Homeschooling: Ease on down the road!

We talk about how much money we want to bring, exchange rates, our budget and so much more!

Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2008 This week, we are preparing to travel…as we have been preparing to travel for over a month now!

We have all been placing our travel things in our guest room and accumulating stuff along the way.

The kids are going to tell you about what it's been like to be at home for school as well as preparing for this big trip.

We will all be giving you our perspectives and, hopefully, still write for the weekly column even while we are gone.


"Measuring up" the trip


We have been talking about cars this week. When we arrive in Stuttgart, we will “take delivery” of two Mercedes Benz vehicles for my husband’s employer.

We will get to use one of the vehicles while we are traveling; I think it will be a “C” class vehicle.

So, part of what we are doing is checking out (via the internet) how big the trunk of the vehicle is, so we can pack accordingly. We’ll be taking things with us to friends in Milan and Switzerland, and we also need to make sure that our luggage is the right dimension.

That means we are measuring, weighing, reading instructions about international travel, and thinking about what will work for us. I guess those things would “count” as math, reading, comprehension, prudence, and wisdom.

We are also reading about the countries we are going to and dreaming about what treasures we would want to bring home with us.

We are talking about how much money we want to bring with us, what the exchange rates are currently for euros and francs, what is in the budget to spend, and if we should exchange funds here or on the other side of the pond…or both!

I guess that would “count” as social studies, living skills, budgeting, history, math, geography, and decision making!


Befriending international visitors


The kids are doing their usual academics in addition to trip planning. They will have done science lessons, grammar, typing, writing their blogs for this column (creative writing), math, music lessons (with yours truly), history, reading, shopping, and cooking/baking.

They have also taken part in their interest activities (horseback riding and computer training), took advantage of an opportunity to meet a candidate who is running for office and ask him questions, and attended a breakfast with area leaders and the Eastern Connecticut State University Intercultural Affairs Director to be a part of a newly established partnership for Americans to befriend internationals in Willimantic.

And even though it hasn’t happened yet, - because, as you know, writing for a publication has its deadlines - they will help clean our home from top to bottom this weekend, meet international students at ECSU at a social gathering, and perhaps attend an event at the local courthouse.

We are trying to get into the habit of taking a break from 11:30am to 12 and getting outdoors, rain or shine. We all need to have more exercise, that’s for sure! And the good weather days are coming to an end soon.


Having a wonderful time, wish you were here!


I am not sure how the week will go next week but as soon as we get access to a computer, we’ll give you all a “report” about how our travels are going and about what we are doing.

Having never traveled internationally, it will be an experience for all of us to remember.

My husband Jon has traveled internationally already but its been a while since he has!


So, wish us well and we’ll let you know how it feels to “ease on down the road…” especially after we check out the Auto Bahn

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Jonathan's Blog 4

Sept. 10, 2008

Hello everyone. This week, I am going to tell you about how we are going to go an a trip to Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

We're going on this trip because my dad won an award for being one of the top 10 Mercedes-Benz technicians in the northeast.

He gets an all-expense paid to trip to Germany and we're going to be tagging along and seeing the extra places, because we have either friends, family, or there are nice places to see there.

We have some friends in Italy that told us about the castle in the picture I sent with this week's blog.

I will try to keep you up to date on the trip and please, feel free to ask questions, share comments and ideas by e-mailing me at jonathan.alumbaugh@gmail.com.

I am also getting ready for the trip by packing. You don't know how hard it is to pack for an international trip until you've tried it. You're always wondering, “Should I take this, but then what if I lose it? But if I don't take 'this', what will I do on the 8 or so hour plane ride?"

It's really hard to decide what to bring.

And the exchange rate is outrageous!

Thank you again for reading this and please, tell your friends about my blog.

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