June | 2012 | Wishes And Pixie Dust

June 16, 2012
by wishesandpixiedust 1 Comment

Baby It’s Hot Outside.

Okay. So we’ve been here almost eleven months now. The average person would assume that we know how to handle the heat at the Disney Parks. And to a point, we do. We pack the water, we wear sunscreen and hats, the kids have mister fans, and we duck into air conditioning as much as we can. But it’s still scorching outside.

We need to re-examine how we do the Parks in the summer. We admit, our biggest mistake is act like tourists and want to do the whole park in a short period of time. We don’t rush through, but even taking a casual pace will wear one out after a couple of hours.

One of the downsides of being a resident is that you have to pay for your own meals–there’s no dining plan. It really does make a concerted difference not having that afternoon or evening break, taking in a meal in air conditioning. And as residents, unless you have gobs of money or seriously extend yourself on credit, you can’t afford to do meals every time you visit a Disney Park. It’s not a criticism-more of a general observation-but it’s one we really didn’t put much thought into prior to the move.

So we need to learn to slow down, and only do part of the park at a time. It’s a hard concept to learn, because it is ingrained in us to make the most of every moment at Disney, but we need to remember that we live here now and don’t need to cram it all in one day. At least for the summertime, anyways.

Just a general reminder that we now have a Facebook group page, Wishes and Pixie Dust, so please look for us there.

Sending pixie dust to y’all and hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!

June 12, 2012
by wishesandpixiedust 2 Comments

Homeschool Evaluation

When we first withdrew Ben from the public middle school, it was intimidating to have the prospect of his evaluation hanging over our heads. Florida statutes require the homeschooling parent to maintain a portfolio that contains two parts: a daily log or record of activities and lessons, and sample work showing evidence of adequate progress during the year.

Ben had such a negative experience in the public school that we knew it would not be successful for him to enroll in virtual school right away . He needed time away from the school environment to decompress and feel safe. We were uncertain as to how homeschooling would develop-if he would thrive or if it would be a struggle every day.

We based his curriculum on what he would have learned in the public schools, in case we made the decision that he would return to public school in the fall. We purchased the same textbooks that he was using for Geography and Science (approximately $125 for both), and pulled lessons off the internet based on Florida State Standards, found here.

As May approached, we made the decision to enroll Ben in virtual school for seventh grade, based on the concept that it would better prepare him for entry into high school. Homeschooling families have one year to complete an evaluation from the date on the letter they receive from the county that states they are homeschooling, but we wanted his evaluation to coincide with the end of the school year, so we scheduled it for June.

We met with a licensed teacher at the Tavares Public Library, who reviewed his portfolio and chatted with him. It was a very relaxed environment and we discovered it provided a nice way to give closure to the school year.

We did have a chance to talk with her about virtual school, and now we’re thinking perhaps it’s not the best way to go with Ben. We have approximately one month to think about it, before we need to confirm his enrollment for the fall, but we’re thinking it may be a better option for Ben to continue homeschooling with our own curriculum.

Looking back, we don’t regret the decision to enroll him in public school. If he didn’t have the experience, he would have wondered what he was missing out on, and to be honest, we as parents would not have believed how the school system works (or fails to work in this case). It would have been an easy choice to keep him in the school system, because frankly, homeschooling is an intensive daily process and a huge time commitment. However, we feel we made the right choice; Ben has really blossomed over the past five months, and we believe he has learned more at home than he ever would have in the public school.

June 7, 2012
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The Lazy Summer

Now that both of our kids are officially done with school for the year, we can sit back and breathe a bit! Our daughter finished the year in a Florida public school, our son half a year. We’re happy with the gains both of them have accomplished.

We are looking forward to having the entire summer to enjoy-last summer it was segmented due to the move; by the time we arrived in Florida the kids had less than a month of summer left due to school starting in August. This year we dub it “the lazy summer”, because that is what we hope it will be–lazy summer afternoons relaxing by the pool or playing at Disney. It almost seems wrong to label a summer here as lazy; there is so much activity that can be done, and we certainly have no intentions to stay inside and be lazy in the traditional sense.

For us, lazy means enjoying the day with little schedule interruptions, and no real desire to get it all done or see it all. The summer heat requires that we slow down, and the beautiful Florida weather reminds us that if we don’t get it accomplished today, there’s always tomorrow, next week, next month, next February. For us, it has been an absolute wonder, and really, a dream come true, to live in a state that has awesome weather year round. We never turned our heat on this winter, have no idea if it works or not, and did not wear our winter coats at all.

The one thing we have discovered is that if the weather turns cold or rainy, unless we are running errands, we don’t have to go out. It sounds like a simple concept, but one that didn’t occur to us right away. The mantra is, if you live here, you go to Disney. All the time. Well, it dawned on us after one particular cold and wet day at the Magic Kingdom, that we weren’t really having fun, it wasn’t a magical time, and we didn’t have to be here! The luxury of living so close to the magic is that you can pick and choose when you experience the magic! This Friday our current plan is to go to Hollywood Studios, but if the rain continues, then we will switch to Plan B and do something else, indoors.

Watch for more regular posts coming out this summer. Ben’s homeschool evaluation is next week, so we’ll blog about that; we will be travelling back to Wisconsin at the end of this month for Nick’s wedding, and a special one year blog post will appear on our anniversary, July 25! We are excited to share it with y’all!

We have also set up a Facebook group for our blog: Wishes and Pixie Dust– if you’re interested in talking Disney, let us know and we’ll be happy to add you!