Have You Ever Been To Space Ship City??

I've been thinking about this blog since I downloaded the pictures yesterday.

The words of this song has been running through my mind.

 Take me down to the paradise city
Where the grass is green
And the girls are pretty
Take me home
(Oh, won't you please take me home?)

Can you name the song......

can you name the band?????

 

In my mind the words have been mixed up a little.  

That can happen.

In my case, it can happen rarely... on occasion ...sometimes...

OK, it happens all the time!!

My version starts of, "Have you ever been to Space Ship City?"

It really goes down hill from there.

Last Thursday Samuel woke-up, ran into our bedroom and declared that Dad was taking him on a field trip to Space Ship City.  Jim declared that he was not taking Samuel on a field trip to Space Ship City.  Begrudgingly, Samuel then changed plans and proclaimed that Mummsy was taking him to Space Ship City.

I thought, "Why not??"  The only problem was, I had no idea where Space Ship City was!   

We asked Sam to describe it.

Big building with a glass all over it.

Escalator and elevator.

(A must for any self-respecting field trip)

There was a big building next to it with escalators that hardly ever worked.

Then......we knew......

 The Florida Aquarium.

Darn, we had just let our membership expire!!!

But, Sam and I went anyway.

 First order of business was to ride the escalator.

 We went and checked out the new Lemur exhibit.

 No trip is complete without climbing into.........

 and onto some giant sea shells.

 What is Sam doing here you may ask??

 No, it isn't some new fangled time out room.

 Sam did enjoy it.

 It was a hurricane simulator.

Sam has a tough time with storms, so it always surprises me when he wants to go into one of these.

 Wasn't sure how these photos would work out because of the lighting.

I like them.

 Even the fish like Legos.

 Stopping to check out some of the hands on stuff.

 HIGH

LOW

 Sam decided that it was lunch time.

 He has the same thing every time.

Hot dog, fries, vanilla pudding and a chocolate milk.

 

 Sam loved his.

I, however, did not enjoy my sandwich.

Above is a picture of the world's most disgusting sandwich ever.

Yukky!

 Then, outside to the splash area.

 I do believe that is Sam's head on the right.

 Here are the non working escalators in the cruise terminal that is next to the aquarium.

 

It was a good day.

It wasn't crowded because school is in session and because it is early in the school year, no field trips!  Except for us of course.

Usually when we go to the aquarium, the whole trip is done at a break neck speed around and around the exhibits.  We can usually get Sam to stop and say Hi to Mr. Grouper.

But, on Thursday, we stopped at a lot of the exhibits and talked about them.

We didn't go barreling through the different sections at 100mph.

In the play area, all the little toddlers thought it was a good idea to dump buckets of sand on Sam's head, but he just brushed it off and kept building his roads.

If someone was in his way, he went around them.....politely! 

 

It was a good day in Space Ship City.

 

Sally-Ann

By the way.

It was "Paradise City" by Guns N' Roses.

But, I like Carrie Underwoods version as well.

 

Something Just for Fun!

Not everything in our little corner of the world is work, work, work.

A lot of our curriculum contains fun crafts, recipes and field trip ideas.

Here are some of the other things we utilize throughout our day!

I would use them even if we didn't home school!

Kiwi Crate 

  We used Kiwi Crate before we started to home school.

Now, if I see one of the crates will go along with one of our units, I hold off using in until then.

Love, love, love Kiwi Crate.

Little Passports

 Little Passports is another one we used before home schooling.

We are using the world edition and just use the items and suggestions to go along with our geography lessons.  Sam loves the little things that come with it.

I know some of these items add up cost wise.  But, for us, when everything you need comes with it and I don't have to run all over buying things, it is worth it.  

 We use Legos quite a bit.  They are great to help Sam with his fine motor skills.

Plus, he is a 8-year-old little boy who loves Legos!!!!

I would love to eventually get some of these kits and add them into our curriculum.

Lego Education

Something for everyone!!

Next week we will be starting a monthly agricultural class.
Agricultural Classes 

Sam's absolute favorite "extra" thing that we decided to try this school year is dance.
Who'd have thunk it??
Sam loves tap and tumbling the best, but gives ballet a go as well.
Sam was very sad over Christmas break because he missed 3 weeks of dance.  He even wanted to drive back from Key West to go to dance class and then drive back to Key West that night.  We had to disappoint him and say, "No."
Sam loves Ms. Rhonda at Kim Hall's School of Dance. 
This is also a HUGE milestone for Samuel.
It is the first time he has participated in a extra curricular type of situation without one on one assistance.

We have a few more things that we do, but will share them in a future blog.
 

Sally-Ann

Please be Upstanding..........

I have lived in the United States for nearly 28 years now.  

That is a long time!

I am still an Australian citizen and I really do not have any desire to change that.

 I am very proud of my heritage and if I hadn't met and fell in love with Jim, I would most likely still be living in Australia.  Every now and then I look into getting my American citizenship.  I will most likely take the plunge, especially if I can have dual citizenship.

That being said, something happened on Saturday at the circus that made me think on this a bit.

This is the wall in our classroom that has the calendar, weather chart, and yes, the Pledge of Allegiance and an American flag.

Every morning we start off our school day with:

A song (which ever the children are working on at church for the month)

The monthly theme and scripture from church

A prayer

Article of Faith

The calendar

The weather

and

The Pledge of Allegiance

It is something I have no problem doing.

It is important for my children to know that it is important to show respect.

It is important for them to know that yes, they are 1/2 Australian, but they are also 1/2 American and we live in the United States of America.

I also stand and sing the American National Anthem.

I prefer to sing the Australian National Anthem, especially during the Olympics!!

  We have this painting hanging in Jim's office.  I love it, it is one of my favorites.  It reminds of of a stage that Samuel went through where he would make a beeline to microphones and do the Pledge of Allegiance.

On Saturday, the National Anthem was sung at the beginning of the circus.

Out of our whole row, our family was the only ones that stood-up.

It struck me as sad.

I hope that this is not going to become "the norm."

Even if you do not agree with politicians, certain laws......whatever.

You can still have a love and respect of country.

My family does.  Even the Australian halves!!

 

For those who do not know the Australian National Anthem......here it is!!

Sally-Ann

Something Just for Fun!

Not everything in our little corner of the world is work, work, work.

A lot of our curriculum contains fun crafts, recipes and field trip ideas.

Here are some of the other things we utilize throughout our day!

I would use them even if we didn't home school.

Kiwi Crate 

  We used Kiwi Crate before we started to home school.

Now, if I see one of the crates will go along with one of our units, I hold off using in until then.

Love, love, love Kiwi Crate.

Little Passports

 Little Passports is another one we used before home schooling.

We are using the world edition and just use the items and suggestions to go along with our geography lessons.  Sam loves the little things that come with it.

I know some of these items add up cost wise.  But, for us, when everything you need comes with it and I don't have to run all over buying things, it is worth it.  

 We use Legos quite a bit.  They are great to help Sam with his fine motor skills.

Plus, he is a 7-year-old little boy who loves Legos!!!!

I would love to eventually get some of these kits and add them into our curriculum.

Lego Education

Something for everyone!!

Hope that this may have given people some more ideas.  Not just for home schoolers, but families in general

Sally-Ann