When in Florida you have to check out the beaches. I mean, Louisiana, has muddy, chocolate, nasty water. So when we get a chance to check out blue, green, clear water--- we do it! There are tons of beaches to visit, but we went with what was familiar to us first: Cocoa Beach. 

We didn't plan to go into the water, so we just packed up and headed out. No towels. No bathing suites. No toys. Just us and the open road. 

The pier was nice, the temperature was perfect and the views were okay. 

It was fun to watch those with surf boards riding the waves, walk the pier and stand in the cool water. 

A pic of me and Justin because we NEVER take pictures. 

Finley decided she wanted to walk in the water, run in the sand and bring Helen with her for some fun. The next time we made it out to the beach (another post) she had her bathing suit ready, sunglasses in tow and sand toys in her bag! 

We took a different route back and stopped at a roadside fruit and veggie stand. MY FAVORITE! We squeezed fresh orange juice, ate the fresh strawberries and made sandwiches with fresh tomatoes! 

You really cannot get a better shot than a toddler drinking fresh squeezed Florida orange juice with fingers full of dirt and grime. 

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Of all the countries I've traveled to, Greece was my favorite. I didn't spend nearly enough time there, but immediately feel in love with the people, food and music. On our way home from a beach trip, I noticed a roadside sign for a Greek Festival. I got home and did some research and realized that the festival was about an hour from our camper the very next day. 

You bet I get some work in early in the morning and headed to Melbourne for their annual Greek Festival.

The lines were long, the tables were full and the music was beautiful. 

The kids aren't as brave as I when it comes to trying new foods. I went for the Baklava and they went for the chocolate dip. You CANNOT go wrong with the Baklava. It was the perfect combo of flakiness and sweetness! 

My favorite part of the day was watching the dancers:

The kids wanted to grab a drink before we headed out so we each tried a Greek Soda. I went for the Orange and the kids went for the Lime. Both were delicious! 

St Katherine's Greek Orthodox Church is where the festival is held every year. The inside was magnificent. Hosting this festival every year is not the only effort to keep their culture alive and well. 

Bakaliko is an effort to keep the connection to Greece strong! 

A need for parishioners to readily have access to certain Greek food products prompted a parishioner, Charlie Diamond, with the help of his wife Aleka and with the permission of the Parish council, to establish the Bakaliko in August 2001 at Saint Katherine.  Starting with a few basics like ‘good’ feta cheese and olives he expanded the inventory to include various dry goods like: orzo, pastitchio noodles etc., imported canned goods and some frozen foods.
We continue to have the very best imported and domestic Greek food products available. All proceeds generated from our Bakaliko, go to the Saint Katherine Greek Orthodox Church Operating Fund.

If you are ever in this area of Florida at the end of February, IT'S A MUST to make it to this festival. It's small, family-friendly and truly Greek! 

We learned of a satellite going up on a rocket from Kennedy Space Center and decided to make a quick trip there to watch what could be a once-in-a-life-time event take place. ​

We planned on heading to Cocoa Beach to watch the launch, but on our way there we noticed cars pulling off on the side of the highway and realized that we could see the launch from there. So what made a U-turn and joined the crowd. 

It was spectacular!!! 

I would have to say that of all the "fun" things we do, this was something that all of us enjoyed. Finley jumped up and down and screamed, Jon stared at the sky and the questions went flying. Pun intended.

So what did they learn at the festival and watching a satellite lunch?

What is the Greek Orthodox Church?
How is it different that other churches?
Where is Greece located?
Why are they dressed like that?

How often do rockets launch?
Why do they launch?
What do we learn?
Can I go to outer space?
Why didn't it get loud until a few seconds after launch?
Where does it go?

Yep all of those questions were asked. We didn't research every single one of them. But asking questions leads up down roads no desk could ever lead us down.

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Time and time again I hear the sneaky remarks---but what can your kids really learn from feeding a turtle, walking in a park or admiring the beauty of the trees?

​Here's the secret: I am not trying to have either of them regurgitate facts from a book (although I do believe testing memory skills is important) or practice a math problem 75 times until he memorizes the answers.

 am interested in them finding an answer to a question they have. Why? Because life--is just that. Problem solving. Figuring things out. Adapting.

Not sure how to do something? Ask questions, research, find examples. 
Not sure why something is the way it is? Ask questions, research, find examples.
Not sure how to handle a situation? Ask questions, research, find examples.

See the pattern here?

How do I get them to ask questions, research and find examples? Simple: I peak their curiosity.

Why does the baby stay so close the momma? Is it scared? Hungry? Learning? Confused? Lost?
Why is this turtle green, yellow and white but that one has red and orange on it?
Why does this turtle have a short neck, but this one has a extra long neck?

​

Did you know that Louisiana has moss on trees too? But I hear that the moss is not spreading like it used to. I wonder why?
Did you know that moss spreads from one area of a tree to another? I think. 
Do you know why moss is important to trees?

Why is the alligator small?
Where is it's momma?
Will it bite me?
I wonder why alligators aren't as aggressive as crocodiles?
Why is the alligator out today but wasn't yesterday?

My answer: let's find out!! 

Why is the nearest high school named Tohopekaliga High School?
Is that a native name?
Were there many native people in this area?
How old is this canoe?
What material is it made out of?

​Let's find out! 

Why is this rock here?
How heavy is it?
How long has it been here?

See the pattern!

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With Justin being in school in Orlando, we plan to travel between home and Orlando regularly. Some months we'll only be able to make it out for 10-12 days, but other months we are hoping to make it out at least twice a month.  The beauty of running a business from home and homeschooling the kids is being able to spend time in a new state, explore the area and use this is a wonderful learning opportunity. 

The drive is 11 hours with no stops. I know I will stop a minimum of  3 times, making the trip 12 hours if we run into no problems. 3AM wake up call. 4AM on the road. 4PM in Orlando.   We know one of the stops is always at Buccees. We stop just outside of Baton Rouge, fill up, stretch our legs and head straight to Buccees in Foley, Alabama.  That stretch is 3 1/2 hours and Finn is always ready to get out and gobble up a brisket sandwich. In this picture, she wanted to show her daddy she was eating the same thing he eats when he stops there. Proud as could be!

I usually try to make it to Tallahassee for the next stop. It's 3 hours from Buccees but by this leg of the trip the little girl is ready to get out of her car seat! 

Final stop is really dependent on the little girl. Sometimes she's sleeping, other times she wide awake. When she's asleep, we head straight to Kissimmee, when she's awake we go with the flow. I try to make it to Ocala, but by this point, she rules the show. 

We spend lots of time outside. We always have a canvas, brush, paint, balls, bubbles, playdoh, colors, markets, coloring books, Barbies and cards handy.  

Our first day at the camper is a day we just take it easy. We are all tired from the long drive and need time to decompress, get situated and plan our days ahead.  I work early mornings, do school with the kids mid-day/early afternoon and pick a day or two to hit the road to explore while we are in Florida. I really do believe that there is no curriculum, book, test or project that can replace a curious mind. 

My favorite non-book learning experience:

​Life skills:
Cooking. 
Cleaning.
Organizing. 
Living.

We have picnics outside, do our school work and travel work under the pavilions and feed the turtles as many times a day as the little girl's heart desires. 

Next up:
What possibly can we learn from feeding turtles, taking walks and explore the new area! 

Picture of this cutie sleeping on her Frozen bed. Because why not?

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Negative numbers can be scary for some, but it shouldn't have to be. An understanding of the number line should be enough to get the general concept. 

But, we all know what should be isn't always the case. 

My goal with math for Jon during his younger years was to introduce to him basic fundamentals to allow him to work with those concepts for years before digging deeper into more complex math. We are right at the beginning of Pre-Algebra and am so glad I focused a ton of those fundamentals. 

​

A few years ago he decided to try out basketball. He had never played before but wanted to give it a shot. He made it onto the all-star team. He was shocked. Everyday, he would spend hours outside practicing his layups or drills his coach had showed him to work on at home. 

We would spend time working on math, then we'd shoot some hoops. We'd go back to math for a bit, then shoot some hoops again. Eventually,  he wanted to play a game that he made up. 

The rules:

For every hoop that you make, add one, for every hoop that you miss, take one away.  He kept score throughout the game and was quick to let me know when I was lagging behind. 

I saw this as a learning opportunity so I played along for a while then decided to test my theory. 

I explained that the "take one away" is like a negative number and the "add one" is like a positive number.  That brought up the discussion of the basics of working with negatives. 

Sure, we have rules to learn and practice to do, but I know that he understands what he needs to in order to solidify the concepts in his mind.  Working with integers is going to be a huge part of his schooling over the next few years and I am so glad that I took the time to mention this basic idea all those years ago. 
​

This holiday weekend I took some time off of my part time job as a dispatcher to get some work done on a group trip coming up in October.  It can be hard to balance everything, but the best part about have the flexibility is being able to do "school" when sis asks to and work on art projects in between! 

Our last art-related project, Identifying Numbers Should be Fun! we worked on a fun way to identify numbers. Finn painted, identified and played until her little heart was content. 

Her art project stays in the living room so she often wants to "play" with it. This past weekend, she said mom, let's write my numbers. Don't be fooled. She wasn't the one writing anything, but she wanted to tell me what numbers were that I wrote on a piece of paper. She can identify 1, 2 and 3 and this weekend we added in 4.  This wasn't forced. This wasn't scheduled. This was HER idea. After 2 or 3 minutes she was over it and she wanted to play "teacher and student," but she's learning to love learning! 

For this weekend's project, I simply wanted a fun way to paint fun pictures! If we could get some learning in, so much the better! But, I had no intention of any "lessons."

Like last time, we didn't have every item on the list of supplies we needed, but we improvided. Instead of paintbrushes, we used q-tips. Instead of water paint, we used food coloring.  Instead of white paper, we used construction paper. At the end of the day, it all worked out fine! 

Finn's job was to pick what color paper she wanted to use, grab some q-tips,  stir the food coloring into the water, help put salt over the glue and paint the picture. Mom's job was to draw the picture, trace with glue, help with salt, and clean up as we went along! 

I wasn't sure if we needed to wait until the glue was dry to start painting, but I figured, if we mess it up, we can start over. We are both too impatient to wait for anything to dry, so we went with it! 

She did her own thing. Half-colored stripes, water-colored stripes. She was happy. So I was happy.  I can literally watch her excitement shine through her smile everyday! 

We decided on a heart for the next picture. She had the same job for this picture and she did for the rainbow. She picked the color and went with it! 

If you look closely, you can see our German Shorted Haired Pointer, Riley in the background just anxiously watching. He's like one of us humans. I believe if he could figure out how to hold a paint brush with his paws, he would! 

Our last picture was her name. 

Not once did I ask her "what color is this?" "How many colors are in the rainbow?" "Do you know the colors of the rainbow?" But I did say " pass me the yellow water, please." "Can you give me the red construction paper, sis?" "How many pictures do you want to paint, today?" These are all natural ways of testing her knowledge. This, in my personal opinion, is the most natural way of learning. 

For my oldest, we need to work on those few lasts items to wrap up What Nature Teaches Us.  If you've read any of my older post, you know writing and proper research is the big things for this year. I am going to have him write a paper on the anatomy of the spider, possibly the differences between the two spiders and I am sure he will draw a picture of one of both. 

For this art project, I am going to have research why this works--- why does the colored water travel through the glue and salt?  I am thinking he can find something on YouTube. I'm sure he won't be happy with me having him write a paper on his findings, but I know he would agree it's much better than writing a paper on himself or a famous author from the 1500s.  I mean, I am sure we will get to that one day. 

Until then, 

B, F & J 

If I am being honest, when homeschool friends would push to get outside and learn about nature--- I would just roll my eyes. It's hot 95% of the year here. It's sticky. Humid. Nasty. I mean, what can you really learn from a leaf? or tree? or in this case.. a spider. 

Well, now that I've given in a bit, I realize that it opens up the world of curiosity for us.  Nature is beautiful. 

Here's the perfect example:

We have been finding spiders near our house--- in particular under the awning. We always throw it off as " oh, it's just a banana spider."  My experience with these "banana spiders" are that they don't ever move even if you mess with their web, so I am not too concerned  with them being near. As long as it doesn't crawl on me or jump on me, we are good. 

We were hurricane-prepping (yes, that's a thing here in South Louisiana) and my son noticed a spider with an egg sack on the wiring we had over our old garden.  He snapped a pic and sent it to me--- "Mom, she must have laid eggs."

At the time, I didn't notice the egg sack. What I noticed was ANOTHER banana spider around the house. Or so I thought. 

I made a comment asking him how he knew the spider laid eggs and he said "because of the two huge egg sacks next to her." Since it was cooler outside,  we decided to go take a look. 

Part of our schooling this year is learning how to properly research. I do believe Facebook ****gasp**** can be a great resource.

Let me explain. There are thousands of groups on Facebook. Some are for entertainment, some are to share great, valuable information. 

Such is  the case of Bug Identification Group - People Helping Others ID Bugs

I've used this group in the past to ask about other bugs we have found in the yard or neighborhood.  Like this gorgeous Luna Moth that found her place underneath our boat. 

After posting the picture of the what we thought was a "banana spider" I realized that it was NOT indeed a banana spider, but an Argiope aurantia - Black and Yellow Argiope.

Apparently the two are often confused.  I googled Argiope aurantia - Black and Yellow Argiope (this name was provided to me in the Facbeook group above--had I not had this group to ask in- I would have NOT known what to search for)--- vs Banana spider and came across this source:

Here's what I learned:

Argiope aurantia (black-and-yellow argiope spider) :

• A. aurantia exhibits variations of black and yellow colorations
• The abdomen of a mature A. aurantia is somewhat more rounded and flattened
• ​Female black-and-yellow argiope spiders (A. aurantia) have legs that are black, with red or yellow bands on the segments nearest the point of attachment to the body. Each pair of legs contains numerous black spines. Like Banana spiders, the third pair of legs is noticeably shorter.

​That is what we found in our garden seen here:

Now that the differences have been pointed out, it seems so obvious that they are indeed----- different.

So what did nature teach us today?

• What we think --is not always. 
• What we want to know-we can always ask about, even when people can be ugly about it. 
• Things that appear to be the same--are not. 
• How to use Facebook in a good way.  Ya' know. No drama. 
• Using a reputable website to find the answers we need.
• We don't know--what we don't know. Think about that one for a second. 

How do we plan to further our research?

• Anatomy of the spider
• Are the spiders dangerous?
• Where did the name banana spider come from?
• Videos of the yellow and black garden spider eating it's prey, maybe? 
• anything else our heart desires to know! 

Update as of 9/27/21:

Jon has done some research on the differences between the two on YouTube. He shared with me some interesting facts that I was not aware of. This week, I plan to make him learn about the anatomy of one of  spiders and to draw a diagram for me. He's great at drawing. I am excited to see what he does with this! 

​

• Until the next lesson, 
  
  Brandi & Kids 

I am always looking for new ideas to help with educating our kids. Facebook can be a great resource. 

I came across this page : The Best Ideas for Kids and decided to try out an idea to teach number identification. 

On a whim, I looked through our supplies and found everything we needed:

Toiler paper rolls
Paint/Paint Brushes
Hole Punch
Popsicle Sticks
Scissors
Cardboard

One thing we learn from homeschooling is how to improvise and how to be resourceful. 

We didn't have enough toilet paper rolls so we grabbed a paper towel roll that was just about done being used and cut the roll into three more pieces. We had 7 rolls we could work with now. 

Finn's job was to paint each popsicle stick the corresponding color of the number painted on the rolls. 

Mom did the numbers. Finn did the popsicle sticks.  I remember when she first started painting she had a shaky hand and made a huge mess. It's been great to watch how steady her hand has become and how precise she tries so hard to be. 
​

When we paint, we typically use paper plates as pallets but this time we didn't have any in the cabinet so we decided to look for cardboard. We usually keep a box or two here and there to paint/draw/color/write on. 

We ended up using the cardboard bottom of a water bottle case. Worked perfectly! 

We had a little system going on. I would paint the rolls with the number on it, then stick the number of popsicle sticks inside the roll until Finn was ready to paint them. 

We let the popsicle sticks dry over night. I will need to find a way to secure the rolls to a platform.. more than likely another piece of cardboard we have laying around the house, but this afternoon we won't have much extra time before soccer. 

Eventually she was over painting the popsicle sticks and wanted to paint something else. She found her dad's Styrofoam cup and decided to have at it! She decorated the entire cup and then stuck her paint brushes inside after she was done painting. Brilliant! She now has a place to store her brushes! 

This was the aftermath. She was covered with paint. It was fun running with her across the house to the bathroom so we could clean up. The belly laugh was worth it enough to me. 

What did we learn?

​
Identifying (some) numbers
Colors
Shape
Job duties
Improvising
Resourcefulness

Edited to add on 9/6/21:

This was our finished product.  We ended up not painting the back side of the popsicle sticks and use the pallet made from the bottom of the water bottle case to secure the paper towel rolls. 

My OCD heart wants the pieces to stand up straight and tall, not lean and fit just perfectly, but my unschooling momma's heart knows this is just perfect for what we need. 

I see a turkey project idea coming from this! 

Until next time, 
Brandi & Finn 

Yes, there is such a thing as game schooling. And funschooling. And unschooling. 

Game schooling is exactly what you'd expect it to be like.... learning through games

Before I really dove into the idea of game schooling-- I thought to myself " how much can you REALLY learn from CLUE or Monopoly?"

Here's exactly what I've found out over the years:

When playing Clue, we are learning:

Colors

Reading

Puzzle solving (I know this, and I know this.... but I don't know this... what do I need to figure this out.... similar to algebra, perhaps?) 

Strategic planning  by thinking ahead (if I pay attention to which room, weapon and person my mom is asking me to reveal, I can eliminate a few choices). 

Deductive reasoning ( I can assume this to be true and this to be true, so this is certainly a realistic solution to the problem). 

But my favorite part about it all is when something pops up that I was not expecting. 

The pen Jon was using was not working properly. He started to take it apart and look at the moving pieces inside. Some might say that he is not focused on the task in front of him, but I would say that he's nurturing his ***future engineering***mind. 

What other games do we use in our schooling?

Catan

Trade. Build. Settle. That is the premise of Catan.  You build road and cities. You trade goods.  You barter.  You must survive.  

It's all about strategy here. 

This one was a gift for us one Christmas.

Risk. 

This is another game about strategy. It's about diplomacy, conflict and  conquest. 

Capture territories. Form alliances. Eliminate players.  Add an extension pack and go on secret missions. 

This was a random purchase to add to our collection for school. 

Ticket to Ride

This was one of my first purchases when I started looking into game schooling. It is easily one of our favorites to play. 

Geography, obviously, is a huge part of this game. But strategy certainly is too. The object of the game is to build the most and/or longest railway systems throughout North America. The best part is you can add extension packs to include other continents as well! 
​

We can never forget about chess. This is Jon's favorite game, hands down.  My brain hurts by the end of a game, but my heart is singing.. 

There's so much you can do with your children  to help them learn through the use of games. Some families solely use games to educate their children (there's 100s if not 1000s of options out there) and others use games to supplement their curriculum. 

Either way, gaming is part of our unschooling journey. 

Natural Register of Historical Places. 

I like to start my search there. 

When we get the "bug" and want to hit the open road, we like to search for cool and interesting places. We live pretty far out from the nearest town so we expect a minimum of an hour drive. 

Not this time. 

I learned that just 20 minutes from where we live, in Jennings, LA. there are actually TWO libraries. Say what!! 

You read that right! One is the parish library and the other is the state library. I didn't know that was a thing until I did some research. 

Believe it or not I don't always go to a library to read. 

Sometimes, I just want to look at old books and let my imagination run! Can you imagine what was going on during the time these books were published?

Of course, when I walked into the Andrew Carnegie Library in Jennings, my lover- of- old- books self had found her unicorn! 
​

National Geographic. Census Index. Cemetery Logs. There was SO MUCH history here! 

I really can't describe how OLD these books were, but a picture should help:

These are books you DO NOT TOUCH. 

I would LOVE to devour the information inside, but I rather just admire their beauty from afar. 

Beautiful is an understatement. 

I am sure if you have wondered to the "Unschooling Fun" section of my website,  you are waiting for the " that is genius" moment where I tell you I planned this trip for days, strategically set out what we were going to learn about and had a grand presentation to give after. 

But, my dear friends, that would be a lie! 

This day was spontaneous. Yep. We hopped in the car and decided to stop. Nothing preplanned. Nothing set in stone. We were after history! 

​

So the long awaited question... what did we learn on this trip to the Andrew Carnegie Library?

To appreciate the beauty of books. 
To appreciate the beauty of history. 
To appreciate the preservation of history.
To appreciate the preservation of books. 

To enjoy using the libraries resources.
To enjoy the spontaneous trip.
To enjoy the time together. 
To enjoy learning.

To appreciate. This is a skill even some adults struggle with, so why not expose children to the idea of just appreciating something at it's face value and taking the long way home :)