Vacation

We leave Friday for our long-anticipated vacation. We will be traveling from New York to Alabama….about 19 hours of straight driving, but we obviously will need to make many stops along the way. The kids have known for quite a while that we’re going to see Nana and PawPaw, the cousins, aunts and uncles. Today we informed them of all the other things we’ll be doing; visiting friends and Grandma and Grandpa in Florida, going to the beach, staying in a condo on the beach, swimming in Great Aunt Eunice’s pool many days…they were so excited! They had no idea we were planning to do those other things and it felt good to see the joy on their faces.

I’m excited too. I can’t wait to see our friends and family, to smell the ocean and feel the sand between my toes, to introduce our new baby to all the family and friends, to visit our old church. I plan to relax and have a great time while we’re there. I also plan to take advantage of every learning opportunity there is. I have to start looking for those life lessons that come when we’re not ‘doing school’…there are so many things the kids pick up on their own that I’m not even aware of until they just spew out some trivia one day. I want to be able to document (for the state as well as for my own knowledge) their learning and really see how much they’re taking in. I will be sure to write about it here whenever possible. I will need to prepare our IHIPs (individualized home instruction plan) while we are away and mail them in. I’ve already sent our Intent to Homeschool form and received notice of receipt from the superintendent. I really dislike that we must send in paperwork, but it does help me to take a closer look at what we’re really learning. I guess when we move again to a less regulated state I’ll truly appreciate how nice it is to have less government control to deal with. I hope to figure out how I can post here from my iPhone. If not, then the blogging will be minimal until we return near the end of August. After that, I will be posting regularly.