Italy Pt. 2

After exploring a little, we decided to get some rest before our big first full day in Rome. We had tickets for a tour and meet up was at 9:45am. The hotel provided a "free" breakfast. I enjoyed my very first Latte Machiatto. Yuuummm!
After, we hit the road.

Our first view of the Colosseum. So excited!

We took a tour using City Wonders Tour

We highly recommend using this tour. Patricia was an excellent guide, as an archaeologist and life long resident of Rome, she was able to provide us with more information that we would have been able to find on our own.

After the Colosseum we walked over to The Forum. 

Which was basically downtown Rome back in the day.   

Arch of Constantine

Original Temple in the Forum, currently a church.

 You can see the cut marks at the top from the ropes they attached to try to pull them down.

Everything used to be covered in walkways paved like this.

Head removed and sold.

When we left Palatine Hill, we were supposed to turn left and we turned right. So we got a very long backyard view of the place until we figured out that I screwed up and headed back the right way. 

We headed over to a nice little restaurant where I ordered everything wrong and ended up just getting a pizza in the end, headed back to the hotel for a short snooze and started out again. Every neighborhood seems to have a fountain, and about 10 churches.

Piazza Della Republica

Some really ugly head bowls for sale on the street.

Quattro Fontane (The four fountains)

We were on the hunt for the Trevi Fountain and we weren't exactly sure which way to go.

We passed by more churches

And official buildings with lots of guards.

And then there it was, the Trevi Fountain.

We felt like we were in Las Vegas! 

The streets are so cool. They are all paved with small pavers, restaurants all carve out a small seating area that jets out into the street. Cars actually drive down here. They are all so patient, never honking, just parting the people like Moses parting the Red Sea.

More monuments...

Motorcycles everywhere.

Turn the corner and BAM! It's the Pantheon!

There was a very high level of police at all the major sites.

Inside the Pantheon.

In my research I found a website that said the best espresso was to be found at St. Eustachio-Il Caffe. I failed to take a picture of the outside, but Jay was very impressed, and drank it like a true Roman, standing up!

Afterwards we wandered the streets, saw lots of local art performers, made a few purchases, and came upon Piazza Novana.

Fire Dancer

Jay looking cool, but really his feet were screaming at him. 

After this, we wandered back to the hotel. We had a train to catch in the morning!

Italy

My husband and I love to travel. We have not had much opportunity to do so since the kids were born plus we were busy moving from one county to another. The opportunity finally arose and we jumped on it. Although it was a quick 4 night 3 day trip, every moment of our trip to Italy was well worth it. In fact, we decided that it's a great way to see Europe. Rather than taking a week, we would rather pick an area, explore it and do as much as we can in 3-5 days. I was told by several people that you need 2 weeks to explore Rome. But I think unless you are really into seeing every single church and museum, Rome can be seen in 2-3 days. We absolutely love people watching and looking at what makes the city tick. We are not into museums. My husband loves to quote George from Seinfeld, "I need someone to explain the explanation" when it comes to art. And after viewing painting after painting of the same subject, they all blur into each other after a while.

We flew out of Ben Gurion on Thursday, March 31st. And as you can see we were both very excited to be getting away alone kid free. We used over-sized back packs rather than luggage. A huge time saver as we didn't have to check our bags. (All pictures are clickable for a larger view)

Goodbye Israel!

Hello Italy!

We landed safely at the Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport at 8pm and took the Leonardo Express from the airport to the Roma Termini train station. A quick 30 minutes later we arrived at our hotel!

Some sites around our hotel.

Jay had the Marinara Pizza and I had the daily special.

Our first gelato! Yum!

To be continued.....

Homeschooling Schedule

A lot of people are asking how homeschooling is going. There are a lot of misconceptions on what happens during a homeschooling day. Especially if they see Lena outside during the day. So I thought I would share our schedule and what books we are using.
I took about 2 months of researching and joining homeschooling groups and asking lots of questions before we settled on our curriculum. It's one of those things where you really hope you made the right choice. Especially for us since everything has to be shipped. It gets expensive and you don't want to make too many mistakes.
Jay has decided to take on Languages and Mathematics. Which is just fine by me! He works with her from 7:30-9:00, then she has a break to work on homework, or review things for the coming classes.

Here is our weekly schedule. Every weekend I go over what I am going to be teaching, do research, read everything, make plans according to the lesson ( I am learning a LOT in the process too). Some lessons take longer than others, some are quite quick. But we aim to be done around 1:30 so I can go pick up Zane and have the rest of the day free to do things. She has Gymnastics Sundays and Wednesdays from 4-7:30 and occasional Mondays when she needs to work extra on things. 

Some days Lena is just burnt out. Whether is be from a night of little sleep, just too much work, or just life, she has the option to say, Hey, I am done. I can't focus. Or, I hate this subject. Can we do something else? That is the beauty of homeschooling. How can a child, learn if we force it into them. They have to be interested and open to accept what is being taught. Even though we have a schedule to follow, it's not going to kill either of us if we double up some days, miss a class or two on another. We have 365 days to work on everything. No one is setting the schedule but us. 

Here are the books we are using:

Math: Singapore Math 6a and workbook

Geometry: Teaching Textbooks Geometry

Writing: Writing With Skill  and the Instructor Text

U.S History: Howard Zinn A Young Peoples History of the United States As well as his website.

Vocabulary: Wordly Wise 3000 Grade 6  And the Instructor Text

Science: My Pals are Here And workbook

Geography: Don't Know Much About The 50 States and States & Capitals, Student Guide

World History: The Story Of The World  And Activity Book

Religion: Case for a Creator for Kids, Case for Faith for Kids, Case for Christ for Kids, And The Complete Idiots Guide to World Religions

It may seem like a lot, but her education at home is so much richer and one on one that it ever was at school. If she doesn't get something, we go over it again and again until she does get it. There is no passing it over. If she wants an extra day to study about Native American's, then by all means let's!

First Day of School!

The first day of school is nerve wracking for everyone. Lena actually began a day early because September 1st was Zane's first day of preschool and Jay would not be able to teach her in the morning.
Zane was pretty excited about the first day of school. But then it was time for mommy and daddy to leave. The crying started and he changed his mind... We knew he would be ok, gave him one last hug and kiss and prayed he would still be talking to us when we picked him up in a few hours. He LOVED it. Now every morning he asks if it's a school day and seriously gets upset when we have to tell him no, it's the weekend.

Zane's First Day of Pre-School

Pre-School looks pretty fun!

You can go now mom.

Lena's first day of Homeschool- Grade 6

Zane, one happy little man 

at the end of the day.