Spare Change

Killing two birds with one stone is one of my absolute favorite things to do. This morning I did just that. I poured a small mountain of coins in front of Ella, and announced that today for math she was sorting and counting the coins. It was a big pile of Euros and Pounds from my wallet, and I was tired of fumbling through them at the market every day. After a few minutes she came to me saying, "What's this?" It was a Polish groszy.

"Why do we still have groszy?

"Just put it on the desk." 

She came back a few minutes later, "I can't figure out this one."

"Oh - that's a Swiss Franc. Put it with the zloty."

She came back with some Serbian dinar, and a little later with two big silver coins. "What are they. They look the same on one side, but not on the other side. I don't think they're the same."

"They are the same," I said. "They're both quarters. You know - American money"

What on earth are we doing to our children?!

On the bright side, Eleanor can make change in several different countries.

Stonehenge

When you drive down the M3 on your way to Stonehenge, there is a point where you round a bend, and suddenly, there it is.

"Oh My God, Oh My God, Oh My God, Is That It? There it is!"

Nestled in between the motorway and the road to Salisbury sits one of the most iconic visions in the world. It's a bit surreal really. Commuters zip past it on their way to work everyday.

We got to Stonehenge early on a frosty Monday morning. Owen had lobbied hard for

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Re-Post: So... We Homeschool

I first posted this blog over a year ago. A recent conversation at a coffee shop had me thinking it was time for a re-post:

We home school our kids.  We always have.  Which means that Owen, age 10, and Eleanor, age 7, have never been to “regular” school, as Owen and Ella like to call it. 

Now, immediately this brings visions to your mind.  I know it does, so don’t even try to be all polite and pretend that it doesn’t.  You have now drawn conclusions of one kind or another, many of which have nothing to do with my family, and lots to do with your experience, if any, with home schooling.  I get it.  I don’t mind.  At one point I did mind, and I would try to painstakingly explain to people our reasons for home schooling, our commitment to our children, our relative normalcy in contrast to the freaky

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We're Featured On "Almost Fearless"

When you do something a little unusual, like traveling for a year and blogging about it, very quickly you find out that it's not so unusual after all, because you get connected in some way with everyone else doing the same thing.  Bob and I have admired Christine Gilbert and her blog

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