Oct. 12, 2006
San Jose
Posted in Costa Rica
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We have arrived. The craziness of the move and the preparations are mainly behind us. Yesterday we flew to San Jose. Took a taxi to the hotel (www.hotelsantothomas.com). The kids thought it was funny that they had to share a seat belt in the car. There were 4 seats and 5 people. There just wasn't much other choice. We got a chance to walk around downtown a bit. I guess I am a bit tired because I am not able to put into words what the day was like. I have travelled a lot but not with a 5 year old boy. The sidewalks are narrow, and the traffic heavy, and he is completely oblivious to his surroundings. It caused me to be a bit nervous on our walk around town. He wanted to run and I just didn't think it was a wise idea. I hope that as we get out of the city his energy will be easier to handle. We have found the people to be nice here. When we lost our bearings and could not figure out where our hotel was, the shop worker walked us a good block to show us where our hotel was. (The guide books are really true - the streets are not labelled. Occasionally I will see a sign but not every street/avenue is so labelled.) We had expected the food to be cheaper here. Granted if you eat rice and beans it is, but my family is eating meat since access to that will be limited when we get to Punta Mona. It has rained both days in the afternoon. Very hard rains. And the sun does go down at 6:30ish and rises at 6:30ish. Feels very weird to me. |
Aug. 30, 2006
Family Sabbatical in Costa Rica
Posted in Costa Rica
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Our family is taking a sabbatical to a remote area of Costa Rica for 6 months. I will continue to homeschool my kids, as well as another boy age 5 and help with the care for a 2 year old. My husband has always thought that our kids are missing out on something because they don't have the chance to grow up in an environment like he did. He grew up in the rainforests of Southern Africa - his father was building the roads so it was very wild. This adventure will give all of us a chance to experience that mindset. Making do with what is available, rather than heading to the nearest store to buy things. Eating what the community can grow and harvest rather than getting our produce at the grocery store that has been shipped across the country. Luckily we will have internet access on our adventure. I plan to update this blog regularly to give my friends and family an idea of what is happening. My kids will each have a page where I will type what they dictate to me. We leave the country Oct 11. We will arrive at our destination Oct 12 or 13. In the meantime, we are packing up our possession, and tying up loose ends. I probably won't have much of a chance to blog. Emptying out the food cache is almost a full time job. |
Aug. 30, 2006
Daughter's place
Posted in CP
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This is a place where my daughter, CP, can record her adventures in Costa Rica. |
Aug. 1, 2006
mailbox cooking
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Today my daughter noticed that the inside of the mailbox was extremely warm. For some reason, I suggested that we put a cup of water in the mailbox and measure how warm the water got. We took the temperature of the water inside and it was 80deg F. My daughter put the cup in the mailbox and about 1/2 hour later the temperature of the water was 110deg F. We compared the water with hot tap water and discovered that they were pretty close to the same. Next we started to think of things that we could cook in the mailbox. Smores to mind first because I knew that the chocolate would melt easily. However we were missing most of those ingredients. So we settled on a white chocolate chip on top of a cookie. My daughter is going out to the mailbox right now to check on the experiment. After 5 minutes the top of the chip is melted and the bottom is still solid. (These were in the freezer so it may take longer than if at room temperature.) The chip did melt and the experiment was very yummy. |
May. 5, 2006
Relay For Life
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I am participating in our local American
Cancer Society Relay For Life. If you feel so inspired, here is
my donation webpage link. https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=137747&supId=129196284 |
May. 5, 2006
And she learned nothing!
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Tonight on the phone my husband asked my
daughter what she had learned this week in homeschooling. Her
answer was nothing. WHAT!??? So I spent all that time for
her to think we did nothing! I started to ask her some questions about
some of the activites we did. What about those birds that fell
out of the nest? Yes, and they must have been robins because they
make nests out of mud and the rain must have washed away the
nest. The mockingbird babies? They have multiple nests and
their nests are close to the ground and the babies run around on the
ground while the moms still feed them. Next she was able to do a narration of Tree in the Trail. At this point she started to giggle and get red because she realized that she really had learned quite a bit. I guess I am going to have to teach my husband how to ask better questions :-) |
May. 3, 2006
Such peace
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I didn't expect to find so much peace in
this homeschooling journey. All of us enjoy staying home in the
morning and venturing out later in the day. I didn't know that it
could feel so natural. Now if only I can bring myself to go to
bed at a decent time!!! Good night! 
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May. 2, 2006
sing, spell, read and write
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I bought this curriculum to teach both my
kids how to spell, read and write. I thought the singing would be
a fun way to get them to do this. This was a decision I made
before I discovered Charlotte Mason and Ambleside Online. It was
my first homeschooling decision at all, to be honest. I felt that
I could do this hs thing if I just had something to follow. The program is working okay for my daughter. We don't use the singing because we have found that the songs are too hard to distinquish the phonics sounds. The spelling lists and the reader books are a good combo for her level of reading right now. I have also seen some progress with handwriting. I have found that I really don't like it for my son. The first book teaches him letters but the activities repeat too much. Not in a teaching a lesson kind of a way, but in a "I can't think of anything more creative" type of way. It bores me too, I must admit. I expected a lot more out of this program for him. In truth, I am not sure how to handle my son and hs. He is an energetic child who doesn't like "work". We are in week 8 of our homeschooling journey. I have made some realizations, like mornings are a precious time to work. I have switched my exercise routine to evenings as a result. I am not sure if we are too much alike so that I can't work with his flightiness, or if he is more energetic than I can understand. |
May. 2, 2006
cooking challenges and exercise
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I had come upstairs to research why the
cottage cheese in my Mac N Cheese formed globs instead of the nice
creamy sauce I envisioned. I came across a blog site of someone,
and hey, I remember I had a blog site too. Since I have not
discovered the cause of my cheese challenge, I decided to write to no
one in particular about it. That is better than watching my
daughter eat it one tiny nibble at a time. It tastes fine, but
she is the queen of texture pickiness. When I told her to eat it in a
couple of big bites, she looked about to cry. I remember the Ben
Franklin quote we had read today "Every little makes a mickle."
So I will let her make her mickle on her own and stay far away. Today I have decided to take up a new form of exercise. Something I hate to do, but I am desperate. My bum is continuing to grow despite my 3 days of Jazzercise. I will take up a running program. I found a good website called Running for Women. Today will be my first day of this program. Of course I must modify it. I am addicted to my gadgets. I have a heart rate monitor, so I will use that to push me into my heart rate zone, without going to high. The program has me running 1 minute, and walking for 5...However my watch only has one timer, and I know that I will get a better workout if I am not looking at my watch the whole time. So I will run for 5 and walk for 5 for 40 minutes. I think the word run is a misnomer. I can't imagine that I will be running full out, but probably doing a jog. At first the day was rainy and I thought that this would cancel out my run. I will run in the rain but not a storm. However the sun has come out so I believe I can do my run while the kids are in karate. I will add another gadget to my running array - an MP3 player. I might as well be inspired by music while I exercise. Time to get ready for my afternoon. |
Apr. 7, 2006
Mega-size meltdowns
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I have been amazed at my skill to
produce mega-sized meltdowns in my children. I managed to have
both kids crying at the same time - it had to do with the computer game
they were playing and me being on the phone. Anyway, I had
provoked a meltdown of both. (This homeschooling is giving me
many more opportunities to do so.) As my son was headbutting me,
I thought of a book a friend loaned me - Put Your Mother on the Ceiling
(I think is the title - I have magically misplaced it since
then!). So I opened it and started reading the chapter called
"Mother." An imagination game all about Mother, which I thought
to be appropriate since I was the source of their distress. The first
part of it was dressing Mother. Oh goodness, both children
started off with a black dress, shoes and hat. I was able to not
take it personally, and just realized that they were both mad. We got
to change the color of the dress and I think Mother ended up with
green. Anyway, by the end of the chapter, both kids had stopped sobbing
and were in much better moods. I was so amazed that it
worked! |
Apr. 1, 2006
the feminist homeschooler
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If someone had told me at Christmas time
that I would be home educating my kids, I would have thought them
crazy. For goodness sakes, I worked in the Women's Studies office
in college! I promoted Women in Science and even flew to DC to
take part in a AWIS conference back then. When I met my husband,
I told him I was never going to get married or have kids.
Obviously life changes our ideals, doesn't it? My mother-in-law graciously took my kids for an overnight and as I was rearranging my family room to homeschool, it came to me that I really enjoy my new found purpose. I have dabbled in home-based businesses, with my latest pursuit as a childbirth educator. These pursuits led me to homeschooling in some bizarre ways. One little happenstance meeting of someone can change the direction of a life, and that is so cool. I am still having a hard time getting my brain around my feminist ways and my choice to stay home with my kids. My daughter has dreams of being President, and while I want to honor her ambitions, I would also hate to see her miss out on this wonderful time with her own children. I suppose the best I can do is to give her the education that would make her President material, and when the time comes for her to make choices about her future, her path will be clear. |
Mar. 29, 2006
The Beginning
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Have I decided to create a blog just to
ignore the housework? Or is it because I would rather "talk" to outer
space than interact with my children anymore today? We are in week 3 of our home education journey. From the age of 3, my daughter has been in Montessori school. She is now getting close to 7. My son started a mother's day out program at 18 months, and had attended pre-school almost to the age of 5. I am out of the habit of doing the mom thing during the day. Our first two weeks were spent away from our home - it was so much easier. No mail to deal with, or the unfinished projects, or the basic home care issues. However being at home has its advantages - neighborhood friends, my own vehicle, and ample space for two children to play. My biggest challenge is figuring out how to balance the interests of two very different children, not to mention me! I chose the Ambleside Online curriculum because I felt it would be the best balance for all. I forgot to figure in the fact that my son is rebelling against the world and all work is bad. I suppose on Week 3, all cannot be perfect, nor will it ever be. |