Category: Travel

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Daily Life

Trapped by Potty Training

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I’m so frustrated. Those that follow us on Instagram know that we are trying to finish off potty training with Cara. She’s been pee trained for months but the other one… well. She just hasn’t figured that out. I couldn’t stand the thought of buying another box of Pull-Ups so we told her that was it! She had to be a big girl and go in the potty now.

5 days and no action, so we finally bought a suppository to give her some relief. That was yesterday morning. This morning (since its about high time she had to go again) she’s still doing nothing. In the meantime I feel trapped. Unable to go anywhere or do anything since we told her she has to stay in the trailer until she goes. We were hoping she would get incredibly bored and that would be incentive enough, but it just doesn’t seem to be working. We’ve tried treats, stickers, leaving her behind, you name it. Nada.

I don’t know what to do. For some reason my brain can’t handle planning an outing or excursion for just Rachel, Andrew, and I. It just doesn’t sound… fun. Being left behind doesn’t seem to motivate her either since she says she’ll just have fun playing toys in the Airstream.

Do we just go about our normal day and clean up what happens? Would that be better than being in a beautiful city I feel like we can’t go see? I’m not sure what the answer is, but before too long something has got to change or I might explode.

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This Week on Instagram

This Week on Instagram: Feb 15-21, 2014

This Week on Instagram Feb 15-21 2014

This week has been slow & relaxed and we’ve LOVED it! We spent the weekend with family in Riverside, CA and then headed out to Casper’s Wilderness Park just south of LA. We needed to get away from the city, get caught up on work school. Done, done, and done. We’ve also started to finish potty-training Cara and the poor girl has been pantsless in the Airstream for 4 days. Not much success so far, but we are pretty determined this time around. We’ve also arrived in San Diego and are staying at an RV park in the city. Not the best views, but the beach, the zoo, Sea World, science museums and other fun activities are all under 30 minutes away. Can’t beat that.

Categories
Homeschool

I’ve Unexpectedly Fallen in Love with Homeschooling

I've Unexpectedly Fallen in Love with HomeschoolingI never thought I would, but I absolutely love to homeschool my kids. Even more than that, I love to roadschool my kids. True, there are very frustrating moments (more than I’d care to admit) but mostly it has been the most amazing learning experience for all of us.

I’ve had many people ask HOW we do it. How I (we) spend all day with our children, how I figure out what to teach them, how I get time for myself. The truth is, we just do. There’s no magic secret, mostly just good old fashioned, shoulder to wheel… work.

In complete honesty, however, I’m not sure I could homeschool in a house. The easy part about roadschooling is that our surroundings are always changing. Each week we have a new city. New science centers, new hikes, new museums, new beaches, new playgrounds, new National Parks. We are not visiting the same ones over, and over, and that definitely makes the same type of activity more interesting.

At the same time, roadschooling does make other aspects more difficult. I would LOVE to be part of a group. I know there are plenty of families out there that homeschool and do music groups, PE groups, or group lessons. That would definitely alleviate the pressure of doing everything myself. However, that also comes with the price of a schedule.

More and more I realize how grateful I am to be currently homeschooling my children. My favorite aspect is the FREEDOM. Its like I can suddenly breath again. We are not tied to anyone else’s schedule. I get to see my kids ALL day (and yes, I consider that a perk. Most days.). My kids can PLAY. Kids learn best when they play, so why don’t we let them? As I sit in science center after science center in city after city, watching them explore, fiddle, and experiment, I wonder if they really are learning anything. Then my kids will surprise me with an observation and I’m just floored. They DO learn. While discussing California with Rachel today for Geography, I mentioned that its nickname is the Golden State and did she know why? Andrew, sitting across the table, pipes up with all sorts of information about the gold rush, why it was important, and what people were hoping to accomplish by coming to California. What the? I asked him where he learned that, and he simply said, “My Tag Reader Puzzle”. He picked all of that information up while playing a game.

Is homeschooling right for everyone? No. I don’t think so. Will it always be right for our family? I don’t know that either. Is it hard? Incredibly. Do I always have the answers? Definitely not. I figure we just take it one step at time, we pay attention to what our kids need, and we go from there. For now though, I’m just going to enjoy it.

Categories
Homeschool

Our Top 10 Favorite {Kid Friendly} Board & Card Games

Looking for simple board or card games to play with your kids? Check out this list of our 10 favorites!

We are not nearly the intense gaming family I once envisioned. Growing up holidays were spent with cousins playing game after game while munching on ridiculously yummy food. Sam grew up pouring concrete on holidays (or some other such work project) and thought holidays playing games were a trifle…boring. As a family, we’ve settled somewhere nicely balanced in between.

A good portion of our cupboard space in the Airstream is filled with card and board games – many of them intentionally purchased for homeschooling purposes. In no particular order here are our current favorites:

Ages of Kids: Rachel (8), Andrew (6), Cara (3.5)

Robot Turtles: We already blogged about this one and it definitely makes our list. Teach kids the basics of programming while they navigate their turtles through a maze to find their jewel. All 3 of our kids love this one and can play simultaneously at different levels (although that requires some seriously thinking on Sam’s part to set up the maze).

Sleeping Queens: We pretty much love any game by Gamewright. They do such a great job. Use a King to wake up a Queen, a Knight to steal one, or a sleeping potion to put an opponent’s Queen back to sleep. Easy to play, and the older 2 love it. Cara usually plays on a team.

Mermaid Beach: Cara has started playing her own cards on this one recently. A mix between Go Fish, Old Maid, and something else entirely. Super fun, quick, and easy to play.

Yahtzee Jr Toy Story: With a Buzz Lightyear lover, how could we not own this game? I love that its super easy to play – you just roll the dice and try to collect 5 of a specific character. It also plays fast. Cara can play this one by herself as long as I prod her to choose someone other than Buzz every turn.

Sequence Letters: This game was really great for Andrew about a year ago when he was learning his letters and sounds. Now its easier for him to play, but both Rachel & Andrew still love it. Too advanced for Cara to play on her own, but now that she’s learning her letters it won’t be long.

Spot It Jr Animals: This game is sweeping the nation. We were introduced by friends in Philadelphia, and given the game from Aunt Chelsea in Utah, while we had Christmas in Texas. Follow that? We bought the Jr. version thinking it would be a little easier for Cara. She normally doesn’t play, but I think we could start her pretty soon.

Tell Tale, Fairy Tales: Created by the same people as Spot It! this is a similar round card design. We play the version where each person adds a card to the collective story, that way all 3 kids can play. Great for writing practice!

The Scrambled States of America Game: Bought this one for Geography. Each player has a pile of states and has to find one that is “East of Missouri” or “Starts with the letter A, B, or C” or “Has a Capital with 7 Letters”. The person with the most states at the end wins.

Rush Hour Jr: Homeschool purchase designed to make my kids think. You have to navigate the ice cream truck out of the maze.

Qwirkle: We throw out the figurative scoring pad on this one and just play to see how many Qwirkles we can get. We help each other find the best places to put tiles and don’t keep score. Cara even enjoys pulling new tiles out and helping me match the colors and shapes.

ARGH!: I just HAD to add this one in. I LOVE this game. Its fast, fairly brainless, and super cute. More of a “I can’t stop drawing for jewels” and then “Crap! I just lost all my jewels to the pirate” kind of fun. Great for entertaining my kids while we wait at the laundromat. All 3 kids play this one.

Here are two bonus games played mostly by Sam & I:

Tantrix: We bought this game almost 10 years ago in New Zealand, and its actually a game we will play with the two of us. Create the longest line to win the game. Loops earn double points.

Monopoly Deal: I HATE the real version of Monopoly. This one I’ll play anytime, anywhere. Super fast, fun to play, and sometimes there’s just nothing you can do to win. (I just looked this up on Amazon and its been discontinued. 🙁 Apparently we’d better not lose it).


Categories
Tips & Tricks

5 Tips for Entertaining Kids on Road Trips

Tips for Entertaining Young Kids in the Car

With all of our cross country traveling, we do spend more time driving than the average person (and more money on gas) but its actually less than most people think. Our goal isn’t to travel as fast a possible across the 50 states. You can’t see anything that way. We love to take it slow and often we will only move 150-300 miles per week. That’s it. Anymore than 3 hours in the truck and we all start to go a little stir crazy. In fact, we often will drive only 1-2 hours to our next destination. A 4, 5, or even 6 hour day is rare and only if we are out in the middle of nowhere and there simply is no place to stop. That said, we have developed a sort of a system to help keep everyone happy and so far, it works great.

Here are our 5 tips for helping to entertain young children while driving in the car:

1. Take it as Slow as Possible. I realize that a typical family wants to usually get to their destination. They have limited vacation time, and don’t want to spend it driving wherever it is they are going. Just get there and THEN enjoy yourself. However, the journey can be just as fun.  Plan your  budget to take two days driving instead of just one and get a hotel with a pool. Find a National Park, a Historical Marker, or something else of interest along your route. Excellent tools for this include RoadTrippers and Google Field Trip. It helps break up the monotony of being in the car all day long. You need to stop for bathrooms and gas anyway, so take an extra 30 minutes and pair your stop with something interesting to look at. Everyone will get back in the car feeling refreshed.

2. Have Lunch at a Park.  A lot of our driving happens between 10am – 1pm, especially on days when we do have to drive a bit longer than we’d like. We always find a public park to stop at for lunch and the kids love it. They get to run around and play while I’m fixing lunch, we eat, play just a little bit longer and then jump in the car and go. You could also grab a Little Caeser’s Pizza and have a picnic in the grass on a blanket. The easiest way to find a local park is to pull up Google Maps on your smart phone, scan ahead to whatever city you’ll be in and look for green spaces on the map. You can also do a Google search for “public park” but I feel like scanning does the job quite nicely.

3. Don’t jump to Electronics. We don’t let our kids watch movies or play tablets the moment they get in the car. Most days they have to play with toys, read (they don’t really get car sick), color, or just look out the window for a good hour before we turn the electronics on. Too much staring at a screen makes everyone cranky. When kids are bored it is amazing what their little brains can come up with to entertain themselves. Even Cara (3.5 years old) will happily play with her planes and cars for a good hour all by herself. Get her siblings involved and sometimes we can stretch that even longer. Don’t automatically assume that your kids have to be watching a movie or playing Plants vs. Zombies to not whine. They also only get to watch ONE movie, or have an allotted time (an hour) playing games. Then they get turned back off and its back to playing.

4. Listen to Audio Books. We listen to audio books ONLY in the car. Best. Decision. Ever. If we don’t drive anywhere significant for 4 or 5 days, the kids will BEG to get in the car and go. Somewhere. Anywhere. Just so they can listen. Rachel and Andrew LOVE them. I think Cara tolerates them. She’s gotten really good at playing quietly while we are listening since otherwise everyone is “shhhshing” her so we can hear. Our favorites so far are the Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and the Enchanted Forest Series. Most of them I’ve been able to borrow and download through our library’s Overdrive system, but we are willing to purchase them as well since our kids love them so much. With some of the Percy Jackson books, Amazon will discount the purchase of the audio book (through Audible) with the purchase of the Kindle Version. The trick is to find the well narrated ones. We tried a few others (Charlotte’s Web, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever) but the rendering wasn’t as compelling and the kids quickly lost interest. Other series on our list are Percy Jackson Heroes of Olympus, The Red Pyramid Series, and Peter and the Starcatchers (read by Jim Dale who also narrates Harry Potter). We’ve also heard the audio versions of the Ranger’s Apprentice are really fun as well.

5. Warn them about timing. We’ve found that we can minimize the whining when we warn the kids in advance, particularly when listening to an audio book or playing with electronics. We warn them about 15 minutes or so before it is time to be done. We also warn them when it’s going to be a longer drive that day, a bit before bathroom stops, or when we are going to stop to see something interesting. Having a warning and a preview seems to help them enjoy the stops better, and everybody is happier.

We don’t drive long periods at at time, but overall we do spend quite a bit of time in the car. How do you handle road trips with your kids? Any tips for us?