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Aside from Legos and playing outside, this boy is an avid fan of messing around on the computer and penguins as well. Early next month in Antarctica is where this first grader will get a chance to see waddling across the ice and feeding their newly born chicks are his beloved birds in the wild. He and his parents will join an internationally known explorer and filmmaker on an expedition to the Antarctic Peninsula.

Seldom do children his age travel to such an icy continent as this one. He says it's pretty exciting, all of his friends are celebrating. When he leaves, so does his entire class and this is the reason for such behavior. Not in person, as the trip will take nearly three weeks and cost thousands of dollars, but via an Internet linkup. In fact, students across the country will be able to view live video coverage of the trip.

Through a site, the pilot youth program makes it possible for questions to be raised and answers to be given. This is an experience where the teachers are planning on coming up with grade level activities building on the boy's dispatches. The first, fourth and fifth graders will be working on the weather, geology, and forces in motion respectively.

This surely represents family adventure. To be the voice of reason is why she will join the trip and the mother said this after mentioning how much the boy loves nature. According to the boy, this just shows how powerful a little motivation could really become.

Nowadays, a webcast is a plain thing. For the explorer who is not only the first to ice bike 250 miles across Antarctica but also the first American to ski to the South Pole, this kind of experience with kids will also be a first. Usually, his numerous trips there since 1999 involved adult pursuits like scientific purposes and extreme skiing even. The more he went, however, the more observations he wanted to share, and what better audience than our nation's youth? So a little over a year ago, he decided to start a kid's program.

When Antarctica has been dubbed as adventure central by the March of the Penguins movie, this makes the timing just right for this trip. Maybe destiny brought the explorer and the boy's mother together. A lot of years have passed where there was no contact between the two after they attended a local university together and it was only through a mutual friend where she found out of the website of the 42 year old explorer.

After the boy made his first live dispatch in the starting point of Buenos Aires, Argentina the 14 day expedition went to the south. As they boarded a 100 passenger cruise ship, they and a number of Toronto travelers went through the Drake Passage and the Antarctic Peninsula. The 600 mile, 30 hour ride is the only part of the trip that actually could be dangerous because it has some of the roughest sea weather in the world.

It was because of their trip across the Drake Passage that they witnessed elephant seals, whales, and dolphins. As of this time, the nearby islands are ice free and so they will be taking advantage of this as they transfer to rubber boats as they reach the peninsula. The group will also be going to the scientific research stations and some penguin rookeries. Made famous by the March of the Penguins and belonging to the largest species from 17 in Antarctica are emperor penguins and the explorer knows where their colony is located.