Journey North 2010 Archives - Eva Varga

A month ago, we enthusiastically participated in an online geography class via Journey North.  We were doing really well the first couple of weeks, staying on top of the weekly lessons and graphing the photoperiods of the 10 mystery classes.  Unfortunately, as the weeks progressed – our lives got crazy busy (mostly my own obligations with yearbook, etc.)  We missed a few weeks and fell behind.

Then we departed for a 2-week road trip through British Columbia & Alberta, Canada.  When I was packing up our school materials, I asked Sweetie if we should bring it along.  Her response was, “I want to do it, Mom, but we are already behind.”

“Shall we just stop then and try again next year?” I asked.

“Yeah.  That would be good.  I like it but it would take too long to try to catch up now,” she added.

I am disappointed.  But at least we can play along vicariously through our homeschool friends that are continuing with the class.  🙂

I am very excited! Last year, I discovered too late a great online class that many other homeschooling families were taking advantage of, Journey North Mystery Class. I was evident in their blog posts that everyone who participated thoroughly enjoyed the class and learned a lot about geography along the way.

For those not familiar with it, it is essentially a hunt to find 10 “mystery” classes which are “hidden” around the globe. You will first use sunrise/sunset data to help determine the latitude of each class. In late March, you will receive a special set of “longitude clues” to help you determine the longitude of each class. Then, you will start receiving weekly clues about each mystery class. These might include special holidays they celebrate, landmarks, history, etc. At this point, you will have narrowed down the classes to a latitude & longitude and are using the clues to help you locate the precise city.

We are definitely playing along this year. How about you?