J.T.'s October Trip

I know my posts just completely stalled after my last curriculum one, but that is because I haven't been an active part of J.T.'s schooling this month.

On Sept. 28, J.T. left with my mom's husband, Greg, to travel with him while Greg buys and sells used buses all over the U.S.

Since they left, they have been in OH, IN, IL, MI, KY, TN, AR, TX...and a few of those more than once. They are in OH right now. The main goal J.T. has before coming home is to be able to visit with my mom in FL for a few days. As of last night, it looked like first they might need to pick a bus in VA and take it to NJ before they can head down to FL.

Being the single mom of an only child...yeah...it's been pretty hard for me to have J.T. gone for so long. But, I'm trying to be *good mom* and not deny him such an awesome experience.

Gosh, what could J.T. possibly be learning while on such a trip? If traveling the country (well at least a small part of it LOL) and learning about buying and selling used school buses isn't real life learning, I don't guess I know what is. But, of course, the school board will insist on each little experience getting pigeon-holed into one of the 5 "big" subjects. I think having to assign every learning experience a specific subject is probably my least favorite part of homeschooling. (makes the LOSER sign at public schools)

But, anyhow, here's a rundown of some of the stuff that's J.T.'s doing while on the trip...I should have been posting this all along, because I need to remember it come portfolio time!

Naturally, J.T. has been learning U.S. Geography! He's studied at an atlas to help figure out how to get...for example...from Lima, OH to Peoria, IL. He is the navigator while traveling.

At some point during travels, Greg thought it would be good to give J.T. some agriculture facts about all the cultivated fields they were seeing along the way. J.T. called me one night and informed me of the three different types of fertilizer and how each one works differently in a field.

When J.T. and Greg go to OH, it's to a big bus yard there where Greg buys a large number of the buses he sells. J.T.'s job is to look at each bus for sale and take notes about it...the manufacturer, year, mileage, type of fuel, type of brakes, condition of tires, amount of rust, etc. He has to do this in a way that Greg can actually read his notes...which means while he's been gone, his handwriting must have improved 100% ;-) Then, when Greg gets a call from someone looking to purchase a bus, J.T. gets to go over his notes and figure out what's available that fits the needs of that particular customer.

The last time J.T. was with Greg (he's traveled with him before...just never for so long) he learned how to hook car to a tow bar to be towed behind a bus. He's expanded that now to also learn how to hook the lights up on the car. He's also learned all kinds of mechanical aspects of the buses...checking fluid levels, etc. And, last weekend, he helped fix a fan on Greg's daughter-in-law's van.

While in Indiana, Greg and J.T. visited the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum...full of vintage cars.

Last night, when J.T. phoned he was in the process of organizing around 400 receipts for Greg. "In chronological order" he informed me.

So, for the past month, I've had a break from schooling...but J.T. sure hasn't stopped learning!