Learning in San Antonio (James)

July 20th, 2005

Toby and I had a wonderful trip to San Antonio. We had a minor crisis on the way out the door (as it should be) in Samuel leaning on a window and breaking it.

But we arrived at the airport in plenty of time to catch our plane, even with deciding at the last minute that we’d need to check a bag. Peoria airport has free WiFi and so being early there never bothers me.

While on the plane I taught Toby how they fly. He doesn’t remember all of it but he knows that somehow the air pushes up on the bottom of the wing and that the wing has to be shaped a certain way for it to work. That’s probably better than most people who get on the plane–but we marvel that God created a world that works like this.

We flew over so much and Toby got a window seat on all four planes there and back. He slept through one–but I’ll get to that in a moment. It was neat seeing Toby marvel at the little things I am used to when I fly. The wonder (see my post here on the topic) in his eyes was amazing to me. I was so glad to get to take him.

We arrive in San Antonio after sunset. It was 9:30 and Toby usually goes to bed at 8:00. It was hard for him to make it through all the motions that night, but he did great. We checked in for our rental car, picked up our bag, and got on the shuttle to the car.
We were able to fine the hotel easily with the directions, checked in, and got up to bed. It still took a minute to settle in, but we rested well that night.
Tuesday we had a nice breakfast downstairs. Toby enjoyed it, and then we were off to my meeting (the reason for the trip). He sat quietly through my presentation and the Q&A following it, and then we went back to the hotel to change and were off to the Alamo.
We both really liked the Alamo. I hadn’t learned much about it in school, so I learned as much as he did. It was also exciting because it was free and received no government funds to boot. Woo hoo!
After the Alamo I took him to lunch and then we walked around a mall for some time before heading back to the hotel to swim. He had a great time in the pool there and the WiFi in the hotel allowed me to work while he swam after I got full of the water. We then had dinner with a friend and were back to bed before rising early to head home.
I had to get him up at 4:40 so we could get out of the hotel by 5 and make our plane. It was hard for him, but he again did great. We had breakfast stromboli after getting through security and then he slept through the whole flight from San Antonio to Chicago. From Chicago home he again had a window seat and we saw familiar sites in the window as we descended to Peoria.
I don’t like to be away from my family–but I am glad I get to take my children with me sometimes when I travel. All in all it was a great trip and we’re very glad to be home.

Factor trees

July 20th, 2005

I almost always let the children pick which math page they wish to do from one of the many workbooks we have. Sometimes they pick something easy, sometimes they want challenge. Today Samuel must have wanted something different, because he brought me a workbook opened to the page on finding prime factors. “How do you do this?” he asked. So we did factor trees, and dabbled in exponents. He manipulated the numbers easily, though I don’t think he has built a full picture of what we were doing. I am confident the full picture will come with more practice., as he easily grasped many of the concepts.

Elsie was enjoying her subtraction page so much that she continued to do it while I brushed her hair! Usually she insists on a storybook during hair brushing.

Moriah completed her math page. Toby did not. I heard from James when they landed in Chicago, and Toby was able to sleep during the flight. A good thing, since they got up at 4:30! We’ll be heading out to pick him up at the Peoria airport in a few minutes. And there will be much rejoicing!!! The house seemed so much emptier with one child missing.