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Learning At The River

learning at the riverObserving the river from the ferry's window
My family love to traveling. One week ago was the longest traveling that we ever had. We moved from Java island to Sumatera island. It took two days. We left Java last Friday by airplane, arrived at Batam at the same day, and the next day we used ferry to go from Batam to Kuala Enok - Sumatera, our new place. We spent 2 hours in airplane, and 8 hours in ferry, and arrived at Kuala Enok at Saturday night.
 
The most exhausted traveling was by the ferry. The ferry that we used is a small ferry, we only could sat on our seat, and only walk to went to the toilet, for the whole 8 hours! Actually, the trip was not 8 hours, but the ferry’s machine were broken, and we have to wait for another ferry to took us to Kuala Enok.
Although my son is a teenager, he could be angry, boring, and even ask to go back. And in turn, those moods will affect our mood. That will made the trip to be the most horrible trip ever!
learning at the riverThe Ferry
We can learn a lot
To protect us from the horrible trip, first we chose to be happy. Then we discussed everything that we saw at the trip. We also not forgot to make jokes. And… we still learned a few skill: photography and how to walk between the ferry and the pontoon (it’s hard if you never walk between two moving things).
Choose to be happy
Happiness is not come from magic. It depends on ourselves. By choosing to be happy, we direct ourselves to the happiness. By this way, we can minimizing the stress, because we tend to see problems in more happy ways. This ability is important to learn, and every person needs to learn to be happy in every stressful moment, not exception for our son.
Although happiness is a nature gift since he was born, but through all parenting experiences, child learn about other emotional expressions, such as sad, angry, boring, etc. Therefore, it is our responsibility as parent, to teach our child to be happy in a stressful moment.
Discuss everything
Throughout the trip, we only meet the sea, river, and the docks. The views are different than we ever met at the city. Those are great for learning experiences.
When in areas like these, there will be no internet connection. So, if you have some topics to learn with your child, make sure you know about those topics, or promise your child that both of you will looking for the answer if there is questions right after the internet connection provided.
I choose to discuss common things about living in riverside and about the habitat of the river and the sea. Alongside the river that we passed, houses are build high on top of the water. They were built from wood. My son was thinking about how the wood could be so strong stay in the water for a long time without being rotten in a short time. Then my husband told him that the house made of a special wood, different than ordinary wood that he knew at the city.
About the nature, we were surprised by the animals and plants. There were a lot of wild birds, and of course many fishes, but the muddy river won’t let us saw the fishes inside it, we only knew about the fishes from local man that we met in ferry.
Make Jokes
Jokes are always be refreshers, especially in a long time trip. Jokes can be made of any situations, and if there is no funny thing, you can create one!
Learn to take pictures
This is the most advantage from a trip. There are lots of new objects to see. I let my son learn to take pictures of whatever he like. Water, trees, bird, people, the ferry, can be interesting objects. I teach him how to take pictures. About the position and proportion of the objects, and how to take picture without being blur. If your children never take picture before or too young to understand about good photography, you can teach them about the shutter button, its function and how to use it.
Learn to walk between the ferry and the pontoon
Walk never been harder than walking between two moving things. Between ferry and pontoon, and between two ferries. Those are two things that moves. It is not easy if you never do it, but it was so much fun!
Don’t forget to take a rest
Sleep for a while will keep your family healthy. We spent 2-3 hours for sleep in the ferry, and we keep eat to stay healthy. If your child feel uncomfortable with main course, let him eat healthy snack. Some protein, carbohydrate, and fruits will be best.
At 6 PM we arrived at Kuala Enok, after 8 hours trip by the ferry. We were tired, but we were happy. We will do it again someday.

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From the series of
31 days homeschool

 

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