There are many ways to teach your child_ there is "incidental" learning, when you take an unplanned situation and make a "teachable moment" out of it. There are the usual planned activities, such as everyday lessons that children benefit from, as well. And then there are what I would call the "planned incidental" types of learning. This is when you take something your child would not think of as learning activities, and deliberately make it "funlearning".

As my husband and I have planned our upcoming vacation, we have kept this concept on our mental "back burner". I have searched out some things to do that I know my son will enjoy. But what he doesn't realize is he will also be going through a learning process throughout all the fun.

We are planning on going to the Jacksonville, Florida area for our vacation. We will also be visiting St. Augustine, Florida as well.

As my son has a great interest in outer space and our solar system, I have located a museum in Jacksonville that has many of the things he loves (The Museum of Science and History). It has a great planetarium which I know he will love. There are also dinosaur exhibits, whale exhibits, hands on science expo, and historical exhibits, as well. http://www.themosh.org

He is also interested in weapons. There is a weapons museum in St. Augustine we may also visit which has weapons from the turn of the century. It is also reputed to have an excellent collection from the civil war era.  http://www.museumofweapons.com

On a more quirky note, we have also located a candy factory in St. Augustine. It is a local factory that makes yummy chocolate candy (he loves chocolate) and gives free tours of their facility. Now what could you learn about chocolate from a candy factory? You would be surprised! We have already visited their website and found some interesting info about the origins of chocolate and how it made its way to our country, I overheard him telling his Dad the other day about where chocolate actually comes from. It was funny that something we might not think of as educational, could provide a history lesson. http://www.whetstonechocolates.com

There is a lighthouse/museum in St. Augustine we plan to visit which offers a short historical cruise we hope to take advantage of. Again, he will be learning about history and culture of this particular area, but it will be in a totally unstructured environment. http://www.staugustinelighthouse.com

He and Dad are planning to spend some time in the pool each day, working on his swimming. Again, he thinks it is just fun, but Dad is teaching him a little P.E.

Of course, there are a few other things we would like to do, but time may not permit us to do it all (I'll have to squeeze in a little shopping!). To finish out our week, we will be going by the Jacksonville Zoo on our way home. This is a pretty big Zoo, so he will get quite a lesson in animal life.  http://www.jaxzoo.org

I have made sure to include things I know he is interested in, on our week of fun. When he is already fascinated by a certain topic, I believe he will retain more of what he is actually exposed to. By planning our activities around some of his interests, he will have fun and learn more about the world around us.