Tuesday, April 26, 2011

On the Road

We're taking the kids out of school early to travel for the next 2 months. I hope to keep up with the blog, at least occasionally.

We'll be home-schooling the kids a bit, so I'll see what that's like.

17 comments:

  1. PsychMom says:

    What wonderful news...I'm totally jealous.

    Toe-Tall-eee.

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  2. PsychMom, thanks!

    I predict there will be a similar trip in your future.

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  3. PsychMom says...

    When you get back, we should e-mail...

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  4. I wonder if your children view summer as "their" time and whether they are on board/ what sorts of difficulties you are facing? Can't wait to hear more about how it all goes. I wish you all the best and hope it works out well! We started very suddenly in the middle of a term and it wasn't hard, but it WAS abrupt. :)

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  5. Enjoy the trip! I hope you won't be completely offline -- I'll miss my regular KFS fix. On the other hand, going offline for a while can be nice, too.

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  6. Chris -- I'm back online! I was unconnected for about two days -- I was starting to get twitchy.

    Happy Elf Mom -- the kids will absolutely get their summer break. Our homeschooling efforts will be minimal and low key. They're missing about 5 weeks of school, so this feels very much like vacation to them, and to all of us.

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  7. FedUp, are you really? I so totally support this!.You go, woman! That was the genesis of our one year homeschooling adventure. My daughter was in 7th. I told myself we just needed to get through her BatMitzvah in April and then I'd broach pulling her out for the final quarter.

    So I proposed it. We didn't have the budget I needed to do the travel I truly wanted but we could take trips up and down the East Coast, visit family and do all the thousands of other nifty things we wanted to do but homework kept getting in the way.

    I brought the idea to my daughter. She initially was very reticent. She indicated she'd like to finish out the year. I pressed the issue a few more times and then let it go. A part of me thought, she wants to finish, maybe that's a good quality.

    One afternoon after a particularly useless school day, dear daughter came home tired and haggard with miles of homework before her and announced that while she'd like to finish 7th grade, she'd love it if I could homeschool her for all of 8th. My jaw dropped. Where did she get this idea from?

    I bit my nails. I stammered. I can't do 8th grade. Fast forward September. I did 8th grade. It was marvelous. It was magical.

    Best advice I can give anyone. Don't wait to finish out the year. Childhood goes fast. All school is doing is accelerating it further. You'll never get this time back. It is so precious.

    Next advice: you may find homeschoolers who travel the world. You think, I can't do that, I don't have the money. While travel is grand, you can homeschool without it too. If you do just one local field trip a week, you are already light years ahead of public school.

    Don't think you can't do it. Ask yourself, can I do worse than school? If you can honestly say no (and most of us here would), you have absolutely NOTHING to lose.

    Best best advice. There's a world out there. What are you waiting for? Listen to Nike. Shut up and just DO IT!!!!!!!

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  8. Reposting and correcting typos:

    FedUp, are you really? I so totally support this!You go, woman! That was the genesis of our one year homeschooling adventure. My daughter was in 7th. I told myself we just needed to get through her Bat Mitzvah in April and then I'd broach pulling her out for the final quarter.

    So I proposed it. We didn't have the budget I needed to do the travel I truly wanted but we could take trips up and down the East Coast, visit family and do all the thousands of other nifty things we wanted to do but homework kept getting in the way.

    I presented the idea to my daughter. She initially was very reticent. She indicated she'd like to finish out the year. I pressed the issue a few more times and then let it go. A part of me thought, she wants to finish, maybe that's a good quality.

    One afternoon after a particularly useless school day, dear daughter came home tired and haggard with miles of homework stretched before her and announced that while she'd like to finish 7th grade, she'd love it if I could homeschool her for all of 8th. My jaw dropped. Where did she get this idea from?

    I bit my nails. I stammered. I can't do 8th grade. Fast forward September. I did 8th grade. It was marvelous. It was magical.

    Best advice I can give anyone. Don't wait to finish out the year. Childhood goes fast. All school is doing is accelerating it further. You'll never get this time back. It is so precious.

    Next advice: you may find homeschoolers who travel the world. You think, I can't do that, I don't have the money. While travel is grand, you can homeschool without it too. If you do just one local field trip a week, you are already light years ahead of public school. And why stop at one?

    Don't think you can't do it. Ask yourself, can I do worse than school? If you can honestly say no (and most of us here would), you have absolutely NOTHING to lose.

    Best best advice. There's a world out there. What are you waiting for? Listen to Nike. Shut up and just DO IT!!!!!!!

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  9. PsychMom says....Wohooooo HWB is back!

    How did the first year of college go?

    I'm so on the verge of giving up on school. My 10 year old thinks and acts like a 13 year old. I feel there is no controlling the forces in our lives that are driving us away from one another, and at the root of it is money.

    I used to shake my wise old head at people who put their babies in daycare so that they could go to work to make money to pay for daycare.
    But I'm doing the same thing now. I feel trapped to stay in my job so I can pay for schooling that I'm losing faith in. I don't even think that I could do a better job....I just think that what I and everyone else are doing is toxic to family life and bad for children.

    I have missed your wisdom HWB's..

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  10. HWB, Yes, it's true! I don't like to give too many details on the blog, but we are away from home and school. The kids are getting about 6 extra weeks of vacation. And it's a beautiful thing!

    PsychMom, don't give up hope. There must be a way to share new perspectives with your child. If you switched to public school, could you save enough money to take some time off? Just a thought ...

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  11. PsychMom says:

    It's a thought FedUpMom, that crosses my mind..thee has to be a way.

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  12. PsychMom again...

    or..THERE has to be a way.

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  13. Keep us posted on the homeschooling, FedupMom!

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  14. Hello there, PsychMom! Remember how we got together every day, all of us, on StopHomework? Ah, the memories. I am back but the only reason you haven't seen more of me this year is because this is my sabbatical year. When I read and nod, it stirs up all those wounds, the wasted year of homework overload. There is a way for you, Psych Mom. There is a solution. Just some are harder than others.

    I've taken a daily break of sorts. But education is in my life blood and I can't stay away too long.

    Thanks for asking about my darling daughter. She is on a gap year, deferred. She was accepted to college a year ago and will be starting in the fall. My child is overseas and having the time of her life. It is a cherished year. Full of travel, learning and adventure and free from all the stresses school dumps on all of us.

    But college is in the fall and then it's back to homework and the grind. But it can't be like high school, it has to be better! And she'll come back renewed in mind, body and spirit.

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  15. ** years ** Wish it had only been one year. Flipped. We homeschooled one year and did school the rest.

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  16. FedUpMom -- I hope it's not too late to wish you bon voyage! Like everyone else who follows KFS, I'm green with envy, especially since my daughters are graduating from grade 6 this spring, and there are *so* many extra activities and stresses associated with that, it's ridiculous.

    It'll be nice to think of you traveling the world with your family and having a great time!

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  17. northTO, thanks! It's never too late.

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