The Air and Space Museum

Whether it's Huntsville, AL, Dayton, OH, Houston, Texas, or one of the others there is plenty to see and learn at the Air and Space museum. Our country has a unique heritage in being the world leader in aviation. Others have matched us and some quite quickly but very few major innovations in this industry originated outside the United States. The Concord is the only one that comes to mind. Space station MIR certainly beat us in long term orbital studies but that's mostly because our politicians dropped the ball on SkyLab.

Visiting these museums can give great insight into our country's history. Dayton houses several of the planes used as Air Force One. Houston is close to the Astronaut training faciltities. Huntsvile is next to the Redstone Arsenal where so many rockets were built and the Shuttle recieves much of it's service. Others have their highlights as well.

Planetariums

The night sky inspires awe in most people and a night at the planetarium will spark the imagination and teach children things about space that will keep them looking up a long time and encourage their interest in science.

Historic locations

Whether it's a castle or a military fort, an old mansion or a historic ship, kids can learn about history from a unique perspective when they have the opportunity to observe it personally. By seeing the tools, weapons, armor, cookware, architecture, clothing and other devices that are unique to a period of time, young people can get a better understanding of what it was like for people who came before them. If you don't believe me just find a preteen and show them pictures of typewriters and record players. Then check out their reactions.

Historic recreations and reenactments are great teaching tools.  I can't tell you how many kids I've seen who play Call of Duty without any understanding of WWII.  'The Civil War was when we killed a bunch of Southerners to free the slaves.'  By seeing the history come alive they have the opportunity to gain a greater understanding of what has gone before.  These living history lessons will teach far more in an hour than they will learn in months of school and the lessons will stick with them for much longer.  This applies to places like the Science museum as well.  Seeing things in person and participating in the activities makes these teaching opportunities last far longer than a classroom lesson or even a movie could hope to.

Camping

One lesson never lost on me is how much better prepared for life I am as a result of camping with the Boy Scouts.  The lessons of self reliance and responsibility stand beside the skills I gained as being keys to my ability to stay cool in difficult situations.  To many kids are afraid of the wild.  They haven't spent enough time there to know that the bears and the wildcats aren't likely to find you and there are things you can do to keep them away.  Learning to find water, food and fire are important survival skills that keep me from panic when natural and man made disasters have the general public on edge.