IN COMPASS

THE ODD END OF THE PARK WAS WOODED AND CROSSED BY A RIVULET which stemmed from the duck pond and lagoon. Once entering across a short arched wooden bridge it became wilderness. Wilderness is much of any overgrown space outside of a child's back yard away from home and familiar settings. Luckily, we had our compass!

As an extended portion of a homeschooling subject covered by EDUCATION.COM under location and geography we went in to test ourselves on methods for using a compass and finding directions on the north, south, east, west trajectories of a field location. Second grade was a good starting point for setting the idea of starting place, markers... what we see around us before heading off course through a thicket and what angle of direction we can see that object from our starting point. It allows us to retrace our steps in the event that we need to rely upon more than the compass reading. While we did not focus upon the degree of angles we did focus upon the exact North or Easterly-Westerly tread to be made.

While a similar feat was assigned on paper tracing the direction of vehicles along a sketched roadway as they accomplished imaginary routes to sell ice cream, deliver milk and bus student to school in left or right turns, the compass project takes it a bit further by designating actual directions to the left or right effect. "Turn left to go north along the creek"... look up to see where the sun is in the sky or the pinnacle of the Carillon Tower then look at the compass to see which direction we need take to go in that direction. Then deeper into the thicket... which direction is the rivulet flowing? Face in that direction... read the compass (it was flowing westerly) ... where is the duck pond from the thicket? ...in the opposite direction... East from where we were. Then an annoying assignment, "Head back to the car in which direction?" And let him lead us back to the bridge and the car for a winning prize of ice cream in the cone from Baskin Robbins. He did really well with it and looked forward to taking the adventure again.

An episode such as this can lead a child to higher aspirations of interest making it an easy challenge to read a map on a local scale or a map of the world. He could get an early edge on latitude and longitude and locations of nations and the distances or climates between them. It leads them to question into the great numbers of populations in large continents and the small land sites... "how can all those people fit there?" The subject of latitude-longitude spikes into geography of nations. Geography of nations inspires concern for populations of social issues... social studies. Social studies lead to history if only to discover why the world is as it has become in today's societies. The application of dates, times and places become an easier challenge with the early advent of direction.

Unfortunately, the homeschooling mandate ended and the wall mate acquired for the next stem of geography lessons has grown a bit stagnant. School teachers have their own ideas of importance. He brought home strips of construction paper, a paper cup, cotton balls, and two pencils for art homework. He was supposed to make a drum set and return with it for a grade. He sat idly for a bit before tracing a circle around the cup end. He added a needle to the center of the image and followed up with single letter designations for the directions East, West North and South before coloring his compass in. Then he told me the teacher didn't plan on teaching directions. He was only supposed to "FOLLOW directions. They weren't going to learn compasses." In that case, homeschooling should retain importance. Pull up Education.com.