FIRST FIELD TRIP OF THE YEAR!!!!

Our homeschool co-op met at Bartlett Nature Center to learn orienteering. In case you don't know, that is map reading, using a compass and reading topographical maps. The information was very interesting. Zachary & Elyse got a rude awakening of how it would be in the public school or Christian school. The teacher had to wait until all 26 students were on board before she went on to the next step. If it were just Zachary & Elyse in the class, the information would have taken about 10-15 minutes to describe. Having to wait for everyone to understand each point took 1 1/2 hours.

Here's Zachary bored to tears during map reading time.

After learning how to use the compass, we had to follow certain points inside the nature center. We started out going north, when we reached point "A" we were to head east until we eventually ended up back in the classroom. It would have been much more fun if we weren't so close together. Most of the kids followed the group in front of them instead of using their new skills of reading a compass.

Elyse is busy outlining a topographical map as the teacher described where to mark.

The last thing we did was walk 100 feet four times to measure our pace length. You walk the path four times counting each time your left foot hits the ground. Each time you finish 100 feet, you write how many paces it took you. You ignore the first 100 feet, then add the 2nd, 3rd and 4th time you counted your paces. Divide that number by 3. Divide 100 by that number. That tells you that your paces are so many feet long. Elyse measured at 4.9 feet, Zachary at 4.6 feet and me at 4.1 feet. One little boy walked like a giant, he thought the bigger the steps the better. That wasn't the purpose of the test. But, it was funny to watch.

Zachary and Elyse on their way back from the fourth walk.

Now that we did that, we can walk anywhere with our normal pace and figure out how long a room is by using our pace length. Hope that makes sense. That's our day in a nutshell.