Lessons from the Oregon Trail

 I heard a story on the radio about a teacher who did Oregon Trail with her class.  They learned math and history and had fun.  I thought it would work nicely for our homeschool group.  I never played the Oregon Trail game so I've had to do some research this week.  I've played 5 times and made it to Oregon twice.  

I've learned to never attempt to ford a river.  Someone dies every time!

You can only carry 100 lbs of meat to the wagon so don't shoot a buffalo.  It's so wasteful.

Stop for rest when people are sick!

Go hunting often and don't let your food go below 400lbs.

Save some money for tolls.

You can't buy supplies in every stop and they get more and more expensive as you go.

Don't give your company members real names.  It's so sad when they die.  And they die.

This is the first time I've played a role playing computer game.  I did play Dungeons and Dragons once a few years ago.  I'm generally not into a game that takes more than 30 minutes.  

I hope to teach the children some geography, math, hand working, and who knows caution.