Getting Ready for FL

We leave in less than one month for FL. I booked our van rental today, less than $220 for a week's rental, using two discount coupons. Nice. I've also checked out where the closest whole food's store is and it's very close by and open until 10pm so we can get our groceries before we settle into the hotel for the night. I am looking forward to having some r&r and seeing the kids play at the beach. I love watching the kids play in the surf and sand.

Homeschooling has been a little slow this month. I have a harder time being indoors with the colder weather and it affects my thoughts heavily. We are making progress in reading and writing with Ethan, and most things for Avery that will help her start to read. They have both enjoyed many hours of coloring and drawing and creating in general. New songs are added every week, ones that are connected to the weather and seasons. We are starting our bird focus for the winter nature aspect of our education. Last we we learned about the american crow and how many caws is a hello and how long they usually are and where they live and what they eat. We went on an outside trek to see the crows and only saw one and heard another.

We are also getting ready for the yule season and will decorate outside with special lights and lawn decorations, much easier to do before any deep snow comes.

Ethan's guitar lessons are going quite well. He is enjoying his practicing and lessons. His TKD is going really well, and he has improved greatly in balance, coordination, and confidence. I enjoy watching him and Ryan.

Avery would like to take dance lessons and if they offer any in the winter comm ed we'll take them. I'm hoping to get her into more comm ed classes so we can do something during the winter together, just she and I. Ethan too of course but she and I could use some alone time. She is the middle child after all and I am aware of her needs and she does get very needy at times, who doesn't.

We are not doing anything with the many paths homeschool co-op this fall. Maybe over the winter. I will have an 8 week yoga class set for january into march at the studio for kids. I hope we get someone coming. Fridays at 10am starting mid-January.

We are reading about beaches and aquatic life this month in science. We are learning all about what we might see and enjoy in FL. I am quite excited for our upcoming vacation.

Orlando Thoughts

Our Orlando trip is coming up. We are staying at our timeshare in Orlando and are NOT going anywhere near Disney World...blech.

We would like to visit-
The Orlando Science Center
The Atlantic Ocean
The Gulf Coast

We are interested in doing a tour on either coast and will look into chartered tours with an eco-minded focus.

We are staying in a fully equipped hotel/apartment that will have wonderful accommodations for the week, including a bed for each of the older kids, a full kitchen, a generous soaking tub and laundry. We can pack light because we will be staying at one location, rather than 3 as was the case in TX.

Bye Bye October

Our October was filled with coughs, sore throats, headaches, and less productivity that I would have liked.

We are making progress with our reading. Ethan enjoyed reading to himself and I often find him reading during a quiet moment or to Avery.

Avery enjoys making books by stapling together a bunch of paper and writing on each page. She insisted that we add her latest book to our bookshelf. I greatly agree.

We have our flights booked for Orlando as well as our hotel. We will be leaving for Orlando in December. Now we need to start learning about the beaches and continue learning about aquatic life in our science kits.

Thursday and Friday of the past week we had a rummage sale at the studio, and my kids joined me for the better part of each day. During that time we got interviewed by lakeland TV about the presidential cookie poll happening at our bakery. We also drew on the sidewalk in front of my studio, and earned a little money. Ethan was very excited about earning money and made a money cup in which he asked people to put their payment into for the sale items. It was cute but annoying. Avery did the same. They liked to see people coming in and talk to them. By the second day they were tired, out of sorts, but more able to focus on their drawings and sidewalk art. Nahni didn't want to be there at all. I consider it a good experience in salesmanship and am glad we were able to have the sale.

Last week we learned about timelines in math. We learned how to create a timeline to show what we did for schooling and how long each subject took to learn. Ethan caught on immediately and Avery did her best.

I intend to get back on track in Novemeber. No more colds, sore throats, injuries, or rummage sales.

When we homeschool, our routine is something like this-
Circle Song- Round and Round (everyone participates in it)
Morning Movement- Yoga, dancing, a walk outside, whatever we feel like
Monday- Send a letter to Seth, Reading, Nature Walk and Journal, Music (we learn at least one new song weekly and repeat all our whole list of songs we've learned), Avery ECFE
Tuesday- Math, Reading, Art, Weekly Outing, Ethan Tae Kwon Do
Wednesday- Science, Reading, American Sign Language (we watch our video and learn a few new signs in our signing book (sentences like "My name is...") Ethan Music Lesson, Workbooks.
Thursday- Social Studies, Geography, Calendars when we change them, History, Reading, Avery ECFE, Ethan Tae Kwon Do
Friday- Reading, Art, Spanish, Book Journal

We read every day as a group and Ethan reads individually. We do art most days. We have workbooks to use and we often do them more than once a week.