One Full Day in Atlanta

We booked a hotel in downtown Atlanta during our visit there, mostly because most of what I wanted us to do was downtown, all in walking distance.

Not the first thing, though: brunch at Mary Mac's! Our travel budget relies on us eating our packed groceries for almost all meals, with very few exceptions. For instance: when you grew up on Southern cooking, but have lived half your life up north, but now you're back down south for just a week, where there's a famous restaurant that specializes in Southern cooking just a few miles away?

That's an exception.


My smartphone doesn't take cute pictures like your smartphone does, so you'll have to live with these. The photo on the left is my brunch, with macaroni and cheese, fried green tomatoes, fried okra, sweet potato casserole, potlikker and cracklin' bread already consumed, and sweet tea to drink. This was also my dinner. On the right, there, Matt is mowing down a pulled pork sandwich. He inhaled it, so he had to make himself another sandwich from our packed groceries for dinner, the poor dear.

Tummies nice and tight, we dropped our car back off at our hotel, then hoofed it across Centennial Olympic Park--



(Do you see what's missing? This is when we discovered that women's sabre wasn't an Olympic event until 2004 for individuals, and 2008 for team! What the hell, Olympics?!?)

--and to the CNN Center. Matt and I, along with our friends John and Sarah, went on a Spring Break trip together many years ago when we were but little lambs in college, and I distinctly remember that we could look through a giant picture window into CNN going about its business, so I wanted to show the children. Alas, however, for either my memory is flawed or the CNN Center has vastly altered its design since then (which would be understandable, since that WAS twenty years ago...), because now all you can do is stand in the food court and crane your head up at CNN going about its business several floors above you. And we didn't even get to see Carl Azuz walking by so we could fangirl over him! Huge bummer.

Note to Carl Azuz: Walk through the food court sometimes!

Fortunately, the disappointments of no women's sabre and no Carl Azuz were well forgotten with our next, highly anticipated destination. Will first discovered this place last summer, during our sharks study. She was in the family room on the computer, and from my bedroom I heard her shout, "Mom! WHALE SHARKS!" She had found the website of the Georgia Aquarium, and was raptly reading all about their whale sharks. You could see whale sharks at the Georgia Aquarium!

I looked over her shoulder at the site, then said to her, before walking away, "Atlanta? We could go to Atlanta sometime."

That sometime was this time, and there we were at the Georgia Aquarium-

Syd's special animal is the beluga, because I spent hours at a time singing "Baby Beluga" softly to her in the NICU, so that she would know that I was there when she was too fragile to handle human touch.

--where dreams really do come true:



We spent much of the day with the whale sharks, it seems:

This one is filter feeding.

Here's a black-tipped reef shark. We know those from Hawaii!

Do you think the kids liked it okay?


Syd was even chosen to "help" one of the dolphin trainers during the dolphin show--



--and the whale sharks were STILL her favorite thing at the aquarium!

Magical moments like these are one of the main reasons why I love to travel so much. Yes, I can find magical moments at home (although that's harder sometimes--you know it is!), and yes, there are a bunch of other things that I really love about travel, but that experience of seeing or doing something that we've only dreamed of, or never even dreamed of? Of seeing my first glacier, live and  up-close? Of spending the night in the house of one of Mac's friends, and waking up in the morning to find a squirrel had sneaked in the open window of my room and was sitting on the dresser? Of a small Syd, spotting Cookie Monster and breaking away to bolt over and give him a great, big hug? Of being proposed to in Iceland? Of exposing my first dinosaur fossil?

Those are the stories that I tell the kids over and over--the places I've been, the things I've done, the sights I've seen. The magic. And I love it every time they tell me a story of their own, usually from some adventure that they've gone on and I haven't. They've already got their own magic to tell me about: the Day of Pranks that they pulled at camp, how nobody would sleep at the sleepover, white water rafting with their grandparents, the Robin Hood game at their nature program in which children shot actual (padded) arrows at other children.

And of the stories that we tell, there are now several more: the time that we ate in a restaurant that was also an aquarium. The time that we walked around the Parthenon, and it was in Nashville. The time that we saw a wild dolphin at the beach (more on that to come!).

The time that we saw whale sharks, and it was magical.

Work Plans for the Week of March 27, 2017: Science and Scouts

We took last week easy, decompressing as we finished up some school projects and kept up with some individual work--



While the kids worked on Girl Scout badges and personal projects (see all those peg people watching Syd do her math? The unicorn next to her? She sure knows how to keep herself busy!) and getting the garden going, I took some time to plan out our next semester of study. One big advantage to a road trip is that the kids are all trapped in the car with me, and can be forced to discuss their goals and desires for their continuing education. Will was not enthusiastic about much of it, as she claims to dislike music, art, grammar, home ec, and composition, but Syd, at least, likes art, home ec, and composition, and Will seemed a little more excited about history and science, and has a plan of attack for her SAT prep studies.

Our work plans for the next couple of weeks, then, will be gradually adding in the new studies that we've decided upon, and dropping some studies. I'd like for Will, at least, to finish up the MENSA reading list suggested for grades 4-6, so she can get into the meatier readings of the middle school list, so instead of a Book of the Day this week, I'm encouraging the kids to work on that list. We're gradually getting back into memory work, so will review prepositions and helping verbs. Typing on Typing.com continues, and I've added a very short piece of cursive copywork (this week's copywork is from this site) to each day, just to keep the kids' skills up. Will continues SAT prep with Khan Academy, although I'm currently researching textbooks to add into her schedule in the next couple of weeks. And here's the rest of our week!



MONDAY: We're still just getting started on this day, as we had a Girl Scout meeting this morning. The girls are using part of their cookie profits to plan a party for a local preschool that serves children experiencing homelessness and/or poverty, and part to go on a big camping trip--all next month! So this morning they had a presentation on the camping experience from an older brother who's a Boy Scout, and then another mom mediated the party planning brainstorming and helped the children form committees. Syd is in charge of the Story and Sensory committees (she's also working on this as part of her Junior Agent of Change Journey, and so has added responsibilities) and also on the Snacks committee, and Will is on the Music/Physical Activity and Crafts/Decorations committees.  They'll be working on their committee responsibilities every school day this week.

In Math Mammoth this week, Will is studying rational numbers and Syd is calculating fractions. Will had a lot of trouble with multiplying and dividing fractions at her age, but Syd seems to be handling it well--I'll just go ahead and pat myself on the back for all of those hands-on fractions lessons we have! Speaking of hands-on math... our enrichment lesson this week isn't really "hands-on," but is a game that will help the kids review multiplying fractions and encourage them to memorize some common fractions of groups. I don't usually make games and flash cards anymore, as the effort that I put into make most of that was almost always WAY more than the use the kids got out of it, but this game looks easy to put together, so we'll give it a whirl.

Will was really excited to almost be finished with the first season of Analytical Grammar, as I told her that we would take a break from the book when she had. She lost all of that enthusiasm when I excitedly showed her the Review and Reinforcement workbook that she'd be doing, instead, bless her heart. At least those worksheets will only be 2-3 times a week, not the daily work of Analytical Grammar, but still... not exactly the vacation that I'd advertised. Syd is still slogging very slowly through Junior Analytical Grammar, as she sneaks out of doing it whenever I'm not looking right at her. If she's not careful, she won't have any break between Junior Analytical Grammar and Analytical Grammar, which I'll expect her to start in the next grade (I was buying these books directly from the Analytical Grammar website, but I just discovered that I could buy them with free shipping from Homeschool Buyers Co-op--here's their affiliate link, because there's some more stuff that I want to buy from them).

Syd is still wriggling out of her Wordly Wise by completing a daily word ladder, but since the word ladder book only goes up through grade six, and since there are only so many word ladders left, I'm letting her go. Will, though, completes one chapter of Wordly Wise per week, and Syd will, too, once she's got word ladders out of her system.

We've dropped the idea of a MOOC for the coming semester, and the kids finished their Animal Behavior MOOC last week, so this leaves us with enough time for me to make the Story of Science unit more immersive--which was my dream, so yay! On this day, the kids will read the chapter and complete the reading comprehension activities for it in their quest guide. And then we'll move on to the fun stuff!

I know that we work on a lot of Girl Scout badges during school time, but that's because they're educational! On this day, Syd's Gardener badge is actually science, as she sets up an experiment on seeds and plans to monitor it all week. Will's Woodworker badge is woodshop and practical life, as she learns how to use tools and makes plans to build Luna a dog house as her final project for the badge.

Syd is neutral about learning an instrument, while Will is stoutly against the plan. Nevertheless, they're going to continue Hoffman Academy, which is free, so that I at least don't have to spend money on their ambivalence. Will likes to blow through the video lessons without retaining much, so I'll have to monitor the children more closely this semester. I'll practice that during this week's review week.

I am SUPER bummed that Will wants to take a break from fencing this session, as it's been my favorite thing from the beginning. I could continue on my own, but... eh. Fencing with my kid has been my favorite thing, and the idea of going without her, partnering with another of the sea of teenagers, has much less shine on it. So I'm going to take a break, too, and if I miss it too much I can pick it up again next session, with or without her. That being said, we DO have a much easier weekly schedule without four hours of fencing in it. This evening's only activity is Syd's ballet class. Why, we can actually eat dinner tonight! We haven't managed a Monday or Tuesday dinner in a year and a half!

TUESDAY: Our Story of Science chapter this week covers Democritus and the atom. Even though we completed an entire Greek mythology unit, we didn't spend as much time as I wanted on the map of Ancient Greece, so this is a great time to explore it more deeply. The kids adore cookie maps, so I'm thinking we'll make a big one of Ancient Greece, possibly with a few batches of blue Jello under it so that we can figure out the islands, and then decorate and label it.

WEDNESDAY: One of the semester projects that I think we'll be doing is trying to complete a new Junior Ranger badge by mail every week. The kids did one on the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site last week, and I was surprised, as I am every time, by how into it they got, and how they still talk about Jimmy Carter and his peanuts. Will actually made a "Jimmy Who?" joke last night, and for real wants to go to his church in Georgia and hear him preach. It's on our someday to-do list! On this day, the kids will be finishing the Junior Archaeologist badge books that they picked up at Fort Frederica a couple of weeks ago, and I've got a different Junior Archaeologist badge book they they can complete to earn a different badge, as well.

THURSDAY: The cookie map of Ancient Greece has been made (and possibly consumed!) by this time, so now it's time to study atoms! The kids have studied atoms before, but I don't think we've previously gotten into electron shells, for instance, so we'll have a more detailed lesson on atoms, with the help of Bill Nye and Youtube, and then the kids will complete this Bohr model of the atom worksheet, choosing their own elements to model.

Will was not excited about home ec, but Syd loves it, and is actually planning to do both a cooking and a baking project every week (normally, I'll let her choose her own baking project, but for this week, working on the cookie map of Ancient Greece is plenty). We'll be using Your Kids: Cooking for the weekly cooking assignment, with some leeway for Syd to choose what recipe or lesson she wants to do. Since Will has a horseback riding lesson on this evening, I imagine that the kids will either make their penne with bacon and peas for lunch, or that Syd will make the dinner herself and Will will make the puppy chow. We do tend to eat late dinners, though, mostly because we have a lot of trouble getting our act together in the evening, so no, I wouldn't be surprised if the kids chose to start this at 8 pm and we ate it at 9...

FRIDAY: Of course, once you understand atoms, the periodic table of the elements is next! Again, we've studied the periodic table before, but after the previous day's activity, the kids will have even more context to understand this day's lesson on how to read it. I may plug in an activity or game, but it's also going to be Friday, when we're all a little tired, and we'll have a playdate that day, etc., so I may also not.

One of the national parks that we visited on our Spring Break trip was Ocmulgee National Monument, where the kids learned more about the Native Americans and their history and culture. One of the interesting skills that the site spent a lot of time telling us about was their pottery making, coil pots with stamped patterns. Matt bought a small bag of clay from the area, so this day's craft is just a fun little activity making and patterning coil pots. Super simple, but something that I know they're eager to do after that visit.

SATURDAY/SUNDAY: Ballet! Chinese class! Trashion/Refashion Show rehearsal for me and Syd! A potluck party for Girl Scouts and their families at our house! And therefore... cleaning the house!!!

What are YOUR plans for the week?

How Homeschoolers Go on Vacation: One Morning at the Stones River National Battlefield

We stayed the night very near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, so that in the morning we could just pop up, eat motel breakfast (we crossed the gravy line south AND were blessed with expansive breakfasts in even the sketchiest motels on our trip--this hotel had biscuits, gravy, and egg patties in addition to the bog-standard waffle maker that everyone in the family but me loves, so we actually all got a good breakfast), pack ourselves away, and be at the Stones River National Battlefield minutes later. This was our only activity on this day other than the drive to Atlanta, although I was hoping to also spend some time at the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Battlefields on the way, so we had an unrushed time immersing ourselves in yet another bloody battle of the Civil War:

We always do the Visitor Center first--I mean, of COURSE--so that the kids can pick up their Junior Ranger books but also because it's really the best way to orient yourself, especially at a battlefield. After you tour the museum and see the orientation film, by the time you get out to those blank fields with cannons at the edges, you should know what you're looking at.

In other news, look who I finally taught not to write on top of the exhibits!

As someone with a Master's in Library Science, with an emphasis on Special Collections, who used to work as a gatekeeper at a special collections library with one of my main tasks making sure that people did not write on top of the exhibits, it's probably about time...

If you've toured the museum, and watched the orientation film, and you have an audio tour at hand, NOW you may go see the battlefields!



At the end of our trip, I asked the kids which national park had been their favorite, as we had visited several. Will told me that this battlefield was her favorite, which surprised me, as both kids LOVED Fort Pulaski, which you'll see later. But it turns out that it was this part of this battlefield that was her true favorite. This is the Slaughter Pen, and it's fabulous to romp around in, and has a fascinating and very bloody story behind it.





Battlefield touring can get a little annoying, as you're always popping in and out of the car, but the terrain of Stones River is so varied--woods, boulders, fields, old cabins, the river--that there was always something that the kids wanted to see.

That kid spends much of her time at battlefields pretending to shoot people. We had just learned, though, that at this particular site many of the Confederates had charged with actual sticks in their hands in lieu of real weapons, so at least she's being historically accurate. 

William Holland's story is especially interesting. We might not have noticed his memorial, there in an out-of-the-way spot behind a larger memorial, but the kids' Junior Ranger books had an entire page on him and so they directed us there. 

Can you see something unusual in the following picture?



I didn't, but Will spotted it soon after:


Check it out!


On the back, the artist wrote that the finder was free to keep it or rehide it. Will REALLY wanted to keep it, so we agreed that when we were home, she'd replace it by painting her own rock and hiding it in a park for someone to find.

The battlefield also has a national cemetery. Many national cemeteries are very sterile, but this one was great, with tons of character and markers that made you wonder about those memorialized:





There's a huge section of the cemetery devoted to soldiers in the United States Colored Troops.


After that, two little girls were certainly well prepared to become Stones River National Battlefield Junior Rangers!




And then we were on our way to Atlanta! We got snookered into stopping in Chattanooga for fancy cupcakes (worth it) and a Moonpie store (not worth it), and then got confused about what time it was (Central Time, then Eastern, then Central, then Eastern again!!!) so that we only arrived at Chickamauga 15 minutes before it closed, the cranky ranger informed us. He begrudgingly gave the kids Junior Ranger books to work on until we came back through, and when I told him they would work on them in the car some, he told me that there was nothing they could do outside of the park (which is untrue--over a third of the book doesn't require any outside information to complete), and yet somehow he neglected to inform me that we could also just drive twenty minutes back the way we came from and be back in Tennessee, where we would have an extra hour of Central time to work on the books.

See? He even made me cranky, and on my own vacation!

Whatever, Cranky Ranger! We're going to Atlanta next, and it's going to be awesome!

How Homeschoolers Go on Vacation: Six Hours in Nashville

There are many things that I, personally, want to do in Nashville--watch a show at the Grand Ole Opry, eat hot chicken, check out the Johnny Cash Museum--but I didn't do any of them on this afternoon and evening that was all of the time we had in Nashville on this trip. Nashville will still be there another time, so this time we did just the things that I thought that the kids would love--a hands-on museum, dinner in a novelty theme restaurant, and an hour or so tromping around a fake Greek ruin.

First, 2.5 hours in the Adventure Science Center, an ASTC Passport Program participant that scores us free admission, thanks to our membership in our local hands-on science museum:




You know what connoisseurs we are of hands-on museums! This one was pretty special--it had the same nano exhibit that we've seen in several museums, BUT it also had an interior climbing area several stories tall, that ended in an aerial view of downtown Nashville. It had a VERY quirky exhibit on poisonous and invasive plants, based on this book--


--a space exhibit that not only encouraged Will to shoot tennis balls directly at my face--

--

but also let the kids experience what it's like to try to walk on the moon--

--a human body exhibit with a body systems display scaled to the average ten-year-old (how convenient!)--


--AND what is possibly the best thing ever:



a fart slide. Matt didn't know that it was a fart slide until he landed, which is pretty great.

I've seen these interactive projection games before, but they've always been projected onto the ground. This one was on a wall, and it mesmerized both children:



Oh, and they had eclipse glasses for sale! Buying eclipse glasses has been on my to-do list for MONTHS!!!, but I hesitated to buy them online because I wanted to inspect them first and make sure they wouldn't cause us to go blind when looking through them. I was stoked, then, to see a bunch of new ones in this gift shop, and I looked at them all and bought my favorite five. Now we have a spare, and perhaps a handy source of cash on the day of the solar eclipse.

I had planned to skip the Grande Ole Opry altogether, since we weren't going to tour it, but it turns out that the Aquarium Restaurant is in the mall across the street from it, so we popped by for just a sec:


I hadn't thought about this in years, nor am I a listener of country music currently, but as we walked across the parking lot towards the theater, suddenly stories began to pour out of me, stories of such little consequence that even Matt hasn't heard them, just stories of how I spent much of my childhood with Mamma and Pappa--lying on the floor in front of the couch and watching TV. We watched The Grand Ole Opry Live, and Hee Haw, and Wheel of Fortune, and a whole slew of black-and-white westerns that I barely looked up from my Barbies to notice, but I can still sing along to all the songs of the golden age of country, and I wanted to go to Opryland USA SO badly, and I could draw Minnie Pearl from memory, if I could actually draw, which I can't.

After that five minutes that's given me the gift of those memories, we went to the awesomest restaurant on the planet: Aquarium Restaurant. Its shtick is a little obvious, but effective:


I can't even tell you what we ate, except that it was expensive, but I was pretty much vibrating with happiness at eating whatever it was right by this giant aquarium with sharks and rays and puffer fish and such. I almost knocked over my glass of VERY expensive cocktail three separate times.

We wandered the entirety of the aquarium after dinner, then headed to what is probably the weirdest thing that Nashville has to offer:

Yes, that IS a life-size, full-scale, utterly accurate recreation of the Parthenon.

After our months-long mythology study, how could we NOT go there?!?

I think they have an art museum in there, but since it was nighttime, we had the place mostly to ourselves.

Atlanta was our tour stop for the next day, so when we could finally drag ourselves away from the Parthenon, we drove south for another hour, then stopped at a cheap motel, where Syd and I played Battleship and then I showed the kids a bunch of Youtube videos from The Grand Ole Opry. They were surprisingly into it--although much of it may have been their humor at the some of the appallingly racist songs of those decades of country music, sigh--and Will even became indignant that I hadn't been nice enough to book us a tour of the Grand Ole Opry.

I see a History of Country Music unit study in our future, with a culminating project that involves a return to Nashville!