Home School

San Francisco Field Trip (Part 2)

Posted on November 1, 2013 by dinosaurs4dinner

Relax! Just Do

And the Fun continues…after fueling up with my double espresso Starbuck’s we head over to the Pier to check out the America’s Cup.

‘Make yourself at home!’ – My kids have no problem getting comfortable in these giant bean bags set all over the lawn for viewing the races.

When it was time to leave we only had to look under 7 of them to find all of our missing shoes!

Living the Good Life!

Lawn Ping Pong

Last stop – ice cream! We head into the Ferry Building filled with several little shops and a decide on a little gelato shop called ‘Ciao Bella’. I am very familiar with this gelato, they sell it in the Grocery stores near us and it is very good, and I eat too much of it. The line was pretty long which gave me a long time to over analyze the pricing. 1 Scoop in a cup was about $4.00 (it was pretty small but keep in mind I am comparing to the monsterous scoops and flavors we have indulged in this trip thus far) – 2 Scoops was only about 60 cents more and 3 Scoops was less than a $1.00 more than 1 scoop. If you got a cone it was $1 more. I announce to my boys, “2 choices boys, 1 scoop in a cone or 3 scoops in a cup.” Well Duh! I didn’t raise morons, of course they all went for the 3 scoops but my little announcement made me several enemies in line who just got done telling their kids only 1 scoop. The staff was…interesting…with their rock music blasting out of their portable stereo system behind the counter they had trouble hearing & I had to repeat my order several times. The server got the order wrong, 3 times, which lead to him finally apologizing saying “I’m sorry, it’s hard to hear with our music on so loud.” When I suggested turning it down he sort of laughed and said, “It would be impossible working here without it.” Ok, I thought, until he continued his sentence adding, “and (making a smoking pot jester with his hand).” I look at my boys and think, “Lovely, they might be eating Weed flavored Gelato.”

Ciao Bella!

Now we just need to figure out how to get this on the train…

What better time to decide to leave than rush hour. The train is completely packed. At some point we manage to get seats and at some short time later my sons get up to offer their seats to the ladies…I guess I am doing something right.

Categories: Home School, Parenting, Uncategorized | Tags: America's Cup, field trip, Gelato, Ice Cream, San Francisco | Leave a comment

Let’s Teach!

Posted on October 8, 2013 by dinosaurs4dinner

With no ‘Formal’ training or teaching experience and no time to actually get any I decide my best strategy to this Home Schooling I’ve committed to is to jump right in. After a few hours (well what felt like a few hours but was actually only 15 minutes), I felt like I just jumped into a cold pool and no matter how much I moved around, it was never going to warm up. 3 kids 3 different grades (5th, 3rd and 2nd) and a baby – I had a BRILLIANT PLAN: Assign each child an assignment, pull each aside for an individual lesson, be available for questions, play with the baby, repeat. BRILLIANT REALITY: Assign 1st child an assignment, before I could assign 2nd child assignment 1st child had questions, assign 2nd child work and answer questions from 1st child, 2nd child is finished with work and needs more, 1st child also completed work and needs more, 3rd child never received any work to begin with and the baby is desperately seeking attention from child 1, 2 and 3…lose my mind, repeat.

Categories: Home School, Uncategorized | Tags: Children, Family, Home school, Home schooling, Parenting, road trip, Teaching | 5 Comments

1st Day of School

Posted on September 30, 2013 by dinosaurs4dinner

After doing nothing but eating, sleeping, and shopping for 5 days I decide it is time to officially start school. Although it is almost 3 weeks out from when most Organized (not saying that I’m not) Schools start I figure it is best to get a jump start so there is no need to worry about the days missed while stuck in the car driving home.

I can’t deny that I am SO excited about not having to buy uniforms this year but more importantly not having to remember which kid is in which uniform on which day. No searching endlessly for the certain color and type of required shoes, and no staying on top of hair cuts above the collars (but who are we kidding on this one, I was never on top of that!) I told the boys there are 2 Rules before starting school – 1.Eat Breakfast and 2. Change out of your Pajamas. My son Aidan has always been the type of kid who tries to get his work done right away so that he can move on to what he wants to do. He was always trying to do his homework on the bus and if he didn’t finish he would continue to do it while walking home from the bus stop. He would walk in the door put his hands up and simply shout “DONE!” The first day of our school my son Aidan tells me he doesn’t eat breakfast so he wants to start his work. I remind him he first needs to change out of his pajamas before he can start. With a huff he walks away. The next day he again is the first one up, doesn’t want breakfast and says he is dressed and ready to go. I look at him and realize he is wearing the same clothes as the day before so I say to him, “Aidan, did you sleep in your clothes from yesterday?” He replies, “Yeah, why? Then I don’t have to change my clothes in the morning and I can get started right away.” I have to say I would have to give him an A+ for ‘Cleverness.’

I decide even though we are starting school we are still on vacation as well so I did not declare any exact start time and they are welcome to sleep in and simply start when they wake up. This is NOT working in my favor. I have one up every morning before me who comes to wake me up so he can start, one who sleeps until 11 or 12 and one who’s wake up time is as random as rolling dice. With this schedule I am making breakfast and lunch three separate times (minus 1 breakfast) and teaching all day long. Rule #3 just got added. School starts no later than 10:00 a.m., if you are not up, I will wake you up. More importantly if I am not up, do not wake me up.

Categories: Home School, Uncategorized | Tags: boys, Home school, Home schooling, Parenting, road trip, travel | 3 Comments

Jackson Hole

Posted on September 2, 2013 by dinosaurs4dinner

Welcome to Jackson!

“Yeah, we’re goin’ to Jackson, ain’t never comin’ back.” – From a Johnny Cash song – not sure wether or not he is referring to this Jackson but I LOVE that song and I LOVED Jackson, WY ! I Loved everything about it, wish we could spend an entire week here instead of just one day!

School Time!

I told the boys if they memorize everything on this sign we could count it as a day of school. “Seriously?!?!” they say. “No, I am not serious but learn something and we can count it as a Field Trip – but only if we spend our break shopping” (No, I am kidding, I did not say that! ) We are all very hungry, it is noon which means everyone else in Jackson Hole is hungry as well and everything is at least an hour wait. Luckily we stubble upon ‘Pizza Caldera’ – an order at the counter Pizza Place. Sounds perfect until we walk up to the entrance and realize we have to climb up 40 stairs, somehow we manage to get the stroller up and yes the baby as well. Was worth it, the Pizza was delicious! This is a picture of Downtown Jackson from their balcony:

View from Above

Ride ’em Cowboy!

The plan was to get lunch and walk around for an hour or two so we could hit the road again. Got lunch -Check! Walk around for a couple hours -Check! (ha!ha! I should know by now our plans rarely happen according to ‘the plan!’) I was just so in LOVE with the town, we just kept walking around so my couple hours turned into 5 hours. I call Scott and tell him I wouldn’t mind spending another night in Jackson. “Of Course you wouldn’t mind!” he says -1 night 1 city have to keep going. OK just one more stop to make…Ice Cream!

Ice Cream in Jackson!

Making our way back to the car we come across an array of Bronze statues. There are signs posted everywhere, ‘Please do not touch’. As I go to take this picture I tell My son Aidan, he is the one in the blue t-shirt, “You are not suppose to be touching the statues” His reply is “I am not, it only looks like my elbow is touching, pretty tricky hugh?” “Yes Aidan, pretty tricky.”

Posing with the Moose

Finn hanging with Abe Lincoln

Good Bye Jackson Hole, Wyoming – We Loved visiting you and will be back another day!

Categories: Home School, Parenting, Uncategorized | Tags: Home school, Jackson Hole, Jackson Wyoming, Johnny Cash, road trip, Wyoming | Leave a comment

Dinosaurs

Posted on August 20, 2013 by dinosaurs4dinner

Dinosaurs4Dinner.com

Dinosaurs After Dinner. Finishing up at Dirty Annie’s, we hit the road to our next camp for the night when a sign catches my eye -“Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracksite”

Sign

WHAT!!!! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!!

Am I reading that correctly?!!

I immediately (not sure legally) make a U-Turn in the middle of the street. “What’s wrong? Where are we going?” I hear from my peanut gallery in the back.

“Dinosaurs, we are going to see Dinosaurs!! (err.. their tracks anyway)!!! Do you guys want to go?!?”

“No, that’s ok.”

Wait…What!??!? Now I think my hearing is going…ARE YOU GUYS CRAZY?!!

I press on the gas a little harder and say “Guys, this is FOR REAL!”

“Very Funny Mom!” Is my reply this time

I stop the car, tell them to put their Ipads away – there is no App for what we are about to see- Real Life Dinosaur tracks from Real dinosaurs that really lived! Not like the fake one we saw at Wall Drug. It finally sunk in, they are excited -not as excited as I am though! I LOVE Dinosaurs and this unexpected stop is so unbelievably thrilling and not to mention perfect for my blog!

After driving for about a mile the dirt road starts to become less and less of an actual road. The tires are spiting up dirt from every which way and the sun is starting it’s decent, shining right into my eyes. I am mentally trying to figure out how many feet are in a mile and I am pretty sure it is more than the 750 the sign stated. Continuing on another couple miles we still don’t see anything, and I mean absolutely nothing, every direction I look for as far as I can see, is dirt, not another living soul for miles. This is when I also realize I no longer have any bars on my phone, images of every survivor desert movie start racing through my head until I am interrupted by Aidan, “Mom, I really don’t think this is a good idea.” Followed up with “I think this is a BAD idea mom, a BAD idea.” I don’t say anything because I am starting to feel the same way but of course I keep going because these are REAL Dino Tracks!! Approximately 5 miles later we find it!Congratulations, I am now alone in the middle of the desert, with 4 boys -I have never been more excited or scared at the same time. Just as I turn the car off Scott calls, at least I have cell service again. I tell him what we are doing and also tell him if he doesn’t hear back from me within the hour he needs to send out a search party for us.

This is for real, not a souvenir.

We get out and start walking along the plank to the actual site. The boys immediately notice the ‘Warning Rattlesnake Signs’ posted everywhere and ask it that’s ‘For Real.’ Yes, I say we are not in Illinois anymore so there are rattlesnakes here, stay on the path….WHAY!! as I notice Aidan in his flip flops completely off of the path walking around in the dirt. Now I am glad no one is around because I freak out and yell at him to stay on the path that this is serious.

That is when Connor chimes in, “It’s ok mom, if you are about to be attacked by a rattlesnake you lift your foot in front of you as if you are about to march and kick him in the face.”….excuse me? “Yeah, we learned that at the Reptile Gardens” I have to say I was a little impressed.

Running with the Dinosaurs

After leaving, I did a little research and found out this site is an assemblage of 165 million year old fossil dinosaur footprints from the middle Jurassic period. Discovered in 1997, on public land by Erik Kvale, a research geologist, while on vacation with his family. They say a site like this is very rare in the world.

My 4 Dinosuars

The boys ended up loving it but were a little disappointed we didn’t see any Rattlesnakes, I didn’t feel the same way about this…who am I kidding – that would have been the icing on the cake!