#CamperLife Trial Runs Part 1 and 2

We just finished our second of two shake-down trips to test out our camper's systems after a winter in storage, and to try out some recently purchased equipment. The first weekend was at Laurel Hill State Park and the second was at Hyner Run State Park. These are two places that we love and know very well, so it was fun to see some familiar sights and faces. We've been going up to Hyner Run in the spring for many years and the same mother-daughter camp host team is always there. Laurel Hill is our go-to spot for a quick weekend getaway since it's only about an hour from where we park our camper. There were days of nice weather on both trips, but it's not particularly warm yet, and we had rain or snow on both trips. At Laurel Hill we had full hookups and flushed and sanitized the tanks, watched a movie on our dvd player and baked cake in our convection oven. At Hyner, we had no hookups, but there is a water spigot in the park where we could fill up our fresh water tank. The solar panels worked great to keep our batteries charged up, even camped in a hemlock grove in a holler, as we were. The waste tanks were pretty full by day 4, though. We could have stretched it to another night, but only if we were really careful and nobody took a shower. The propane tank powered the furnace, water heater and refrigerator without problems. We did have a spare tank with us, but didn't need it. I don't think we'll carry an extra tank when we drive to California, but we need a way of reliably measuring what is left. M just found a scale you can use, which should be pretty accurate. Still, if we were in a sunny place, I think it would be pretty easy to keep the fridge going on battery setting if we had our solar panels set up. 

Space is tight in the rPod. We all fit, but everything must be carefully evaluated for volume and weight. We got some synthetic down blankets to replace the piles of fleece we had before. I moved the dishes to a lower shelf so the kids can reliably help with washing and putting away. I got a new puzzle and a special felt roll-up puzzle keeper. Books and art supplies will be our downfall...the kids somehow always sneak in 5 or 6 enormous hardcover books AFTER we've already checked their bags. (And insert a mental note that Max always needs at least twice the number of pants as the other kids.) I took the freezer insert out of the refrigerator. It doesn't really hold that much anyway, and it's so much easier to store tall things like milk without it. Who needs ice? Haha. 

Sometimes the less you bring, the easier it is for the kids to entertain themselves. When we went to Hyner, we had no power...no video games, no tv, no endless supply of eBooks on an iPad. The kids went fishing, reread the few books they brought, played Uno, went hunting for wildflowers and played hide and go seek. We all went to bed at the same time and M read out loud from his book. I forgot to bring paper so they carefully tore out pieces from Max's notebook when they all wanted to draw. There were three big chunks of stump that the boys dragged around to make obstacle courses. It's actually nice to have a small amount of stuff. Dishes don't take long when you only have five plates and one pot. 

We are getting better at working through the "pain points." For instance, travel days go much better if we stop for an hour for every two-three hours of driving. Playing a podcast or audiobook while everyone gets dressed keeps it calmer during the chaos that happens when we open up 5 suitcases at once (and it's totally crazy until we can get everything stuffed back into the underbed storage). We need to find some way to tame the shoes. 

We're Done!

Well, not exactly, but we did discover that we have logged the required 180 days of instruction required by the state. We started in July and typically logged 5 or 6 days a week, with several large breaks throughout the year. I made recording forms that have a reading list on the back and a grid of required subjects and days of the month on the other. It's pretty easy to check off subjects if we keep up with it on a daily or weekly basis. I added "fill out homeschool log" to the list of things that have to be done before tv/video games, and this was enormously helpful in shifting the responsibility of logging to the kids. We use a lot of digital resources like Epic Books and Libby, so if we forget stuff, it's pretty easy to go back and add it later. We review the sheet monthly and then tuck it in a file box along with any work we want to save for the portfolios. 

We do have a few more things to work on. Laurel has to take her math final and a standardized test. Marko needs to finish his handwriting book and work on the final revision and editing of an essay about Shadow. Both of the older kids will write a letter to the evaluator describing their challenges and triumphs of the past year. We did this last year and the evaluator gave us good feedback. Hopefully we can meet with the same person this year. It does feel good to have a system in place that works for us and to not have stressed about meeting the basic requirements.

Things that were so great this year that it was a pleasure to have them in our schedule and we will definitely keep doing :

Poetry teatime

Exercising with the neighbors

Laurel's virtual book club with her aunts

Outschool class for Max

Brave Writer Arrow guides for literature study

Brave Learner subscription for my own professional development

Things that seem like they are good enough to keep doing:

Spectrum + Khan Academy for math study

Duolingo

Girl Scouts

Things to improve for next year: 

Grade level reading - I've taken a "backwards planning" approach, where the kids follow their interests and I kind of trust that we will cover all the topics. We have What Your Fifth/Second Grader Needs to Know books, which they periodically read from. They do learn new things, but it feels tedious, not exciting. I think I need to plan some deeper dives into content to make it more exciting. 

Foreign language study - everybody loves clicking through Duolingo, but nobody can hold anything beyond a basic conversation. 

Making new friends - it's time to look for some homeschooling buddies. The pandemic definitely hampered this over the past year. Luckily, we have next door neighbors who were basically homeschooled this past year, but they will be going back and my kids need to meet some new people.

Happy Easter! Still a pandemic...

Well, it's been over a year of living during a global pandemic, and the holidays keep ticking past. It's super strange to not see our extended families, but we have managed to have a good time by ourselves...and developed some new traditions along the way. 

Several people sent little treats and cards for the kids. I made a dutch baby pancake with Cracker Barrel apples and whipped cream, which always gets the kids out of bed. 

I made a hilariously difficult egg scavenger hunt for the kids with "Easter Surprises" at the end. It took them over an hour to get through it! I hid clues in eggs directing them to the next hiding spot, and they had to move all around the house, and then use the letters written on all the eggs to figure out a secret phrase, which was a hint to the final hiding spot. M bought each kid a new headlamp and an exercise tracker watch. They loved the watches and checked up on their progress of steps the whole day. Marko was aggressively logging steps and ended up with over 17,000! We'll see if that keeps up. I couldn't find peanut free chocolate this year, so we mostly skipped candy, except for Peeps.  My neighbor's brother baked us a beautiful box of cookies and pastries, so nobody felt deprived for not having a candy filled Easter basket. We dyed eggs last week and read all the gospel stories about the trial and death of Jesus. Today we did the traditional egg cracking contest (my egg prevailed!) and watched the Pope's mass on TV.  We played soccer with our neighbors and chatted on the phone with some of our family. We ate leftover jambalaya and cold pizza. Overall, it was a pretty low-stress but also celebratory day. The sunshine definitely helped.