Under the Sun

I put off blogging about our inauguration trip, because for several weeks after we got back, I just didn’t feel like sitting at the computer and typing. After that, it seemed like old news. With today being President Obama’s 100th day in office, I decided to post a brief entry about our trip.

First off, every bit of the trip was absolutely worth it — even the times we felt like Frozen Floridians. The trip held a number of firsts for Dennis -

• first time on an airplane
• first time seeing snow fall (You could also say his first time seeing snow, since he was  2-1/2 the only other time he saw it.)
• first snowball fight
• first time riding a subway
• first time riding a train (a regular passenger train, not the subway)
• first time in Washington, D.C.
• first time seeing ice that wasn’t man-made, and…
• first time he’s ever experienced temperatures below freezing.

Dennis and I went with another mom and son who are homeschool friends of ours. We stayed at her aunt and uncle’s house about an hour north D.C. Though we arrived on Saturday, we decided to save most of our D.C. sightseeing until after Inauguration Day. We spent some time sightseeing in Baltimore, going to Fort McHenry, and playing in the snow that fell in the part of Maryland where we were staying. Dennis and I also went to visit a yahoogroups list friend. We met them 6 years ago when they came to Florida, and haven’t seen them since. They have a daughter Dennis’ age, so we both enjoyed the visit. (When we went out to dinner they insisted on paying the bill, which was a lovely treat).

In the days before Tuesday we did go into D.C. a few times to scope out a place to set up on the big day. The atmosphere in the city was charged with positive energy and excitement. Everywhere people were friendly, full of that “Yes we Did” attitude, and just generally upbeat. People were striking up conversations with one another, and everyone seemed to have a spring in their step.

That feeling was even stronger on Inauguration Day. We weren’t close enough to see any of the action in person, and saw it all on the jumbotron. When you see those shots of the Mall and Reflecting Pool, we were several of those specks. It didn’t matter; we were there for the atmosphere. I’ve never been in a crowd that big, but I have been in big crowds. And there are usually a few jerks who do something stupid. Not so on Inauguration Day. Not on the Metro. Not in the city. Not anywhere we went. Everyone was in too good of a mood to even complain about the crowds. (I’m not saying it didn’t happen anywhere, just that we didn’t experience it.) Later, we heard that there were no arrests. A crowd of nearly 2 million people and NO arrests. I was so proud when I heard that! And after 100 days, I’m still proud that we elected this man.

On Wednesday, we left the house where we were staying, took a real passenger train to Bethesda, and stayed in a hotel there for the last 3 days of our trip. We used those 3 days to visit the D.C. monuments and the Smithsonian.

I’ve included a few pictures in this post, but there’s a Flickr Badge in the sidebar, which links to my Inauguration Album.

We were so cold, but it was so worth it.

Inauguration Day

Crookshanks, who will be a year old in June, loves my computer. Only mine. Never Bill’s. Never Dennis’. I usually have to move her from my chair to sit down at the computer. Sometimes I have to move her from the computer itself. She loves to type (so far she hasn’t sent any messages). She watches the cursor. And sometimes she watches me. Okay, so I was playing around in the picture of her peeking over the monitor. However, imagine trying to actually get some work done with those eyes looking right at you.

What do you get when you combine broken machines, hammers, screwdrivers, and curious kids? Destruction Day! Yesterday was Destruction Day, put together by one of our homeschool friends. She got the idea from an article in Home Ed Magazine. Destruction Day involves a collection of non working machines (vacuum cleaners, clocks, radios, blenders, telephones, and whatever else you can think of), and a group of kids willing to take the machines apart. Smashing is allowed — even encouraged. Just be sure not to use anything that might still hold a charge (computer monitors come to mind). Outside is the best place to hold such an event, so ours was at a local park that has a large pavillion.

I was unable to go because I had a prior appointment that couldn’t be rescheduled. Some of the moms let me drop Dennis off so he wouldn’t have to miss it. He loved it, and was still at it when I arrived to pick him up. When we got home, he wanted to know if we had anything he could take apart. Bill found a few things, and he worked on them until it was time to come in and take a shower (taking only a short break to eat dinner).

There were some people who questioned the point of such an activity, which I found rather perplexing. What’s the point of satisfying curiosity? Really, you don’t know? The point is…to satisfy curiosity. That’s all. When safe, legal, and supervised, it can spark imagination and foster an interest in learning more. It’s a good thing.

Had I been there, my trusty camera would have been at work, but all I can do is tell you about it. If you haven’t tried something like Destruction Day, give it some thought. All you need are some broken appliances and a few tools. The kids will take it from there.

I’ve changed the name of this blog to better reflect what it’s about. I chose the old title, Learning in the Sunshine State, when I first set this up as a homeschool blog. As time went on it became more general and covered more topics. I was going to start a separate blog for non-homeschool posts but I have enough trouble keeping up with one blog!

Under the Sun has two meanings. First, it includes more than just homeschool posts — it will have posts about anything under the sun. Second, it still reflects our location in the Sunshine State of Florida. I will still post about our homeschool journey, but now I won’t feel bad when I go “off topic”.

Maybe it’s the beautiful weather that won’t last much longer. Maybe it’s…well, I think it’s the weather. We’ve been doing some pretty laid back schooling lately, and by lately I mean the past 3 months. I try to get math, writing, and nature study in several times a week, but after that anything goes.

D’s latest obsession is game programming. He’s been playing a little thing called Powder Game. I’m not going to link to it because try as I might, I don’t get the attraction. A lot of kids seem to love it though, and it has them use some type of pixelation. This got D wondering how computer games are written. When I told him it involves knowing programming he said “If I have to write a bunch of 1’s and 0’s I’m not interested”. I assured him that wasn’t the case.

My first instinct was to check the library for books on programming for kids. His was to check the internet. If that isn’t an example of a 21st century generation gap, I don’t know what is. We both found what we were looking for. I have some game programming books on hold and he found something called Game Maker.  Using the Lite version of Game Maker, he’s made several Pac Man style games.

His other obsession is making videos. He and some neighborhood friends have been asking to use my camera to make little videos. When I finally told him he could not carry my good camera around the neighborhood, he said he was going to save up for a Flip Video Camera. We found one yesterday at Wal Mart for $50. We’re having trouble installing the software to his laptop with XP, though it works with our Vista machines. He already took numerous videos of the cats and the dog, and even recorded our trip to karate yesterday.

So that’s our schooling these days: math, writing, nature study, computer game programming, and filmmaking. I love homeschooling!

Today is Earth Day, first celebrated in 1970. We like to consider everyday Earth Day. This planet is our home. We’d like to keep it.

This seems to be the year that merchants are going all out to get our business. Here are a few freebies for Earth Day.

• Walgreen’s has 15% off many items plus a free reusable bag. Print the coupon.
• Reynold’s is giving a rebate for trying their recycled foil. You can only print the rebate form today.
• At Disney Stores, bring in 3 plastic bottles, get a free (unspecified) gift. Rumor has it it’s a reusable bottle.
• Test drive a Subaru and get a $20 gift card to Whole Foods. Check the website for your local Eco Tour event.

I’m glad to see merchants offering free stuff, but I hope they continue to pursue earth friendly policies long after Earth Day (Week, Month) is over.

We are so ready for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. We’re listening to the audiobooks for the second time around (currently on Goblet of Fire again) and getting excited about the next movie. We haven’t seen any of the movies in the theater, but after seeing the trailers, decided we’ll definitely see the last 3 on the big screen.

UPDATE: The video was removed for some reason, and I can’t find a replacement that I like. The gist of it was that numerous Republican presidents shook hands, hugged, and smiled with Communist leaders. At the end it told people to relax, and “Have some tea”.

Yes, I’m still here. I keep meaning to post things, and for some reason I think I have to post in chronological order. I know that doesn’t matter, so from now on I’m going to post whatever hits me whenever it hits me. Maybe that will keep me more active. On to the post –

This had me laughing out loud. If you aren’t a liberal, you might not find it funny, but you should find it eye opening. I love the Benny Hill music, and the veiled reference to the “teabaggers” at the end.

A few comments:

• Saint Ronald Ray Gun laid a wreath at a Nazi cemetery for crying out loud.

• By calling every leader we don’t like a “dictator”, we actually weaken the term when we need it for actual dictators. Dictator and demagogue are not synonyms.

• Chavez is a demagogue for  sure, but he was elected. We might not like who the people of Venezuela elected but it was their choice. Many in the world didn’t like when we elected the fake cowboy twice.