Field Trips

One of the advantages of home-schooling is all the neat field trips you can take. Here you will find a brief documentary of the field trips the Alawine's have taken in the past, and field trips we are looking forward to.

The Graduation Trip of a Life Time

May 4th,2005 we left for Oahu. The weather was great and the food was delicious, and there was lots of fun (don't tell but it was educational too) stuff to do. First I went for a dive on Atlantis Submarines (the guys chickened out on me), but they had fun swimming in the Super Pool while I was gone. After I got back we visited the Bishop Museum.

The next day we climbed Diamond Head Crater ( a ONCE in a lifetime experience, but worth it the view was awesome).

Day 3 we visited the Waimea Valley Audubon Center . Hubby swam out to the waterfall.

Day 4 we went snorkeling at Sharks Cove. Apparently the rest of the family are born snorkelers, I never got the knack of it and kept getting water in my breathing tube, but seeing the sea life was worth it. Hubby saw sea turtles.

Day 5 snorkeling at Hanauma Bay, in the morning and a drive in the mountains that afternoon. It's very windy and cool in the mountains.

Day 6 visit to the Dole Plantation geared more for younger kids but the pineapple sherbet was good.

Day 7 visited Fort DeRussy (it was close to the the resort we stayed at) before we had to leave for home.

Recommended reading "Shoal of Time - A History of the Hawaiian Islands" by Gavan Daws

Other Noteworthy Field Trips We Have Taken

San Diego, tons to do there and great Mexican food. Some of the places we enjoyed going, Balboa park and hiking at Torrey Pines.

Atlanta, tons of educational stuff to do and the Metro makes it easy to get around. Two favorites The Fernbank Museum and Underground Atlanta.

Jacksonville, Florida

Kids enjoyed the beach but we also managed a trip to Amelia Island, where we visited Fort Clinch State Park.

Washington DC

We visited a small slice of The Smithsonian which is huge, strolled along The Mall, and we even climbed the Washington Monument. The view from the Washington Monument is fantastic. You can't tell from the ground but there are small windows cut into the monument. We also took the time to go to Arlington National Cemetery which was special to me, as my Great Uncle Lucian is buried there, and I was able to take a picture of his tombstone for my Mother. We hope to go back to Washington D.C. one day. Needless to say we didn't get to see all the Smithsonian, and there was tons of other stuff we wanted to do. With our friends and fellow homeschoolers, the Theads, we visited Nanih Waiya Mound & Village. The kids had a great time playing in the river at a working grist mill, that was located nearby.

Field Trips Taken During the 2005-2006 School Year

With PEAK we have visited the Gulf Coast Exploreum where we toured The Mummy Exhibit, and the Louisiana Renaissance Festival , click here to read more about our experience at the Renaissance Festival. PEAK has field trips planned for Shell Mound Park and Bellingrath Gardens, Fall 2006, which we are looking forward to going on.

The heart has it's reasons, of which reason knows nothing.
Blaise Pascal

I first came across this quote when reading Susannah Kells novel "The Fallen Angels" about the Illuminati's part in the French Revolution. I ran across it again when reading BigNut's post Homeschoolers: Unwitting pawns of the Christian Rightwing? at Three Loose Nuts. Fate, destiny or just coincidence, you decide?

While reading the Carnival of Education, I came across these two post that peaked my interest. In the first Matt Johnston attempts to debunk the need for government preschool in his post Perpetuating the Pre-School Myth at Going to the Mat. Then Dana ask "Do Faith Based Schools Adequately Prepare Students for College"at huffenglish.com

Hopefully these informative and entertaining post will keep you busy for awhile. Because I think a good nights rest, is my fate in the near future. Besides I still have a few more chapters of "The Fallen Angels" to read.

UN Cracks Down on Homeschoolers

In 2003, however, the Flemish regional parliament decreed that all homeschoolers are obliged to sign a document in which they promise to rear their children along the lines of the UN Convention. The latter undermines the authority of parents and transfers it to the state.
The document the homeschoolers are made to sign also states that government inspectors decide whether families comply with the UN’s ideology. Furthermore, it contains a clause in which the homeschooling parents agree to send their child to an official government recognized school if the inspectors report negatively about them twice.

True this is in Belgium, but it doesn't bode well for home~schoolers. Click here to read the whole article.

Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College

For the fourth straight year, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College is ranked as one of the country's top 100 community colleges.

It's nice to know that the community college my son attends is ranked so well, even more impressive they moved up to #67, even though they had to deal with Katrina.

Once Upon a Time ........

Ladies never worked outside the home. If a lady found herself without a male protector she was restricted to earning a living by the few jobs that were deemed suitable for women; governess, seamstress etc.. Needless to say women were not allowed to vote.

Then along came such women as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton to name a few. And women not only gained the right to vote, they achieved the ability to pursue whatever career they wanted. But honestly long before Anthony and Stanton came on the scene other women were showing the world how capable women were; Elizabeth I showed the world a woman could rule as well as a man, Jane Austen and George Eliot were busy writing books, and Sophie Germain was an important French mathematician.

But now women were free to become doctors, lawyers, bankers and politicians without overcoming huge obstacles first, surprisingly some women choose to stay home and raise a family. But since all women were free to choose what path in life they wanted to follow everyone lived happily ever after, right?

No, boo hiss....... Linda R. Hirshman insist that all women must work outside the home to be fulfilled. That women who choose to give up their careers to raise a family are making a mistake. Sorry Ms. Hirshman, but it's just as wrong to tell a woman she can't stay at home and raise her children as it was to force all women to stay home and raise children.

The Homeschool Cafe

Will be hosting the Carnival of Homeschooling, June 27th, drop in for some frank discussions on homeschooling.

I Capture the Castle By Dodie Smith

I just finished reading "I Capture the Castle" by Dodie Smith. Thanks for the recommendation Natalie, I loved it. It's been awhile since I read a girlie book, it made a nice change of pace from all the blood and gore I have been mired in lately with the Starbuck Chronicles. The ending was a bit of a cliff hanger, so I'll have to write my own happily ever after.......................Back to the blood and gore, I am fixing to start on Bernard Cronwell's novel of the French Revolution, The Fallen Angels. He wrote it under the pseudonym Susannah Kells if you are interested in reading it.

Book Recommendation

The Starbuck Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell. The first book in the series places Nathanial Starbuck at the first Bull Run, and the books he has written so far continue until The Battle of Antietam in 1862. I do wish he would hurry up and write some more. I would like to know if Nathanial Starbuck survives the Civil War.