While we were in Georgia we took some time to visit Fort Jackson. This had to be one of the best places we went on our trip!

There was an incredible guide who invested some amazing time teaching everyone the history of the fort. He even managed to stay in character quite well. I thought it would be fun to share ten things you can learn at Fort Jackson.

1) A Proper Military Salute – C had so much fun with this and took it very serious. Who says 4 year olds can’t love history?
2) Left/Right/About Face – That’s right, if you join up with the company you will have to learn how to drill effectively. This includes learning a proper left, right, and about face. This component of the tour made it much more realistic.

3) Weapons and Carrying – The soldier spent  a while showing us the weaponry and everything that was carried by a soldier at this time.
4) Maps – The soldier also spent a bit of time explaining the location of the fort on the map. He explained the strategic side of the location.

5) Flagging – The soldier also discussed the importance of flagging to signal a coming attack. He even has the children flag a message and have us interpret it. (By the way, “The” is not spelled ZYA. Someone should tell the kids.)

6) Life and Lifestyle – You can tour the inside of the living areas and see what the soldiers of the times lived like. You will look at the weapons, jail, and barracks.

7) The tools for firing the canon – There is a long explanation about the different tools for firing the canon. This really stuck with my 4 year old. I asked him, “Why do they need the sponge for the canon?” He answered, “Because you want to get rid of sparks so it doesn’t hurt someone.”

8) How to fire the canon – The soldier actually fires the canon but before he does he will walk you thru everything it takes to fire the canon. When we were there he included the audience in the process.

9) What sand fleas are – If you have never encountered them you will at Fort Jackson. Those Sand Fleas are the devil! Maybe not, but they are everywhere and you will get multiple bites. Make sure to bring an insect repellent. You will thank me for it.

10) How to have fun with history – When I was a kid history bored me. It was a huge list of facts that I wasn’t patient enough to memorize. Taking kids out to Fort Jackson and immersing them in the history makes it fun. It engages their imaginations and brings history to life.

Have you been to Fort Jackson? What did your family learn? 

This year we spent a few days in Savannah Georgia as part of our vacation. Savannah is full of amazing historical locations where you can learn a lot. However, many of the guided tours are quite pricey. Think $20 a person on the low side of prices.
We did not want to spend that kind of money. We went a different route. We purchased The Savannah Walking Tour & Guidebook for $5.95. I believe Amazon has it for $5.36 right now. This gave us the freedom to learn about each item at our pace. If something bored the kids we moved past it quicker. If they were really interested in something we lingered.

One of the great things about the guidebook is that it includes information on each location that you teach your children.

The picture above is Oglethorpe’s Bench. It marks the location where he first made camp before starting the city of Savannah.We took it a step further and talked about what the camp would have looked like in this area if all the buildings were gone.

The canons George Washington gave to the city of Savannah are a must see. I highly recommend them to anyone visiting Savannah. C kept us here for a long time. We would not have enjoyed it as much if we would have been with a tour group.

If you have been working on the Civil Rights movement there are many options on this tour to help you explore this. The statue picture was a personal favorite of mine.

There are many periods of time represented throughout the Savannah Walking Tour. Don’t miss the World War II memorial on the riverside. This is amazing!

There are even imitations of the Nina and Pinta. These are great to check out if you have ever worked on a series about our nation’s origins.

As a whole we really enjoyed this tour. It was a slow paced option that let me teach on the level of my children in their time.

This month we decided to have an Educational Road Trip for our vacation. While visiting family in Atlanta we decided to check out the World of Coca Cola. World of Coca Cola is a great place to take you children to learn many great lessons including marketing, manufacturing processes, and the science of taste.

World of Coca Cola offers a great help! 
You can go to the World of Coca Cola website and download free printable lesson plans to go with your trip to the attraction. This is broken down by grade and subject. It offers many different teaching points for each section of the attraction.

About our Visit

When you enter you will see these gorgeous coke bottles from different areas of the world. You can find many of these large bottles throughout the attraction. they have lots of details about the area they came from that is well worth checking out.

Make sure to take a moment and visit the Polar Bear. He is very good with children and we really loved meeting him. C wouldn’t look at the camera because he was too busy hugging this cuddly big guy.

One of the first rooms you will enter is filled with many different forms of advertising used over time. This is a great place to talk about advertising and why an ad was designed a certain way. A great take home activity would be to have your child design their own advertisement when they get home.

If you have a hands on learner this is the perfect place for them. Many of the elements of the attraction include places where your child can touch and interact with the information. Items like the one pictured let your child explore different elements of the origins of Coca Cola in a fun way.

Another great part of this tour is the Coca Cola bottling process. You can read all about the process from beginning to end. There are many educational options here from bottle packaging to the science of the production line. I HIGHLY recommend walking through this section.

If you are looking for the most fun part of the attraction it has to be the taste testing portion. You can actually taste Coca Cola products from all over the world. Be prepared, you will have a bubbly belly by the time you are done.

You will even leave with a bottle of coke from your visit.

If you have not been I highly recommend the World of Coca Cola!