Not just a slice, the whole thing!
I’ve had one of those days where the petty bickering of the kids bugged me more than normal, and I’ve wanted to eat everything chocolate in the house. Like the chocolate cake sitting on the counter. I’ve wanted to eat the whole cake, not just a slice. Thankfully, I’m not expecting, although I did get my baby fix tonight as I held a 4 week old baby while sitting at a 3 hour gymnastics practice. So thankful I could give him back to his mother, though!
We covered lots of math today. It seems that when I focus more on reading and writing and the other subjects, math gets the shaft until after dinner. So, I started today with math, and then we just seemed to keep going with it in a rhythm studying more and more topics. I guess it doesn’t matter as long as I cover the material I want to. My everyday schedule resembles nothing like what you’d see in a formal school. There’s no official recess, just free time when I give it to the kids. Otherwise, they are learning about something (I hope).
France is on my bucket list, and hubby and I hope to travel there this year to continue our 20th anniversary celebration. He travels to Paris with his job, but I’ve never visited. I’m hoping to hit the major tourist traps and get comfortable with the area, so that the next trip can be with the kids. I’ve started using Rosetta Stone’s French program at home to familiarize myself with some basic sayings and vocabulary. I just love the French-their culture, their beautiful language, their rich history, their refined taste. Looking for immersion here at some point..
Destination Hawaii
Aloha!
My husband and I left for the airport last weekend hoping to catch a flight out to Hawaii. We were fortunate to have airline passes to go anywhere for free so we jumped at the chance to get away. We had booked a couple of nights in Honolulu with the assumption that eventually we’d get there. Of course, the real challenge for me was packing my belongings into a carry-on bag! The flight we were trying to catch left at 5:30 Sunday morning so we never went to bed the night before. The gate attendant eventually called our name, and although we had to connect through Houston, TX, we finally landed in the rainbow state.
If you’ve never been to the Hawaiian islands, I recommend adding it to your bucket list. My husband has been there many times, but this was my first time visiting and hopefully not my last. The scenery is amazing. The people are friendly and easy-going. Hawaii has all of the makings of a true retreat. While we could have sat on the beach for the week and not really moved, we instead explored as much of the island of Oahu as possible during our stay. Our hotel was directly located on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu. We never left this island as there was so much to see there, and if you wanted to see the other islands, you had to catch another plane flight. So, we were true tourists seeing such sites as Diamond Head, Pearl Harbor, whale-watching, luaus, the Polynesian Cultural Center, the North Shore, Kaena Point, and Pali look-out to name a few. I had to go see where President Obama attended primary school (Punahou School). My husband laughed at me on that excursion:) While touring the Dole Plantation, I learned that Jim Dole graduated from Harvard. And the shopping is amazing. Kalakaua Avenue is just as impressive as Rodeo Drive or Fifth Avenue-yummy.
So, we’re back to reality as we had to leave a day early to get ahead of the Blizzard Nemo! Ugh….from rainbows to snow storms. I’ve definitely got to regroup now and get my head around studies. I did read Paul Lockhart’s “A Mathematician’s Lament” poolside-does that count?
My husband wants to own guineas. I want to go to Antarctica.
The day was spent hiking and swimming in Acadia. We had to stop quite a bit on the hike so the 5 y/o could rest-a little drama there but we made it to the top to see some incredible views.
Hubby and I talked about compiling a bucket list of places to see in the states and then extending that list to other continents from there. I’m still processing being middle age, honestly, and there’s so much of the world I want to see and that I want our kids to experience. So, creating that list is now on my radar. Keep in mind, my husband is not as excited about the idea as I am. His job requires extensive traveling so he’s not jumping up and down about long plane rides or hotel room stays. His idea of settling into middle age and then retirement life is owning a large farm in the middle of nowhere and feeding guineas everyday. My idea of the second half of life involves a trip to Antarctica or climbing Mount Everest or something. He laughs at me, of course, because he says I’m too high-maintenance for such activities. Maybe so, but I seem to be changing with age..
The children’s flower garden
This week the kids and I began a flower garden just for them. They helped pick out the shrubs and flowers. They painted their own rocks to put in the bed. They added a flag and sculptures. Each day they are responsible for maintaining their garden by watering it and keeping the weeds out. I’d wanted to also try a small vegetable garden, but I opted out of that one. My fear is that the wild critters would simply eat anything we might be able to grow, so I felt like I was chancing that investment not to mention that’s probably more work for me instead of for them. We’ll just have to frequent the local farmer’s market.
Ivy League Homeschooling 