I have a book crazy girl in 7th grade... She reviewed a bunch books on her blog...
http://fingerlakeshorsegirl.blogspot.com/2013/03/books-books-and-more-books_4.html

Bee Thankful

     Before we arrived in our campground in FL, I prayed we would get kind neighbors. I was concerned that retired couples would not be overjoyed with a family moving in next to them. Well, the first person we met was Jim in the camper next to us (on our awning side). First he said that Porter, our Rhodesian Ridgeback, reminded him of his dog back home (oh good - a dog lover). Then he told us he was a bee keeper from MI (neat job). Next he explained that his kids were grown but that he and his wife had homeschooled them when they were younger.
                    YEA, I'm so glad to have a homeschool friendly neighbor.

      Jim told us he would take us out to see the bees after they returned from pollinating the almond crop in CA. He had 1 x-small suit, 2 hooded jackets, and 1 just veiled hat. Jeff agreed to leave his arms bare. Macy was a little nervous so we suited long before approaching the hives.
    



     Jim showed us a queen he had ordered from HI. She came in this little box that has a food plug. He puts her into a hive and by the time the plug of food is eaten then the new queen "smells" like the rest of the hive.

     The smoker causes the bees to eat honey... then they are full and happy and not too cranky. Jim used his hive tool to move the frames. The bees "glue" everything with something called propolis. When he lifted the frames we looked for the queen. Macy was brave enough to hold up a frame.



On the left is a picture of a brood frame. This is where the baby bees will come out. 

The picture below on the left shows the pollen the bees have collected. The different yellow colors represent different pollen sources. The picture on the right is a drone. He doesn't have a stinger. His only job is to wait to mate with a virgin queen. He hangs out with other drones in a "congregation."

We found the queen. She was busy laying eggs.

              Ahhh, Honey, the fruit of their labors. Yum!

Thank you beekeeper Jim for the great field trip to see the bees!

 

After the great field trip we were at the library and we saw this movie and decided to check it out.

 

It is called Vanishing of the Bees. A very educational and sobering look at the importance of bees to our food production.

Regret?

    
     Recently, while the whole family was having fun in the pool, a woman from Canada asked me "Does your daughter regret not going to public school?" Now I'm used to the socialization question but this was a new one for me. What a strange question. Since Haley was at the other end of the pool I answered for her "She enjoys all the great books she is reading and she loves how quickly she can get all her work done. She has more time for riding her horse and other activities."
     When you homeschool you get a lot of strange questions and comments. A very sweet older family member once said they were sad my kids would not have any friends. I said "Have you met my kids?" The truth is they have gobs of friends. They have more free time now to spend with friends than they did when they went to school. When we are home in NY, Macy sees her best friend 4 times per week. In fact, her friend spends enough time at our house that her parents affectionately replace her last name with our last name. Haley sees her closest friends on Tuesdays when we go to Community Bible Study. This year she started doing all of her science labs with 2 of her friends who are going through the same book. (We are missing those sweet girls while we are in FL but with texting and facetime we are somehow muddling through). Honestly, when we are home in NY, my girls are in too many activities (something I want to re-evaluate when we get back)...swim lessons, gymnastics, karate, Friday co-op (HLACNY shown in picture), plus instrument lessons, horse lessons, and church activities. Unsocialized these kids are not.
    Once someone told me that my kids needed to go to school so they could learn how to handle bullying. Wow! I'm all for learning conflict resolution. My kids get loads of conflict resolution practice (we are spending 3 months in a camper after all). We have even had some small scale bullish behavior from kids for friends and kids in the campground... These are excellent opportunities to teach the girls to not take offense too quickly and to forgive... But bullying is a whole different animal in my mind. Bullying destroys self-esteem. It doesn't "teach."
     Back to Regret... Will Haley regret being homeschooled? I hope not. I hope she views her parents through the lens of mercy. We truly feel homeschooling is giving both girls the best education we can give them (academically and emotionally).  I hope she realizes that regret for the past is just a waste of spirit.  I hope she knows that God will not waste one little experience but will use it all to make her into his child.
     I did talk to Haley about it. She said she likes homeschooling. She remembers going to school and how long everything took. She loves to read her history books and readers. She does miss a few of her school friends but she has wonderful homeschooling friends. She also gets to come to FL and spend time with Grandpa, Great gram, Aunt Kerry, and Uncle Ken. You know, now I'm glad this Canadian lady asked me this question. I'm glad I had a chance to talk it all over with Haley. What an amazing young lady she is.

Flying School, a play by Macy

Monkey- Wake up!! Wake up!!!! Time to give flying lessons!!

Bird- HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU???

I DO NOT GIVE FLYING LESSONS!!

Zebra- Okay, okay!! Stop arguing about the whole flying thing or whatever it is.

Monkey- Zebra, this is our argument! Please stay OUT!!!!

Zebra- Okay, but stop arguing!! All of Africa can hear you guys!!

Bird- (Raspberries the zebra)

Monkey- Okay, back to argument. Looks like somebody forgot bed time last night.

Bird- I DID NOT!!!! Now if you do that ONE MORE TIME, I will wake you up and tell you to give me swinging lessons!!

Zebra- ENOUGH WITH THE FLY-

Poacher 1’s gun- BANG BANG!!!

Zebra, Monkey and Bird- WATCH OUT!! DUCK!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

(All duck and cover their heads)

Bird- Come on!! Let’s go somewhere else! I have a feeling that those poachers are out today.

Monkey- Yeah!!

Zebra- Come on!!

(Curtains close)

(Curtains open)

Poacher 1- Where did those animals go??

Poacher 2- I dunno.

Poacher 1- Hey, look! There’s a rhino!

Poacher 2- Shootitshootit!!!!

Poacher 1’s gun- BANG BANG!!!

Rhino- (Charges the poachers)

Poachers- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

(Curtains close)

(Curtains open)

Bird- We need a plan.

Monkey-For what?

Bird- To drive the poachers away, silly!

Zebra- you’re right!!

Monkey- I know!! I’ll bite their fingers off!

Bird- No No No! this was my plan. Zebra, you neigh to distract them.Then monkey, you run in front of them. Then I’ll peck them. That will drive them away!!

(Curtains close)       

(Curtains open)

Zebra- neigh! neigh!

Monkey- (Runs in front of poachers)

Bird- (Pecks the poachers)

Poachers- LET’S NEVER COME HERE AGAIN!!!!!

(Curtains close)                 (Curtains open) (bows)

Encouragement?

     I'm not a good blogger. I think of a lot to say but... then I procrastinate forever on actually typing out my ideas... until it seems that the news is so old. I think it makes me feel vunerable to have my thoughts and ideas "out there" for the whole world to see. I much prefer math (it's so objective). BUT, I'm going to keep trying...
     Last month I took a trip to Denver. I flew out of Orlando on a Monday. Now, Monday is the best day of the week to do anything difficult. (Why? you ask.) Monday is the day that my dear CBS ladies are together praying. I know they were praying for me and my trip. I also prayed. I prayed that everything would go smoothly and that I would be a blessing to my seat mates... Well, that is not what happened. Instead, my seat mates were a blessing to me.
     On the first flight from Orlando to Atlanta I sat next to a young college student. He was a very enthusiastic Christian with many thought provoking questions and comments. He was very interested in homeschooling. His comments were SO encouraging. We also talked about my mom and her upcoming surgery. The last comment he said to me as we parted ways was "I'll be praying for you and your mom."
     As I walked through the Atlanta airport I asked God "Did I need encouragement Lord?" The truth is yes, I did need encouragement. I still do. Homeschooling is hard. Choosing the curriculum is the easy part. Scheduling the work is not too bad. The hard part is weathering the storms. I struggle with keeping my temper through the whining and complaining. I struggle with self-doubt. Am I doing what is best for my kids? It was refreshing to hear a young college student enthusiastic about homeschooling. And once I think on it more... I can't picture doing anything else. I get the huge blessing of being intimately involved in my kids lives. I know them better than anyone else on the planet. I'm trusting God to use all the hard work for the benefit of my kids. I believe that this is the best education we can offer them. I think I just need to be reminded of all that from time to time.
     On the second flight from Atlanta I sat next to another young college student. This time a girl from Georgia on her way to Colorado for a skiing trip. This girl was in a pre-vet program and was earning money for college by training horses. I told God "you're very funny." If you know my Haley then you know horse training is her dream. God is good to me. He gave me two examples of amazing young people because he want to fan the flame of my hope in the future. "OK God. I get it. I need to stay the course and believe you have good plans for my kids. Thanks God."

Our FL digs

     The Ocala sun is our home for the next 3 months. We are so happy to be here. We had originally booked another RV park. They were over the top nice to us but later they informed us we had to pay double because we had kids. Really. They could have just been straight up from the start. Then Jeff booked us at the Ocala Sun. I figured that God had a reason for us to be here and not in the first place.

     So far things at the Ocala Sun have been wonderful. All the other campers seem friendly and we are settling in nicely.

Escape from NY

     About a year ago my husband, Jeff, mentioned that we should plan a huge 3 month camping trip to Florida over the winter. He felt that the opportunity to be close to his dad and spend time as a family would be priceless (not to mention avoiding the upstate NY winter). We can homeschool in the camper but he felt we should have this adventure soon because our 12 year old will be old enough to have a job in a couple of years (or may join an orchestra). I had a mixed reaction.  I loved the idea of escaping the dreary cold winter but I knew I would have to give up a volunteer ministry job I love with Community Bible Study. After much prayer and discussion we decided we would go for it.
     Well, I did step down from my ministry job (but God provided an amazing replacement). And we got everything else ready. As soon as we stopped school for Christmas break, I made a list for all the school books we would need for 3 months.

Our plan was to wait until after Christmas. Macy had one huge Christmas prayer... She was praying hard for a white Christmas. God must love her because he answered her prayer in a big way.

I'm so glad that they had a few very fun days of playing in the snow before we left. And having a quiet Christmas at home was beyond wonderful. But after Christmas was over and quickly put away then the work began... How do you pack for a 3 month trip? 

I didn't make a list for the food... I just packed practically everything.

Clothes are a little harder. We have been in Florida when the weather in Jan. was chilly and we have been in Florida when the weather in Jan. was warm. So we packed a variety of outfits. Because of the snow we did not put the clothes away. We threw everything in the cold camper as quickly as we could. I was wondering how it would all fit. We watched the weather for an opening in the snow storms and on Friday, Dec. 28 2012 we set out.

Macy and I were reading "The Little House on the Rocky Ridge" on the way down. In it, Laura's daughter Rose discovers that an adventure is when you don't know what will happen next. Let the adventure begin.