polo. This is a movie documenting that travels of two men in the early '90's who traced Marco Polo's journey. As we were watching the introduction and the men were describing where they were going, D. gets a funny look on his face and suddenly bursts out with, "I want to do that! I want to go there!" I understand this feeling of wanting, needing to do something, go somewhere. I sympathized with him because I felt the same way watching the little red line move across the map.

Every so often dinner conversation will center around cool places to visit. Everyone has their own favorites. In the end it would turn into a world tour. Inevitably someone will suggest I set up a 'Go Fund Me' site to pay for this big adventure. As hilarious as it would be to chronicle the traveling adventures of a family of 12, you'll notice there is no such listing. We'll have to continue to be satisfied to continue to travel in our imaginations.

Comments

Kelly said…
You might want to look up the travel journal of Egeria next. She is a Spanish pilgrim who traveled to the Holy Land around 380. I found it really fascinating. I also suspect she got told a lot of tall tales by the local tour guides!

Popular posts from this blog

Making bias tape... otherwise known as the Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway

Apple picking in the rain

Kenzie on the beach