Planning a LONG hike with the kiddos- any memorization ideas?

[ImmigrantsWife]

OK, I'm not sure if we are going to so this yet, but I would like to take the kids for a month-long hike through Lebanon next April. IF we did it, we would try to work ahead so there wouldn't be too much to finish when we got home in May.

 

There would be a lot of "mental down-time" while we are walking, so we will practice our Arabic. What other things could we work on, that wouldn't be hard to prepare for (ie, no big books, supplies, etc)?

 

By next April they would be ages 9, 12, and 13. I was thinking multiplication tables up to 15 for everyone, capitals of states and countries, maybe important ancient/Biblical historical facts, since we are so close to Israel and ancient Mesopotamia?

 

Anyone else have any ideas on what we could memorize or work on?

 

Thanks for you help!

Edited June 29, 2010 by ImmigrantsWife

[Once Again]

Is it safe to hike through Lebanon?

 

As far a Bible facts, Solomon used cedars from Lebanon to build the Temple. Israel and Lebanon were allies in those days.

[ourjourneys]

That will be a wonderful experience! Maybe you could read some stories about the area and then retell them to the family while you are there. So much history will be under your feet! Is your husband's family from Lebanon?

[ImmigrantsWife]

It is (mostly) safe to hike from the North to the South. My husband is Lebanese and said we would have to skip a few sections in the North due to safety concerns, but even he looked at the map and felt it was safe to do the rest of the trail. Here's the link to the site- it looks pretty cool!

 

http://www.lebanontrail.org/

 

I think it would be so great to have the kids hike thorugh where he grew up, and though we could not go through to Israel, we could see it from the south. Maybe we should concentrate on Biblical history..........

[spradlin02]

Well, that looks cool, thanks for the idea. Personally, I would enjoy the "mental downtime." For me, it's a main reason for such endeavors.

[Needleroozer]

In addition to the suggestions so far, I would include some poetry. But then, I am an absolute poetry fiend. I FORCED my kids to memorize lots of poetry when we hsed. :001_smile:

[nd293]

Just to say how in awe I am! Lebanon was the one place I really really wanted to get to when we lived in the Middle East. I never quite got around to it, then the war derailed things for a while. I was telling my dh the other day that if we go back to work in the ME we will be visiting Lebanon as soon as possible. I'm not being cheated out of that trip again!

 

What do you use to learn Arabic, or do you learn informally at home?

[ImmigrantsWife]

Poetry- that's a great idea! I didn't even think of that; we could do important speeches, documents, etc also. Thanks!

 

ND293- Which war was it? Isn't is a shame I have to ask for clarification on that? We were so disappointed in summer 2006 with that whole Hezbollah/Israel thing. Several times we planned to travel there but had to change our plans because of "internal strife." Where did you live in the ME?

 

For Arabic, we have used a few "tutors" (I use the term loosely) and some books we got from Lebanon on a recent trip. We plan to formally study it this year with a real tutor and lots of everyday practice with speaking. I have the Rosetta Stone program which I think works great for other languages, but not Arabic.