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Anne
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Check out the thread on this from last year. We enjoy solving the mystery while learning a bit of science and geography! 
Journey North
It begins today!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Anne in TN
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MaryM
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Oh yes... we are doing it jointly again with our local group. I was just talking to some of the new moms about it who haven't done it with us before. They are really excited. I enjoy doing it with a group. We are scheduling a cultural pot luck at the end to share about our mystery location.
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Mary M. in Denver
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Paula in MN
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We are participating this year!
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 Paula
A Catholic Harvest
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EmilyC
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Yay! Thanks for posting this, I've seen others doing it and every year we miss it. Finally we can join in!
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Emily,
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Carole N.
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Yes, I had divided the site between my teens to create a little friendly competition.  And I and tracking our home site. What fun!
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Carole ... in Wales
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AtHomeScience
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I am running this with the older kids of our small TORCH group, too--five kids ages 8 to 11, so they each have 2 Mystery Classes. I am also posting instructions and resources on my At Home Science blog that I hope people find useful.
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Kris, Mom to 3 rambunctious boys 
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MaryM
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This is a list of books we've used when doing the Journey North Mystery Class. I've posted them before. I've added a few new ones (on telling time).
Seasons
Reasons for the Seasons
Greenwich Guide to the Seasons
Sunshine Makes the Seasons
On This Same Day in March (world weather differences)
Time
The Time Book: A Brief History from Lunar Calendars to Atomic Clocks
When it's Six O'Clock in San Francisco
Activity Resources (these books have explanations of latitude and longitude with hands-on activities including making astrolabes, cross staff, etc.)
Geography Wizardry for Kids
Geography for Every Kid
Geography Crafts for Kids
Mighty Maps! Facts, Fun and Trivia to Develop Map Skills - includes latitude & longitude, using grids, time/time zones exercises
Longitude/The Longitude Prize (fascinating story!)
The Man Who Made Time Travel (picture book)
Sea Clocks - The Story of Longitude (picture book)
The Longitude Prize (chapter book)
For older-
Longitude: The True Story of the Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time or the illustrated version
NOVA's Lost at Sea - the Search for Longitude video
Longitude - an A&E homevideo
Maps and Mapping - history
Where am I? The Story of Maps and Navigation
Mapping the Unknown
Mapping a Changing World
Rookie Read-About_Geography Latitude and Longitude is a nice intro for the very young set (age 5-7). Others in the series that might be helpful as well are Types of Maps, Map Scales, and Map Keys.
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Mary M. in Denver
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MaryM
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So how is it going for everyone? My kids are more into this year than last - it's been good.
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Mary M. in Denver
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SuzanneG
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We are doing it for the first year and so far, so good! Thanks for re-posting that book-list, Mary....I found that the other day while lookiing at the archives and meant to post it again!
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Suzanne in ID
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organiclilac
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We are doing this with some friends and are really enjoying it! Last year we didn't make it all the way through, but we are doing MUCH better with keeping on top of things this year, so I am optimistic about seeing it to the end. For those who have done this with a group, any ideas for what to do as an activity at the very end?
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Tracy, wife to Shawn, mama to Samuel (4/01) and Joseph (11/11), and Thomas (2/15)
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MaryM
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organiclilac wrote:
| For those who have done this with a group, any ideas for what to do as an activity at the very end? |
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We said we were going to do it last year, but didn't so we are determined to do it this year. We are going to have a potluck lunch as a group (we have ten families) with everyone bringing a dish from their country. Then ask each of the families to share some facts about their country - good presentation opportunity for the kids. I'm also going to get stamps from each of the countries to give to the families. Another idea would be to research a saint from that country or area and share information about that or have a little display.
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Mary M. in Denver
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organiclilac
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Thanks Mary!
MaryM wrote:
| Another idea would be to research a saint from that country or area and share information about that or have a little display. |
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this idea especially!
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Tracy, wife to Shawn, mama to Samuel (4/01) and Joseph (11/11), and Thomas (2/15)
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Anne
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We are enjoying the activities this year. I have found that if we wait until Monday to have our class, we end up completing the journal pages. I tend to be more "gung-ho" at the beginning of the week!
We are loving the 0 hours photoperiod and the 24 hours photoperiods?!! Our map is getting used a lot at the poles this time! 
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Anne in TN
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JennGM
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Bumping this.
We have never done this, mainly because 1) my son was too young and 2) I didn't quite understand.
So some questions for those who have done this.
DS is in 2nd grade. Too young?
Has anyone done this alone or do you always combine with others?
How much time does this take on average?
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Jennifer G. Miller
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MaryM
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JennGM wrote:
Bumping this.
We have never done this, mainly because 1) my son was too young and 2) I didn't quite understand.
So some questions for those who have done this.
DS is in 2nd grade. Too young?
Has anyone done this alone or do you always combine with others?
How much time does this take on average?
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2nd grade is about the minimum I usually say for people to even try it. The younger they are the more mom ends up doing - so with a 2nd grader mom still is doing a lot (but it's fun). I think 1st, 2nd, 3rd grades understand the most basic elements of the science but not necessarily more. Bright kids who enjoy problem solving will stick with it longer. My experience with families here is the younger they are the harder it is to keep their interest. It goes on for so many weeks and there isn't really much "happening" for a large part of that. I feel it is best suited for upper elementary and jr. high as far as really getting it and doing it more independently.
We have always done it as part of a group with each participant being responsible for calculations for one of the 10 locations (twice with 4 Real member group and 3 times with our local group) - but that is misleading, because most of the time we do all the locations anyway so it is like we were doing it alone. That is an option for you, take only one of the mystery cities to do your calculations for and just follow your own locaiton plus the one mystery location, to get a feel for it.
If you are only doing one location (plus your local one) then it really only takes a minimum of 10-15 minutes per week. There is definietly more you can do if you add in their extra activities and reading & experiments as well. Those are what make it more enjoyable and increase the understanding. So if you are doing more I would say a minimum of an hour a week.
I was wondering if there was interest in doing it here again as a group.
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Mary M. in Denver
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Angi
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Tracy - anyone local doing it this year? I think MR would love it, but would be overwhelmed doing it all with just her and I.
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Carole N.
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We have done this for several years now. Our first experience was with this group. My ds and I love the project so much that we have continued to do it on our own. In fact, they asked us if we wanted to be one of the mystery sites!
Jenn, I think that you could do it, but you will have to do a lot of the work yourself. It is a great opportunity, however, to introduce him to so many concepts. Just think of all the rabbit trails...
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Carole ... in Wales
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Erica Sanchez
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Mary and all,
We would love to do it with you as a group.
We do it as group locally as well and it is tons of fun. At the end, we have a big party like the one mentioned above. Besides bringing a dish or two from their country, the kids have done a poster presentation and even dressed up in traditional clothing.
We LOVE Journey North here!
Jenn, I plan to have my 2nd grader do it with us, but I anticipate doing much of it with/for her. Last year, my then 3rd grader struggled a bit, but she is not a strong reader. I think I had her just do one city with lots of help from me.
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Have a beautiful and fun day!
Erica in San Diego
(dh)Cash, Emily, Grace, Nicholas, Isabella, Annie, Luke, Max, Peter, 2 little souls ++, and sweet Rose who is legally ours!
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SuzanneG
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JennGM wrote:
| DS is in 2nd grade. Too young? |
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Jenn~ We did it last year, and I was involved and "leading" it. My girls were almost 9 and 7.5. (3rd and 2nd grade)....sometimes it seemed forced, but overall it was GREAT, and we got a lot out of it.
Your son seems more inquisitive and curious than my girls, so I think you'd get a lot of "bang for your buck" even if you're doing a lot of it. I also made sure I was dropping something else from our regular workload, since a lot of it was on me.
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Suzanne in ID
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JennGM
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SuzanneG wrote:
JennGM wrote:
| DS is in 2nd grade. Too young? |
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Jenn~ We did it last year, and I was involved and "leading" it. My girls were almost 9 and 7.5. (3rd and 2nd grade)....sometimes it seemed forced, but overall it was GREAT, and we got a lot out of it.
Your son seems more inquisitive and curious than my girls, so I think you'd get a lot of "bang for your buck" even if you're doing a lot of it. I also made sure I was dropping something else from our regular workload, since a lot of it was on me. |
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Very helpful, Suzanne. Since we're playing "catch-up" I'll be an observer this year and plan for it next.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Topic: It's Journey North Time
