Excursion
My husband and I are trying to escape for a few days thanks to my in-laws generosity and babysitting. The destination is unknown as we will be boarding any plane that has seats. We have a few places in mind that we’d like to visit, but you never assume plans will go accordingly when you are flying passes.
When we’re able to manage it, it’s a good thing for us to break from reality and say “hello” again. All too often we find ourselves so immersed in the children and their world that we forget about our relationship. So, my husband and I are taking advantage of this opportunity.
This weekend we’ve had the usual activities, although I skipped out on church this morning to clean my house and get things in place for my in-laws. It’s quite the production, isn’t it? I’ll spend this evening lining up independent academic work for each child, but they’ll also be enjoying their time and adventures with grandparents.
If I don’t post for a bit, then it’s likely that we’ve made it to a destination. Whether that is an ideal one or not is yet to be determined:)
Making robots more human-like
Interesting article I came across today. Our children’s children’s future..
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/08/robots/carroll-text/1
Air Force One
Interesting thing today-as I was driving to the gym and playing taxi driver for the kids, I noticed what looked to be a presidential marine helicopter sitting on the ground out of the corner of my eye. It was parked in a schoolyard field. I then noticed news crews not too far away from the helicopter, so of course, I had to pull over to attempt to find out what was going on. I was told by an onlooking by-stander that the aircraft had been traveling with President Obama’s team on their way back home to Virginia after his visit to the Jersey shore. Supposedly, the helicopter hit a bird which resulted in their emergency landing. I read tonight on the news report that it wasn’t a presidential trip nor did they mention a bird strike-go figure. Regardless, my son enjoyed seeing the helicopter. I felt badly for the pilots, though. Stranded in a field wearing flight suits for hours during the heat of the day is no fun. I know because I’ve worn those same suits when I was a flight doc. They do not breathe!
Seeing the aircraft reminded me of the days when my husband worked as an Air Force One agent while I was in medical school. If you’ve ever seen the movie, “Air Force One” by National Geographic, you would have seen him. He is featured working with the pilot of Air Force One taking care of the plane while President Clinton was in office. I actually had the opportunity to tour the plane on the ground a couple of times, and it is beautiful. I presented a paper on presidential physicians when I was in medical school and was able to meet one of Clinton’s physicians on a trip. There are fun little presidential trinkets in my house such as Christmas cards sent from the White House and presidential M and M’s that you’d dare not eat now. I used to have high hopes of practicing medicine in some unique arena such as that. Little did I know these people called “children” would reroute my life!
In that vein, I must prep for what lies ahead whether it’s teaching on great pieces of literature or running a Fortune 500 company. I can still dream:)
Vomit day
Well, might as well throw vomit into the mix of our day, literally. My 5 year old woke this morning with dry heaves which later turned into him throwing up in the yard and in the car. But you know I just say roll with it, so I kept teaching the other 3. The vomiting son would play for a while, then get sick, then play, then get sick, then read, then get sick. Never a dull moment around here. I did cover what I’d hope to cover academically, so I guess that’s a good thing. Sports and scouts and birthday presents followed. I finally got a work-out in around 10:30 tonight on the elliptical along with some core training and finished up around 11:30. You just do what you need to do. It’s now 12:30 in the morning, and I just finished eating dinner (yes, dinner)…buffalo chicken dip and ice cream cake. Likely not the wisest move on my part, especially since the stomach bug may be traveling through our household, but it sounded good at the time. Off to read and maybe sleep..
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?
Looking to do the R’s
I may be off-line for a few days. Sometimes, it’s good to take a break from your current reality if you can to regroup, refocus, reevaluate, and refresh! Those important R’s, as I like to call them, are a must. Hubby and I will be taking some time away to celebrate our 20 years of marriage-holy cow! Yes, apparently we are that old. We are grateful that Grandma and Grandpa are available and willing to watch the crew. I’ll be leaving an abbreviated academic schedule of sorts for the kids to do once we depart. I’m fortunate that my mother-in-law is a former fifth grade teacher, so she’s more than capable of “holding school”. Of course, if they decide to just play games and eat good food, that’ll be fine, too. Just having quality family time is a priority in itself.
Will reconnect again soon once the R’s have taken place:)
Mags and sand
Spent some time today looking through various kids’ magazines before deciding to place subscriptions.
Check out “Cricket”. They publish a variety of great mags for children of various ages. Also, look into “Scientific American” and “National Geographic for Kids”.
There are many more out there, but your children will likely enjoy reading stories from these sources. And using journals will help you and your child stay abreast of the latest findings and discoveries versus relying on scientific textbooks for your information.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/
You know you’re a homeschooler when you pack more books than clothes.
This is how we travel-lots of books. My kids complain. They say, “But Mom, it’s spring break!” And I say, “Yes, won’t it be fun to keep learning in a new environment?”
Don’t worry, they get lots of free time and play, but there’s no reason to stop that exploration mindset:)
Back to packing!
Ivy League Homeschooling 