Back to school, back to school...

I'm in Kindergarten now!

Well, it's not like we ever really stop learning here, but the MoCo kids were going back to school on Monday, so we decided to break out the new curriculum. Our "official" date isn't really until September 8th, because according to the state, we have to declare by form 15 days before we "start," and with the unexpected Florida trip, that form didn't get turned in early. So I'm not sure how this works, but I guess if Shay does anything spectacular in the next week, I can't put it in her portfolio for the school year. In Maryland, there are 3 options for homeschooling: 1) a portfolio put together of samples of the child's work in order to show "parent provides regular, thorough instruction," which I am told is open up to different interpretations depending on the reviewer, however needs to show that the child is doing the same subjects taught in public school; 2) an umbrella school (usually run through a church- although some are secular), most of which have a fee of some sort but provide assistance if needed; or 3) don't declare anything and hope you don't get caught. We are doing option 1.

As the year goes on, we will be adding curriculum as needed, but so far we have decided on:
Math: Math U See Alpha
Science: Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology
Handwriting: Getty- Dubay handwriting program
Bible:The Greenleaf Guide to Old Testament History
Music: Keyboard Capers
Literature and Spelling: Books selected from her Farm School (more on that when we start in 2 weeks)
Social Studies: Finishing up the United States and then moving on to Ancient History
P.E. :Ballet, and bowling
Art: Incorporating themes from Farm School, Social Studies, and the Old Testament. Plus any other art she might be interested in.

Oh, how did the first day go? Well, take a peak. We just eased into it- started after lunch and did a half day, it's unofficial after all.

We start every day with the pledge.

Watching Mr. Steve teach the lesson on her MUS dvd.

Her MUS blocks.

The answer is 235!

Reading about her home state- Arizona.

Filing in her Arizona map.

She's getting better with her details.

It's hard to tell, but her feet aren't on the floor here.

Art.

Music/P.E.- dancing!

Thanks for checking out my day!

Hopefully now that we have an actual schoolroom, I will get blog posts up more regularly. And anyone who is interested, my mom made her skirt, tank, and (not shown) her undies for her first day of school!

New School Room- Revealed!

Finally! It's done. Just in time for the first day of school. We finally decided on a color- Sweet Buttered Corn. I got the painting done earlier last week, and then before the hurricane came on Saturday, I was setting it up, taking a break while the heavy rains and winds came, and then back to the finishing touches on Sunday. I LOVE the way it turned out. And so did my little student.

Her art and music area (plus advanced reading on the shelf).

 Her work area.

Remember her Solar System from last year? It made the wall!

Doesn't it look great!

Her reading area.

Games, puzzles, manipulatives, and of course her telescope!

So how did the first day go?

See you tomorrow!

Find out on tomorrow's blog!  :)

The Hottest Place in All Orlando?

Thursday we got up and out the door and headed to Animal Kingdom. The park is only open until 6pm, so we really wanted to get the most out of it. It was supposed to be a hot day, but I thought there would be enough shade with all the trees. Ha! I think out of the 3 parks we went to, this one was the hottest!

It was so humid the camera fogged up!

 We wanted to make sure we took the Kilimanjaro Safari ride. So we flew up to Africa and got in line. It was only 20 minutes, so that wasn't too bad. We got to ride in a big Safari Jeep and it took us on an adventure to stop poachers. We went up and down hills, through water, made quick turns. It was fun! Along the way we saw elephants, giraffes, crocodiles, warthogs, hippos, and a few other animals native to the African Safari. I was most impressed that they had lions and cheetahs out in the open.

What our safari jeep looked like from the back.

The Giraffe were so close!

Jumbo termite hill. Gross.

Elephant!

Lioness!

Also in Africa, we walked through some trails, saw some birds and fish and then boarded a train to Rafiki's Planet Watch, where we learned about conservation and animal rescue. Gotta get some learning in on the trip!

Trying out a Gorilla's handprints.

WOW!

 

She even got to be in an interactive show with a bird of prey. She guessed he weighed 5lbs- and she was right!

I know the answer!

5lbs is heavy when you only weigh 35!

We headed down to Camp Mickey and Minnie after that and tried to get as many character signatures as we could. It was nice that they had a huge section of little pavilions to take pictures with each character. 

Minnie was sweet.

Goofy was a riot!

At 2, we stood in line for a half an hour to see the Festival of the Lion King Musical. One thing we were looking forward to, besides the show, was that it was inside- air conditioning! I'm told the show is similar to the one on Broadway. There were singers (one sounded just like James Earl Jones!), acrobats, stilt walkers, and all sorts of dancing. It was great! The best was when the whole crowd (minus Shayleigh- who was looking at us like we were all crazy) broke out and sung Hakuna Matata! Poor kid- we really have to get her to watch these movies now that we've met all these characters.

We headed over to Dinoland, USA.

By this time we were done! The heat had overtaken us. We stopped for the best $4 frozen lemonade ever. We all sat down and enjoyed our lemonade and then headed over to The Boneyard. Supposedly there Shay could dig up some dino bones, but all I saw there was a climbing structure and some fossils. It was ok though because after all the walking we made Shay do (yep- no stroller for this little trooper at all the parks) she needed some time to run around. While she was there, of course she made a friend. Working on her socialization all the way down in Orlando!

Wait for it...

Yep, holding hands!

One last stop to visit Pooh, Eeyore, and Tigger. While we were waiting in line, we saw a cast member who we had seen in just about every other line that day (she was the person that was giving breaks) and she was so taken with Shayleigh, she called her a special friend and gave Shayleigh her favorite pin from her shirt. Can I just say that made her day? Well, that and having Pooh give her some special treatment.

Dancing with Pooh!

Before heading to dinner, we stopped by the gift shop. How can you decide what to get? You can't. So we got one of everything! No, not really, but we wanted to. There was so much cool stuff there. The prices though- yikes.

In keeping with the Animal Kingdom theme, we headed to Rainforest Cafe. I had never been there before, but goodness is it noisy! On the way out, the sky decided to open up into a torrential downpour for what seemed like an eternity. I imagine we spent an hour at the gift shop there before we decided to take our shoes off (I was NOT going to drive 13 hours home the next day in wet sneakers) and make a run for it. I have no idea how long it rained for, but I am glad that it waited until after we were done with our day to rain.

The next day, we headed home, and it rained off and on the whole way home. Nothing really exciting to report there, and it seemed the drivers were on better behavior going North, which is good, because I was EXHAUSTED!

We had such a great trip. The memories will last a lifetime. I know Shayleigh learned a lot. We all did.

 

Come sail away...

On Wednesday, we took a break from Disney and headed up to Port Richey and chartered a boat to take us to a private island just off the coast in the Gulf of Mexico. The two hour drive was hard as everyone struggled to stay awake (we left Magic Kingdom after 11:30 the night before and headed out first thing in the am).

We met out captain, Mark, and headed off on an 8 hour adventure! This was Shay's first time on a boat, so we didn't know if she would get seasick. So I made her chew on some ginger. Yuck!

Riding on the front of the boat.

We sailed out for some time, then stopped to snorkel! The flippers were a hit. The mask and breathing tube, not so much. So Shay wore goggles. Ed and Peyton went out first to check everything out. Tami and I decided- eh, we'll stay on the boat and watch.

The boys out snorkeling.

After some father- son time, they came back to take Shay who was so excited to go!

Oooh, the water is warm!

Not scared of water anymore!

They found a live scallop!

After a little bit of snorkeling, we sailed off for another 2 hours to our private island. Some of us were a little tired.

Don't know why she'd be tired!

The very small private island!

Her first beach experience- and she ran right out to make sandcastles.

Whole shell.

Sand dollar pieces for Grammy.

Her footprint!

See the dolphin?

We spotted at least 2 dolphins circling the island. I only took about 30 pictures, and this is the best I could get. Shay never saw them (later on Grammy had asked her if she saw any dolphins and her reply was "No, because I can't follow a finger point!").

Another 2 hours back to the dock, so we just chilled and enjoyed the beautiful day. There were storms off in the distance- Orlando got slammed, so we were glad that we picked this day to go to the beach instead of Disney.

Me (l) with my pretty cool sister (r).

So much fun!

Ended the day with a rainbow!

It was such a great time. I didn't know I would enjoy it so much. I had no idea that Shay would really love it.

Tomorrow- Roar! Guess where we are going?