Learning on the Road
Thursday, February 25, 2010 We love learning...but we don't sit down and "do school" every day. We prefer to learn through life experience and by pursuing the things that Bella is passionate about...which is referred to as "unschooling" (more info here and here). Here are just a few of the new things we learned while we were in Las Vegas!
Springs Preserve
There were so many people telling us to go check this out, that we just had to go! The Springs Preserve is a 180 acre natural habitat right in the middle of the city. According to their website, "...the Preserve features museums, galleries, outdoor events, colorful botanical gardens and an interpretive trail system through a scenic wetland habitat". It was basically a HUGE science museum and outdoor trail system with hands-on exhibits, and a great art museum. They are very focused on sustainability...and had many opportunities to learn about living green. I wish we would have had more time to explore it all! We needed several days there to take it all in.
Hoover Dam
We were especially excited to go see the Hoover Dam and the new by-pass bridge...and it was only 45 minutes away! We packed a picnic lunch and headed to Boulder City. It was a beautifully sunny day, and we enjoyed walking the dam and learning more about the amazing men that built it. We were bummed that the museum on site was $8 per person...but we ended up finding a great little museum in the Boulder City Hotel for just $4 for everyone! 
Chinese New Year
Bella has dreamed of China for as long as I can remember. When she was younger, she used to have her own gibberish language that she called "Chinese". She would also tell us that she had a sister in China...and made up elaborate stories about this sister. So we were super excited to hear about the Chinese New Year celebration in Las Vegas' Chinatown! We were able to find some books at the library to learn a little more about the event's history before we went.
The celebration was on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon, and it was packed! We enjoyed the dancing, the noodles, and the beautiful dresses! We bought some pretty chopsticks to remember our time there.
When we got home, we read one of our favorite books, Hungry Planet. We learned more about what they eat in China...and that night we made rice and veggies with tofu. Bella made sure that our bowls were set up EXACTLY like the photos in the book!
Lied Discovery Children's Museum
This museum was only 1 mile from our campground! We were thrilled to find out that the "passport membership" we have through Bozeman's science museum covered this one as well (free admission!). It's a great program if you travel full time...you can get into MANY zoos, museums, and more for free! Bella begged to go back here over and over. Her favorite thing was the miniature airport security check point. She must have taken her shoes off and walked through the scanner 5 times in a row. She also loved the grocery store. Daddy really liked the bubbles!
Photos from Las Vegas here.
Photos are available for comment on Flickr.
Reader Comments (18)
I LOVED reading all your posts!! Such great pics and writing, and I love your banner, too! :)
We are also planning on unschooling and have a great Children's Museum in our town (Lincoln, NE) so we know how awesome they are. We have been planning on unschooling after doing tons of research in alternative education...it is something I am very excited to do alongside my children if they so desire. It looks like not only Bella but your whole family loves it, too! Thanks for sharing, I will post your website to my facebook and twitter page! I love reading your blogs and I finally got the courage (after 8 years of wanting them, 5 of those asking hubby to be on board) to dread my hair!!! Yay!
Safe Travels,
Sarah M
Being a China girl (not Chinese, just living there!) myself, you know I love this post! I love that you celebrated Chinese New Year!!! And I love how children become intrigued by things at young ages... never know how that will play out later in her interesting and adventurous life (she's your daughter, right?!). Happy Janssens brought me happiness today:)
We are following your blog with much interest. We only have one and a half years left of our five year plan in Costa Rica and then thinking about the RV idea for the next five years. You all are making it look awful tempting.
Also on the Chinese sister, maybe that is in your future? We never even thought about it until it just happened, and was one of the best things we ever did. Our bio daughter was 9 when we went to China and got her sister.
I loved reading all of your posts! It seems like you are having an awesome time with your family. The pictures are fantastic. I can't wait to read more posts.
Oh my goodness Sara, This new blog is just filled to the top with fun and joy and positivity .....actually all your blogs are!
Im SO in awe of the life that you and your family live and the people that you come across. It inspires me ENDLESSLY.
Im sixteen now, but when i have my own family, i want to live a life that is similar to yours and wish that i will be able to meet and befriend people like you!
Thankyou SO much for this positivity that you share.
I am new to your blog and really love it. We are a homeschooling family, I wouldn't say we are full time unschoolers, but I really let my kids lead with their interests. What fun places to visit! I love that you show all of these places for families to visit. Next time we go on vacation, I will use you blog as a resource!
This is great Sara! Love the new site. I just added your button to my blog :)
I really enjoyed reading about your travels!!
You have made your RV home-ier than my home!! It's beautiful!
Hi Sara and family!
Love what you are doing...it is soooo dreamy! I've been following your blogs for several years now and truly am so happy that you are back on the road doing what you love again! I love the idea of homeschooling, but maybe you could answer something for me. How do you keep a record of all of Bella's "work" and "studying"? I think that is our huge hickup. My husband wants to follow a more structured guideline to satisfy Illinois laws but I love the unschooling approach. How do you satisfy both without fear of prosecution?
Jes...we will be getting residence in Texas, where the homeschooling laws are very friendly. No record keeping is needed. If your state requires record keeping, it's actually easier than you think. Each day, you can just go through your day in your head and think about what they learned and record it. For example, you went to the grocery store. They learned about nutrition, social skills, handling money/math....and so on. There are several sites that address this...try Googling "unschooling record keeping" or something of the sort. I don't keep records, so I'm not a huge help! :)
Sara-- LOVE the new blog! All your posts/videos were so lovely and inspiring! Can't wait to follow the journey with you and your family!!
Love the new blog!
Blessed Adventures
I love your blog/way of life so much. I wish I had the guts to do what you do. I'm from Las Vegas and have many fond memories of the Lied Discovery Children
's Museum. I've been back twice in recent years, once with my boyfriend and once with the 4 year old granddaughter of a friend of my mom's....yeah. It's not nearly as pristine and clean as I remember it, and a lot of the exhibits that I loved as a child are gone/broken, but it's still a wonderful place. I used to LOVE the grocery store also. And putting on shows. And encasing myself in bubbles. I'm so happy that you were able to go and for FREE.
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I like this post I always said you can learn more outside of classes or home you experience make you grow up and learn
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