9:55 a.m. - MANVEL, N.D. (AP) -- The number of students at summer school migrant programs in North Dakota has declined in recent years, but that doesn't make geography any less important for junior high students here who are working on a giant mural of the United States.

Eduardo Martinez, 13, is one of the Manvel migrant school students who has taken his turn drawing major cities, highways, lakes, rivers, Indian reservations and state parks for North Dakota, Montana and Idaho. He said history is one of his favorite subjects and studying those states has enabled him to research the travels of Lewis and Clark.

"I know they went through Montana in 1805 and it took them a whole year to get back," he said, proudly.

Martinez is the answer to some critics who believe the migrant program is nothing more than a glorified day care, said migrant school director Richard Ray, who also is the principal for the Manvel School District.

"Sometimes you hear, 'Oh, they just baby-sit them,' and that's not true," Ray said. "It's a little bit different atmosphere, but it's an academic atmosphere."

There are three sites in North Dakota for migrant school students, in Grafton, Hillsboro and Manvel. Most of the students are sons and daughters of seasonal farm workers, mostly from Texas, Ray said.

Students from Minnesota and North Dakota attend the Manvel school, though the enrollment changes from day to day. Some of the students also work in the fields and are allowed to do most of their schoolwork at home.