Vacation journal for kids

This month the theme for Poppins Book Nook is “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles,”  I’d planned this big long Lego building theme, and then my entire family taking turns getting sick, and an emergency room visit for a toe that wasn’t broken, but sure hurt a lot, changed my plans.  Instead, I thought I’d give you some travelschooling tips inspired by one of my favorite Madeleine L’Engle books: The Moon by Night by Madeleine L’Engle(affiliate link). So let’s talk Travel Journal tips for kids.

The Moon by Night

The Austin family is traveling cross country by car, and 14-year-old Vicky is struggling with who she is now and who she wants to be.  As they travel Vicky journals about what she’s learned and who she wants to be.

And when I remembered that book I realized what our activity was this month.  We’re going to journal our trip.

So here’s my vacation journal for kids’ tips:

1. Be flexible.  Sometimes there won’t be much going on to write about.
2. Look for field trips you can do.  The Austins drove all over Canada and the Northern United States to many different landmarks because they could.  On this trip we’ve seen:  Arkansas state capital, the Parthenon, met friends, Fort Boonesborough, Kentucky Horse Park, random parts of Cincinnati, the Creation Museum, and who knows what else on our way home.
3. Make all of it an adventure.  If you think it’s all an adventure, then your trip will be a lot more fun.
4. Give them a chance to share what they wrote, otherwise where’s the fun in writing?

What did I require for our vacation journals for my elementary kids?

They only had to write 1-3 sentences, and draw pictures of it, and sometimes it wasn’t sentences, sometimes it was charts or drawings.  For older kids, I would probably require more, but this was more than sufficient, most of the learning is coming from what they are seeing and hearing.  There’s not much need to add in extra schoolwork for the short term.  If this is a long-term plan, then you’ll need more.

If you’re looking for some slightly more traditional transportation posts, here’s what we’ve done in the past:

• Invention Museum
• John Deere tractors
• Wright Brothers and their plane