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Where does the Mississippi flow to?

3K views 56 replies 23 participants last post by  Debbie-cat 
#1 ·
My 2nd grade grandson told me that he had a geography test today on rivers. One of the rivers was the Mississippi.

So I asked him where the Mississippi River flowed/ran to. He said he did not know. (Not acceptable!!) I told him to go look at the globe and come back and tell me where it ran to. He came out and told me that it ran to Buffalo. :dunce: Uh, No!

I told him to sit down and find what large body of water the Mississippi flowed to. Answer: The Atlantic :dead:

One more time..... Where does the Mississippi flow to? If you do not get the correct answer you will not get to eat a snack this afternoon. No snack?... you got it, no snack. After a few minutes he said Baton Rouge.

After the famous "Look" that I can give, he finally pointed to the water and said, The Gulf of Mexico. I wonder what question was on his test. Hmmmmmmm.

Lord, help me....
 
#3 ·
Money spent in early childhood education comes back many times its initial value in later years. Build a strong base and the learning will soar!!
 
#4 ·
THIS is why I homeschool!!
 
#5 ·
I know that it starts in Minnesota, but only because of my love for the "Indigo Girls". ("And the Mississippi's mighty, but it starts in Minnesota, at a place where you can walk across with five steps down. And I guess that's you started, like a pinprick to my heart, but at this point you rush right through me and I start to drown.") :toothy: So much for education.
 
#6 ·
Can't tell you haw many times ADULTS have sat in our hotel bar and asked "what river is that?"
We are in Baton Rouge and LITERALLY ON the river! Practically under one of the iconic bridges!

*sigh*
 
#7 ·
People wonder why the school system in the US is so bad?

Here's another one for you:

Most people don't even know the capital of Canada. I bet if you asked people what the capital of a particular state is, they couldn't tell you without looking it up. Heck, I don't even remember getting any geography lessons about Canada at all and I grew up in Upstate NY.

And no, Toronto is not the capital of Canada. :lol:

DH had someone ask him what state Alberta was in when he was staying with me in NY. :(
 
#21 ·
Here's another one for you:
Most people don't even know the capital of Canada. I bet if you asked people what the capital of a particular state is, they couldn't tell you without looking it up. Heck, I don't even remember getting any geography lessons about Canada at all and I grew up in Upstate NY.
The capital of Canada was never taught in my schools. Why would it be? That said... Everybody remembers different things, things that stick in their mind for whatever reason.


Example: I can recite the first line of the Gettysburg Address as though it was taught to me yesterday. Why it sticks in my head, I have no clue. But it is a speech that is FAR more important to me than the capital of a foreign country.



Also, I'm pretty certain that Newton’s Laws of motion were taught in EVERY basic Science class across America, but yet, ask any adult and I bet most can not recite them.

This is directed at nobody in particular>> I think to say a statement like "American public schools are horrible" or whatever, is really generalizing.
Are there schools that need improvement? Without a doubt. Does the American school system lag behind other countries? Probably.

But there are many many classes and PUBLIC schools that excel in teaching. And it's not just the "rich" or "well to do" areas of the country. Schools Populated with Minorities Are Among Nation's Best High Schools - US News and World Report

All that said... I'm quite certain if you met enough school children you would eventually talk to your future leaders of this country. ;) Children that will go on to college and excel in spite of their education they receive in public schools, in private schools, or what they are taught at home.
 
#8 ·
Lolz. The Gulf of Mexico is part of the Atlantic Ocean, so that answer was technically correct.
 
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#9 ·
Oh, small technicality, small technicality Nishu. :hubba:

:hocus: Poof, I have now officially made the Gulf of Mexico "NOT" a part of the Atlantic. :hocus:
 
#14 ·
:note:"We fired our guns, but the British kept a comin'...":note:

Johnny Horton is the only reason I know where the Mississippi goes.
My father had that song on a cassette tape (remember those?) and he used to play it all the time. :)

For the uninitiated:



(Ignore all the misspellings!)
 
#12 ·
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America.[3][4] About 2,320 miles (3,730 km) long,[5] the river originates at Lake Itasca, Minnesota, and flows slowly southwards in sweeping meanders, terminating 95 miles (153 km) by river below New Orleans, where it begins to flow to the Gulf of Mexico. Along with its major tributary, the Missouri River, the river drains all or parts of 31 U.S. states stretching from the Rocky Mountains in the west to the Appalachian Mountains in the east to the Canada–US border on the north, including most of the Great Plains, and is the fourth longest river in the world and the tenth most powerful river in the world.

Courtesy of Wikipedia. :)
 
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#16 ·


The Gulf of Mexico (Spanish: Golfo de México) is the ninth largest[1] body of water in the world. It is a partially landlocked[2] ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba.[3] It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. The shape of its basin is roughly oval and is approximately 810 nautical miles (1,500 km) wide and filled with sedimentary rocks and debris. It is part of the Atlantic Ocean and is connected to it through the Florida Straits between the U.S. and Cuba, and with the Caribbean Sea (with which it forms the American Mediterranean Sea) via the Yucatan Channel between Mexico and Cuba.

Also courtesy of wikipedia. :laugh:
 
#13 ·
sitting in my office right now; looking out the window at the "Mighty Muddy" a/k/a the Mississippi that flows into the Gulf of Mexico. It's literally less than a block away...just across the street. It's 3.2 miles from my house to my office...and one mile of that is the Natchez bridge, I live in Louisiana, work in Mississippi and when the river rises in the spring we get extreme seepage in the yard.
 
#19 ·
Haha! Pretty sure my grandparents had that record! I knew the words to that song without even reading them!

Ah...geography. I loved that class. Am currently sitting here trying to figure out how in the world my 7th grade son failed it!

Nothing like a kid just taking random guesses until you get down to the seriousness of no snacks!
 
#20 ·
I have always sucked at geography, which was inconvenient when I was a history major as the two are intimately linked. I'm not a visual person, I can't picture things in my head, so it's hard to remember where anything goes on the map. I could memorize a list of places, but not be able to label on a map which ones go where. My brother is great at geography, maps are his favourite thing :lol: We are total opposites in just about everything.
 
#22 ·
Holling C. Holling's Amazon.com: Minn of the Mississippi (9780395273999): Holling C. Holling: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61CSg9mVsWL.@@AMEPARAM@@61CSg9mVsWL is a wonderful book to share to learn the geography and science of the Mississippi. It tells the story of a turtle, born in a pond in Minnesota, and her 25 year journey down the Mississippi.

All of Holling's books are really good read alouds for adults and children. Most are strong in geography and scientific information, but in a story presentation.
 
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#24 ·
Where does the Mississippi flow to?
It flows wherever it wants to. ;)
 
#25 ·
That's for Sure. Ask anyone that might live along the banks of the Mississippi (or any other river) come springtime when all the snow thaws.
 
#27 ·
I will just comment on the public schools and what they are learning. First let me say my daughter goes to a charter school which is a mix of homeschooling and public school (they call it a hybrid school). But I am never really as concerned exactly "what" she is learning at school (of course she only in 5 years old). I am more concerned about things like "Is she becoming a life-long learner? Does she seek knowledge? Does she know how to find information for herself? Does she know how to apply information she has learned? Is she a hard worker? Will she get along with co-workers when she is grown? Is she self motivated?" These are far more important to me than anything else she might learn from her "formal education" If she has these things, everything else follows. JMHO :)
What the grandma did here is a great example to follow making him seek his own knowledge and apply it to everyday life :)
 
#28 ·
Nishu ~ you're a tiger mom, aren't you? ;)

Our entire school system is a house of cards. When we were debating whether or not to homeschool our children, I did a lot of reading not only on the state of our schools now, but on the history of public education, where the ideas came from, how they developed, etc....

It was very eye opening. I promised myself I wouldn't jump into any political debates here, so I'm going to try to behave myself here :D

I would recommend any writings by John Taylor Gatto. He is a former NYC teacher of the year and he has some wonderful insight into the American education system.
 
#29 ·
I have read John Taylor Gatto and I have a lot of respect for him and his ideas. I agree with him to a wide degree, and in fact I based our homeschool approach on his ideas on education for quite awhile.

I'd love for my children to "opt out" of the system in the way that JTG supports. I'd love it if they grow up and realize that a lot of the nonsense of American life is just not for them.

The truth is, I don't have a right to decide what is best for my adult children. What I realized from taking a laid back, child led approach to education is that I was essentially cutting them off from a great deal of opportunities. No one is ever going to become a doctor if they feel the only information they need to absorb is that which they find fascinating. No child is ever going to get up in the morning and work his butt off on math because they might want to become an astronaut one day. It is not possible to be successful in college without mastering memorization or forcing yourself to learn what you don't care about.

A few months ago I talked to a woman on the phone who told me about her approach to homeschooling, which I know was largely influenced by JTG. Her daughter was 15 and was taking a couple classes at a public school. This 15 year old kid did not know her multiplication tables because multiplication tables didn't interest her. Her mother reminded her on a regular basis that she couldn't go any further in math until she learned them. This means that this 15 year old girl was performing math at a third grade level. This is freakin' sad. SAD. There are so many things that this poor kid won't be able to do because there is no way that she is going to catch up. Not only that, even if she could catch up, she surely lacks the self discipline required to stick with the math for the amount of time it would take for her to catch up.

The phone call I had with this woman was eye opening. I can't even tell you how much it bothered me. I'm so very thankful I talked to this woman because it shook me to the core and made me change my whole approach to my children's education. When I got off the phone, I thanked her profusely and told her she really helped me put things into perspective. I know she thought I found her story encouraging, like she was some kind of unschooling success story.

I don't see myself as a tiger mom, not at all. I have decided though that when my kids get out of high school, I want them to have options. If they want to be bums, great. If they want to be math majors or physicists, they'll be able to do that too. I think it would be cruel to let my distrust of the system limit their possibilities.
 
#32 ·
I think you and I probably have a lot of the same ideas about our homeschools. I teach the core subjects. My kids have memorized their addition facts/multiplication facts (which, is more than the kids are doing in our school district. They are being taught that they don't have to have them memorized, they just need to know how to "figure it out" if they need it.)
My kids know how to read & spell & write (properly). But when it comes to history, art, science, etc....for now we're "unschooling" those subjects.

Yes, I believe child led education has it's merits, but I also believe that they can't possibly know what their "passions" are until they've been exposed to a lot more life than can fit in their short 6 (or 8 or whatever) years. There are some basic things that kids need to know and it's my job as a homeschooler to make sure they know them. The rest of the stuff, they can follow their passion.

My 8 year old can recognize almost every flag for every country in the world ~ and he can then go find that country on the map. And most of the time he can tell you when the country was founded & a little bit of it's history. It's more than I can do....but world history fascinates him.

As I said, I like JTG, but with all things in life, I don't believe there are black & white answers. No extreme one way or another is ever the best route.
 
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#30 ·
Darlene- you are oh so right about it flowing to wherever it wants to! I have to pay thru the nose for flood insurance because we live so close to it. & the spring seepage gets so bad in my back yard (& it's not low) that I sometimes can't mow until June. Looks harrible, but can't be helped.
 
#55 ·
I didn't get her joke until I read this. Definitely right on that part. :laugh:
I asked my fourth grader after a long day at school What the Mississippi river emptied into. She said she needed a map.

I said try in your head. "Which way does the river move?". Trying to get her to say south and to think of the answer.

She took her hands and made a snake motion and said "like this" LOL
hhahahahahahhaahah! Love it!
 
G
#31 ·
Russ, I 100% agree with you. When it comes to simply memorization of facts, some things stick and some things don't. When I was in 6th grade, I had to memorize all the capitals of every country in the world (and all the capitals of the Canadian provinces and the Australian provinces). Just sitting here without looking it up on google, I can remember the capital of Australia, but not Canada. But I can also recite a few passages of the Aeneid in Latin and tell you pi to 5 decimal places.
 
#33 ·
My BF is quite possibly the most geographically challenged person I know. I actually met him in geography class in highschool, when I was 15. He sat in front of me because of our last names. The guy probably wouldn't be able to tell you what side of the US Oregon is on, but I love him anyway :) lol...
 
#54 ·
The guy probably wouldn't be able to tell you what side of the US Oregon is on, but I love him anyway :) lol...
But, does he know how to access that information? Because, I believe that's what's most important in today's world.

There are a lot of things that I don't teach my students, because as an adult, I have never needed to know them. I'm not going to load them up with useless information that they will memorize for a test and then forget.

Instead, I teach them how to access information and how to distinguish between valid information and nonsense, or biased information. In the world in which they will be adults, THAT will be what will help them be successful. Not memorization of random facts, dates, and names.

The comments about public education and teachers that I've been reading in the past four pages make me want to weep. :(
 
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#42 ·
Then why isn't that same outstanding result applied to being a standard for ALL schools in the US? There's absolutely no excuse as to why any school should not be performing at the same level as other schools. Teachers should be there to teach children how to enable themselves to want to learn more, to be better students and to excel as much as they can. This same philosophy should be carried into the home where parents should take the initiative to make sure that their child does their absolute best at everything they can.

I was taught in a public school system in New York State. My two children are being taught in a public school system in Canada. Between there and here, I'd rather have been schooled here. Heck, DS7 is learning about what it takes to heat a home. His science duo tang has all sorts of information in it that I was never, ever taught when I was 7 years old. The schools here are graded and ranked amongst other ones in the city and for the ones that are ranked lower, the teachers work harder to make sure the students test better and retain the knowledge better. They have homework (which I don't remember doing in grade 2), home reading programs and other items that strengthen core fundamentals in learning both within school and outside of school.

I know a lot of parents that are scattered throughout the US that believe that home schooling and privatized tutoring/schooling is far more exceptional than public school. It shouldn't be that way.

If I was in charge of the public school systems in the US, I'd be ashamed at how far behind a lot of children are (in comparison to the rest of the world). If people put as much work into teaching children better all around as they do boasting about it, I bet you that those rankings would greatly increase.
 
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#38 ·
Even though our schools suck, no one here realizes it until they move out of state. My friend, who's son was thriving in 2nd grade, here moved to Pittsburgh where they almost didn't let him into 3rd grade. She said she had no idea how horrible our schools were. Sadly, most people don't take the time to look.

When I tell people here that I homeschool I'm usually answered with "REALLY??? Gosh, you must have the patience of a saint. Good for you, but aren't your concerned about socialization?" :sigh:
 
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