Welcome to our global link-up! We’re so glad you’re here – think of this as a free trip around the world, right from the comfort of your dining room table!
Take as long as you want to globally “hop” from one post to another and travel the world, meeting fellow families from around the planet!
Thank you for traveling the world with us. It’s been unforgettable, and we hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as we have!
Have fun exploring the world with each of these posts:
Weekend homeschool links
– Tell us about your family.
My family a mom and a dad and a boy and a girl. We have a cat, 2 dogs, 2 guinea pigs, 1 chicken.
– Tell us about where you live and how long you’ve lived there.
We live in the desert of Arizona. We have lived here 6 years.
– What do you think is unique and special about living where you do?
It is very hot. It can get 120 degrees in the summer. We get monsoon storms in the summer. We can play outside a lot in the winter, spring, and fall and only a little teeny bit in the summer.
– What languages are spoken there? If it’s different from English, can you help us learn a few common phrases? English and some Spanish
– What are some traditional foods there?
We recently made jelly and popsicles with prickly pear juice. There is lots of good Mexican food here. The Native Americans ate lots of the desert plants.
– Tell us about the climate where you live.
It is hot and rainy in the summer. It is a desert. It is dusty. Cactus grow here. We also have fields of cotton, corn and alfalfa in our town. We have a vegetable garden in our backyard.
– What does school look like for the majority of kids where you live?
They go to school 4 or 5 days of the week except in the summer. There are a lot of people that homeschool though too.
– What does school look like for your family?
We do chores, take care of our animals, study a lot of subjects, go on field trips, and do classes with other kids sometimes.
– Are there any special festivals or traditions you’d like to tell us about related to where you live?
We have a rodeo in the spring that starts with a cattle drive down Main Street. At Christmas there is a parade down main street with many floats and music from local companies, schools, and organizations.
– If you ever had to move away from where you live, what do you think you’d miss most?
All of our friends and our house.
– Do you have a favorite book that takes place in your region/country?
We love Roxaboxen!
Eastern Sierra, California, USA
– Tell us about your family.
We are a family of four: Dad is a carpenter and loves working with wood. Mom used to be a school teacher, and now teaches at home. Eldest son is 8, and daughter is 6.
— Tell us about where you live and how long you’ve lived there.
We live in the Eastern Sierra, the east side of the Sierra Nevada mountains, in California. We’ve been here as a family for 10 years. The children were both born here.
— What do you think is unique and special about living where you do?
Our home is 8,000 feet above sea level, and the ski resort near our town reaches 11,053 feet. Not far from us is the highest peak in the contiguous U.S., Mount Whitney, 14,505 feet. We are the eastern gateway to Yosemite National Park. We live surrounded by Jeffery pine trees, and occasionally, a black bear will wander through our yard. We average 300 days of sunshine, but upwards of 4 feet of snow can pile up and stay all winter. This is an active volcanic area, and living on the edge of a caldera (a large volcanic crater), we experience small earthquakes daily, but only occasionally are they strong enough to notice.
— What languages are spoken there? If it’s different from English, can you help us learn a few common phrases?
English is spoken by the majority, but our area has a high Spanish-speaking population. California is known for it’s unusual slang. Words like “bro” and “dude” reflect the influence of the abundant surfers, skaters, and snowboarders.
— What are some traditional foods there?
California is known for its almonds, raisins, avocados, and happy cows. We’re proud to claim In-N-Out Burger, and many of us love fish tacos, or any kind of taco on “Taco Tuesday.” In our local, high-adventure area, “power bars” and tubes of “energy gel” are popular for biking and trail running!
–Tell us about the climate where you live.
California is sunny, dry, and temperate. The Eastside is especially dry, and the weather is more extreme at high elevation. Our summer is mild; highs reach the low 90s (F). But winter lows can drop below 0 (F).
— What does school look like for the majority of kids where you live?
We have a small (transient), isolated population, so our one public school district is also small. There is only one Christian private school, and though there are a handful of home school families, there are no organized groups. Young athletes who ski race are often on a home study program.
— What does school look like for your family?
We have school at home. It has been going well for three years, and for a year we’ve been a part of a co-op in the nearest town, 40 minutes away.
— Are there any special festivals or traditions you’d like to tell us about related to where you live?
Because we are a resort town, we host music festivals all through the summer. The ski resort hosts ski/snowboard events and races all winter, and mountain bike events and races all summer.
— If you ever had to move away from where you live, what do you think you’d miss most?
I’d miss the mountain trails, the alpine meadows, the wildflowers, and the granite cliffs. This is a town where the rich and famous come to play, but it it doesn’t cost a thing to wander in the mountains. The Jeffery pines have a sweet, vanilla smell that is unforgettable.
— Do you have a favorite book that takes place in your region/country?
The book, The Other Side of the Mountain, is the story of Jill Kinmont, a young ski racer and Olympic hopeful that became a paraplegic after a racing crash. Despite all, she graduated university and became a respected local teacher, affecting the lives of many local children, especially the local Paiute tribe members. Farewell to Manzinar tells the story of a Japanese internment camp, located on the east side of the Sierra.
–Tell us about where you live and how long you’ve lived there:
We live in Northern Virginia, and we’ve been here just over 1 year.
–What do you think is unique and special about living where you do?
There is a lot of Civil War history here, and being so close to D.C., we can visit the museums and stay connected to the past, but also current U.S. History.
–What languages are spoken there? If it’s different from English, can you help us learn a few common phrases?
English, but we live in a city that has a strong Korean population.
–What are some traditional foods there?
You can get anything in NoVA. It’s definitely a melting pot here.
–Tell us about the climate where you live.
It’s quite humid. Hot, sticky summers, and cold, wet winters with record breaking snowstorms (but not consistent snowfall). We also get hurricanes occasionally.
–What does school look like for the majority of kids where you live?
Fairly typical public school scenario.
–What does school look like for your family?
We are currently homeschooling 8 year old twin boys.
–Are there any special festivals or traditions you’d like to tell us about related to where you live?
Fall Festivals at local farms are a big thing here, as well as the Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival every April in D.C.
–If you ever had to move away from where you live, what do you think you’d miss most?
The fall/autumn time. It’s so beautiful here when the leaves change colors.
–Do you have a favorite book that takes place in your region/country?
Bridge to Terabithia, takes place in Virginia. Such a lovely story, makes me cry every time. I haven’t read it to my kids yet, I’m sure I’ll sob the whole way through.
– Tell us about your family.
My name is Kaely and I am 12 years old; the youngest of five children. My only brother Justin is 24 years old. I have three sisters. The oldest is Nichole, 22 yrs. and Chrysten , 19 yrs. All these have already graduated. Aubrey is 17 yrs and then there’s me.
My mom and dad are Ron and Charissa. They met in college and have been married 30 years.
We have 2 gerbils named Oolong and Chai and 27 chickens. I won’t bother listing their names. The newest member of our family is Yui a 4 month old black and white kitten.
The men in our family are into computers. Although my dad can do just about anything he puts his mind to and originally was a mechanic they are both computer programmers now. My mom enjoys hand crafts of all kinds, learning new things, and reading books to her children.
My oldest sister loves plants, indoor and outdoor, so our house and yard are full. My other sisters run a house-sitting/ pet care business.
– Tell us about where you live and how long you’ve lived there.
Our stomping ground is Southwest Michigan. We call our state “The Mitten” because of its shape. Michigan has two parts, the upper and lower peninsulas. Recently, I learned that the Yoopers (folks in the Upper Peninsula) call us the trolls because we live under the bridge, (the Mackinac Bridge). I didn’t like it at first but I guess it is pretty funny.
My family built our house 10 years ago. Even though I was only 2 yrs. old my dad let me help out too.
– What do you think is unique and special about living where you do?
Michigan is one of the easiest places to spot on a map of the United States because of its unique position and shape. We have all kinds of weather. There is a joke around here that if you don’t like the weather wait 15 minutes because it shifts a great deal. It can change drastically throughout a 24 hour period. Michigan is bordered by four fresh water lakes. We are only a short drive to Lake Michigan and the beach. We are able to walk out to the lighthouses on the peer when the weather is fair and watch the boats glide into the bay.
– What languages are spoken there? If it’s different from English, can you help us learn a few common phrases?
English is the language spoken here but there are many folks that speak Spanish too.
– What are some traditional foods there?
Mackinac Island fudge is special to Michigan although I can’t eat it. Apples, cherries, and blueberries are plentiful and made into pies are especially tasty! My mom makes gluten and dairy free pies for me. There are a lot of vineyards too.
– Tell us about the climate where you live.
If you like variety then you would enjoy southwest Michigan. The winters are cold and there are usually piles of snow to build forts, snowmen, and ice slides. We build an ice rink in the back yard and my dad hopes it will get cold enough since it’s a big job to put up the frames and liner. A couple years it did not get cold enough and that is discouraging for him. People in our area do a lot of skiing and snowmobiling too.
Spring is wonderful! As the snow begins to melt and we watch the crocus flowers poke up through the white crystals you feel like morning. The world is just waking up! Mom and I walk around watching the trees, plants, and bushes for buds and new growth. All the snow piles shrink and the snowmen get mighty thin then topple over before they melt completely. One year we had three feet of snow in October and we did not see the grass again until April.
Summer is green, sunny, and warm. It is pleasant today but the last few weeks it was hot and humid. We usually swim in our pool throughout the day to cool off. It’s much easier to weed or hoe when you are wet and cooled. Moms’ plan is to have us work to the end of each row in the garden then jump in the pool to cool off. Some days I get distracted and dig giant holes between the rows. My dad just rolls his eyes.
Fall is fun too. The leaves turn beautiful colors as they cap off for their winter rest. As they fall we rake them into piles. The air is warm and less humid and the evenings are cooler.
– What does school look like for the majority of kids where you live?
Most kids around here attend public or private schools but there is a huge number of homeschoolers like me too.
– What does school look like for your family?
My family chose homeschooling for many reasons. Mom enjoys the individualized attention she can give us and we are encouraged to explore what interests us. Learning is just part of our every day natural flow: cooking, gardening, etc. We even built our house as a family. Mom loves to read aloud. She finds great books! Our “classroom” includes a hammock, trampoline, swings, pool, picnic table, fort, porch, 8 foot bean bag. Of course we have a table and a couch too.
After we read something we add the best information to our notebooks. We have science, geography, and century notebooks. Most of the math we do is to keep track of the our family budget but I have a math book too.
Nature journaling is a big deal too. Drawing, painting, paper, etc. make the journals fun to look back though. We are learning the names of the plants and animals. There are so many exciting things to see.
– Are there any special festivals or traditions you’d like to tell us about related to where you live?
Our family has been involved in the Kalamazoo Nature Center for ten years now. We took care of the Delano Homestead kitchen/herb garden until this year. Every year mom and I dress in our pioneer clothes and pretend we live in the 1800s for the Maple Sugar Festival. Although I can’t eat much maple sugar without getting a sick tummy it has been fun to make candles, walk on stilts, write Spenserian cursive, use a slate pencil, grind corn by hand, and other activities with the guests.
– If you ever had to move away from where you live, what do you think you’d miss most?
Mom lived in the south and she missed the snow and variety in the weather. I think I would miss snow too, depending on how far away we moved. Most of us agree that we would miss the people most. Even moving from our old house to here we don’t run in the same circles and have to make plans to see the folks we knew where just thirty minutes away.
– Do you have a favorite book that takes place in your region/country?
Secret of Brigham Mansion, Boy From Shacktown, Monkey Tales, Misguided Missiles, Devil in the Wilson’s Woods Dinosaur Detectives, a series by Kent Wray
Tommy and the Indians by Genevieve Cross
Other girls in the family’s favorite: Freckles by Gene Stratton Porter
Mom’s most interesting find: Tall Trees Tall People by Rex Southwell
This link up was a lot of fun…really enjoyed “reading around the globe” with some of these links…Great idea! Overall, we had a blast with this whole summer…..what a hit! Thank you!
Sarah Houser’s latest post: Reading to Love the Nations
– Tell us about your family. My husband Ryan and I (Maren) live with our two kids, Quin 7 1/2 and Claire 5 in a suburb of Portland, OR.
– Tell us about where you live and how long you’ve lived there. We live in the suburbs of Portland in a great neighborhood with a nearby park and lots of kid friendly activities put on by the Tualatin Hills Park and Rec. We have lived in Beaverton for 11 years.
– What do you think is unique and special about living where you do? The Rec center puts on a lot of concerts, cultural events, movies in the park and other activities for kids all summer. We also have a great library system with storytimes, homeschooling activities, etc to keep us entertained.
– What languages are spoken there? If it’s different from English, can you help us learn a few common phrases? The majority of people speak English but we have a large Latino population as well as Russian immigrants so both Spanish and Russian are heard frequently.
– What are some traditional foods there? We have a lot of salmon in the NW and there are many ‘foodies’ in our area that like to be creative with their meals.
– Tell us about the climate where you live. We get a lot of rain. The winter is rainy and cloudy with it warming up to sunny in the summer but only a few ‘hot’ days. Autumn is beautiful with the changing colors of the leaves and crisp clear mornings.
– What does school look like for the majority of kids where you live? Most kids start public school when they turn 5 and the quality of the school really depends on where you are located.
– What does school look like for your family? We have been homeschooling using Classical Conversations for three years. I take a Classical approach to my kids education and we enjoy being a part of our local community.
– Are there any special festivals or traditions you’d like to tell us about related to where you live? We like to attend our local county or state fair every summer and each September we go to beach to go camping.
– Do you have a favorite book that takes place in your region/country? We like to read a lot of books about the Oregon Trail.
-Tell us about your family.
We have 3 kids, ages 3, 6, and 9. We love to swim at our grandparents house and we love to be outside as much as possible, hiking, running, and exploring.
-Tell us about where you live and how long you’ve lived there.
We live in Northern California, near Sacramento. We have lived here for about 14 years.
-What do you think is unique and special about living where you do?
Because it doesn’t get too cold in the winter, we an be outside year round. Folsom Lake, Lake Natoma, and the American River are nearby. We love to play in the water, kayak, and climb the rocks in the water at Lake Natoma. We also love Auburn State Recreation Area, which has hiking trails and beautiful view of the American River. There are also a lot of Gold Rush historical sites around here.
-What languages are spoken there?
Mostly English
-What are some traditional foods there?
We love to eat salad, tomatoes, chicken, sushi, Chinese food
-Tell us about the climate where you live.
In summer, it is very hot and dry(sometimes 110 degrees), but it is not humid. In the winter, it can be cold and rainy. It doesn’t snow here. Fall and spring are beautiful and mild.
-What does school look like for the majority of kids where you live?
Most kids go to a public or private school, and there are many charter school options in our area.
-What does school look like for your family?
We homeschool and love the flexibility that gives us, especially when Daddy travels. We enjoy nature days and field trips!
-Are there any special festivals or traditions you’d like to tell us about related to where you live?
Gold Rush Days happens in Old Town Sacramento every Labor Day weekend. We love to pan for gold and watch the Pony Express reenacting. They shoot off a cannon, and have an old schoolhouse you can tour.
-If you ever had to move away from where you live, what do you think you’d miss most?
We would miss our house, the climate, and living close to our family. We would miss the lakes, river, and mountains nearby.
-Do you have a favorite book that takes place in your region/country?
We love The Little House on the Prairie and Ramona books, which take place in our country, but not in our region. For our region, we love Snowshoe Thompson, which is set in the Placerville area near us and in the time of the Gold Rush. Boom Town is also set in the Gold Rush era. Locomotive is about the transcontinental railroad which started/ended in our area.
We are a family with 4 kids – ages 8, 5, 2 and a 3 month old baby. We live in Tucson, Arizona which is in the Sonoran Desert. All of us kids were born here! There are lots of saguaro cacti, cool rocks, scorpions, rattlesnakes and quail here. English is the main language spoken here, but many people also speak Spanish. You say “Hola” to say hello in Spanish! A lot of Mexican food is eaten here – Tacos, rice & beans and our favorite, Sonoran Dogs (hot dogs wrapped in bacon – YUM!) It is VERY HOT here in the summer. It gets up to 115 degrees or more. Our winters are very mild – we rarely see snow in the winter. There are several charter and public schools and many homeschoolers in the area. We go to a charter school but we do lots of learning at home as well. We love to read, read, read and to be creative in our free time. If we ever moved away we would miss the awesome winters, saguaro cacti and the quails. One of our favorite books is a 3 little pigs story set in the Sonoran Desert (where we live!) called The Three Little Javelinas by Susan Lowell, Illustrated by Jim Harris.
There’s 5 of us: my husband and I, and our three girls ages (almost) 6, 3, and 1.
– We live in Palm Bay, Florida.
– We have the ocean just a few minutes’ drive away. We live on a stretch of land called the space coast near Kennedy Space Center, so we get to see rocket launches literally outside our front door. I don’t take that for granted! If we go closer to the launch site up in Cape Canaveral, it’s even more amazing. I still vividly remember the space shuttle Challenger exploding, I was in 3rd grade at the time and the entire school was watching on the playground.
And I have to mention Disney World–ha! It’s just a short drive away and definitely doable as a day trip. Lots of families here have annual passes–my kids wish we were one of those families!
– What languages are spoken there? If it’s different from English, can you help us learn a few common phrases? English, but a lot of Spanish too.
– What are some traditional foods there? Lots of seafood. And key lime pie!
– Tell us about the climate where you live. In the summertime, it can feel insufferably hot. Humid. Buggy. Basically we try to keep to the ocean or poolside if we’re going to be outside in the summer. We don’t really get a fall 🙁 but it does cool down in the 60s (F) in winter. That and early spring are when we love to head outdoors. We definitely get our share of rain but it’s usually short-lived and hurricane season always looms this time of year.
– What does school look like for the majority of kids where you live? There’s lots of options from public to private to charter schools. Many public schools are “magnet” schools, specializing in a certain track or focus like STEM or the arts.
– What does school look like for your family? Our oldest is in public school (1st grade) for now.
– Are there any special festivals or traditions you’d like to tell us about related to where you live? We like our small-town Christmas parade, a Christmas light festival at a city park with a campground so we walk/bike enjoying the nighttime lights, a local fairy festival where participants make fairy boats to set sail in the creek. And every year we try to go on a turtle walk on the beach at nighttime…trying to (quietly) look for loggerhead turtles who have come ashore to lay their eggs on the beach. It’s best to do this under a full moon since you can’t have any flashlights etc. as that would disorient the turtles. If you’re really lucky you’ll see baby sea turtles hatching and heading back into the water!
– If you ever had to move away from where you live, what do you think you’d miss most? Besides our extended family? The ocean, no question.
– Do you have a favorite book that takes place in your region/country? Turtle Summer by Mary Alice Monroe.
Hi, we are a family of 5, Mum & Dad, 3 sons aged 11 (twins) and 8. We have a dog and a cat and live in Wellington, New Zealand. Our city is the capital of NZ. It is known as Windy Wellington, especially in the spring. We have lived in our home for 11 years. Wellington is a city by the sea, our downtown area is by the harbour and it is a hilly city. Wellington is at the bottom of the North Island. The South Island (where I grew up), is also known as the Mainland which North Islanders don’t like! I can say that as I am still mostly a Mainlander but I am living in the North Island and my children are born here. I do love Wellington though.
-NZ has two official languages: English which is mostly spoken and also Maori which is our native language of the Maori culture.
Hello in Maori is Kia Ora. Family is Whanau.
-Traditional foods: Our food has traditionally been influenced by our English and Scottish Heritage. Roast Lamb with veggies and gravy is a favourite, bacon & egg pie is a picnic favourite, shepherds pie. Kiwis are big meat eaters and growing up it was meat and 3 veg. Traditional desserts are Pavlova ( the Aussies will say this dessert is theirs!!) It is a large white meringue dessert topped with whipped cream and kiwifruit or berries. I would say that traditionally Kiwis are big desserts lovers too, well at least in my family they are anyway! At Christmas English traditional desserts such a Plum pudding are still favourites. Ice cream is quite popular too, Hokey Pokey being the favourite.
Celebrations/ Festivals: We celebrate Christmas and Easter like everyone. As Christians this is a big deal for us as a family. As a nation we have ANZAC Day which we share with Australia. It is to commemorate the Soldiers who fought and died in WW1 and WW2 and to honour all other Soldiers that have also fought since then including Peace Keepers. This year my boys and I made poppies which were flowers that were growing in Flanders Fields in the war. Anzac Day starts with a Dawn Parade with Soldiers, the Police, local community groups such as Scouts, and there is always a Brass band or Scottish bagpipes. We make Anzac biscuits and read lots of books about the Anzac Soldiers.
We also have Waitangi Day which is a day to celebrate the signing of The Treaty of Waitangi, which took place between the British Crown and Maori tribes.
-Climate: NZ is a real mix, from hot in the far north to really cold way down south with snow in the cities. Wellington is a mix, cold wet winters, windy springs and sometimes nice warm summers.
-Schooling: Most children attend public or private schools. We start at the age of 5 and have 6 years of Primary School, then 2 years of Intermediate, (this is sometimes a part of the primary school or a separate school). High School is 5 years.
As a family we now homeschool but we only started this year after 6/3 years being in Public school for my boys. We are pretty electic in our approach with some NZ curriculum and Apologia from the States for World Studies and Science. We are part of the homeschool community here and enjoy swimming and sports groups with them. We enjoy the outdoors and try to go for a bush walk as often as we can to hear all the beautiful native birds that we have. We love arts and crafts, baking and books-lots of books.
-NZ is a really pretty country with a mix of beautiful beaches, lots of lush green farmland, mountains and glaciers, natural geysers and mud pools , forests and native bush. It is a great place to raise a family and a traditional holiday is to go camping in the summer holidays after Christmas. If you ever plan on coming here and doing the same thing, a word of warning: you may still need winter pjs and thick socks at bedtime even in the summer!!
My boys and I have really enjoyed this Summer book club with you all, it has been fun to learn about so many cultures and how people live and what we are all eating and reading.
Thank you Jamie for this wonderful experience.
Fiona
Hello! My name is Jenny Boyd and we have THOROUGHLY enjoyed the Give Your Child the World book club this summer! What a wonderful experience this has been! As a fun little extra bonus, I’ve asked friends and missionaries that we know and pray for from all over the world to send our family a post card. The kids have LOVED it! I’m still working on Australia. I was wondering if anyone had a contact that would be willing to help us out. We could totally send a post card and/or note to them for sure! Please respond if you’re able to help us out. Thanks so much!!!
Thank you so much for hosting this Book CLub! We had fun and it gave us a timeline to stay on course 🙂 We enjoyed many of the titles you reccomended!!
I had a small glitch when submitting the entry forms, I think I put my son’s name on both his and one of his sister’s forms. There should be 4 total for our family. I couldn’t find a way to back track and correct what I think I did. ANway, thank you for this!!
No worries, Shannon!
Jamie – I totally goofed on the form. I submitted one for both of my girls, and then read we could do one per child. I did a second one in just my youngest’s name. Sorry for the mix up!
That should be fine, Amanda, I’ll keep it in mind!
Far and away the best link-up I’ve ever seen, let alone participated in. I’m over the moon with all of these incredible posts highlighting family life around the world. Thank you for your work in curating such a worthwhile collection!
That means so much, Mia, thank you!
Muleshoe, Texas, USA
– Tell us about your family.
Our family is a lot of women! We have 4 girls ages 7, 5, 3 and 1! Plus 6,000 cows! My husband is a 4th generation dairy farmer. His family moved their dairy from California 11 years ago and his great grandparents moved to California from Holland around 1914.
— Tell us about where you live and how long you’ve lived there.
We live in a small town in West Texas in the Panhandle. We’ve been here just over 10 years. It is very flat here and lots of farm land and not many trees. It’s cool in the mornings and evenings but gets nice and hot during the day!
— What do you think is unique and special about living where you do?
There are no big buildings out here. At night you can see all the stars and where we live you can easily watch the sun rise and set on the horizon.
— What languages are spoken there? If it’s different from English, can you help us learn a few common phrases?
Mostly English however there is a large population of migrant workers in our area so a lot of Spanish too.
— What are some traditional foods there?
Being in South I’d say BBQ but Mexican food is also popular in our area! For our family a traditional meal would be Pulled Pork, Beans, Coleslaw and Pecan Pie, but our favorite place to eat out is a local Mexican restaurant and we love Chile Rellenos and enchiladas!
–Tell us about the climate where you live.
Mostly sunny, hot and dry. We do have regular seasons and in the Spring it can be very windy. We don’t normally have snow, but once or twice in the winter.
— What does school look like for the majority of kids where you live?
Most children go to public school. There are a few homeschool families but mostly everyone attends local public schools.
— What does school look like for your family?
We attend a nearby public school.
— Are there any special festivals or traditions you’d like to tell us about related to where you live?
We are pretty remote, and there is nothing unique as far as activities go for our area.
— If you ever had to move away from where you live, what do you think you’d miss most?
There is no traffic at all! I grew up in a big city but I’ve definitely become accustomed to the slower pace of life out here. Also there is an amazing community that is very supportive of its members!
— Do you have a favorite book that takes place in your region/country?
My girls enjoy L is for Lonestar, a Texas Alphabet! It’s helped them learn all about our state!
– We are a family of 4 living in the Germantown/Schnitzelburg area of Louisville, KY with extended family nearby. Our immediate family has been here for 10 years.
– Louisville is not truly representative of Kentucky as a whole. It is a wonderful city with lots to do and see. It can feel like a southern city, and yet not. We are the home of Kentucky Refugee Ministries, an organization that works with local churches to bring refugee families here and set them up with an apartment/home, work if possible, furnishings, and some small comforts. We have resettled about 6000 families since the mid-eighties!
– English is the primary language spoken here, although with so many refugees resettled in our city, there are a lot of other languages spoken too.
– Louisville can claim the “Hot Brown” as an original dish created at the Brown Hotel. We also have Mint Juleps as an original.
– Our climate gives us 4 seasons with beautiful springs and autumns, and varying winters and summers. We usually get some amount of snow, and the summers can be very hot and dry, or full of thunderstorms.
– Most kids attend public or private schools, although numbers are growing for homeschooling.
– We homeschool.
– Lousville is known for the Kentucky Derby Festival. It now begins 2 weeks before the actual race with Thunder Over Louisville, a massive fireworks display. The week leading up to the Derby includes the Pegasus Parade, Great Steamboat Race, and hot air balloon race. Kids get out of school for Oaks Day the Friday before Derby, and the Derby itself is run on the first Saturday in May every year.
-If we had to move we would definitely miss friends and family, church and all of our wonderful parks.
– We do not have a favorite book that takes place here.
We live in Western Pennsylvania (45 minutes east of Pittsburgh).
We are a family of six (four children). The children’s ages range from 9-16. Dad has lived here for 26 years, Mommy, 19 years, and the rest of us have always lived here.
It is a nice small quiet country town where the librarians know us by name, and the local restaurant waitress remembers us and our family.
English is spoken here.
The foods here are the typical American foods.
Our summers are humid/sticky, our falls, mild and beautiful (usually), our winters can be mild to really cold and snowy, and our springs are pretty wet.
Most of the children attend public schools, although many do attend parochial ones, too.
We have always been a homeschool family.
There is a yearly festival held every Labor Day Weekend in Somerset county; it’s called The Mountain Craft Festival, and it celebrates our nation’s heritage. It is a very interesting festival. It’s like Colonial Williamsburg but not as big. We learn something every time we go.
If we ever had to move away, we would miss the small “towness” of our home.
We do not have a favorite book about our region.
What an exciting idea! Kids so enjoy learning about other kids and how they live in our travel destinations. Once, while visiting Morocco, the local school let out for lunch and throngs of elementary school aged kids ran through the streets. It was a sweet moment to see that kids are alike in that way all over the world – RECESS!!!! 🙂 We will enjoy looking over the places you have listed! We have moved a lot and have spent time in Tulsa, Denver, Dallas, Houston, and now Austin if you’d like a bit of info from any of those places to add to your list! I see you have Austin already.
Natalie’s latest post: Choose the best travel shoe
I love this — I’m even using it with my older girls – soon to be 8th & 10th graders!