Our family arrived safely in Las Vegas on the 16th of February. We have been busy exploring and slowly unpacking since we arrived, and of course, spending some time with Lonnie. We all missed him SO much after 12 weeks apart.
We are back into something of a homeschool groove after weeks of disruption and leaning on Time4Learning for most of our academics. It feels great to be back to a Charlotte Mason way of doing things again with all of our beloved books.
I will hope to have pictures of some of our wanderings up soon, and updates about what we are doing for school. I have some time to blog again, hooray! :-)
Although I am not yet living in Nevada, I am really excited about my homeschooling prospects there. Nevada is very much a libertarian/freedom-oriented state. Basically, it’s right up my alley!
As far as homeschooling goes, I submit an intent to homeschool to the local school district…and that’s it. I can choose to have the kids participate in standardized tests, but it’s not required. I don’t have to refile the intent every year like I do in Maryland. I also don’t have to submit to reviews anymore. WOO HOO!
The real bonus to living in such a homeschool friendly state is the ability for the kids to be dually enrolled in activities at the public schools. Cole wants to play drums, and now he can join the local public school band class. How awesome is that? They can be enrolled in up to three classes/activities at the local school each semester. They can take PE, play on sports teams, participate in music, art, or whatever interest they may have. Other states do this too (and receive partial funding, I might add), but Maryland is a very unfriendly state to homeschooling. Their loss, I guess.
It’s a wonderful blend of educational freedom – in my opinion – and it offers a whole new world of opportunities for my kids. And the schools get extra money. It’s win-win!
I really haven’t written a single post in over a month? I don’t have any excuses, I just have nothing to say, and too much to do. I have been a single mom for just over two months now, and while it is hard, it also has certain advantages. I am not suffering terribly, I just don’t have time to blog. No biggie. I do seem to have time to gorge myself on HGTV. I think I might be a tad bit excited about having my own space again. :-)
As far as the big move goes, my plan is to send the minivan and the storage cubes full of stuff out on the 11th of February, and then fly out with the kids on the 16th. Hopefully the car and the stuff will arrive shortly after we do. Well, that’s the plan, anyway.
That departure date means I will miss another holiday with my hubby, but we don’t do much for Valentine’s day anyway. I am not a big fan of holidays created by retailers to celebrate a love that I choose to celebrate all year. Besides, the 19th of February is our 11th wedding anniversary and I am excited to be reunited with him for that!
We did originally plan to drive, but I think flying will be better for everyone. I assume the kids would like to make it to Vegas alive. Oh! And we should have a house nailed down by this weekend and I am excited to know exactly where I will be living. It will be a rental for the next year, but we hope to buy in early 2011 once we know what areas and neighborhoods are desirable in Las Vegas, and get our ducks all in a row.
I am still schooling the kids, but relying a lot more on time4learning to fill in gaps and free up time for me to clean and pack. We also just passed ourt final review for the state of Maryland. Yipee!
I am SO proud of how well Cole did with this story. It was long, so we broke it up over three days, and the language was very difficult. I edited out the “um” sounds, but otherwise, this is all him. I kept the errors and mixed up tenses as they are, but I used brackets [ ] to fill in names where he used too many pronouns. Still, my spell checker in Word said this was a 4.8 grade level. His verbal “writing” has really taken a huge leap in the last few months, and that is beginning to translate to the page. :-)
Perseus
Acrisius found out his daughter would have a baby boy and that the baby was going to kill him. Then Acrisius put Danae in a closet hoping that no one would go near her. But, she had a baby anyway. King Acrisius was still very worried and he put Danae and her baby at sea. She started crying and singing a song to the baby. Then they see cliffs and she cries for help. Then Dictys pulls her out onto a rock and she said she would be his servant and live in his house. Dictys said, “Come be my daughter, and your son will be my grandson.”
Perseus grows up and sees a woman who is taller than any man is, and her gray eyes were shining and bright. Her name is Athena and she told him he would slay Medusa who was the mother of all monsters. Athena wants him to chop off Medusa’s head. He has to find the three gray sisters and they share one eye and one tooth, which is disgusting.
This post is a little late, I know. But better late than never, right?
A couple weeks ago I taught a two-part Van Gogh class for our co-op group. (Have I mentioned how much I will miss them? *sniffles*) It was a very fun class and I ended up finishing two projects of my own. We talked about Van Gogh and then the kids created their own Van Gogh inspired art with air-dry clay. We used the clay to create texture, rather than gobs of paint. In week 2, we did end up painting our creations. The idea came from Art Projects for Kids. Duh.
I think the kids made beautiful and interesting pieces! I was very proud. :-)
So, the kids and I were so enamored with skating, that I stopped by Kmart on the way home from our Black Friday exploits and bought a pair of rollerblades (which were cheaper than an hour long session of ice skating!). I wanted regular skates, but none of the stores seem to carry them in adult sizes. Well, Kmart and Target don’t, anyway. I still don’t like rollerblades, but they will do for now.
Anyway, we made a date to go rollerskating all together this afternoon. First, we went to the top level of the Target parking garage. No one ever parks there, and it seemed like the perfect place to have a little skate fest. Wrong. Although it was empty and essentially debris-free, they were very lazy in the way they poured the concrete and it was just too rough. We skated for about 45 minutes before deciding to try a different location.
So, we headed to Rockville High School. The parking lot was empty and since it’s fairly new construction, it was really smooth. However, there is a big sign hanging on the building that says no skating is allowed, and we were there all of 10 minutes before a police cruiser pulled in. *sigh*
Our third attempt was the black top behind Cole’s old elementary school. It was nice and smooth (other than some dangerous wood chips), so we ended up skating there for about an hour. The girls got tired, but they just took off their skates and played on the playground. We all agreed that skating would be a regular weekend activity. It was so nice to spend the day out of the house and being active. The kids were also very confident on their skates after ice skating on Friday. :-)
I think next weekend, in addition to some skating, we will head down for a hike at Great Falls park. It’s another “must see” place on my DC list.
No, I did not go shopping on Black Friday, and I never do. This means you won’t be hearing about my amazing deals. LOL!
I do have a lot of time to fill with NOT thinking about my husband who has started his new job 2000+ miles away. (He totally loves it, by the way.)
Yesterday, I just knew we had to get out of the house, so I looked up events and activities in the area and decided on a tree lighting ceremony down at the National Harbour. It’s one place we have never been, and there were fireworks and an ice skating rink. The Gaylord Hotel is A-MAZING! I have never seen anything like it, so the trip was worth it for that alone.
We went ice skating (of course) and ended up having a fantastic time! It was the first time any of us had been ice skating. I used to be an avid roller skater back in the day (which means about 18 years ago, of course), but I was surprised that I was able to skate without falling on my butt. The kids also did really well, and in spite of many falls, they continued to get right back up and keep going. I was a proud mama!
Zoey was really brave. She stayed pretty close to the wall, but she was definitely going for it on her own and wouldn’t even hold my hand. She decided to strike a pose for me here.
Sydni always tries for a model pose…LOL! She fell more than anyone, but continued to get up over and over and over again. By the time our session was up, she was going around the circle with the experienced skaters and doing so well!
Cole skated about half a lap before he decided to try and skate with the big dogs. He fell a lot too, but he was doing fantastic by half-way through the session. My kids rock!
After skating we went down for the tree lighting ceremony, but it was so windy we ended up seeking hot chocolate at Mayorga Coffee.
TWENTY minutes later, we had hot beverages and walked back down by the marina again.
I would say this is a new Black Friday tradition, but we will have to find something similar in Las Vegas for next year. Woo hoo!
I am going to copy David Letterman this week and count down the top 10 reasons for enjoying time away from my husband. I miss him already, so I thought maybe this list would help me focus on the “positives.” :-P
10. Lots of space in the bed. I don’t have to worry about sticking my knee in his back, or getting an elbow in the face.
9. Cleaner air. I am sure I don’t really need to explain this one, do I?
8. Having the car 24/7. Some of you know this, but I used to wake up every day of the week and drop him off at the Metro, or go without the car. I am looking forward to the break!
7. Less cooking. The kids are happy to eat cereal and ramen. This means I get more nights off.
6. Early homework submission. I will be bored, so my assignments will be finished extra early.
5. Binging on sappy, romantic chic flicks.
4. Reading in peace. There will no one trying to get my attention because he is being ignored while my nose is in a book.
3. Less laundry!
2. No Car Talk. He drives me nuts by constantly asking me what I think about this car, or to make a list of dream cars, or driving by car dealerships.
1. Full ownership of the “Scepter of Power,” otherwise known as the remote control. I can watch whatever I want, whenever I want. This means a LOT less “Stargate.” ;-)
Wow, I really haven’t blogged all week. The days have slipped by in a haze of painting, cleaning, a little packing, and getting ready to say goodbye.
Lonnie left this afternoon for Vegas and I don’t anticipate seeing him again until late January, at the earliest. I didn’t realize until I was driving away from the airport how much I depend on him, for SO many things. I mean I know that I do depend on him, but my heart finally caught up with my brain as we drove up 495.
But I’m ok.
I’m ok because there is someone else who I depend on, and He can see me through anything. He has been there with me for every faltering step of the mess that is my life. He was there when I was angry, and when I was headed in the opposite direction, running as fast as I could. He was patiently waiting. He always has been. He always will be.
Lord, You are good and Your mercy endureth forever. I worship You for who You are!
