I’ve been thinking back today about the three months we spent in India and how much the kids learned even when not formally learning.

* Knowledge of other languages — Telugu and Hindi.
* The value of American money compared to Indian money.
* Metric system of measurement compared to US system of measurement.
* First-hand knowledge and understanding of another culture.
* Indian history through the many historic sites we visited as well as books we read.
* Gandhi’s life story. (We read his biography. By the way, Gandhi educated his children at home.)
* Poverty in third world countries. An appreciation for what we have here.
* Distance. How far away the other side of the world is.
* Health requirements to travel internationally. Potential for contacting diseases we don’t have here.
* Weather differences between different areas of the world.
* Animals found native to India.
* Cultural differences between American and India.
* About the foods, spices, smells and flavors of India.
* About new fruits and vegetables we don’t have here.
* Furthermore, the kids learned about their Indian heritage and their Indian relatives . . . priceless.