Behind every outing is a chance for learning. When my sister graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design, I was thrilled to be able to take my boys along to celebrate. Nothing encourages education like achievement, and my sister had accomplished something great. My children sat through name after name being called at the graduation ceremony to hear her name and celebrate afterwards.
Although a college graduation was the primary purpose of our trip, it became evident that with such history and culture in Savannah that we had to take our trip to an educational level ourselves. I honestly believe the best form of learning for my boys is learning on the go. They are always intrigued by history, ecology and exploring this planet, so this is what we set off to do.
Museums
A National Historic Landmark conveniently located right near the dorm rooms of SCAD is the Roundhouse Railroad Museum. Trains bring so many lessons to the table. With age comes dates, numbers, and math. Also, with story telling and tours comes American history and trivia. And lastly, with how trains run, work, and move comes science. I would be hard pressed to find someone that dislikes trains even without that.
Trains are straight up fun (Thomas the Tank Engine Anyone?). We spent 2 hours touring the outside museum. The boys and I rode on a diesel train and explored cargo carts, a train turntable and much more. We watched videos and learned about the role the railroad played in the Civil War. In addition, we pumped push carts down the tracks and ate a snack on picnic tables in the blacksmith shop. For big and small, learning and fun was had by all. Win!
Local Restaurants
Although trains were pretty cool, nothing was as cool, or yummy for that matter, than our celebration meal. We ate at many places on our Savannah weekend, but by far our finest find for the kiddos was The Crab Shack on Tybee Island. My Dad thought my kids would be in love with this place and he was correct. It was such a fun time where “the elite eat in bare feet, ” and big families can share a huge platter of amazing seafood.
Although we weren’t too thrilled with the soup, our tummies were full by the end with butter dipped crab claws, crawfish, shrimp and more. We had no room for dessert, but no one was complaining.
Gators
The live alligators, ON LOCATION, did have room in their tummies and after our waitress handed us alligator food we hit the docks. Wow! What a cool experience! We have fed alligators before but never quite like this. With fishing rods in hand, we served up a meal for them.
Lastly, signs with Alligator facts decorated the alligator pens. We learned outstanding things about the reptiles above. It is true what they say, “Teach a child to read, and you show them the world!”. After all the food was gone, my family had left, and we waited for our cab, my son read to his younger brother the surrounding signs. Together they learned all about alligators , and together we made memories in Savannah, Georgia.
Elizabeth Norton, home educator, and travel writer, from edVAcation.com, loves to learn on the go. Check out her family’s learning on the go experiences on her blog where she talks about road trips and home schooling her children. The best part of learning is when you do not realize you are learning at all. I love to watch my kids learn on an adventure. Not only are we making memories but also expanding our minds. I have a very flexible job to be able to do this, and we are blessed.
