Iditarod Unit Study

A quick mention on the news late last week piqued our interest about the Iditarod, the famous dog sled race that crosses more than 1000 miles of Alaska in honor of a historic and heroic race for serum to save a town.  I compiled a unit study and we worked on it a bit every day this week.  I didn’t set aside our regular work, but with something they were so interested in I could use it as a fun way to finish off our days when all the other work was done.

Resources for our Iditarod Unit Study

Books

• Racing the Iditarod Trail by Ruth Crisman was our nonfiction resource book.
• The Bravest Dog Ever, The True Story of Balto by Natalie Standiford
• Togo by Robert J. Blake is a must read along with the Balto book, it gives the account of another dog hero of the famous 1925 serum race–Togo actually traveled 5 times more miles than Balto.
• Akiak, A Tale From The Iditarod by Robert J. Blake is a story of a modern Iditarod race dog.

Videos

• Discovery Channel’s Iditarod: Toughest Race On Earth: This Discovery channel 6-episode show gave us a front-row seat for the race, up close and personal with mushers and their dogs, both on the trail and at checkpoints.  (We were able to watch on Netflix.)

Online Resources

• Homeschool Share: I used a few minibooks about Balto from a unit for Five True Dog Stories.  For others topics I used blank minibooks from Homeschool Share’s lapbook resources page.  I used Google image searches to print photos of Balto and Togo with their mushers.
• Iditarod Official Website: There is a lot of great information here for the current year’s race–musher profiles, race times and winners, and even news stories (like the death of one of the dogs this year).  Note: This site raises money through paid “Insider” subscriptions so some content is not free.  There are a few videos for classroom use that are free and a free downloadable map of the race trail.
• About.com has free coloring pages, word searches and crossword puzzles.
• Scholastic has a great Iditarod page with pictures and information–much of it from real Iditarod mushers!

A Peak Inside Our Iditarod Lapbooks

The information in the minibooks:

• The history of the Iditarod, both the 1925 serum run to save the residents of Nome from a diptheria outbreak, and the two sled dog heroes, Togo and Balto.
• The modern Iditarod Race
• All about sled dogs–their training and how they are cared for on the trail.

We enjoyed learning about the Iditarod and look forward to following the race in future years to cheer for our favorite mushers!

Thank you to the wonderful hostesses with fun link-ups on Fridays. Be sure to join the fun and see what other homeschoolers are up to!