Geography

We are reading this great geography book called Book of Marvels The Occident. It is written by Richard Halliburton and he traveled to some really great places all over the world. Both natural and man made landmarks. The book is super old so the pictures the author took are in black and white and not the greatest quality. So, it has been really fun to google some recent pictures on the iPad.

The pictures we usually run across are fabulous. But, the following picture is the favorite of all of us by far. It is a abbey in Normandy, Mount St. Michael. And when the tide comes in it becomes an island. The pictures were breathtaking. A really great story goes along with it but you will have to read that on your own . . .

The Frozen Tundra

One of the things I wanted to do with the kids while we were in Green Bay was to take them skating. The older kids had skated before on, like, a plastic rink, which was soooo different then the actual thing! So, NK found us a great place to go real skating. And the kids loved it! And, for Florida kids, they did really well. No major spills! Hubby opted not to skate. The last time he did, he fell so hard that the ice shook! I think that was before we were even married.

I grew up skating, so that with the roller skating we have done in the past, it came back pretty quick. There were two girls at the rink who were fabulous. One of which was EG's age. I think EG was a little perplexed by that! Although, I didn't have to help her, really, at all. I just kind of hung by her in the beginning. The rest of the kids just went round and round.

I am glad we had the opportunity!

That morning we were able to go shopping at the Packer Pro Shop for the kids' Christmas gifts from Gpa and NK. And that was big fun. It is so crazy all of the things that they make and sell with the Packer logo. We went back a couple of days later just to look around a little more . . . 

Smartie Pants

So, I finally have had time to go into my email for FLVS. It is the virtual school that NG is using to learn Latin. She really wanted to learn Latin and we have tried a thing or two at the house but it just wasn't working. So, we thought we would give our state virtual school a shot.

I was terrified. She actually gets a grade that is permanent. As a homeschool mom, I always "worry" that my kids are measuring up. Most of the time I really don't care. BUT, when there is an actual grade involved, given by someone other than me, it is a little daunting. Especially for the very first time.

The computer is a mystery to me so I knew I would not be any help whatsoever. And I was right. When I talked with the teacher for our very first conference she asked if I had any questions. I very honestly told her "I did not" because I was CLUELESS. NG would ask me occasional questions and I was able to give a little guidance. But she literally was on her own for everything and I let the teacher know because I didn't want it to count against her. The teacher assured me, based on what she saw, that NG was doing fine. Just fine. In fact, she mentioned that she wished all her students did so well.

Well, I got her finally grade the other day and it was an A. Not just an A but a 95% in Latin. Her first time with a "class" so to speak. She is a great student. She reads books everyday that are college level. She is honest and tells me she doesn't always like them, but she gets them. She doesn't shirk her work. And honestly, with teaching 4, she could totally get away with not doing stuff.

Anyway, I am proud of her. She is a fabulous student and I love teaching her and being very involved in her journey. She will definitely be a student for life. While eating ice cream the other night she was reading through a fictional History book she has read already. Can't argue with that.

Now for semester number two. We will see if she can keep it up . . .

We Arrive

Traveling with the kids seemed a whole lot easier this time around. I know it is because they are older. And we have done this a time or two. But, I also had a pretty good system. Although it still needs some improvement. We went from Harry Potter on CD to reading. The reading part didn't work out so well though, it made the majority of them car sick. We had coloring books and crossword puzzles and if all else failed we had our math books. And then, towards the end of the day, they could watch a movie. They opted to listen to Harry Potter quite a bit. Not sure why we never did the books on CD thing before.

We didn't see snow until we got into Wisconsin. And we made great time. We got to the hotel in plenty of time to shower and meet G Pa and NK for dinner. EG was the only one who really wanted to check out the snow. It was super cold. Mostly because of the wind. But, I braved the weather and took her out. She LOVED it.

She didn't have gloves but grabbed a lot of snow. She ran in it and tried to make snowballs. There was some ice on the hilly driveway and she loved sliding down it on her feet. It took everything I had to keep up with her. 

EG in front of the hotel with the Moose. The hotel's Moose, not our Moose. ;) There was a little pond that had frozen over. She had to slide on that ice. Unfortunately, around the edges of the pond was slush and she kind of fell in it. But, she didn't want to go in. She kept playing with wet feet. The girl is made of steel!! Such a zest for life that I pray she never looses. Restrains a little bit though!

Our hotel was within walking distance of the Stadium. In fact, had the Packers won the week before, we would have been surrounded by out of town fans at the hotel.

Loved the snow!

Loved the bear. The cold never affected her. Grandma was hoping she had shoes on. She did for the first day or so. Eventually she was running from the hotel to the car without them. What's a little frost bite??

The hotel is amazing and we love staying when we are there. EG loved the bear inside too.

We met G Pa and NK for dinner at a Mexican restaurant and enjoyed just getting caught up. We were looking forward to experiencing, in the next couple days, somethings that you can only do in the north. Stay tuned . . . 

Indiana Windmills

First, this is a disclaimer: I am pretty sure I took more pictures of the windmills in Indiana than I did of my kids.

The windmills just really blow my mind. I remember them from the last time we drove up through Indiana. Just looking at the miles and miles of them reminds me of some Syfy movie. They are massive! I was spinning a yarn as we were driving through them and the kids said I had quite the imagination. I envisioned them like aliens taking over the world. Sort of like transformers and if we watched them hard enough and long enough we would actually see them move. Almost like an army. Bending over to ransack a farm house.

To say I am intrigued by them would be an understatement. I really can't explain it. My pictures, with my phone, traveling at 79 miles an hour, just don't do the scene justice. I am not a big Syfy fan so my imagination is quite limited. But, I did entertain myself and the kids for the 15-20 or so minutes that we were able to see them. It definitely broke up the monotony of the Indiana farm countryside. . . .

Our Wisconsin Trip

This is how my oldest arrived in Wisconsin, Birkenstocks and capri leggings. Not sure what she was expecting. It didn't take long for her to find shoes that covered her whole foot and pants that covered her whole leg.

Hopefully in the next couple of days I will be posting pictures and thoughts of our adventures in the Frozen Tundra. It had not snowed until about a week before our travel date. And the weather, while we were there was unseasonably warm! It was a wonderful trip seeing the sights, visiting with an old friend and spending lots of time with Gpa and NK.

Stay tuned for my amateur pictures of the winter wonderland. And what Florida kids do in the snow . . . 

A Love of Reading

A major theory of my homeschooling is that if I teach my children to love reading and instill a love of learning, they will be students their whole lives. I will never, ever be able to teach my kids all there is to learn. It is impossible. But, for the most part, if they love to read and enjoy learning new things, I feel I have done my job. And at this point, with a 1st grader, 4th grader, 7th grader and a 9th grader, I have done that to varying degrees.

This week I had the privilege of continuing to teach my fourth child to read. As we struggled through a sound she has heard at least a dozen times before I had, what I thought to be, a profound thought. This isn't easy. And it really isn't intuitive. It is. But it isn't. The English language is fraught with exceptions to the rules. And crazy letter combinations. And as I got a little frustrated teaching some of those rules, I really understood how frustrating it can be for a little one to learn to read. Just when they have a sound figured out, a rule comes in. And then the rule changes.

As adults, for the most part, we take reading for granted. We just do it without much thought. I want each of my children to get there and to be honest, I am amazed when any child gets there. In my humble opinion, it is nothing short of a miracle when a child learns to read.

Having taught all four to read, I understand that some will struggle more than others. But, I feel I have done my job well, if there is a desire to read. And, for the most part, I think I have done that. We continue, almost every night, to read together. We have read some amazing stories. It is even cool now that all of us can read the same books but independently and I love sharing that with my kids. I have even seen my baby, beginning reader, reading books to the dog. I call that success . . .