We're in Nashville!

We left last Thursday for our leisurely drive to the Live and Learn Conference in Asheville, NC. We have been traveling with Beth and Emma until today. Stops thus far have included Amarillo, TX, Seminole, OK, and Little Rock/Conway AR. In Amarillo we stopped at Cadillac Ranch and visited the Children's Museum. In Seminole we visited yet another children's museum. In Little Rock we stopped briefly at the farmer's market at the river, where I was disappointed to find that they were selling produce shipped from California! Then we stopped at the Peabody Hotel where we saw the famous Peabody ducks who start each day by riding down the elevator to the lobby fountain and end the day with a ride back up, waddling the red carpet each way. After the ducks we backtracked to Conway, where we had an offer from another homeschooler, Kim, and her family to stay with them in their beautiful home. What a fun time we had!

There are too many photos to upload so I put it into a slide show which will hopefully work here:




Like the music? That's my darling husband playing.

And since the quality in that video is pretty low, I'll put a few of my favorite photos up:















I set the trip odometer to zero as we passed the school by our house where the kids would attend if they went to school. As we passed, the children were being dropped off, weighed down by heavy backpacks. We waved them goodbye as we began our month long journey of learning our own way. We are somewhere between 1300 and 1400 miles from that school now as day four comes to a close. You can see some of the experiences we've had in the photos, but what you don't see is all the amazing conversations we have had! Some of the topics that we have discussed are:

energy: different forms, how it's used, nuclear, solar, fossil fuels, pollution

war: Iraq war, world wars, civil wars

inventors: Archimedes, DaVinci, Franklin

The concept of infinity: how lines are infinite and so are numbers. This arose from a question from Scotty who wanted to know if there were particles smaller than an atom.

Evolution--stemming from Scotty noticing that the chickens in the movie Chicken Run have teeth.

Gravity and other forces (hydrogen bonding, magnetism)

Voting--why people vote and how our state sends representatives to Washington DC

We have noticed the landscape change as we travel Eastward. We have crossed big rivers, including the Mississippi. We have met new friends and spent time with close friends. Eliza just this evening has learned to use her arms in swimming, doing a 4yo version of the freestyle stroke. She has been practicing her singing as well, asking to hear her favorite album over and over so she can learn the songs. She's also learned how to walk in flip-flops.

Me, I've learned how to create a slide show on my new Mac!

AND WE'RE NOT EVEN THERE YET!!!!