Carschooling: Over 350 Entertaining Games & Activities to Turn Travel Time into Learning Time [Paperback]

Diane Flynn Keith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 24, 2002

Turn Your Kids into "Road Scholars"
Your children's education and future are two of your primary concerns. Combine that with the fact that you spend loads of time in the car with them going from here to there, and your family is perfect for carschooling!
Carschooling is all about turning travel time into learning time. Created especially for kids ages 4 to 7, inside there's something fun for everyone with games, group activities, suggested resources and audiobooks, journaling ideas, and more. Kids will love the countless road-worthy games, such as:
·Dashboard Decimal Drills and Rock 'n' Roll Multiplication Tables
·Eighteen-Wheeler Chemistry, Windshield Entomology, and Road-Cut Geology
·Drive-By History and Glove Compartment Geography
·Rest Stop Olympics and Car Seat Calisthenics
·And many other fun and educational activities!
This crafty brain-building book transforms your family's same ol' road trips into journeys down the information superhighway. Going for a spin will never be the same!
"You'll be staggered by the ingenuity and imagination captured in these pages. What a brain bath!" — John Taylor Gatto, author of Dumbing Us Down and The Underground History of American Education
"A veritable roadmap for learning from one of the country's learning experts." — Heather Frederick, publisher, Audio Bookshelf
"Fun, educational, and takes the whine out of drive time." — Rebecca Kochenderfer, senior editor and cofounder of Homeschool.com and coauthor of Homeschooling for Success

Editorial Reviews

Review

"You'll be staggered by the ingenuity and imagination captured in these pages. What a brainbath!"
—JOHN TAYLOR GATTO, author of Dumbing Us Down and The Underground History of American Education

"A veritable roadmap for learning from one of the country's leading experts."
—HEATHER FREDRICK, publisher, Audio Bookshelf

"Fun, educational, and takes the whine out of drive time."
—REBECCA KOCHENDERFER, senior editor and cofounder of Homeschool.com and coauthor of Homeschooling for Success

From the Inside Flap

Turn Your Kids into "Road Scholars"
Your children's education and future are two of your primary concerns. Combine that with the fact that you spend loads of time in the car with them going from here to there, and your family is perfect for carschooling!
Carschooling is all about turning travel time into learning time. Created especially for kids ages 4 to 7, inside there's something fun for everyone with games, group activities, suggested resources and audiobooks, journaling ideas, and more. Kids will love the countless road-worthy games, such as:
·Dashboard Decimal Drills and Rock 'n' Roll Multiplication Tables
·Eighteen-Wheeler Chemistry, Windshield Entomology, and Road-Cut Geology
·Drive-By History and Glove Compartment Geography
·Rest Stop Olympics and Car Seat Calisthenics
·And many other fun and educational activities!
This crafty brain-building book transforms your family's same ol' road trips into journeys down the information superhighway. Going for a spin will never be the same!
"You'll be staggered by the ingenuity and imagination captured in these pages. What a brain bath!" — John Taylor Gatto, author of Dumbing Us Down and The Underground History of American Education
"A veritable roadmap for learning from one of the country's learning experts." — Heather Frederick, publisher, Audio Bookshelf
"Fun, educational, and takes the whine out of drive time." — Rebecca Kochenderfer, senior editor and cofounder of Homeschool.com and coauthor of Homeschooling for Success

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: Prima Publishing; 1st edition (September 24, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761536841
• ISBN-13: 978-0761536840
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #447,513 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars some good ideas, some NOT so good..., June 16, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Carschooling: Over 350 Entertaining Games & Activities to Turn Travel Time into Learning Time (Paperback)

Some of the author's suggestions seem far-fetched for use in a moving vehicle. She has kids popping balloons to find fun messages inside; banging on drums; stopping the car to examine roadkill; cooking foil-wrapped packages of food on the car engine...all these and some other suggestions of the author's are educational and memorable, no doubt, but also distracting for the driver in heavy traffic or at high speeds.
I doubt, too, that the average vehicle could contain all the storage bins full of supplies, coolers full of healthy snacks for the "carschool cafeteria", and backpacks full of books and toys that the kids pack for themselves--and still have any room for groceries, luggage, etc.. If you spend a LOT of time in the car, it might be worth the upkeep and expense to equip the car this way.
Still, there are good car activities in this book, mostly of the 'find stuff out the car window' type, though she offers some fun activities with paper money and coins that kids will like. And the mental math games are fun.
Basically, if you strip away the 'laughable/too distracting to the driver' activities, then this book is really no better or worse than any other car entertainment book.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Book on Car Travel with Kids Ever, February 2, 2003

By 

Kellie Bing (Maryland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Carschooling: Over 350 Entertaining Games & Activities to Turn Travel Time into Learning Time (Paperback)

Carschooling puts every other book on car travel with kids to shame. I spend a bazillion hours commuting in the car with my 3 children and I have been driven nuts by traditional car games and songs. This book brought some sanity back to my family's commute adn we actually look forward to getting in the car each morning. My son Ben's favorite thing is the math chapter. Doing the dashboard decimals and fastlane fractions has improved his ability to do mental math drills. My daughter loves to flip through the book and read the information highway trivia to everyone in the car. Because of this book we now stop when we see historical markers and learn a little history on-the-go. You cannot imagine the difference this book has made when we're stuck in commute traffic, some of the simple but clever ideas have actually helped my kids get along better in the car. We even do car-dancing in teh car now. My copy is already dog-eared, marked up, and worn and may fall apart before we exhaust all the fun and educaitonal games. If you travel in the car with kids, then beg, borrow, or buy a copy. In fact, auto manufactueres should make this book a standard feature in every family car.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great In the Van!, March 15, 2003

By 

Elaine (Louisiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Carschooling: Over 350 Entertaining Games & Activities to Turn Travel Time into Learning Time (Paperback)

I'm a mom who spends a lot of time with my children in the van. I saw this book at my library and as I thumbed through the pages I was amazed by the really unique ideas for learning on the road. I knew I had to have this book and keep it in my glove compartment. Shortly after I bought it, we were at a dead stop in a traffic jam. My kids were antsy so I just pulled out the book and found all kinds of things you can do with coins and dollar bills in the car. I rummaged through my purse for some spare change and a few dollar bills and gave them to the kids. My kids were fascinated, they quit fussing, and then we started talking about the interesting historical things you can find on a one dollar bill. That one idea alone saved my sanity. I'll never be without Carschooling in the van. It's the best travel idea book I've ever read.