FOTR

What is FOTR?  Find out more here -- http://www.familiesontheroad.com/

We are in the beginning stages of figuring out what we need to do for this to become a reality (and I love the idea of downsizing to a simpler life).  There is so much of this country that we haven't seen and this is the only way it will happen.  Not to mention we have friends/family who live all over and we'd get a chance to see them.  And, we homeschool, so it would be a great learning experience for the kids.  They weren't too sure of the idea when I first started talking about it (I grew up in a family that camped and I loved it!) and then we went looking at RVs.  That was an eye opener for them and now they are excited, too.  Even if we don't go on the road, we've decided we want an RV so the kids and I could at least visit different campgrounds while Kirk is working jobs that cause him to drive too many miles everyday (the joys of living in a rural area).  So, either way, it looks like an RV is in our future, provided we can save enough.

I have become friends on-line with another homeschool mom who's family lives this way, and we may be able to meet up with them this summer (Yeah!).  It will have to be in a tent but that's what we are used to anyway ;).  She keeps a blog of their travels if you want to check it out.

Off to daydream some more...

Education

"Whatever an education is, it should make you a unique individual, not a conformist; it should furnish you with an original spirit with which to tackle the big challenges; it should allow you to find values which will be your road map through life; it should make you spiritually rich, a person who loves whatever you are doing, wherever you are, whomever you are with; it should teach you what is important, how to live and how to die."  – John Taylor Gatto

What I've been up to

Wow, I haven't posted in a while.  Life has been so busy lately and I've only really had time online to read messages.  No time to reply much either.

Some highlights since my last post:

• dance class
• AWANA
• walking everywhere (my attempt to not gain weight this holiday season and save gas money)
• coffee with a friend
• parties
  
• our church's live nativity went really well and we had a larger cast this year, and therefore more costumes to be made, plus more sets along the drive-thru
• Christmas projects with family and friends (decorating, cards, gifts, baking, etc.)
• practice so we have singers for our Christmas eve service
• caroling with our homeschool co-op
• everyday things (library trips, grocery trips, trips to piano lessons, laundry, dishes, cooking, etc.)
• educational pursuits (helping the kids with these)
• planning for a New Year's Eve get together at church
  
• sadness over situations within my family (please pray)

And now, I really should go to bed because I have more to do tomorrow...

The Apprentice Puppeteer

Noelle is involved in puppet ministry this year and really enjoying herself.  She got her "hood" last night and has been having fun creeping us out, lol.  She put the thing on my head when I wasn't paying attention to her and, yes, you can see through it, but I would have liked a proper warning :-P

Evaluation Day

Thursday, May 28th

I really do want to be better organized for evals next year. However, this year I spent a lot of time putting things together over the last two weeks (ie. not much sleep). We are supposed to learn from our mistakes and I sure hope to learn from this one.

Anyway...

In the van we went, along with our paperwork and our DVD National Treasure 2 (yes, our van has a DVD player in it). I wasn't sure if trying to watch a DVD and riding in a vehicle wouldn't make one of the kids sick. They said they didn't have even a hint of queasiness, as they could see the road and watch at the same time. Obviously, all I could do was listen since I was driving but even just listening made the trip go faster.

We travel to Erie for the kids' evaluations because we really really like Myrilee and she came highly recommended :o) I think its normal to hope you've done enough to satisfy the state where homeschooling is concerned and when we left Myrilee's house I felt like a champion, lol. She lives on Lake Pleasant Road and we usually have a picnic at the lake on the way back home. This year it was pouring down rain so we waved at the lake as we drove by and decided to eat at McDonald's in Union City. Kyle and Noelle really enjoyed this as we haven't eaten at a McD's in a long long time. I thought thank goodness for dollar menus.

I slept well that night.

Memorial Day Weekend

Saturday the 23rd

I decided I needed to reclaim my front porch after doing the deck the day before. I hauled everything off, swept up all the leaves so Noelle could dump them over the creek bank, then put everything back in place and made room for our bicycles so they were ready for use.

Kirk cleaned out the fire ring so we could have a fire later in the evening. Then he and Kyle raked, mowed, weed whacked, and cleaned up the chairs for on the front porch. While the guys were doing that, Noelle and I took a planter back to the dollar store to get a smaller one for the deck table.

Dinner was eaten on the deck and it felt so good to have our *outside* room all set up. After clean up, Kirk made a fire and we enjoyed cherry mountain pies with a dollop of vanilla frosting. Mmmm...

Sunday the 24th

We decided to stay home from church and really spend time with just the family. Kirk ran to the store so I could make us all a big breakfast. Waffles, sausage, and eggs eaten on the deck. Beautiful morning!

Tom and Jeannette (Kirk's parents) took us out to lunch for an early 50th birthday present for Kirk. Then we headed over to the cemetery to place flowers on graves and walk around. We saw Great Aunt Jane there and talked with her a while. The kids and I also noticed that the cemetery was loaded with wild strawberry blossoms and began being careful where we stepped ;)

On the way home we stopped at my mom's house for a visit. My mom showed me the bluebird babies in the nest box and then bluebird parents began dive bombing us. I grabbed my camera and attempted to get a picture of one of them in the willow tree.

We were told to come back at 7 pm for a fire/cookout. It was a really nice evening!


Noelle, Larissa, and another little girl ran all over looking for critters and just having a blast together.

As everyone was getting ready to head home,
my mom decided we should all come back together and do it all over again Monday evening.

Monday the 25th

I needed to do some paperwork for the kids' homeschool evaluations on Thursday so Kyle and I stayed home while Kirk and Noelle went for a drive to look at trucks. The two of them also ate a late breakfast at a restaurant. Ky and I are home bodies for the most part so this was fine with us.

The fire/cookout was earlier than the night before. The great thing about the whole weekend was the beautiful weather! It usually rains (it did a little at the cemetery on Sunday but that was it) most of the weekend.

Maybe We Should Move to Wyoming

To homeschool all you have to submit is a letter of intent each school year. Hhmm.....

Evaluations

DONE!

Now to get back to the business of living life...........

Nope,

there won't be much coherent thought coming from me until the kids' evaluations are over on the 20th. I am not good at keeping track of things and spend too much time piecing everything together right before evaluations. Oh, and of course, the rest of life keeps going........

Clarification

I'm just keeping things simple like I've done for the last couple of years (just what Stephanie said). Then why was I considering that website? Kyle will be 14 this summer and I'm not sure if he will want to go to college or not, so I'm thinking he should have good transcripts. I would NOT show these to the school district. Yesterday, I found out that HSI doesn't really work for me. Blech! Maybe he'll just take some college courses online and then transfer the credits. Then again I don't know that he'll even want to go to college.

So what's your suggestions for the high school years as an unschooler? Should I just "wing it" if he ends up needing a transcript?

Paperwork

Its time again to put together all the paperwork for our homeschooling year. I detest this but think that Home Scool, Inc will make it much faster than in years past. I also like the fact that the kids "transcripts" will be kept somewhere other than my computer ;)

It would be wonderful if I kept up with the paperwork throughout the year but we're too busy living our lives. I'll do this as quickly as possible so I can get back to life. Its a rainy day today, so why not?