A Home School Day with Just One Child

This year, as I mentioned in my last post, My Ideal Plan for Elementary Home Education, I am only home schooling one child, my nine year old daughter Melody, who is in third grade. While home schooling and juggling my other responsibilities is still quite a challenge, I have to say it is so much less complicated with only one to teach.

We usually start school around 9 AM with math flash cards. I have found this is the ideal way to get her brain turned on for the day. She thinks it's fun, and it is a fairly easy review of what she already knows: addition and subtraction facts up to 20. We each take half of the deck of cards and take turns answering the problems. Then we switch piles. When she gets to the problems in her math workbook, she's got the facts fresh on her mind. If we start in straight with the workbook, she is likely to moan that she can't do it. So the math flash cards are a great way to start the day. 

Unfortunately, I found when I opened my flash card box that our subtraction facts cards only had the easiest facts. So I got out stack of index cards and a marker and completed the set, just like I made the addition set many years ago for a different child.  I keep the sets of math fact cards in a zip lock bag.

She knocked out her math workbook - part of a test and one lesson - pretty quickly. We would normally move right on to Daily Grams, Wordly Wise and other language arts skills after that, but she asked if we could read next. I like to be somewhat flexible with our schedule to keep her interested.

So we gathered up a stack of history and science books from the shelf on her desk, and headed into the living room. We started school a month ago with unit studies on explorers and the oceans (they went together splendidly!), and now we are working on the Early Colonial Era and weather. We have a lot of books on our own shelves, and we find even more at the library. 

We read several books about subjects like Pocahontas, colonial homes, and hurricanes that morning. We usually take turns reading, usually by page. I often remind her to read the words just as they are written, since sometimes she's in a hurry and leaves out or changed them. We don't just read for our unit studies. The hands on activity in our weather unit this day was learning about the water cycle by boiling ice cubes until they turned into water vapor. I also have some colonial and weather activity books that we will be using this week.

I took a few quick breaks to do laundry and other small tasks while she got out her Asus tablet, which was a birthday present from her siblings and me. She has games and educational apps on it, and it's great for all the times we're in the car running errands or picking up the other kids from after school activities.

Lake Lily

Melody asked if we could go somewhere. I've been planning to get a family membership at the Orlando Science Center and went on the web to check that out. I decided to wait on that a bit longer.  She suggested going to Lake Lily, and that sounded good to me since there are not only water birds to feed, but a lovely Victorian era home tour at the Waterhouse Residence Museum. 

Instead of taking a picnic, we decided to eat lunch at home. A day or so before, I had fixed several containers of ready-to-eat salad with chunks of chicken, bacon bits, and hard-boiled egg. That was easy enough to grab.

We also had a few errands to run - the bank, library, Redbox to return a DVD. I like to make the best use of teachable moments, so I asked her what route we should take based on all of our stops. We also talked about why people use the library book drop, how the book drop works (there is a cart inside that they can roll out), why they were building an overpass, what the big crane was doing, and all sorts of other ideas.

We finally arrived at Lake Lily and decided to feed the birds first in case it started raining. The egrets were much more aggressive than the ducks at lunging for the bread bits we brought.

Then we went to the museum and found that the tour started around 1:45. 

We had a wait a little bit on the porch and she took the time to read the informational placard.

I was delighted to see that many of the items in the home were similar to ones we had seen in our colonial homes book. Since both eras were pre-electricity, butter churns and other tools were pretty much the same. She paid attention during the tour and asked a lot of questions, which was fine since there were only two other people. We also went over to the adjacent carpentry shop before we left.

Kitchen with butter churn

Sewing and darning basket

By the time we finished up, I knew we weren't going to get any more school work done at home. I did have her try to recall some of the things she had seen. Maybe we'll write about them this week.

All in all it was a great day of school! I liked the mix of skill drill, seat work, unit study reading, and activity.

You might also like to read: How to Plan a Unit Study

I took a lot more pictures at the museum that you can see here: The Waterhouse Residence Museum at Lake Lily.

In February 2015, I followed up with this post: A Week of Home School Third Grade

Virginia Knowles

www.StartWellHomeSchool.blogspot.com

SeaWorld for the Holidays! (Florida Field Trips #7)

Welcome back to my Florida Field Trips series!

Our family had a marvelous time at SeaWorld Orlando yesterday during their Christmas celebration.  My husband and I took our five younger kids, ages 7-15.

Just one of many photo ops...

The park is decorated for the holidays, and best of all, many of the shows are themed for Christmas.  Live musicians all around the park added to the holiday spirit.  I wasn't having very good luck with my camera yesterday so pardon the lack of good show and night pictures here.

Christmas toy king

Saxophone quartet

In the snow globe

  
Of course, they have all the regular year round attractions as well, like the Shark Experience, the Turtle Trek, and the Blue Horizons dolphin show.  The only attraction that is closed right now is the Penguin Encounter, since they are building a new Antarctica Empire of the Penguins exhibit to open in the spring. 

Exhibits and shows aside, the older kids (of the five we brought) would have been quite content to just ride Manta, Kraken and Journey to Atlantis all day long. 

Kraken roller coaster

Manta picture from summer trip

My youngest daughter loves Shamu's Happy Harbor with all the kiddie rides and splash pad, so we had "Mommy and Me" time yesterday while the others went with Dad.

The Sky Tower is also now included in admission.  The view from 300 foot up as the rotating room ascends is quite something to behold.  



We attended three of the Christmas shows and my husband and I loved them.  (Most of the kids enjoyed them, too, but like I said, they go more for the rides.)  Some of the Christmas shows only run in the evening, you need to get to them 45 minutes ahead of time to get a decent seat, especially on the nights that the park closes at 9 and there are fewer shows.  Other nights, the park closes at 11 and there are more shows, but that may be too late for families with young children.  Check Park Hours and Show Schedules and click on the calendar for the day you wish to attend.  Most of the shows run for about 20-30 minutes.

I was especially touched by the "O Wondrous Night" show, which is a musical living nativity.  The singers are amazing, and though there were plenty of comedic moments, it was very reverently done, incorporating contemporary adaptations and medleys of religious carols.  While we waited for the show to begin, a spirited guitar and fiddle duet entertained us for a Christmas carol sing-along. 

(This picture is from a summer visit.)

The next show we attended was "Shamu Christmas Miracles" in the whale stadium.  I always enjoy seeing the whales (magnificent creatures!) and loved hearing the carols as background music to their performance, but I'd have to say my favorite thing here was the awesome saxophonist who played carols before the show!  


We bustled out of the whale show to make it to the "Winter Wonderland on Ice" skating show in the Bayside Stadium.  We sat up in the balcony, which gave us a great overall view from above, but I found it hard to take decent pictures without a telephoto lens.   

The other drawback of balcony seating during Winter Wonderland is that when the Reflections Fireworks and Fountain Finale fireworks go off at the end of the very last show of the night, you can't see the ones way up high in the sky.  

The 100 Christmas trees in the "Sea of Trees" out in the water also change colors to the music at various times during the day.  The Wild Arctic ride has been transformed into Polar Express Experience for the holidays, but we didn't go to it this time.  The two other Christmas shows are "A Sesame Street Christmas" and "Clyde and Seamore's Countdown to Christmas" (sea lions).  I'm hoping to see them next time we go. We want to tuck in one last trip before our 2012 tickets expire! (My mom bought ours for us this summer and we've certainly gotten our use out of them!)

The cool thing is that if you buy a ticket now, they will give you a Fun Pass good for admission all the way through the end of 2013!   Yep, Florida residents can buy one day and get more than a year of park admission!  Adult Fun Pass tickets are $89 plus tax, and kids are $81 plus tax.   (If you really only want one day, you can pay $10 less per ticket on-line only.)  Or you can purchase an annual pass and get free parking and other perks.  A SeaWorld annual pass is $149, but you can pay extra to extend the admission to the Aquatica water park and Busch Gardens amusement park.  Check for the best ticket options for your family.

A word about food:  SeaWorld has great restaurants, but for a large family on a budget, you can bring your own food and eat in the picnic area just outside the entrance gates.  You can bring snack portions of food into the park, but not big coolers or full lunches.  

Enjoy SeaWorld!

Virginia Knowles
www.StartWellHomeSchool.blogspot.com

Florida Field Trips #5: LegoLand

Florida Field Trips #5: LegoLand

Dear friends,

Yesterday, I took my four youngest kids, ages 6-12, to LegoLand Florida, about an hour and half from our house in Seminole County.  Last fall, LegoLand opened in Winter Haven, not far from US Highway 27, on the grounds of what used to be the historic Cypress Gardens theme park.  Cypress Gardens was a classic Florida fixture for several decades until it ran out of money a few years back.  I remember going there over 25 years ago with my husband!

Our home school co-op scheduled this as a field trip so we could get the school discount, which is just a fraction of the cost of a regular ticket.  We paid $5 each for children ages 5 through 12, and $25 each for teens, adults, and preschoolers age 3-4.  Under age 3 is admitted free.  A regular adult ticket is $75 at the gate or $68 on-line, while children’s and senior citizens tickets are usually $65 at the gate or $60 on-line.   The moral of the story: go with a school group if you can!   We were initially told to bring our home school ID cards, but only our leader had to show hers.  Parking costs $12 for a car (maybe more for larger vehicles?) and can be paid by credit card.  

You can rent a single stroller for $9 or a double stroller for $14.  I rented one at lunch time so I could bring my heavy lunch bag to the back end of the park where our friends were eating, and so my tired six year old didn’t have to walk so much.  It was well worth the money.  Speaking of lunch bags, I’ve been told there is refrigerated storage area in the white mansion so you can bring it in.  I didn’t realize that ahead of time and had left mine in the car.  You can also get food in the park.  I saw an all-you-can-eat-and-drink pizza, pasta and salad buffet for $9.99 for adults and $6.99 for children.  At that price, I would have been tempted to just eat there if I hadn’t had as many kids with me!  Some of the other food is a big more expensive, such as a bottle of Gatorade that is $3 if you buy it inside or $2.50 if you buy it from a cart outside.  Other amenities include a pet kennel and locker rental.

The hours are 9:30 AM to 6:00 PM, Thursday through Monday (closed Tuesday and Wednesday), but they don’t seem to be very strict on the closing time.  We didn’t leave the park until 6:20, and there were plenty of people still in it.  

They are opening a LegoLand Water Park this summer.

Island in the Sky

While LegoLand is much more fun than the old Cypress Gardens, I am very grateful that they have retained the best features of the old park, including the actual gardens, water ski shows, and the Island in the Sky ride which is a viewing platform that rises high above the park and spins slowly for a terrific view of the Florida countryside.   I’m not sure which of the current rides remain for the CG days, but there are four different roller coasters and lots of other rides for all ages to enjoy.   

There truly is “something for everyone” at LegoLand, even if you don’t usually play with Legos.  We compensated for the differences in age and interest levels by trading off kids with three other families as necessary.  We kept in touch with cell phones so we could meet up frequently and trade kids again.

 New York City

Statue of Liberty

The really fun thing about LegoLand is the LEGO theme!  This is apparent from the moment you walk through the gates, because there are gigantic Lego sculptures throughout the park.  The crowning display of Legos is at MiniLand, where there are at least a dozen amazing scenes built entirely of Legos, including New York City, Washington D.C., San Francisco, the Daytona speedway, Kennedy Space Center, Key West, Las Vegas, and more.

U.S. Capitol Building

Space Shuttle at Kennedy Space Center

  

San Francisco with Golden Gate Bridge 

San Francisco

The Safari ride for young children takes you through an area with full size Lego animals. 

Some attractions that are not made of Legos still retain the theme, such as at the water ski show where the ship looks like it is made of Legos and the pirate is called Captain Brickbeard instead of Blackbeard.  During this show, there are four full-size Lego men (people in costumes) and a Lego pirate who water ski and act out the skit.    

In the Dragon roller coaster ride, the outside is a Lego looking castle with the trademark colorful plastic flags, a Lego gargoyle, and Lego soldier.   During the preliminary inside segment, you travel through a castle with large Lego sculptures of dragons and courtiers.   

The Dragon coaster ride was fun but not overwhelming, and I think it is the best pick of coasters for younger riders.  There is also a nearby Merlin’s Challenge ride for very younger children which is sort-of-kind-of like a junior roller coaster (goes up and down a little on a circle track) but ironically rougher on my joints than the Dragon and the wooden Coastersaurus!  I didn’t ride the Flying School suspension coaster, nor Project X (?) which is more curvy.

I also loved the Clutch Powers 4-D show we saw.  What is 4-D? It is 3-D with the additional sensory elements of wind, water and “snow.”   There are three 4-D shows available, including a racing one, and another with a wizard theme that looked a little dark for my tastes.

I am also super glad I took the opportunity to walk through the gardens, which I missed the last time I was at Cypress Gardens.   A Southern belle made from Legos replaces the human ones that used to grace the park.

The most outstanding feature of the gardens is a massive banyan tree that has several trunks.  

Banyan Tree

Gazebo, with pond that has alligators!

I think this is a Jack-in-the-Pulpit flower

I always love to stop and pay attention to details about God’s creation.  I kept noticing soft white clumps of fuzz on the grass in one area, and realized it came from baseball sized white clumps growing high up in the trees.   Yes, they were silk floss trees, the ones with really spiky trunks.  Very educational!

"Silk floss"

Look closely to see the soft white seed balls
on the silk floss tree

Trunk of silk floss tree

I have posted more Cypress Gardens photos on my main blog. 

  

One thing I didn’t like as much was that the map gave very little detail about what each attraction was. For example, we thought The Lost Kingdom Adventure was a roller coaster, but it turned out to be a little car that takes you through Egyptian tombs so you can shoot targets with a laser gun -- fun, but not the roller coaster, which was the adjacent Coastersaurus.  So you should do your research on-line ahead of time.  You can explore the Park Map here: http://florida.legoland.com/en/Park-Map/Park-Map/

I guess that’s enough about LegoLand and Cypress Gardens for now!  I hope it helps as you plan your trip!

This is the fifth post in my Florida Field Trip series.  You can find the other ones here:

#1: Historic St. Augustine

#2: Silver Springs Nature Park

#3: The Orlando Science Center

#4: Secret Lake Park

Have fun!


Virginia Knowles
www.StartWellHomeSchool.blogspot.com