More San Francisco

We finally explored more to the west side of San Francisco. We'd actually never been to the ocean side. Lunch at The Cliff House was nice. I'm not sure it's really worth the price but the view is beautiful!

From there, we headed to Golden Gate Park. Wow! That is some park! While walking around, you would hardly know you are in the middle of a huge city. We took a stroll through the Japanese Tea Garden which was lovely.

Turned Loose and Footloose:

Daddy and On the Loose:

All three of the kids:

The flowers were simply beautiful:

Upon leaving Golden Gate Park, Don took me to Alamo Sqaure to see The Painted Ladies. It's a sight I've always wanted to see and we've just never gotten there. It was such a perfect weather day and they were well worth the trip!

It was fun to expand our horizons in the city! If you're ever headed there, drop me a line and I'll give my recommendations! :-)

San Francisco Part 2

Here's part 2 of my San Francisco photo essay. :-)

The kids and I visited The Exploratorium. It's a great "hands on" science center--the best one we've been to yet! We all had a great time. Afterwards, we wandered around the Marina a bit.

On the Loose concentrating on one of the sand exhibits:

Turned Loose and On the Loose trying to balance the unbalanced table:

Footloose and On the Loose making huge bubbles:

All three of them in front of the Palace of Fine Arts:

Part of the neighborhood in the Marina District...this neighborhood is gorgeous:

A view from the bottom of the hill:

We had a snack at what has become a favorite place of our in SF:

And, of course, a view of the Golden Gate:

Lord willing, my next installment will include some photos of Golden Gate Park.

San Francisco

We've spent quite a bit of time in San Francisco recently. My husband has been working for Pacific Gas and Electric one or two weeks per month for the past six months. The kids and I have had the opportunity to travel with him for four out of the six weeks he's worked there since the beginning of January.

We've stayed in Larkspur which is about 12 miles north of the city. It's quieter and lots cheaper than staying right in San Francisco. We are very conveniently located across the street from the ferry landing. He takes the boat each morning he's there and it drops him off at the Ferry Building in San Francisco. He walks about three blocks and is at the office. The kids and I have also taken the boat over several times. On the Loose, in particular, loves these rides and chatters the whole 30 minutes about the surrounding sites.

I thought I'd share a little photo essay of The City....

The view walking out of the office where Don has been working:

A local flower stand on Market Street:

The Federal Reserve Bank located on the next block over from PG &E:

The view looking up Market Street from the waterfront:

The Ferry Building at the foot of Market Street...the front sidewalks are transformed into an amazing farmer's market twice a week:

Inside the Ferry Building...there are all kinds of amazingly tasty treats in here:

The skyline as you approach on the ferry:

A water view of Coit Tower:

The Golden Gate Bridge from the ferry:

Not in San Francisco but this is San Quentin Prison from the ferry. Our hotel is literally about a mile from here. :-)

A guard tower at the prison:

This is the view as we first board the ferry. The hotel we've stayed at a few times now is just behind those trees.

I'll share more pictures from around the city soon! Although I don't ever think I could be a true big city dweller, I have to say that I really do enjoy San Francisco!

Loving Preschool!

On the Loose is 3 1/2 now! Where in the world does the time go? Each day he asks me to "play preschool" with him. When asked what Mommy is good at, he says, "Mommy is very good at preschool!" ;-) So, we indulge him in his preschool activities.

I'm hoping to make a regular weekly "preschool post" here but I just wanted to share a few websites that have been helpful to me in our preschool endeavors. If you look over to my left sidebar (yay! My hubby helped me figure out how to make my blog three column! He's the best!), you'll see some of my favorites. I'm adding to it when I get time.

My old favorites:

Five in a Row--This has been my favorite site since I started homeschooling in 1999! The moms there are full of wonderful advice.

Letter of the Week--Here is a fully written alphabet "curriculum" with fun activities for each day of the week.

New favorites:

Preschool Express--Really....endless ideas! You must go there if you have a preschooler!

Tot School--Wow! This is my newest favorite!! What a fun and creative mom! I hesitate to tell how many hours I've spent here recently.

I will talk about more as time goes by. Please feel free to drop me a comment to tell me of your favorites for the 3-5 crowd. I'm always looking for new ideas!

Happy Preschool everyone!

The Potter's School

We are currently in our third year of using The Potter's School for some of our more specialized classes for junior high and high school. They offer high quality classes with very professional teachers. So far we have utilized HTML, biology, chemistry, French 1, Latin 1 & 2, US history and advanced composition. 

Here's how it works: Each week your student attends class for 90 minutes. In that class period, all students enrolled in that section gather together using a teleconferencing software. They interact with one another and the teacher. The lessons and assignments are presented to the class. 

Each teacher determines their own schedule for work to be turned in. Once the teacher has graded the completed assignments, those grades are available for viewing by the students and parents on the Moodle website. You are able to see each graded piece of work as well as the cumulative grade for the class at any given moment.

The classes are rigourous and rewarding. For this mom, who can easily become overwhelmed by science, they are a very welcome tool in our homeschool. 

The new list of classes for the 09-10 school year has been recently released and some of them look so exciting! It will be hard for us to choose which we want to  pursue for the coming year. Turned Loose does know that he will take physics, anatomy and physiology (or advanced chemistry) and Latin 3. But, we are undecided on a fourth class. (I'm leaning toward forcing him to take a class on writing a research paper but we're still in negotiations.) Footloose will be taking jr. high French 2 and, possibly, one other class.

Each class we've taken has been worth every penny of tuition!

Registration is opening soon. It is definitely something worth considering if you are homeschooling a 7th-12th grader!

Special Delivery

My husband has been traveling lately. In fact, he's travelled more in the past few months than he has our entire married life. We've spent more nights apart in the past several months than in our entire 19 years combined!

It's been hard on all of us. He misses the balance that family life adds to his perspective of work. The kids miss their dad. I miss the companionship and touch of my beloved.

He'll be home in less than 12 hours now (well, provided we don't experience yet another flight delay!) and we can't wait! In the meantime, I was greeted at the door by a wonderful surprise...

Thank you, Honey! Thank you for thinking of us and praying for us while you're away. Thank you for blessing me with some beauty today as I anticipte your return!

I love you!

Prayer

The Lord is teaching me a lesson in prayer this week: Pray for those who persecute you. I always expect persecution from outside the church but persecution from inside the church still surprises me.

Through this experience, I am mindful of the times where I have been guilty of what I am now facing. I have gossipped. I have stuck my nose into other peoples' business and gotten some strange satisfaction in passing it on to others. I'm sure I have even "shared" my own "interpretation" of actions and events that ended up looking not so much like the truth when I was done. 

I am praying that the Lord will continue to convict me of these things. I also pray that He will convict those who are guilty of the same. Lord, please teach me to forgive others even as you have forgiven me.

The continued lessons that He brings into my life are faith building. I count it pure joy when I suffer trials of many kinds because trials produce perseverence and perseverence hope. My hope in Him is where I rest.

As a side note, I want to offer this caution: Everything you say online is suseptible to being read by someone. The photos you post can be snagged and used in a way you did not authorize or intend. Be careful what you say as not everyone has your best interest at heart.

With love to my friends and thanksgiving to my Lord,