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!
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.
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!
Today we are celebrating our ninth month anniversary of arriving in Florida as residents! The interesting thing about a moving blog is that it gives you an opportunity to look back at your thoughts prior to the move. On April 13, 2011 we wrote this blog: 100 days and we thought it would be fun one year later to take a look at a few of the items on our “Top 100” List to see how we feel about them now.
10. Start a new tradition of celebrating birthdays at Walt Disney World
This is an awesome tradition that we have started and will continue. In February we purchased the Tables in Wonderland card and we anticipate that we will not only receive back the membership fee, but also extra savings above and beyond the initial cost. We purchased our card from Guest Services at the Magic Kingdom, and received our card immediately.
14. Have lunch at Le Cellier
Reservations are set for August 8!
18. Explore the beaches of Florida–kids have never been to the ocean before. We plan to go to both sides of Florida: The Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.
Done and done! We have been to Anna Maria Island and Treasure Island on the Gulf side and Cocoa Beach on the Atlantic side. We definitely intend to schedule in more beach days this summer.
22. Exploring the city of Clermont and getting to know our new home city.
We haven’t done this as much as we expected to. We even missed the annual festival Pig on the Pond due to inclement weather, something that we had been looking forward to ever since we made the decision to move to Clermont.
26. Enjoy the Osborne lights at the Studios as many times as possible.
We never tire of this.
27. Enjoy making new friendships with all our Facebook friends who live in Florida.
We really have enjoyed meeting y’all and we feel blessed that we are able to spend time with two different couples who we consider good friends of ours. Facebook is a really great way to connect with people to begin that friendship.
33. Chuckling to ourselves in February when the temperature is 80 and sunny, knowing that back in Wisconsin it is probably blowing and snowing and bitterly cold. Will we miss snow? No we will not!
Yea, we’ve done that 🙂 Although we feel it is ironic that Wisconsin had a mild winter this year.
34. Taking in Bob Jackson’s show at the Port Orleans Riverside resort!
35. Staying at the Port Orleans Riverside resort for old times sake!
We have not done either one of these yet, but it is definitely in the works. We’d like to stay in one of the new Princess rooms.
37. Riding down the Sassagoula River from Port Orleans Riverside to Downtown Disney (and vice versa)
See above!
40. Being there for opening day of the new Fantasyland.
We were not there for the soft opening of Storybook Circus. The crowds were absolutely packed in, and we’ve discovered as residents, it’s simply not worth it. We went a couple of days later when it was not as busy.
50. DisneyQuest
Yes, we’ve done this a few times, and thoroughly enjoy ourselves every time we go. It’s a great alternative to a rainy day. Our philosophy is that we do not go to the parks when it rains- it’s simply not worth the hassle of dealing with the ponchos. We have been a couple of times, and it does detract from the magic of the parks.
54. Flower and Garden Festival
We are not garden people by any means, but walking around Epcot looking at the various topiaries and displays was enjoyable.
66. Take a family Christmas picture at WDW
Hmmm. We did not do this at Christmas; may be a new tradition we need to start.
69. Move in to our new apartment in Clermont
It was quite exciting to have that newness of being able to discover everything and experience many “firsts” but it was also overwhelming to not have the basic necessities with us those first weeks. While it is fun to buy all new items, it can be scary to walk into Target knowing that you need to buy “everything”. Nine months later there are still a couple of pieces of furniture that we need to purchase, and a few assorted kitchen items, but we want to let our readers know that everything does not need to be purchased right away. To do so requires gobs of money or extending yourself on credit, the latter being something we would never advise.
70. Find the best pizza places in the area.
We have found two good pizzerias, and this is a goal we are still working on!
71. Our first Saturday library visit to our new “home” library.
We still regularly visit the library every Saturday. The kids are currently into the ‘Harry Potter’ series, and we pick up other books as well. It is not as nice, nor as big, as our library back in Wisconsin. There are no tables and chairs to sit at, and the kids used to enjoy doing that. So consequently, our visits are shorter.
88. Swim with the manatees.
We have not swum with the manatees, but Ben has become a huge lover of manatees, loves to visit them at Epcot, and we all are looking forward to visiting Sea World for the first time.
89. Explore Florida’s state parks.
Between the poisonous snakes, alligators, bears and black panthers, this is not something we are so eager to do anymore. 🙂
96. Enjoying the scenery of Florida, knowing that it will stay green year round, and not become brown and dead for six months out of the year.
This is still huge for us. Love, love, love seeing all the palm trees, and it is so nice to see flowers in bloom in January! Yesterday and today it was cool enough to open our lanai doors and let the fresh breezes blow in.
99. Take a yearly family picture in front of Cinderella Castle.
We have not done this yet, but will need to do soon! Another new family tradition!
We had heard prior to our move that it may take as long as one or two years after relocation to adjust fully to our new environment. We still feel that we are in the adjustment process, but that it gets better every month. We couldn’t have picked a better apartment complex to move into, for which we are very grateful. The cost of living is higher here than in Wisconsin; but we knew it coming in. The only negative thing to report is the school situation for Ben, but we know God is in control with it and he will lead to us to the right school or option for Ben.
We are closing in on our third month of homeschooling Ben, and we have to say it’s been a rewarding experience. It’s not the path we intended to follow; but as parents, we feel it’s our responsibility to ensure that our children get the best education possible, and it’s simply not available in the public middle school for special needs students. We wanted to share a little bit of our experiences, so that any readers in our shoes may know what to anticipate. We will also put forth the disclaimer that we am not asserting all public middle schools in Florida are like this. We only have the one experience (so far).
We transferred Ben in with high expectations that the school would be similar to what we’ve experienced in Wisconsin. We did our research online: this is an “A” rated school. We talked with the special education specialist over the phone and in person prior to the start of the school year, and we were reassured that modifications would be made to accommodate Ben’s needs. So far, so good.
The IEP meeting was not held until after school started-red flag number one. How could they possibly know how to accommodate his needs if no IEP was in place? The IEP meeting went fairly well, but they seemed to disregard certain adaptations that were in place in Wisconsin, stating “we don’t do things that way here”. One example is no time limits on when homework may be turned in. Life with an autistic child is not predictable, and there were simply some nights that homework could not be completed. They consented to give him one extra day to complete homework; however, we did observe that when Ben needed more than one day to finish he was not penalized for it.
In the beginning they failed to include directions for homework, and because Ben was not able to tell us what the homework was, there were assignments missed. It seemed every week there was an instance of lack of communication between school and home. Sometimes Ben’s aide would write us detailed notes. Some days not. Towards the end of October Ben’s Science teacher stopped communicating with us over missing homework and ignored our emails. If Ben missed a Science lab or classwork, he would not be provided with the missing information. Ben was told by his special education teacher that he would have to go to a special school if he didn’t stop making bad choices; the “bad choice” being a meltdown that he had no control over due to his autism. It was believed that he was choosing to act out to avoid work, but that’s not our Ben.
In short, they failed to recognize what an awesome and talented young man he is, and instead focused on his challenges. He was not accommodated, he was bullied in the lunchroom, he was suspended a couple of times over petty circumstances, and in the end, school administration failed to abide by IDEA laws and then covered it up by saying “it wasn’t intentional”.
So, we made the decision to homeschool for the rest of the school year. We don’t know what his educational future holds; we may decide to enroll him in public school again, and we are considering virtual school for seventh grade, but we feel it is our responsibility to provide him with a safe, nurturing learning environment, and right now that place is home. A child simply cannot learn if he is afraid of doing and/or saying the wrong thing, afraid of being suspended, afraid of making the wrong choices. We feel this middle school is way too strict, and really not conducive to students with disabilities. It is definitely not his least restrictive environment, and administration is to blame for setting the tone of the school in such a way.
Hindsight is 20/20, but had we realized the extent of how the school year would be for him, we would have opted to stay in Wisconsin until Ben graduated high school. If you are satisfied with your child’s school, are planning a move to Florida, and have children with special needs, please consider staying in your state until your child graduates high school. There is a reason Florida has a high attendance rate in their virtual schools. We have friends all over the state, and dissatisfaction with the schools seem to be the norm.
Wishes And Pixie Dust 