Learning in the Sunshine State

Ten Things We Love About Homeschooling

It’s the start of the school year for many kids. Some homeschoolers follow a traditional schedule, while others don’t. Since a majority of Americans associate August and September with back to school, this seems to me an appropriate time for this post.

1. no alarm clocks

2. no morning rush

3. tailoring lessons to fit your child

4. making our own schedule

5. reading on the couch (bed, floor, etc.)

6. kitchen science/math

7. more family time

8. park days with homeschooled friends (for moms too)

9. having the library (mostly) to yourself during the day

10. no homework

Ten TV Shows I’ve Never Watched

1. American Idol

2. Dancing With the Stars

3. Survivor (none of them)

4. Extreme Makeover (including Home Edition)

5. ER

6. My Name is Earl

7. The Office

8. Boston Legal

9. Desperate Housewives

10. The Apprentice

In just 2 weeks I go back to the doctor. He’ll schedule a time for me to get the screws out of my ankle, but I’m also hoping he’ll say I can go ahead and put weight on it. There’s no pain to speak of (just a bit of an ache at the end of the day), so cabin fever is really getting bad. I did go to my niece’s baby shower on Sunday, which was my first social activity in a month. I’ve also been to the grocery store and I got to drive one of those motorized carts. Not a good idea. I knocked over a rack of produce bags when I ran into it! Bill and Dennis were kind enough not to act like they didn’t know me. Anyway, today’s Tuesday Ten is my personal pity party.

Ten Things I Miss Doing While I’m Convalescing

1. being able to just get in the car and go

2. easily getting in and out of all the rooms in the house

3. being able to burn an adequate amount of calories ( I dread finding out how much weight I’ve gained when this is all over.)

4. cooking (yes, I miss that)

5. cleaning (that too, strange as it sounds)

6. early morning nature walks in my backyard

7. walking the dog

8. gardening (it’s planting season here in Central Florida)

9. being able to stand up in the shower

10. going for bike rides

Ten Great Things About Winter in Florida

1. Being able to go out to the backyard in the morning to pick an orange or grapefruit for breakfast.

2. If you don’t like the cold, just wait a day or two and it will be warm again. Cold weather comes in waves, and rarely lasts more than a few days.

3. Fresh strawberries — they’re a winter fruit here.

4. Snowbirds. Not tourists, real ones. We see such a variety of beautiful birds that have come here to winter.

5. Open windows. We have to run the air conditioning from May to October, and sometimes even in November. Being able to open the windows and let in fresh air is one of the things I most look forward to in winter.

6. Open curtains. I love bright, sunlit rooms. I can’t have them in summer since it gets too hot when you let the sun in. In winter one of the first things I do every morning is open blinds and curtains.

7. Gardening. It’s too hot and humid to spend time gardening in the summer. It’s not a good time for planting anyway, as not many can tolerate our summers. Late fall, winter, and early spring are the best times to garden, and our best growing seasons.

8. Soup. No matter what I’ve planned for dinners, if I hear of a cold front coming, I rearrange my menu to add soup.

9. Uncrowded theme parks. We’re not big on the theme parks, even though we live less than an hour from three biggies (Disney World, Sea World, Universal Orlando). However, when we do go, we like winter. Besides the fact that the weather is much nicer, the lines are also much shorter.

10. Manatees. They’re oddly beautiful and graceful. In colder weather they try to head for warmer waters. We never get tired of watching these gentle creatures.

Yes, Tuesday’s almost over, but I was determined to start this today, otherwise I’d be forced to wait a whole week. So I’ll start with something easy. Links. Everybody has too many, but you can still use more. These are in no particular order.

1. Kitten War A perfect time waster, and who doesn’t love kittens? It never ends. You have to stop yourself.

2. KidsGardening! Nice resource for parents, teachers, scout leaders, and anyone who might be involved in, well, kids’ gardening.

3. gauche! Left-handed site. If you’re a lefty, you might recognize some of your own struggles. If you’re the parent of a lefty, you can find information on how to help your lefty child navigate a righty society. For instance, did you know there’s a such thing as true left handed scissors?

4. Lego Digital Designer Make digital Lego creations. This one’s for Dennis. He loves to point Lego fans here. It’s a free download, and a nice little application. Sometimes Dennis builds digitally first, then IRL, but usually he uses it to work out design problems in something he’s already started to build. Yes, you can upload your creations and buy the bricks, but he just uses it for digital building.

5. Babble A most addicting online Boggle-type game. I highly recommend going Pro if you decide you like the game.

6. Fruits & Veggies Matter Here’s an easy way to keep track of whether you get enough fruits and vegetables. You can find out the right amount for each member of your family based on age, gender, and physical activity level. This one is thanks to a friend on a mom’s list.

7. Cute Overload If you hate cute animal pictures, don’t go here. The name says it all. On the other hand, if you like cute animal pics, this is the place to go when you want to smile.

8. Left Out Knitter Yet another lefty site, this one for left handed knitters. If like me, you knit truly left handed (not Continental but from the right needle to the left), you will find you’re not alone. I can’t comment on the dvd because mine hasn’t arrived yet. Maybe there will be a review post in the future.

9. Canon 3D Papercraft Fun papercraft items in several categories (Buildings of the world, transportation, toys, good luck charms, just to name a few). We’ve done some as school projects and others just for fun.

10. Good Thing: T-Shirt Bag from Martha Stewart. A unique way to use old tee shirts and end up with a reusable bag. Not sure how sturdy they’d be for groceries, but I’m planning to use mine as a beach bag. After Dennis saw mine, he wanted to make one, so he went and found a too small Star Wars tee shirt. This is an easy project for kids. Hat tip to bigdreamer at The Denim Jumper.

So there you have it. My first Tuesday’s Ten.