Visiting Mt Rushmore was our fist “official” home school stop.

We took a lot of pictures of the “faces.”  And just when we would decide they really hadn’t changed and none of them blinked…

We took one more just to be sure.

Greg and Zoe reviewed history facts at each stop.  Greg loves history and I loved watching these interactions.

Each of the kids completed their workbooks to earn their Junior Ranger badges.  There was talk of the trees smelling like something mom would have in the spice rack.  It was suggested we give one a smell to identify it.

Like any good home school dad, Greg was the first to test it out.

Unfortunately, we were not able to detect a spice smell.

We left Mt Rushmore and drove through the Black Hills.

There were many tunnels like this.  Inside, the chisel marks are still clearly visible.

At the end of the day we asked ourselves “What did we learn?”

Zoe:  I learn about the presidents, the presidents were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. And my favorite thing you learned was how the sculptures used a crane house to get up and down to the faces.

Ezekiel:  I got a ranger badge from that man.

Oliver:  I learned nothing, but I got tired on all the stairs. And we looked at a lot of rocks.

Abigail: I gave a park ranger a high five!

Mom: I like seeing the pictures of them working on the Mountain. And the fact that they had to use sealant to keep the faces together.

Dad: That Mount Rushmore was supposed to be a lot more finished.

It was a great day at school.