Engage Your 5th Grade Traveler!

You’ve been talking about this vacation for years.  You’ve saved the money and hoarded your days off from work.  Your fifth grader is even, finally, old enough to savor the sights.  It’s a dream!

There’s just one teeny problem: about five hundred miles in the car, each way.  

Of course, it’s wonderful to think about the overflowing photo albums you’ll enjoy for years to come.  But in the meantime, you can be sure you’ll hear a nagging soundtrack, too, with refrains like “Do we have to hear that song again?” “Do you really believe that joke was funny?” and, of course, the perennial favorite, “Are We There Yet?”

Try as we might, we parents can’t make those questions go away, but here is a suggestion that may help: Call on your fifth grader to be a Trip Guide. Try the following activity and you have a good shot at engaging your kid…and reinforcing valuable academic skills as well. Here’s what you can do:

1.    Get an old fashioned road map.   This may sound obvious, but nowadays, when kids hear about directions, they often think first of GPS.  For this activity, be sure to choose a big map with a clear key showing scale and types of road.  (Rand McNally makes good ones, as does AAA).

2.    Before your trip, spread your map out on a table and talk about it.  By the end of fourth grade, your child should be able to read and apply all parts of a standard map key.  Check for understanding by asking your child to identify landmarks, roads, boundaries, and so forth.

3.    Now get ready for fun.  Start by having your child find your starting point and destination, and mark each one with a highlighter; then ask your fledgling travel buff to recommend an itinerary.  When he or she has made a decision you can live with too, invite your kid to trace it with a highlighter.

4.    Use math to calculate specifics. If your fifth grader is on track in math, he or she should be ready for the next stage: calculating distance, rate, and travel time—but do expect this part to be challenging, and be ready to help!  Have your child use a ruler to estimate the miles between junctions and intersections; for speed, estimate 15 miles per hour in crowded downtown areas; 20 on suburban roads; 40 on “scenic” country roads; 60 on major freeways.   On a piece of plain lined paper, create a chart like this: