Short Trip

We are supposed to be on a trip right now. We drove 12 hours to our first stop – camping with some of my darling husband’s relations. The first night was cool and somewhat windy. The heat and humidity we left were but memories as we enjoyed high 70 degree F temperatures with occasional sprinkles.

The second night was much colder. I did not pack jackets, so we made do with blankets and improvised chilly weather gear as we sat by the campfire. Our sleeping bags are all rated for “below zero” temperatures, so we were cozy in the night. Regardless, the two smallest members of the family showed signs of illness during the long and windy second night camping. The baby started wheezing and woke up screaming every 30 minutes (on average). Starting around 3:30 a.m., he wouldn’t go back to sleep no matter what I tried.

He finally started to drift off about 5 a.m. when the second youngest woke up coughing and crying. It wasn’t just any cough – it was a croup cough. The baby was back up. The toddler was up. I poke my husband to join my waking vigil and we both attempted to get the kids back down. Sometime after 5, we decided that we had better head back home that day instead of pushing on to our second destination.

We broke camp and began our “quick” trip back home. (We cut 1 1/2 hrs off our drive time going up.) While on the road, we called to cancel reservations and let another relative know we would not be visiting after all.

We arrived home tired, dirty, and disappointed.

On a positive note, the humidifier helped quite a bit to keep the croup symptoms manageable. The baby was obviously relieved to see his room as he put his head down on my shoulder and popped his thumb in his mouth. He went down without a cry, although he was up several times during the night.

Two full days of driving for one day (and two nights) of camping was not my idea of fun. Sometimes, though, it is all turns out for the best. It remains to be seen if this is one of those times.

I need a rest from my vacation!

When we got back from our camping trip, I was exhausted. We really got off easy. The only sunburns were my husband and I on our noses. The hundreds of mosquito bites seem to have healed. (I’ve never seen a mosquito with a half-dollar size wingspan before. WOW!)  No one came home any worse for the unsanitary lack-of-proper-toilet conditions.

• All the laundry is caught up.
• One of the tents still needs to be unpacked and repacked as it is in three parts instead of the original one bag.
• I need to clean out one of the coolers still and get it back to its owner.
• The formerly clean van needs to be re-cleaned and vacuumed to rid it of trip debris.
• I need to put away the bags we used for clothing as they are sitting empty on my floor right now.

I need a vacation since coming home on our trip!

Anyway, we’ve since restarted summer school, gotten to the pool (which is thankfully still open), pulled just about everything out of the garden because the plants were either done producing or the produce was being eaten by insects/worms/etc., and had a very productive local homeschool group planning meeting for the first half of the upcoming school year.

Back to the grind! Other upcoming posts may include something on how my planning is going for this school year, how this school year will be different from my others so far, and wrapping up summer school with how our new curriculum choices have fared with my kids.

Camping Out

My husband didn’t do any camping out as a kid. I did some and I was the one who came into the relationship with a 2-3 person tent, a good “mummy bag”, and some experience.

That said, I dislike the true “roughing it” that comes with camping out. I learned to bring along my inflatable mattress that fits nicely into my tent (and even has room for my spouse on it). I learned to cook fairly decently over a campfire, although I lack all the specialty tools that true outdoors types have. I just can’t abide with the whole no-toilet-facilities thing.

The kids enjoy camping out. The husband enjoys camping out. So, I grin and bear the experience when it is proposed.

We have been borrowing another tent the last few of years since we can no longer fit all of us into my 2-3 man. We put the older children in my tent and use the borrowed tent for the rest of us. We picked up a new BIG tent on clearance earlier this year, but haven’t tried it out yet. By the time this post appears, we will be mostly through our “roughing it” experience this year. When I recover, I’ll tell you how it went. Maybe.

Until then, enjoy all the comforts of home and cross your fingers for not much rain and mosquitos for us.

Summer school update

In what should only take an hour a day, we have been working through Writing With Ease Level 2 (both older kids), Growing with Grammar 3 (Child #1), Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons (Child #2), A Beka Arithmetic 1 (Child #2), and reviewing math facts using games/flashcards/etc (Child #1).

Unfortunately, it has not been going well lately. The whining and complaining start even before we sit down to “do school.” Anything that has to do with a pencil causes complaints with Child #1, so WWE & GWG are both resented. Even the small amount of writing that each calls for is lamented loudly before, during, and after the lesson. We are on Week 5 of WWE and Child #1 just finished Chapter 1 (of 5) in GWG 3.

Swimming at the pool usually follows the completion of our lessons for the day, but only if they have them done at a decent time. Getting up late or fooling around rather than completing chores causes the schedule to be moved back – and back – and back. It doesn’t look like there will be any pool-time today because they both have refused to take their schoolwork seriously today (breaking a pencil lead out on purpose and sulking on the other child’s part). ‘Tis sad because they really have had a great time at the pool this summer and made marvelous strides in their swimming abilities.

The cloud cover has been on and off all day, so perhaps that is contributing to their (and my) gloomy moods. I hope for a more upbeat blog post another time.

Summer Reading Club

The tiny local library has started their summer reading club up. Activities are planned once per week at the library and all books the kids read (or have read to them) are recorded on sheets and turned in. At the end of the club, the kids get a chance to redeem their “book bucks” for prizes and also have a chance to win a bike donated by a local business.

The older kids really enjoyed the first week’s activity. We arrived early enough to pick up our stash of books (eventually maxing out our checkout number). Child #1 who now “loves to read” has already read between two and three (170-210 pg) books per day since then. It is hard to find “suitable” reading material on her reading level in our small town library. We are going to be joining the “big city” library system (1 1/2 hrs drive away) sometime this late summer/early fall to gain access to more books we would like to use for our Story of the World history curriculum and hopefully more books on Child #1′s reading level.

Until then, we are having a great time with the summer reading club, swimming several times a week at the local pool, and hitting local (or regional) kid-friendly events while trying to stay cool!

A new bike

Child #2 recently decided it was time to finally bite the bullet and ride without training wheels. We’ve tried to get her to learn since last fall, but she did not have the confidence in herself to do it. Once she decided she could, she mostly figured it out herself in two days. She wobbled some on the first day and was starting herself on hills and riding comfortably around the block on the second.

It was time to pass her too-small-for-her-anyway training wheel bike onto Child #3, put the training bike (no training wheels) back down in the basement, and get her a bigger bike (20″). We were pretty close to the “big city” today, so we stopped in and picked out her new bike.

The handle bars are wider, the bike is bigger, and she wobbles a bit while riding it. However, I think that she will be back to comfortable in one medium length bike ride. I also think she will be able to keep up with Child #1 who has a much bigger bike. Child #1 has a habit of calling everyone else “slow poke” when riding.

As a really great side effect, Child #3 on the bigger bike is also much faster than when on the smaller bike. Child #3 is also relatively fearless (hopping curbs, riding quickly through broken concrete sidewalk areas) and has a much better sense of balance than either older sibling at the same age.

When I hook up the bike trailer, I can bring Child #4 along and everyone else rides. Depending on the route, I am usually able to ride right along with the older two without stopping too much to help Child #3 through “bad spots.”

The biggest question has become,  “Where will we put / what will we do with all these bikes?”

Winding Down The School Year & Field Trip Update

Well, we made it to the first field trip of the week, but had to skip the second. (We had two sick!) We were able to hit the third field trip and all had a wonderful time. My spouse used the time while we were all out of the house to reroute some plumbing that involves the main water line. He was also able to get a TON of other things done because we made sure we were gone long enough that there would be water available when we got home!

We are all looking forward to the “end” of formal school work for this school year. We have only one more “official” week of regular work and then testing week comes. That means I have only one week and two weekends to write my “finals” in science, history, and religion! I’ve started scribbling history questions down but have not looked at the others. Better get cracking, eh?!

We’ll take a week off and then start up with “schooling light” for the summer. Oldest will be starting Growing With Grammar 3 and Writing With Ease 2. We will also play some math games or work on flash cards for 10-15 minutes several times a week.

Child #2 will do some light math and phonics work – the nature of which changes depending on the day you ask.

Math: We are trying to cement into her brain written two-digit numerical symbols (such as 34 or 79). She struggles and the concept isn’t coming quickly. Math games and lots of dot-to-dots may be in order.

Language Arts: We may just work on handwriting using sidewalk chalk again this summer. She loves it and I can sneak in reminders of what the phonogram sounds are at the same time. We’ll see.

Celebrating Earth Day as a Homeschooling Parent

So, yesterday was “Earth Day.”

One of the neighborhood kids was really surprised that we studied “caves and erosion” (one of my children’s summaries) in science today. He wanted to know, “Why didn’t you do Earth Day like we did?”

My husband and I gently asked him what “doing” Earth Day was like in school. He said that they studied “earth” stuff. He remembered that they all got (plastic? latex?) gloves from one of the people who work at the school and cleaned up the school yard at recess. Then, they made things out of the trash.

We pointed out that we study “earth” things every day we do science (except when we did Astronomy first semester this year – when we were studying the universe surrounding earth). We are especially doing “earth science” this semester and have found many of our topics in the last month are mirroring the public school’s first grade (and coincidentally also their eleventh grade) class science studies.

The kids went on to explain that we recycle every day – as does this child’s family. (He didn’t realize at first what we were talking about until we pointed out the sign his mother has about rinsing out the empty bottles before putting them in the bin.) We also do quite a bit of cleaning up every day – both inside & outside. Every day at our house is “earth day.” (I pointed out that every day at our house is Valentine’s Day as we are always trying to show our love for others. He looked at me blankly in reply.)

Having said that, I have to say that I am not one of those people who hypes “conservation.” I horrified some moms at the local library story time last summer when I said I was coming up with my own earth science curriculum because I didn’t want it to be filled with global climate change and recycling garbage. (They hesitatingly asked at what school I taught.) My oldest child is the biggest recycling freak there is. I certainly didn’t teach her to be that way!

You know, recycling isn’t all it is cracked up to be. Our local trash hauler throws away the recycling materials several times a month instead of sending out the dedicated truck. When I called them at the end of last year to inquire about this on-going practice which was causing my child to be upset (as she works so hard to make sure all the materials which can be recycled are in the proper bin and placed at the curb each week), they informed me that the “bottom” had dropped out of the recycling materials market. Their warehouse was full to bulging and they couldn’t sell the material at “any price.” They were hoping the market would turn around after the first of the year or they would request that people not put out recycling materials at all. They have not done this, so I would assume they have been able to off-load the material at some price this year.

On a conservation note, my husband and I measured the water amount used by our toilet (4.8 gals/flush), dishwasher (18.1 gals/run), and top load clothes washing machine (74.1 gals/load). Except for the toilet number, the others seem HUGE. We will continue to do more experimenting and measuring. I also have my father measuring their water usage per clothes washing load as they have one of those new super efficient front load washers. We will compare. I’ll let you know if we come up with anything.

Holy Hero’s Advent Adventure

At the invitation of a friend of ours, we checked out Holy Heroes at the start of Advent and signed up for their “Advent Adventure.”

The kids have really been enjoying the daily video and the coloring pages.

The daily video always starts out with one of the owner’s kids saying, “Welcome to Holy Heroes Advent Adventure. I am [child's name], one of your guides. Today we are …”

My kids do their own version and have expanded it some. They start with, “Welcome to Holy Hero’s Everything Adventure. I am [child's name], one of your guides.” They changed the name to “Everything Adventure” because they have covered Mary’s sinlessness, including her Immaculate Conception, checking the tomb on Easter Sunday morning, the wedding feast at Cana, and several other non-Advent topics. They do cover many Advent-related things like “Here is what a stable looks like.”

You have less than a week before Christmas, but perhaps you and your kids want to have a little advent adventure yourselves. Check it out! [Note:  The site is unabashedly Catholic. Keep that in mind!]

Field Trip Ideas

Many homeschoolers think “outside the box” when taking field trips with their kids. The following is just a sampling of ideas about how to continue the learning experience outside the home and not break your budget in the meantime.

Many field trips are enriched by preparation, pre reading, and related activities as part of your curriculum. However, if you don’t have time for these, don’t let that keep you from going. Sometimes the trip itself will spark interest in further research or a follow-up activity. It could even set the stage for a career choice down the road!

Opportunities for Learning in Your Community
- Check out the neighborhood fire station, post office, city hall, or the county courthouse.
- Go to the library – Obviously, there is story time and sometimes there are free or low-cost classes, but don’t forget to check the bulletin board for listings of other activities in your area.
- See if a local bank, grocery store, TV station, or newspaper office gives tours.
- Hobby and craft stores sometimes offer low price craft time or projects on weekends or during the summer for the general public.
- Doctors, dentists, optometrists, chiropractors, dermatologists, and hospitals might let you go through their office during a less busy time. These places are a lot less scary when the children are not going for an appointment at the same time.
- Check with the fast food places nearby. Some places will give a tour and then a discount on lunch.

How Do They Do That?
- Find out if the local electric company or water treatment plant will explain how what they do there lets stuff be done at home.
- See if the local convention center venue will allow you to watch while they transform the arena into a hockey floor or set up for a concert. This can be a fascinating engineering or science field trip opportunity.
- Is there a planetarium at your local college/university? Call to see about behind-the-scenes tours with or without a short show for your homeschooling group.
- Contact your local Chamber of Commerce or Rotary to see if they know of local businesses or manufacturers that will open their doors to a small group. Sometimes manufacturers cannot let you out on the production floor, but they have a viewing window where the children can see the machines operating.

Helping Others
- Learn about the inner workings of a soup kitchen, homeless shelter, or thrift shop (Catholic Social Services, Salvation Army, etc.)
- Visit a pregnancy crisis center.
- Consider volunteering your family for a couple hours to help out someone running for office. This type of political work could be stuffing envelopes, knocking on doors to distribute flyers, or holding signs for a candidate.
- Habitat for Humanity and other service groups will take volunteers over a certain age to help with everything from mailings to actual construction.

Food, Fish, and Animals, Oh My!
- Make some connections at the local Farmer’s Market to see if anyone is open to a tour of their operations
- Contact your local office of the game & fish department. They usually have activities for children to participate in while learning about the outdoors or different types of animals or plants. Many are free or low cost.
- Visit a veterinarian office to learn more about what they do there, the variety of animals they see, and about taking care of a pet.
- Many state parks offer a great opportunity for nature walks, camping, backpacking, hiking, and sometimes horseback riding.

Museums & Zoos
- Some museums offer free or reduced admission during certain times of the week or year.
- Some science museums, children’s museums, and zoos provide reciprocal free or reduced admission to other museums within their associations. These are a great deal if you plan to travel or visit certain types of museums on a regular basis. The Association of Children’s Museums, Association of Science-Technology Centers, and American Zoo Association are examples. Membership rates vary greatly from museum to museum. Some have discounts for “educators” including homeschoolers. Doing some research ahead of time on the best rate can really pay off. Make sure to look at the fine print, because some museums will not allow you the discounted member rate if you live within a certain distance of the associated museum.

Theater and Music Performances
- Some theaters offer behind-the-scenes tours, activities for children, or special pricing on shorter/during-the-day performances for educational groups.

Try these websites for a few other jumping off points to find field trip ideas:
http://www.homeschool.com/Homeschool_Field_Trips/default.asp
http://gocitykids.parentsconnect.com/
http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/trips/FieldTrips.htm
Traveling With Children