Sorry, sorry, sorry! I know! It’s been ages since we last POSTED!! Lots of things going on, some changes and some not… This post is just to
catch up, we aren’t traveling until next month so no new areas to cover. This
is really a glorified Christmas Card, once we start traveling again I’ll get
back to the “nomadic” posts!
In December we
arrived in Casa Grande, AZ with the intent to stay until the first week of
January. (We are still here! It’s mid March! We have two pools, a hot tub, a library, gym, restaurant, free waffle breakfast each day and good Internet. This park is AWESOME!) We spent Christmas with Alan’s
Mom, Debbie and Pappa Bob. They went WAY out of their way to make us
comfortable especially as they spent so much of that time at the hospital!
Pappa wasn’t feeling well and was in and out the whole time. Despite it all they made it a Christmas to
remember! The boys were in heaven!
We were enjoying
the time with Nanna and Papa so much we decided to stay through January (and then a few more months as well!) Our friends, the Travaglino’s, came to stay at the park for a week, and then
two and then three! We got to visit with the Perry family as they came through.
We were joined by Kristi and Matt Smith and their son Stanten as well as the
Savory family. Before we knew it, mid February had arrived! In March the Allen
family joined us here at the Park and Jane and Terry Owen are in the area as
well! Lots of friends all around!
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Organstop Pizza with an amazing
Wurlitzer performance |
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| Jane and Terry with the Boys |
In mid January
Aiden decided he wanted to go to the local elementary school. At first we were stymied, he certainly isn’t
lacking social opportunities as we have been surrounded by kids almost every
day. But as the weeks went on we came to see that Aiden really likes the structures
of a school day. He likes going through the line at lunch, likes sitting in a desk,
likes the traditions of a school setting. While he wasn’t really going there for the
academic part, he was fine with it. He was frustrated at having to slow down
and not being allowed to read at a higher level. He was frustrated that when he
didn’t get part of the math they moved ahead without him. It provided a good
opportunity to talk with both kids about the pluses and minuses to a system
that is forced to work with so many kids at any given time. With Aiden gone
during the day, Jacob and I decided to pursue some intensive programs to work
on his dyslexia. We are doing some cross body and brain/ body programs. He made
huge strides in his reading abilities but more important than that, we are seeing “our
Jacob” coming back in the academic realm. His self esteem has returned, he is
more engaged in academic areas, he is excited about new academic challenges and
even making his own path in areas like engineering and programming. (He has
taken apart his bike, our old Xbox and our old popcorn popper!) His Grandfather
sent him a book this week that is really challenging for him but instead of
shrinking from it, he is diving in. We are very proud of him.
He has started a
dog walking business here at the park and taken it upon himself to make cards
and attach them to dog treats, then taking them to the dog park and giving them
out. He has met outstanding people, as we always seem to. Last week he dog sat
for two HUGE golden retrievers, who, not surprisingly, spent the whole time
cuddling with us at our house. When the “parents” picked up the dogs they gave
him extra money and are sending him a set of Walkie Talkies from their home
when they get back to Colorado! He is also walking a dog twice a day for a
woman I met here while working out. He is loving it! He meets the greatest
people and we are so proud of his interactions with them.
I have been
working with Jacob but also tutoring privately online and with an online
tutoring company. I am also chugging along with Learning Pathfinder, adding new
content as I can. I am starting to open it up to the high-school end of the
spectrum and hoping to speak with a few home school groups in Utah next month. I
am partnering with a College prep group and we are working creating on a project that will hopefully be mutually beneficial. In addition I am working with Fulltime Families
to implement a “scouting” type program for full-time kids. We have created over
30 badges at three different age levels. We have monthly meetings online and
kids do their requirements, post the evidence to our private facebook page and
then get badges and lanyards and the whole shebang. It’s been great fun, I love
connecting with the families this way and hope to meet many of them at the fall
roadschool conference in MO. Fulltime Family Explorers is our name.
Alan has been
doing phone and Skype interviews all over the country. He is actively looking
to leave his current remote position even though the reality of that means we
will need to pick a place to hold still. The company he is contracted through
randomly cuts hours between full and part time with no notice and it’s just too
much stress. So, we are spending the next few months looking for places to
settle that are relatively near tech hubs, but also with a low cost of living.
That being said,
we’ve made some tough choices recently. After weeks of debate and agonizing, we
have decided that instead of going back and teaching full-time I’ll continue to
tutor, work with fulltime families and do Learningpathfinder workshops. This
will give me time to work with Jacob another year and see if we can’t get him
even further along in reading. He has made great progress and putting him back
in a system with 28-1 ratio in a district that has cut all their learning aides, makes no
sense when we can do it differently right now. Not everyone has the opportunity
to work one on one with their kids, but if we can make the sacrifices and do it
now, we believe in the payoff for him down the road. We are actively looking
for tech or STEM stick and brick high schools or online academies for him in
the next few years.
So, the plan is
to move west, and north ending up in MT by July 4th to see family. By then we will choose a place
to stop so that Alan can stop working nights. I have loved working with the
homeschool community and am looking forward to getting in with a great
homeschool group or starting a home school co-op in a community that may not
have one. While none of us really want to stop traveling, the rig DOES! So
we’ll “pause” until the time is right again. Until we find a place to rest, happy travels to you!
