The Last Great Race

We at Peregrin House have been following The Last Great Race: The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Alaska. This is our 3rd year following, and, as usual, there are so many directions we could go with our homeschooling days, using the Iditarod as a jumping off point. This year we're working on character traits (and the associated vocabulary words) of people who enter the race and of the people who ran the first race to Nome carrying the serum that would save the townspeople from diphtheria. We're following Zuma's Paw Prints: Official Canine Reporter for the Iditarod. Zuma has an article for a character trait for each letter of the word Iditarod. So far we've gone over the first 2 letters.

I = Innovation
D = Diligence

Mane is learning the words and hearing stories from the Iditarod about each of the traits. She's also made pages in her notebook for each of the mushers we're following in the race (all women, by the way):

Jessie Royer,
DeeDee Jonrowe,
Melissa Owens, and
Heather Siirtola.

This our third year following Jessie Royer and our second year following Melissa Owens. Melissa Owens is only 19 years old. Her first Iditarod was last year. I have informally followed DeeDee Jonrowe both years. So, I decided to keep a stat sheet on her this year, and that means that Mane is following, too. And Mane wanted to follow a 3rd musher just for fun. So, she chose Heather Siirtola. Heather is running the race this year in dedication to her mother, who has been fighting cancer for the last 18 years.

We've been talking lots about how this race, particularly, is not so much about racing and winning. It's about endurance, perseverance, dedication, planning, and just plain fun.