This is the last week of school for my 10th grader. Next Monday is the last day for my 5th and 7th graders. While everyone is counting down the last days of homework and sitting in a classroom all day, I am counting down the days of getting up early, making sure homework is done and packing lunches.
But I am also getting excited for our upcoming family vacation. The very last day of school for my younger two is the day we leave for an educational trip to Washington D.C.
In the past our vacations have been more about fun. We have done the Disney trip, Niagara Falls and Canada. We have done stay-cations as well, which is when you enjoy local activities in your city and surrounding areas. This year we decided to make it more of an educational experience.
I will admit that we also picked this trip for our oldest son. We figure that we maybe have two more summers left to take a family trip like this. We picked something that we knew he would enjoy for sure. My 7th grader is a little less excited as she says that history is boring. My 5th grader really doesn’t care where we go, as long as we just go somewhere.
I am just very excited about the opportunity to take a family vacation and learn some important things along the way. Just traveling together in a mini-van for a 14 hour trip will be a lesson in itself. My hope is that we get to know one another even better, get along and appreciate the opportunity to go.
Some parents plan family vacations around what they most want to do. I tend to think that we should plan them around our children. There will come a day when the children will be gone. Then we can go wherever and do whatever we like. For now, I want to nurture my children’s interests and that includes where we go for our family vacation.
I have to admit that I am really excited about seeing my oldest son’s expression when he sees the Vietnam wall. His grandpa, my dad, served in Vietnam so he has a special appreciation for that particular war. He is also very interested in the holocaust and is just wrapping up a class he took this past semester on the holocaust. We plan on visiting the Holocaust Memorial Museum as well.
Hopefully my younger two will be able to appreciate all of these things. If anything, they can at least say that they saw the residence of the President of the United States. Yes, it’s family vacation time and I anticipate being able to share some valuable lessons with some of my readers when we get back.
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