Kalamazoo and Chicago

On Friday morning our day began with a tour of the Ford Rouge Factory where they make F-150 trucks. I have toured other automotive plants, but it was a first for Paul and the kids. The previous day we rarely needed to wear our masks, but we had to wear them on the bus ride to and from the factory and also during the tour. After the tour we had lunch at Subway before we drove two hours to the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo, Michigan. We spent a little over two hours at the museum. It was very hard to pull Paul away. He loved hearing about the airplanes. We watched one short movie about going to the moon, and the kids also enjoyed riding a few indoor rides. They were disappointed that the flight simulators and such were closed due to COVID, but we didn't have to wear masks. It was a very worthwhile stop on our way to Chicago, especially as we got in free with our ASTC membership. It took us 2.5 hours to drive to my sister's home in Chicago from Kalamazoo, but it seemed like only 1.5 hours because we moved from EST to CST. 

During our twenty-five day trip we plan to drive through twenty-five states. Five of the states are ones the kids have already done something in before (OH, WV, IL, KY, and PA), and Indiana is the only state that we plan to drive through this trip without actually doing anything in the state. We had all already done at least one thing in Indiana in the past. I actually lived in Indiana during the summer in 1993. The kids should be adding nineteen states to their life list during this trip. So far they've added one state - Michigan. The kids were naturally very excited to see their cousins. We arrived at their home a little after 5:30pm last night. Drayton made a delicious dinner of grilled chicken, watermelon, potatoes, and corn bread, which we ate about 30 minutes after we arrived. Wendy was playing her violin at a wedding. She joined us when she came home. I let the kids stay up past their usual bedtimes (according to what time it was EST) to help them adjust to CST as in just a couple of days we'll be in MST. We're never going to be in PST, but Arizona doesn't follow DST so it will seem as if we are in PST when we're in that state whenever we're not on tribal land as the Native Americans do follow DST. 

This morning Drayton made a delicious breakfast of eggs, bacon, tater tots, and waffles. We left the house around 8:45 to drive to the Shedd Aquarium where we spent about four hours. We ate our packed lunches in the aquarium. We didn't see an octopus, but we saw many different fish as well as sea lions, dolphins, otters, beluga whales, penguins, jellyfish, seahorses, eels, etc. During the afternoon the kids played at their home, and Rachel also attended a ballet class. Wendy had another wedding gig this afternoon. This is Paul's second time being in Chicago in his life. The first time was in December 2001 when he and I were here for New Year's Eve after attending a wedding of one of my cousins and visiting my maternal grandma in Indiana. Speaking of twenty years later, today is the 20th anniversary of 9/11. When the kids and I were in Chicago in the spring of 2017, we went to a zoo, the Museum of Science and Industry, Children's Museum, Field Museum, Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, and the Adler Planetarium. Since this trip was much shorter and the most important thing for the kids is just spending time with their cousins, we only went to Shedd Aquarium. The next time we come to Chicago I'd like to take them to the Pullman Memorial (a very small National Park site here in the city), the Navy Pier, and the Art Institute. The Field Museum and Planetarium are very close to the Aquarium, but very little of the Planetarium is open at the moment, and my kids aren't really fans of natural history museums. For dinner tonight we're going to have Chicago deep dish pizza from Pizza Capri. Paul hasn't had that in almost 20 years as we went to Gino's East in 2001. 

There are only 3 nights of the 24 nights on this trip that Paul and I will be sharing a bed. Last night and tonight are two of the three. There is one night on the trip in Utah when we'll all spend the night in one room as the room has two queen beds plus a sofa bed. I was able to cancel Paul's dad's room for that night. Wendy and Drayton each drove one of their two vehicles to the aquarium today, which means today is the only day on our trip that our van will not be driven at all. We'll make up for it tomorrow, as we plan to drive for 9 hours altogether. Nights 1-2 at a hotel in Dearborn, MI and nights 3-4 at my sister's home in Chicago are the only two times on this trip that we'll stay two nights in the same place. The rest of the trip we will only spend one night in each hotel.

Their landlord's dog (whom Susie is paid to walk) is also named Milo!

Henry Ford

This morning we arrived at Greenfield Village at 9:30. We didn't see every self-guided building, but we went to all the ones that were staffed. In the village some of the buildings that Ford had recreated in the Village were ones we had seen in person such as Edison's lab at Menlo Park and the Wright Brother's cycle shop. There were various rides you could pay extra to ride such as a train ride, carry-all pulled by horses, carousel, and Model-T. We had planned to visit this site in the spring in 2020 before we knew the impact COVID was going to have on our lives. Prior to COVID you could buy a ride ticket that covered all of the rides. That isn't the case right now. We opted to only pay for rides on the Model T, which was a splurge as it cost $40 for the five of us to have one ride on them, but it was the highlight of our day. After spending about 5 hours at the site, we then walked to the Henry Ford Museum, where we spent the following 2.5 hours. Again, we didn't have time to look at everything in the museum, but we saw a majority of the displays and watched a short (but very well done) movie about car racing. The biggest disappointment was that we could see some nice hands-on things in the museum that were not

allowed to be used due to COVID. 

We only drove about 10 miles total today, but we were on our feet for over 7 hours straight. We packed food and ate it at Greenfield Village near the playground. After we left the museum, we drove to Bob Evans for dinner. We are using gift cards for almost all our dinners on this trip, and tonight we also used a gift card for ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery. I was the only one in our family who had ever been in a Cold Stone Creamery before. Paul just got a plain old vanilla milkshake, but the rest of us got ice cream with mix-ins. After we got back to the hotel, the kids and Paul went for a swim. Aside from the disappointing breakfast this morning, I think we all had a good day! I really liked my salad at Bob Evans that had pecans and cranberries on it. Yum! We are thankful for men like Henry Ford and Thomas Edison who had a very significant impact on life for many people around the world. 

Ford's very first vehicle (1896) called the Quadricycle

Garfield and River Raisin

Yesterday morning we left our home at 5:30am. The kids and Paul slept a little in the van while I drove. Then we alternated between listening to an audiobook and the kids having screen time (iPad or Switch). We finished Men of Iron by Howard Pyle first and then began River Secrets by Shannon Hale. During the vacation we are trying to see a license plate from every state. Nadia is keeping track. We saw around 20 different states yesterday plus Ontario. We arrived at the home of James Garfield at 10:00am. We had a 45 minute tour of his home and the kids earned a Junior Ranger badge. A little after 12pm we left and drove about 40 minutes to Cuyahoga National Park. We didn't have time to explore the park. We ate our packed lunch at a picnic table there. We picked up Junior Ranger booklets, but the kids didn't have time to complete them there. If they choose, they can finish them later and we can return them by mail. Our third stop was the River Raisin National Battlefield. We watched two movies, and the kids each earned a Junior Ranger badge. The have recently opened a new Visitor Center. Unfortunately the exhibits weren't open yet. The Ranger was very nice and gave our family a lot of information about the battle since the exhibits weren't accessible. The tour at Garfield usually costs $10 per person for those over the age of 16, but because Oliver is in 4th grade, it was free for our family. The other two sites are free for everyone, but one of the movies cost money to see at River Raisin. It was only $9 for our whole family to see it. After River Raisin we had dinner at Red Robin, which is a favorite place for the kids. Finally, we checked in at a Comfort Inn and Suites. The jacuzzi tub wasn't open, but the indoor swimming pool was. The kids swam until about 9pm. Usually we share one hotel room, but because Pop Pop had been planning to join us, he had paid for one hotel room most of the nights of our trip. Each room has 2 queen size beds. Paul and the boys were in one room, and Nadia and I were in the other room. Ian and Oliver shared a bed, and the rest of us each had our own bed. Yesterday we drove a total of 517.4 miles. Today we will only have very short drives (less than 15 minutes) as we're staying at a hotel near the Henry Ford sites.

As for COVID thus far, we have to wear masks inside all National Parks, but so far that was the only time we had to wear masks. We were expecting a breakfast buffet this morning, but instead all they had were packages of small donuts, packages of muffins, apples, and coffee. Since we are spending two nights here, we're planning on eating food we brought for home for breakfast tomorrow. Nadia and I would rather have oatmeal than what we had last night. There are microwaves in our room, and I brought some bowls, spoons, and oatmeal from home just in case a hotel didn't serve any breakfast. As we were driving  yesterday morning, it hit me that we only packed the kids' pillows. We need 5 pillows for our night in a cabin in Grand Teton. We'll have to decide between now and then whether to buy two pillows OR take a chance that two pillows will be available to rent that night (they can't be reserved ahead of time). Oliver forgot to pack his swimming goggles. The only other thing we realized we forgot to pack so far was extra charging cables for the van. 

A praise would be that Yvonne and her family arrived in Quito on Tuesday afternoon. We are praying for Margie to get good results from her upcoming CT scan. She will be undergoing chemo and radiation for her breast cancer. We are also praying that her reaction to the chemo will be much better than it was earlier this year. We are also praying for Paul's business because the two guys who were supposed to start work on Tuesday ended up choosing a different job. They are very short handed. Finally, we are praying that Milo won't be too much of a hassle for the family who have him for the next 24 days. Here's a picture of him snuggling with me from Tuesday morning while we were homeschooling. I do love him even though he really, really, really drives me crazy sometimes (such as when he ate one of our Civil War kepi hats a few days ago that we planned to take on the trip or when he destroyed Ian's glasses). I do miss the guy even though some of his behaviors make me want to scream. 

Thankful Tuesday

 

1. Our basement stayed dry last week during the rain from Ida. 

2. The kids played arcade games and jumped on the trampolines at Kaos with Micah and Isaiah last Thursday. Unfortunately due to the shortage of employees they weren't able to play laser tag. I enjoyed being able to chat with Tab, and we were able to give Micah and Isaiah the pottery they had painted about a month ago as it had been fired in the kiln. 

3. We stayed at home sweet home on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Monday. The only place we went on Sunday was to church in the morning. It's been nice to have several days with little or no driving. Because it was "promotion Sunday" for the kids moving up to a different class, we all received free Rita's ice. Oliver chose cotton candy, Ian chose root beer, Nadia chose blue raspberry, I chose Georgia peach, and Paul didn't want any. Although it was a little chilly that morning to be eating ice, it was a yummy treat!

4. The kids are excited about their first classes at co-op this afternoon. Nadia is already talking about next year at the co-op. I'm definitely ready to contemplate whether we'll do it next year or not, but hopefully the kids will have a good semester. Oliver is taking bells, baking, and YWAM (biographies), and he has free time for one period. Nadia is taking home economics, painting, a physical education elective, and drama. Ian is taking painting, a physical education elective, and drama with Nadia, and he has one free period. I am the aide for the 3rd-5th grade class and am supervising a study hall, and I have the same free period that Oliver has. I am thankful that these opportunities are out there.

5. Paul worked a shorter day yesterday because of Labor Day, which meant the five of us had dinner together!

6. I've enjoyed the cooler weather the last several days, which has meant I've taken some walks with Milo.

7. Yesterday we completed our sixth day of school in terms of days with our textbooks. It was day 14 of 180 for the school year. We have gotten off to a pretty good start. Yes, I see evidence of the "summer slide" especially with Oliver in spelling and math. He made a lot of progress this summer with multiplying and dividing but grew rusty with adding and subtracting. Oliver is enjoying learning to play the piano, Nadia is proud of her progress on the flute, and Ian really likes using Teaching Textbooks Math 7 for his sixth grade math. Nadia and Ian have begun working on learning Javascript. We memorized the first six verses of James chapter 1 and will learn verse 7 today. They all seem to be enjoying writing and drawing in their copy of the Book of Centuries. 

8. We're all very excited about our trip that starts bright and early tomorrow morning! We're taking Milo to the dog sitter's house this evening. We did most of our packing yesterday and plan to finish and load up the van before we go to bed tonight. I'm very thankful we have the opportunity to travel around the USA for the next 25 days! It's definitely going to be very different from every other vacation we've gone on together over the past 20 years, hopefully it will be a good one! Praying that COVID won't cause TOO many bumps in the road during our travels. Hoping that the hotel pools will be open, the hotels that say they offer breakfast really will offer breakfast, etc. We have had experience rolling with the punches over the past 18 months so hopefully we can adapt easily if we do experience some COVID related curve balls along the way.

9. I made a small batch of applesauce last night using apples from our tree. After all the work we've done hauling away hundreds of pounds of apples and tree branches over the past month, it's nice to receive SOME positive benefit from our tree. Thankfully Paul brought home a truck on Friday night and we were able to clear away a lot which meant I was able to mow the whole lawn this past weekend.

The dog ate...

 

Prior to owning a dog, I had no idea how true it could be if a child said, "the dog ate my homework." Dogs eat just about anything, and paper products are definitely high on Milo's list. I've taken notes on a piece of paper, made the mistake of leaving it on the couch (which wasn't a problem for most of my life), and then had to write everything down again because Milo ate the paper. This week he destroyed one book. Thankfully it was a Magic Tree House book we owned that I got very inexpensively, and Oliver had just finished reading it. At first I was going to try to salvage it, and then decided to just toss it to the recycling bin. Some of the things he's chewed on cost a lot more to repair or replace than a paperback book such as our kitchen table chairs, couch cushions, and couch pillows. As much as I love him, there are times I regret the fact we bought a puppy because of all the damage he's done to our home and belongings. The most recent moment I felt that way was when he destroyed Ian's eyeglasses. Ian took them off because he wanted me to clean them. He set them on the armrest of a couch. Milo got ahold of them and was in the process of chewing them to bits when we extricated a what was left of the eyeglasses from Milo's mouth. Ian's first pair of glasses never were broken. He got a new pair when he outgrew the first one and also needed a new prescription. We've replaced the second pair multiple times. The pair that Milo destroyed I had just purchased at the end of May. I certainly don't want to be buying Ian a new pair of glasses every three months!! For now he's using a previous pair that we taped together. He's only using them when he's reading. I assume the new pair will arrive while we're on vacation. He'll have to wait a month to receive the new glasses. Hopefully these will last a lot longer. As much as Milo makes me want to scream at times, I will miss him while we're on vacation. I did tell the dog sitters about what happened with Ian's glasses as I want to be sure they keep Milo in his crate when they're not supervising him because I don't want him to destroy anything in their home!

The temperatures dropped this week. Although the hot temperatures were good for swimming outdoors last week, in general I love it when the temps are in the 70's. Although I accomplished many of the things I wanted to this summer, I didn't take regular walks with Milo as I had hoped that I would. This week I've started taking Milo for some walks. He loves it! Oliver has joined me for some of them. I know we'll be getting more exercise on our vacation, but I'm hoping to get at least one nice walk in each day before we leave. The kids and I also worked on moving apple tree branches from the backyard. That was  BIG project. Nadia picked up hundreds of pounds of apples and put them in a bunch of garbage cans. I was finally able to completely mow that area of the lawn for the first time in almost a month. This apple tree has been more of a nuisance than a blessing the last few years.  Most homeschoolers around here have big gardens and do a lot of canning and such. That is definitely not my interest or my forte. We've tried and failed with growing strawberries and blueberries in our backyard, and now it seems the same is true for apple trees. 

Ida

If we lived along the eastern coast of the US, our lives would be impacted more by hurricanes than they are in central Pennsylvania. However, this year our plans have changed two weeks in a row because of a hurricane. Last week we delayed our trip to Long Island because of Henri, and last night I cancelled our reservations for a homeschool day at Ricketts Glen State Park because we could receive up to 7 inches of rain today from Ida. Thankfully so far our basement hasn't flooded! The family bonfire that was supposed to take place at our church this past Saturday night was moved to tonight because of rain last week, and then they ended up cancelling all midweek meetings tonight due to swollen creeks and such. Considering I just drove to Long Island and back a few days ago and we leave for our 25 day road trip one week from today, I don't mind skipping the 1 hour 40 minute (round trip) drive to the state park today. Last year (prior to realizing how COVID would change our lives) I had planned to take the kids to Kipona in Harrisburg over the Labor Day weekend. Naturally it was cancelled last year. They are having the event this weekend, and I had planned to go. I asked our niece, Jenna, if she'd like to join us as it's taking place not that far from where she's living right now, but she said she needs to do homework on Saturday. Because Paul works on Saturdays and because I'd like a little break from drives that are longer than 25 minutes one way, I cancelled our plans for Saturday. I'm planning to take the kids to Kaos tomorrow afternoon, but from Friday through Monday the only time I plan to leave the house is to go to church on Sunday morning.

The past few years Nadia has been the first one to get up and the only one to do some schoolwork prior to eating breakfast. The first three days of school for this year, Ian has been the one getting up and starting his work before the other two are out of bed. Usually Ian is the last one to finish his schoolwork each day, but he has been the first one done each day so far this week. He's really enjoying doing math on the computer for the first time, especially as he's earned two 100% and one 95% on his first three lessons without any help from me. Because we didn't go on our field trip today, I had the kids earn a Junior Ranger Badge for the Hopewell Furnace and also watch a series of videos they posted as a virtual tour. Because I'm assuming the kids will earn quite a few badges this month on our vacation, I have purchased an additional canvas for each of them as the ones they have been using to display their badges are getting close to being full! 

 

It's been 15 years since I went on a trip that was longer than 2 weeks. I am trying to do everything I can to be prepared. Today I gave Oliver a haircut and signed up for the 4th grade pass so we can all get into National Parks for free this year. I plan to mow the lawn, pack our suitcases, and give Milo a bath and trim some of his fur over the next few days. At this point next week, we should be in Michigan! An answer to prayer would be that there are two guys who will be starting to work at the plant on Tuesday, and they are planning to work for Paul for a couple of months. He has been short staffed, and he really wanted to have someone in place before he left for 25 days. A prayer request would be that the pathology report from Margie's recent mastectomy wasn't what we were hoping to hear. We are praying for wisdom for the doctors, Margie, and my Dad as they made decisions regarding her medical care. 

Thankful Tuesday

1. Wendy had a safe drive back to Chicago last Wednesday. It was so nice having two days with she and Grace and five days with Rachel. We played games together, played piano duets together, listened to Wendy practice the violin and mandolin, etc. I wish we lived closer together. We're looking forward to seeing her again in less than two weeks, Lord willing!

2. We had a safe drive to Long Island on Wednesday. We were able to visit Paterson Great Falls National Historic Park. We were able to walk over the bridge over the falls just before it was closed.. It's currently closed due to construction. We also were able to go swimming with Aunt Janet and have dinner in her backyard. 

3. On Thursday the beaches were reopened after having been closed for 4 days due to Henri. We enjoyed swimming at her swimming pool and also spending many hours at her beach.

The boys enjoyed using her jacuzzi tub that night and again on Friday afternoon.

4. On Friday the kids and I took a ferry to visit Fire Island. The kids loved playing in the waves. The kids also swam in her pool, and we all started watching Cruella on Disney+. 

5. The weather wasn't as ideal on Saturday for spending time in the water, but we still swam in her pools 

and spent a little time at the beach before having dinner at a Mexican restaurant. We also played several games together over the four days we were there. Aunt Janet always sends us home with a lot of food, but because she is moving this fall, we came home with more stuff than usual - beach towels, drinking glasses, two of my Grandma's paintings, etc.  Although I'm sad this was our last trip, I am very thankful for the five trips the kids and I were able to take there.

6. Despite the fact the GPS took me right through Manhattan (WHY?!?!) we made it home safely on Sunday. We were able to visit a total of four National Parks in five days as we stopped at two in New Jersey on our way home on Sunday (Morristown and Thomas Edison's laboratory). I had to cancel our tour of Teddy Roosevelt's  home (Sagamore Hill) that I had made for Saturday in light of the fact we came home a day later than planned because we went out three days later than planned. I need to mail their Fire Island junior ranger booklets, but they already received badges and patches at the other three sites. 

7. We accomplished about 75 things on our summer bucket list this summer!

8. We had a good first day of school yesterday. I learned somewhere along the way to not have the kids do ALL the subjects when we first start back. We won't start science, Life of Fred, or handwriting (Oliver) until we get back from vacation in early October. We're not starting writing until next week. Ian really, really, really liked doing math on Teaching Textbooks. He was thrilled when he earned a 100% on the first lesson.  Since that curriculum is on the easier side, I have him doing a 7th grade textbook as he's in 6th grade. Yvonne is sharing the Math 7 textbook (on cd) for Ian and the Saxon Algebra I books for Nadia this year. I already had books for Oliver to use for math so I didn't need to buy any math books this year! Nadia was NOT anywhere close to being thrilled when we did Algebra I together, but she asked me to teach her to play the flute so she had her first flute lesson yesterday! Ian and Oliver are taking piano lessons (from me), and Nadia is learning to play the flute. If she makes enough progress, I might have her join the middle school band in our school district depending on what days/times the 8th grade band has rehearsals. She took voice lessons last year which cost us money. I can give flute and piano lessons for free. Every year I have the kids draw a self portrait on the first day of school. I scanned them and included them in this post.

9. Milo, who turned 11 months old yesterday, was a GOOD boy at the dog sitter's house. He was there from Wednesday morning until Saturday afternoon. He was very, very happy when Paul came to pick him up, but then he was confused when he got home and the rest of us weren't here. He was very, very, very, very happy when the kids and I came home on Sunday evening. Hopefully he will be good for them again when they have him for 25 days in the near future. 

10. Masks are required on all National Park sites even if you are vaccinated, but thankfully that was the only place we've had to wear masks the last few months aside from doctors offices and the dentist. 

11. It's only 8 days until our "25 day field trip" as Oliver calls it. Woohoo! The kids and I are going on a local field trip tomorrow at a state park. Although COVID is still around, I'm thankful that so far it seems we can go on more field trips this year than we did last year.

12. Wendy just recently started to learn how to play the mandolin, and her efforts have already paid off in that she will be playing both her violin and mandolin in a touring Broadway show in Chicago this fall! She's such a talented musician!! Way to go, Wendy!

Back to "school"

Although we've already logged several days of school through field trips and such, we're calling today our first day of school for the 2021-22 school year because it's the first day we're breaking open spelling books, math books, etc. This is our ninth year of homeschooling. I already felt 100% convinced this was the best choice for our family, but COVID has only reinforced that decision. I'm very thankful my kids don't need to wear masks while doing their schoolwork. 

Here are some things that we are continuing from past years:

1. Nadia and Ian are still doing grammar together using Fix it Grammar from IEW.
2. Ian and Oliver are still using All About Spelling (level 7 for Ian and level 4 for Oliver).
3. All three kids will complete some pages from All About Homophones (Ian and Nadia do it together, and Oliver does different pages).
4. Oliver is still using Handwriting without Tears to complete his 2nd cursive textbook. Nadia and Ian will be required to copy a few passages from Draw Through History in cursive throughout the year.
5. We will finish reading through the Old Testament this school year. As for Bible memory, we're memorizing the book of James plus some selected verses from Romans.
6. All three kids will read chapter books independently each day. They will need to pick books from a list I have created for each of them. Most of the books relate to what we are studying in history.
7. We're still using Apologia science textbooks. Oliver will be studying animals that fly and animals that swim. Ian and Nadia will be completing an 8th grade Physical Science textbook.
8. Most years we've gone on a lot of field trips. That wasn't the case last year, but I believe it will be the case again this year! This includes earning a lot of Junior Ranger badges at National Park sites. 
9. We'll keep listening to audiobooks together through Overdrive and Audible.
10. We took a break from IEW last year, but we're resuming that this year, and it will be Oliver's first time using the curriculum. Last year we spent a lot more time on art and not as much on creative writing. The kids type their final products which is how we incorporate keyboarding into the school year. The writing topics also correlate to what we are studying in history.
11. We're still using Life of Fred to supplement math. Ian and Nadia work through the same books together and Oliver does different books.
12. We will continue to work through inductive Bible studies together.
13. Ian will continue his piano lessons with me.

Here are some things we are doing differently this year:

1. Last year we used Talkbox.mom for Spanish. This worked really well for the first couple of boxes and then wasn't as successful. The plan this year is that each child will be required to earn at least one crown on the Duolingo app each school day, and also each child at the start of the week will pick one phrase from the Talkbox.mom book that they will try to help all four of us use throughout the week. I personally try to earn at least five crowns a day on the Duolingo app on my phone. 
2. I really, really want to do better with completing more of the demonstrations and experiments in science. This is a high priority for me this year. Hopefully it will actually happen this time!
3. We're signed up to be in a co-op on Tuesday afternoons for the fall semester, and Nadia will continue to have a drama class there in the spring semester. We haven't been in a homeschool gym class since the early part of 2019, but I'm planning on signing the kids up for the gym class at our church starting in January of 2022. It's been awhile since we've been in a co-op. Oliver was in the nursery the last time we did one so we shall see if we like it enough to continue in future years or not. I'm not signing Nadia up for voice lessons this school year like she did last year.
4. I'm going to quiz Nadia and Ian on questions from the Bible quizzing question database every school day over Romans and James.
5. Oliver will start taking piano lessons with me.
6. Ian and Nadia will begin working through two coding books (starting with Python and JavaScript).
7. Nadia took a photography course last year but didn't actually get a lot of practice with shooting in manual on a DSLR. I am going to let her use my old camera body plus one lens on our vacation and hopefully that will be the beginning of her getting more practice with shooting in manual.
8. Although we're still doing the same five year cycle in history, we're using Mystery of History this year instead of Story of the World that we used for four years in the past. We're still supplementing with many library books and books we own (picture books, chapter books, and nonfiction). This year we're doing from Creation to the time of Christ, which is slightly different than five years ago when we did Creation to the Greeks. I have many new books in the plans, but we're also rereading some of the best ones that we read five years ago.
9. It took me almost all summer to decide, but the plan for now is that Nadia will do Saxon Algebra I (her first time with a traditional textbook in a few years), Ian will do Teaching Textbooks grade 7 (first time for him to do math on a computer), and Oliver will do Beast Academy (2B, 2C, 2D, 3A, and 3B). My goal for him is to finish 5D by the end of 6th grade. All three kids really need to work on their problem solving skills - especially Oliver as his are about nonexistent at this point.
10. None of my kids have read any Shakespeare thus far. This year we plan on beginning to read some of his writings, and we plan to continue that in the years to come. Now that Nadia is in 8th grade I feel the need to make sure we've listened to (or the kids have read independently) many classic pieces of literature.
11. I purchased a book of centuries for each child. They will use them over the next four years to record with sentences and also artwork - sort of a timeline in a book. I don't usually keep much of their schoolwork, after the year is over, but I'm hoping they will save these for years to come.

Here's to hoping and praying that my 4th, 6th, and 8th graders all have a great school year!!! I'm very, very thankful I have the privilege of homeschooling them. Next year I will need to grade far more of Nadia's work  as I'll have to actually create a report card for her each quarter. This year I'm only planning on grading her work in science and math. Although I don't put a lot of stock in grades, I do want my kids to strive to do their very best in whatever task they are doing. 

Firsts and Lasts

In general it's much easier to keep track of "firsts" - the first time a child takes a step, sleeps through the night, eats solid food, drives a car, goes to school, rides a rollercoaster, loses a tooth, etc. Although we count down to some lasts, such as the last day of school, in many cases at the moment something is happening for the last time, we don't always know it is the last time. I remember being hit with that once I realized that Nadia had decided she preferred bottles to nursing. I had no idea when I nursed her that particular time it would be my last time nursing her as I had planned to nurse her for several more months. When we were on vacation with my parents in Williamsburg in 2015, I didn't know that would be my mom's last vacation. When I had dinner with my brother at Longhorn Steakhouse in Philadelphia on Black Friday in November 2018, I didn't know I'd never see my brother again here on earth. In June 2019 while we were in Myrtle Beach with Paul's parents, we didn't know that was Paul's mom's last vacation, or when we spent time with her on November 7, 2020,  that it would be the last time we'd see her here on earth. But there are some times when we know in advance that we are experiencing a "last time." I knew when I said goodbye to my mom on July 10, 2016 that I'd never see here again. Saying goodbye to her was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. Ever since I knew that Aunt Janet was moving to Nevada, I've had bittersweet feelings regarding our trip to Long Island this summer. Considering that she has had health struggles the past two months (shingles and mono) plus the fact that a hurricane was forecasted to hit the island the same day we planned to arrive, we were grateful that we actually made it out here this summer. In 2017, 2018, and 2019 we came out here the week of July 4. Last year we came the first week of August. This summer the trip was postponed for a variety of reasons including our dog sitter's schedule. I have visited Long Island many times over the past almost 50 years - sometimes to visit my Grandma Lillian and other times to visit my Aunt Janet. The time with her became even more special following the passing of my mom. She only became a Grandma last month, so the last few years she considered my kids to be the closest thing she had to grandchildren. Knowing this is a last for us and having no idea when we will be able to spend time with Aunt Janet again in the future has been a bit hard to swallow emotionally. My brother, mother-in-law, and mom have gone to Heaven, Wendy lives in Chicago, and Yvonne is moving to Quito in less than 2 weeks. Knowing Aunt Janet is moving to the opposite side of the US means we won't be able to just get in the car and drive to see her any more. Ian cried his heart out the very first time we left her home in 2017. I've never cried when leaving her home before, but I'm pretty sure I'll be crying tomorrow morning as I've been fighting the tears at various points each day the last few days.

In the past we've spent a week at her place. Due to Henri, we only had three full days with her this time. Thursday morning we had breakfast, walked over and swam in the outdoor pool, had lunch, and the spent the afternoon and evening at her beach. She grilled hot dogs at the cabana for dinner. The boys took a jacuzzi bath together once we got back to her place. Friday morning we had breakfast and packed lunches before I drove the kids and I to the ferry to Fire Island, which is a National Park. We walked through the Sunken Forest and enjoyed the beach for a few hours. The kids appreciated the waves (which she doesn't have at her beach) and the softer sand (not as many rocks). We had dinner at her place, swam in the indoor pool, and then started watching Cruella on Disney+ (definitely not my favorite Disney movie). The past few days it was HOT out (in the 90's). It rained last night, and the temps were much cooler today (highs in the 70s). We followed our typical schedule of swimming in the morning and going to the beach in the afternoon, but we didn't stay at the beach as long as usual because it was cooler out and because she wanted to treat me to dinner at a Mexican restaurant. That had been a tradition each year, and we didn't do that last year because of COVID. She knows I can go years without entering a Mexican restaurant. She's very generous and thoughtful. She reminds me of my mom in that she always stocks up on our favorite foods before we come, and she sends us home with a lot of food at the end of the trip. We played Skip Bo, Exploding Kittens, Suspend, Quiddler, and Bananagrams with her over the past few days. I'm grateful my children have gotten the chance to get to know her and she has gotten to know them. We hope our paths will cross at least one more time here on earth as we hope to visit her one time in Reno at some point in the future. I'm thankful she will be able to live near two of her children and her one and only grandson, but we will definitely miss her. 

I've started working on a video about our 5 trips to Long Island. I planned to record some interviews, but I found I couldn't bring myself to record them without getting too emotional. Hopefully I can still make a nice video even though it won't have any talking in it. I should be able to finish the video in the next few days. Paul picked Milo up from the dog sitters this afternoon, and we were very relieved to hear that he did much better than when he stayed with them a month ago. Whew. I'm sure he'll still be very, very excited when the kids and I come home tomorrow!! He'll be turning 11 months old on Monday. Yesterday we were praying for Margie's mastectomy, and thankfully it seems to have gone well. She was discharged from the hospital today. We're still praying for her recovery.

Happy 105th Birthday, NPS!

This trip to Long Island was postponed more than once this summer for a variety of reasons - Nadia's theatre camp in July, our pet sitter's availability, and Hurricane/Tropical Storm Henri. We went from thinking it would be the four of us visiting Aunt Janet to five of us (including Rachel) to six of us (Rachel plus Wendy), and finally back to the four of us. Wendy, Rachel, and Grace left the house around 7:40 this morning, and they arrived back in Chicago twelve hours later. The kids and I left at the same time this morning. We bought some flowers for Aunt Janet and dropped Milo off at our friend's house. He'll be staying with them until Paul picks him up from work on his way home on Saturday afternoon. Hopefully he'll be a good boy for them! We arrived at the Paterson Great Falls National Park at 11:00am. It was exactly 1 mile from I-80 so it was a VERY small detour to stop there. We learned about Alexander Hamilton and the history of the area and walked over bridges to see the 77 foot waterfall which is second only to Niagara Falls in terms of water volume (of waterfalls east of the Mississippi). The kids each earned a Junior Ranger badge. It was hot outside (in the 90's) so when an ice cream truck pulled into the parking lot, I made the mistake of offering to buy the kids a treat without knowing the price. I was stunned that two ice creams (on sticks) cost $9 total. Yikes! I should have offered to take them through the drive-thru at the Burger King nearby for ice cream or a drink. Ian agreed to wait to have a treat at Aunt Janet's place after I realized how much it cost to buy the other two a treat. Lesson learned!! 

It took us two hours to drive from the park to my Aunt's house. Considering we were driving on a weekday, the NYC traffic wasn't bad. Subtracting the stops we made, I think I drove a little less than 5 hours altogether. We arrived at Aunt Janet's house around 2:20. We brought out things in, changed into our swimsuits, and swam in her indoor pool for a couple of hours. Although the rain from the storm stopped on Monday, no one has been allowed to swim at the beach where she belongs the last two days because the bacteria levels are too high. So we opted to swim at her pool and have dinner in her backyard tonight. She grilled burgers. Tomorrow we'll either head to her beach or to Fire Island, which is on the southern side (Atlantic Beach). This is the kids' fifth and final trip to Long Island, but they've only been on the beach on the northern side in the past.