Wednesday, May 06, 2009

a virtual adventure


a few weeks ago bloggy friend and fellow julie jules and i started a little project with our 8-year-old daughters. we call it trans-atlantic adventures in learning (cumbersome, i know--we're open to suggestions for a better name). the idea is for our two curious 8-year-olds to learn a bit about what it's like in another country.

sabin being half american but not growing up in the US makes me think she's missing out on certain things that i had growing up (and probably, let's face it, being protected from a whole lotta crap like overly-sweetened peanut butter), but for me, it's a chance for her to experience a bit of what it would be like to grow up in the US and to share her experience growing up in denmark. she loves it. she looks forward to checking her blog every evening and is very active in deciding what stories we tell on the blog.


the girls exchanged a soft little animal and are using the animals as a medium for telling some of the stories. when early, addie's robin, first got to denmark, he flew up in a tree and he played a little nintendo.  next, sabin wants to take early with her to riding lessons next saturday. early has also drawn himself a little nest which we need to photograph and post for addie to see. on addie's side, buller, the little lizard sabin sent has helped make dinner and gotten up to some mischief with the big giant statue of paul bunyan.

other than that, the girls have shared walks and favorite places, a typical school day and the outfits that they wear. we had a busy week last week and i was away (since i work in a different country), so we didn't keep taking a daily picture of what we're wearing, but we'll get back to it. we have a new feature this week--where the girls are photographed with a sign bearing a question and we'll answer the question with another photo of a sign with the answer. that will be fun.

it's really a kind of modern way of being penpals. all the more fun because it can be a daily thing with lots of interactivity. i remember waiting weeks for the next letter from my penpal when i was a kid. and best of all, it's already inspired another pair of girls to do something similar. and i think that's totally cool. come on over and check out what addie and sabin are doing this week. and if you feel similarly inspired and you have kids around the same age, leave a comment and we'll see if we can hook you up with someone who'd be interested in a similar project, just like jules did for mikaela and ashlyn.

14 comments:

Mrs.Rotty said...

That is seriously such a neat idea.

Unknown said...

Sounds like great fun! When is husband going to start his own blog? :) The blogging family...

julochka said...

thanks mrs. rotty!

B--husband will never have his own blog. he's a bit mystified by the whole thing, despite coming up with the notion of blog camp (which he really only did to take the piss--so much for that!) :-)

Anonymous said...

Hello, this is very similiar as to why i started blogging, I am trying to build a network of worlwide bloggers and currently stand at about 40. Denmark would be a welcome addition as the northern hemisphere is lagging behind at the moment, the platform for this mega blog has not been launched but would run along the lines of phileas blog or similar. The idea is a multi cultural exchange and is only in the planning stages at present,but I have interest from as far afield as Fiji, Florida, UK, California, malaysia, Samoa etc. Up to you but if you want to follow please feel free. Then jump onboard when I'm ready ?!

SD said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
SD said...

Wow. That's a great idea. I saw their blog and it's the coolest thing ever. It'll really help Sabin and Addie out a lot.

Best of luck to them :-)

Hit 40 said...

Very sweet. I have thought about helping my youngest start a blog. He skipped a couple grades....so he is too young for others to really want to socialize with him.

But... he is loving my blog. And helps me sometimes take pics. I will definitely ponder it for the summer.

I agree with the fake cheese! Yuck! I buy a lot of organic - especially milk/eggs.

Liz Fulcher, The Fragrant Muse said...

A fabulous idea, and the concept of using early and buller to tell stories is so clever. Sabin is lucky to have such a creative moder!

Liz Fulcher, The Fragrant Muse said...

PS. I worry about Sabin climbing trees with her shoes untied!

kitten56 said...

What a fantastic idea! Thank God for creative mums.

Memories Of Mine said...

This is such a cool idea and i would encorge anyone to interested to hop on board.

Char said...

I can remember my pen pal from Korea - it would be so great to have a central board where people could post they are looking for a partnership to do this with. Wouldn't that be cool?

Gwen said...

So cool. I would nominate my daughter, but she is even less able to follow through on anything than I am, so I'll just admire this one from the sidelines.

Ady Grafovna said...

That is a really cool idea!