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Helen
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| Posted: May 23 2006 at 1:32pm | IP Logged
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Last year during the Tour de France I mounted a map of France on foam board and kept it in the family room. I marked each stage of the Tour with a star. Each day, I showed the children some photos from the internet of the riders. The French countryside is beautiful. The kids had a great time and have been asking me to do this again.
I thought it could be a fun 4Real project if people contributed information and ideas about France.
Goals
1. To show the children pictures of the riders in France everyday.
2. To say something intelligent about France every day. (I know this is an unusually high goal. I really should set my sights lower and be satisfied if I say something intelligent on most days, or better yet on one day. But, I’m going out on a limb and counting on your help.)
3. To follow the race on a wall map with stars designating the stops.
4. If at all possible, to follow up during the day with a picture book, a craft, a French meal, French wine, French cheese, French music, French words something in the day with some Real French Learning.
Message Board and blog involvement
What if members contributed what they know about these towns in France? What if blog keeping members volunteered to take a day of the tour and organize the info on their blogs? Each day of the tour we could make a stop at the blog hosting the 4Real Tour of France. Would anyone be interested in doing this? We would have to work out timing and a few details. I thought at the end I could gather all the links into one post sort of a 4Real Tour of France Real Learning Blog Ring Carnival sort of thing. (I think things like that are usually abbreviated RTOFRLBRC, maybe that doesn’t help much.)
Take a look at the stages and see if anything jumps out at you. If you are willing to host a day at your blog let me know.
I personally would like to organize the information about Dax – St. Vincent de Paul’s birthplace is near there and he went to school as a child in Dax.
Some Links
Stages and map
Official Site (I think)
The Starting Place
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Ave Maria!
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Mary Vitamin & Castle of the Immaculate
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Angie Mc
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The McIntyres are in!
Helen, you might need to hold my hand a bit here. Our strength rests in following the sport itself. Perhaps my dh (a cyclist and fan) can help me to pick a day connected to a particular stage that he enjoys. From there you all can inspire and direct me  .
Love,
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Angie Mc
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Elizabeth
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Helen,
I think this is an awesome idea for some ladiback summer geography. Anything with a sports theme is pretty golden around here.  . We're in!
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Helen
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| Posted: May 23 2006 at 1:56pm | IP Logged
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That would be great Angie.
I don't know much about the Tour. I just like the scenery. 
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Ave Maria!
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Dawn
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Helen, count us in too! Dh loves the Tour and we watch it every year. I'll take a look at the days and see if anything jumps out at me. 
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Christine
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Helen, I believe this is a wonderful idea! It will go right along with our family's geography studies. I will have to change our itinerary on Catholic Geography a little, but that goes hand in hand with traveling.
Would it be possible for my family to focus on July 7 ~ Lisieux-Vitre or July 23 ~ Antony-Parc de Sceaux - Paris Champs-Élysées?
Thank you for thinking about this and wanting to make it a group effort.
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MaryM
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Helen wrote:
| I thought it could be a fun 4Real project if people contributed information and ideas about France. What if members contributed what they know about these towns in France? |
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This is a fabulous idea, Helen.
Helen wrote:
| What if blog keeping members volunteered to take a day of the tour and organize the info on their blogs? Each day of the tour we could make a stop at the blog hosting the 4Real Tour of France. |
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I would love to be involved but not having a blog would not be able to be part of this set-up. Is there a way to do this that would not exclude those who don't have blogs?
My preference would be for our family to take Stage 10 through the Pays Basque country (Cambo-les-Bains to Pau). Maybe Mary G. would be interested in doing it together (since she is the one who is really French Basque where I am Spanish Basque) and she does have a blog.
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Helen
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| Posted: May 23 2006 at 7:06pm | IP Logged
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MaryM wrote:
| I would love to be involved but not having a blog would not be able to be part of this set-up. Is there a way to do this that would not exclude those who don't have blogs? |
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Dear Mary M,
 Believe me I did not want to exclude anyone. This was just an idea bouncing around in my head and picking up a lot of energy.
We could stick strictly to the message board or have a combination. I am very open to whatever preferences are expressed here. This project will be much more fun and beneficial for me and my family if I can tap into the great wealth of experience and education of the members here (for example, what you can share about Spanish Basque). I mentioned blogs because once you start using a blog, it is an easy format for pulling together pictures, links and text for others to access. But, the message board gives that possiblility as well.
[/QUOTE]My preference would be for our family to take Stage 10 through the Pays Basque country (Cambo-les-Bains to Pau). Maybe Mary G. would be interested in doing it together (since she is the one who is really French Basque where I am Spanish Basque) and she does have a blog. [/QUOTE]
You could work together or if you'd prefer assemble the information and begin a new thread here at the message board. "Stage 10"
I just learned that St. Ignatius was from Basque territory!
What do you think?
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Ave Maria!
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Christine
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Why not set up a blog, specifically for those participating in the Tour de France? Blogger allows you to invite multiple people to post on a single blog. This way, those who don't have a blog can post on the joint blog. We wouldn't be visiting different blogs. We would all be visiting the one blog.
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Christine
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Helen
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Christine wrote:
| Why not set up a blog, specifically for those participating in the Tour de France? Blogger allows you to invite multiple people to post on a single blog. This way, those who don't have a blog can post on the joint blog. We wouldn't be visiting different blogs. We would all be visiting the one blog. |
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sure! This would work well. What do the others who would like to participate think?
It means picking a template, a name, setting up a blog... I guess that doesn't take that much time.
Everyone can participate by posting ideas to the message board. I would love to hear others suggestions for making France come alive. Does anyone know recipes from the South of France or from ... what's the name of the area that juts out into the Atlantic? What about the different shrines? Artists and where they lived and worked? Cezanne painted that famous mountain - will the riders be passing through that town? What about the natural resources of France?
This is where many people with their information can pool together, I'll be able to say something intelligent to my kids and learn something myself.
I'm very amenable. I was just looking for a fun way to spend a few weeks learning with my kids with your help.  My organizing brain was trying to figure out a way to handle the different days, places and information. We can stay at this lovely message board with new threads.
So, what do you think?
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Cay Gibson
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I love this idea.
Count our famiy in.
I think we could open a specific thread here and just file our information and activities under it. KISS.
Okay, it begins June 29th.
Is Lance-Boy riding this year?
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Cay Gibson
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Cay Gibson wrote:
I think we could open a specific thread here and just file our information and activities under it. KISS.
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Of course, a blog makes sharing pictures lots easier. 
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Helen
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| Posted: May 24 2006 at 12:04pm | IP Logged
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Well, I think it is probably safest to start smaller and then get bigger if we need to. So, why don't we stay right here and use this thread as an organizational tool and for accepting volunteers for "hosting a day of the Tour."
I'll begin another thread for collecting data.
Collecting Data
Then each organized day of the tour can have its own thread begun by the volunteer.
I don't think I could personally manage beginning a separate blog right now. But, if down the road we had many people who wanted to show where following the Tour led their family in pictures, narrations, recipes etc. Then a group blog might be very nice.
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JennGM
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Helen,
Did Paola ever write back? I saw your message on CCM. She had such great ideas from CCM list last year. Did you try to send a private email instead of on the list to have her give some of her input?
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Mary G
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We'll be in Austria by June 15th -- maybe I could work out a trip over to France during July (dh will be in Rome for 2 weeks for school anyway) -- I know my kids would love it.
If we do this, I could post pictures of the actual sites. Let me talk to dh and see what he thinks.
Helen -- thanks for thinking this up -- it's like the eIditarod I did this spring with my kiddos -- they loved in and now knows LOTS about Alaska's geography, history and sled dogs!
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Helen
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JennGM wrote:
| Did Paola ever write back? |
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I wrote her privately and she said to go right ahead and post away at the message board. She had great ideas but didn't mention specifics.
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Ave Maria!
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Helen
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| Posted: May 25 2006 at 12:40pm | IP Logged
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I tried to spread out the volunteers over the course of the Tour. This is what I have so far:
I'll be starting the Tour in Strasbourg.
(The tour leaves France for a few days.)
Christine stage 6
Dawn stage 8
Mary M stge 10
Cay stage 12
Elizabeth stage 17, the last of the three mountain trails.
Angie Mc will finish the race in Paris.
Mary G will be popping in and out depending on her schedule.
Correct me if I have it wrong. (Check the first post for the map link.)
I think this works out very nicely. I'm very excited.
Now, we have to figure out when we are posting the information we gather? I am very slow at putting things together. I need a lot of lead time in order to go out to buy something.
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blessedmum
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What a fantastic idea Helen. We loved watching the tour de France last year. Can you tell me when it is run. I can't remember.
Blessings, Kym.
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Helen
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blessedmum wrote:
| Can you tell me when it is run. I can't remember. |
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Dear Kym,
From reading this site I believe the Tour begins on the First of July and ends on July 23rd. So, we still have time to make a few preparations.
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Helen
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| Posted: June 03 2006 at 11:04pm | IP Logged
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After thinking about this for awhile, how about keeping each "day" of the Tour here at this thread? That way, if a member wants to follow along, she can just "watch" this topic.
In trying to organize my information, I've been thinking "Well, if we really went to Europe, what would we do during the day while the racers are cycling to their next destination? We would be "looking" around the city they just left. We would "visit" an art gallery or check in with a famous local, go on a pilgrimage, or just have a simple day in the park with a picnic.
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Tour de France Idea
