Homeschooling and real life... can't separate the two.

I am back from my trip to NY and in one piece.  We got in the car last wednesday at 7pm, after picking up an uncle and my husbands sister and kids.  Actually it wasn't our car, we struck a deal with friends who had a 15 passenger van.  They were also going to NY, for a wedding and only brining 1 child so we traded my husbands Audi and saved ourselves rental fees since my 7 passenger van would have never fit everyone and with extra drivers in 1 car, life was alot easier. (lesson:  be creative ... by trading cars we saved 1000.00.  Yes our car had some milage put on it, but we would have had to pay milage insurances taxes etc on a rental car and then come home and still make car payments... the children were very aware of this deal and present during negotiations)

The ride was looong...  and the first thing we did was stop for dinner.  We stopped at a bar and grill so I could get a glimpe of who won American idol, but alas the show did not end until 10 and we could not wait around so I spent the next few hours in the car trying to access the internets in between cell phone towers.  As I frantically searched ( I am such an AI junkie) we discussed who and why should be the winner... It came down to popularity vs polish and talent in my opinion, most of the car passengers couldn't care less who won the contest, but the conversation (lesson) that followed as to whether it was more important to be popular or skilled.

Another conversation going on the car was between my hubands uncle and my daughter.  He is a spanish teacher and her best friend is Dominican, so she was interested in learning Spanish.  He managed to teach her much of the alphabet and later followed up by downloading practice material onto my husbands laptop computer.  ( hows that for an impromptu lesson)

In the car my children also had their learning games (leapfrog and Iquest).  They also had gameboys, but somehow the learning games were used more.  ( learning can be fun!)

Once we got to NY... 18 hours later the following days were a whirlwind of getting ready for Grandma's 60th birthday, to keep busy while the adults worked the kids wrote and acted out plays.  (funny how getting them to write on command is like pulling teeth.. it works so much better when they want to do it.)  When the cousins would try to change the script of get bored halfway through rehearsal, my children decided to have the actors sign contacts.  ( genius!)

The party was a blast.  My daughter found her Jamaican roots in the music.. turns out she's a better dancer than anyone thought, once she seperates herself from tv choreography.  The children discovered legions of extended family and now know the difference between first, second, third, and so on cousins.

On Sunday, the day after the party, between cleaning sessions, we found time to visit my brother and connect with more family before heading home ( we know from experience to never overstay your welcome.) 

Once we got home, the children calculated the dog boarding charge and helped to vacuum the inch of junk food crumbs from the floor of the van.

You had better believe that when I fill out this months attendance sheets that this past weekend will be marked as "school" time. From new lessons to self directed learnings, or new discoveries I'd say we all received an excellent education this weekend.