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travellarge

~ After two years of turmoil, a homeschooling family embarks on a big adventure

travellarge

Tag Archives: roadschooling

Ray of Sonlight

20 Wednesday Aug 2014

Posted by travellarge in Balkans, Budget travel, Education, Experiential Travel, Family, Hands-on Learning, Homeschool, Humour, Travel, Unschooling

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Caldecott Medal, homeschool, homeschooling, Macedonia, Newbery Medal, Ohrid, roadschooling, Sonlight

In which SWMBO tells a tall tale.  Or not.

Sonlight is a large, well-run business catering to the evangenical Christian homeschooler.  While we are Canadian and not religious, I order most of my homeschooling materials through Sonlight because it is a one-stop shop with great customer service.  If anyone from Sonlight is reading, please bring back the free shipping to Canada you used to offer!

Interesting watermelon cooling invention, Ohrid

Interesting watermelon cooling invention, Ohrid

The thing that is unique about Sonlight is that its curriculum is literature-based and has a global outlook.  It doesn’t shy away from books that are critical of Christianity, that contain bad language, or that deal with subjects like the occult.   The novels selected by Sonlight are beautiful and each could be considered a classic.  They have many Caldecott and Newbery medal winners in their line-up.

Sonlight uses existing novels and builds its subject lessons around them.  To buy a full curriculum package for one grade costs over $1000 US so it definitely isn’t cheap.  I get the free catalogue every year and look up which of the novels are available at my local library.  Most are, but those that aren’t and that interest me, I order from Sonlight when I am ordering our Singapore Math.

Two beauties from the Ohrid Old Timers Festival

Two beauties from the Ohrid Old Timers Festival

Sonlight is the curriculum of choice for a significant number of missionaries around the world.  My Spidey Senses are tingling and I believe at least one of them to be here in Macedonia.  Ohrid that is.

I was just innocently walking along the other day when I came to a flea market and saw a bookseller with a small selection of second hand books, some of which were in English.  It is very difficult to find English reading materials in the Balkans so I went to have a look: Smart Couples Finish Rich, South Beach Diet Cookbook, a couple of books by David Sedaris.  The hardcovers cost 400 dinars ($10 Cdn) and the soft covers were half that.  The prices were fair but too steep for me, particularly since nothing grabbed me.

Bookseller, Ohrid

Our new friend the bookseller, Ohrid

The young woman selling the books told me that she had more around the other side as well as four more boxes that she didn’t have room to put out.  These books ranged in price from 50-200 dinars ($1.20-$5).  I started rummaging around and couldn’t believe my eyes.  I found Silas Marner, Jude the Obscure, a beautifully illustrated version of King Lear, books by Kit Pearson and Jerry Spinelli and Katherine Paterson and M.E. Kerr.  I found many Newbery prize-winning books I had never heard of as well as books I had read as a child and hadn’t seen in years.  I also found a whole whack of books that I recognized from the Sonlight catalogue.

Boxes and boxes of great books

Boxes and boxes of great books

I tried to explain to the saleswoman that many of these books were hard to find at home and would have to be specially ordered.

Where did they come from?  I believe they came from the US to a missionary family posted in Macedonia.  I imagine that when each new box would arrive from the States, the children would open it excitedly and grab at novels and start reading or beg to start school right away.  I can picture it perfectly because that is what happens in our house when a box arrives from Sonlight.  Then I believe the kids grew up or moved back to America and the books ended up in a flea market in Ohrid where they made a non-Christian family very, very, very happy.

So happy that my kids insisted that I take them there the next day so they could browse the book boxes.  If the Mythbusters decide to investigate this tall tale, I think they will deem it “Plausible”.  That’s all she wrote.

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Millennium long hike…

16 Saturday Aug 2014

Posted by travellarge in Adventure, Balkans, Budget travel, Conservation, Education, Experiential Travel, Family, Hands-on Learning, Heritage, Homeschool, Humour, Parenting, Siblings, Teenagers, Travel, Unschooling

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Tags

children's blogs, gondola, guide, hiking, kids' blogs, Lake Matka, Macedonia, Millennium Cross, Mount Vodno, Mount Vodno Cable Car, mountain guide, mountain hiking, roadschooling, Skopje, Unschooling, Yugoslav bunker

Helloooo!!!!!

It is us,  Venice (9 yo) and SWMBO.  We have an intresting story to tell you all.  We will be taking turns of writing this news for you, I shall start. (Venice)

It all started when we had a boat trip to a cave that was FULL of bats!  Anyway, S.W.M.B.O. Wanted us to go on a 12 km walk!

I know that we did something like this in Sapa, Vietnam. there it was cold, cold, cold! but this hike is going to be hot, hot, hot!!!   But when we were on the boat, She-who-must-be-obeyed said NO WAY!!!!!!  That hike is going to be way to dangerous! I will only go if we can find a guide!

IMG_7753

Our hike in Sapa, Vietnam

Our boat driver said, Oh no problem!  I can just call my cousin! He used to work in the army, but retired 8 years ago.  He now does hiking.  His name is Xhemal (Say Jamal).  I could call and ask him is you like?  Yes please!  said S.W.M.B.O. .  So he Called his cousin asking if he could guide us.  He will meet you just outside your building!  said our boat driver.

First we went on a gondola to the top of Mount Vodno Where the Millennium Cross is!

Gondola, Mount Vodno

Gondola, Mount Vodno

And that’s where it all began!  right!

SWMBO here to say that we walked up, down, around hill and dale (and mountain!).  It was HOT (33 degrees celsius) but for much of the walk we were in dappled shade.  The scenery was beautiful.  Lastborn had a breakdown early on (unusual for her) so we took a fairly long rest.  Then we each successively succumbed to our own breakdowns which led to more rests.

Millenium Cross, Mount Vodno

Millenium Cross, Mount Vodno (larger than the Statue of Liberty and the Jesus statue in Rio)

Our guide was excellent and we always felt that we were in good hands.  He was a pleasant companion to have with us.  When Lastborn didn’t want to wear her sun hat, he tied his tea towel on her head and proclaimed her, “Mother Teresa”.

We stop to visit an abandoned Yugoslav army bunker

We stop to visit an abandoned Yugoslav army bunker

This hike was very challenging and for those considering it, I would recommend hiring a guide unless you are an expert hiker with adequate equipment.  The trail is not well marked in places and there are many possible paths.  At points the trail is extremely narrow and there are thorny bushes on either side.   Hikers frequently suffer from heat exhaustion.  There is no place to get water for the first 8 kilometres or so and you are unlikely to see another soul on your walk.  The last few kilometres of the hike consist of a dangerously steep descent on chunky rocks that continually shift underfoot.  It was there that I slipped and sprained my ankle.

Beautiful mountain views

Beautiful mountain views

Lastborn had her breakdown early on and was a trooper the rest of the way.

Lastborn had her breakdown early on and was a trooper the rest of the way.

We left our apartment at noon and probably started the walk at 1 pm (after taking the gondola and visiting the cross).  We ended at nine pm!  The last hour, we hiked in the dark with a head lamp.  Oy vey!  What an adventure.  Why did it take so long?  Who knows?  Maybe: heat, breakdowns, difficult terrain, picnics, stops to admire the views and learn about the distant villages and peaks, bunker visits, exhaustion, water breaks, splashing cold mountain water on our heads.  Maybe the fact that we hiked a 14.5 kilometre route, not 12.

The sun is setting and we still have hours to go!

The sun was setting and we still had hours to go!

When we had finally worked our way down to the water’s edge, we got to hit a hammer on a gong to signal to the boatman on the other side of the lake to pick us up.  What a rag-tag bunch he found: sweaty, snotty, scratched, bloody, hobbling, tear-stained, covered in dust.  He ferried us across to the fancy restaurant and hotel on the other side.  From there we walked another 500 metres to the parking lot and got in a taxi to drive us back to Skopje.

Xhermal in the gondola

Xhemal in the gondola at the beginning of our adventure

Thank-you Xhemal for being so knowledgeable, patient, safety conscious, strong, fit, tolerant, and kind.  We honestly could not have done that walk without you!!

It was an unforgettable way to spend our 21st wedding anniversary!

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Vacation’s over – Back to unschool!

11 Monday Aug 2014

Posted by travellarge in Adventure, Architecture, Balkans, Budget travel, Conservation, Education, Experiential Travel, Family, greece, Handmade, Hands-on Learning, Heritage, Homeschool, Humour, Parenting, Siblings, Teenagers, Travel, Unschooling

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Tags

acrolith, Alexander the Great, ancient coins, ancient gold, ancient Greece, Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, archaeology, children's blogs, Fashion, goldsmiths, Greece, Greek history, homeschooling, kids' blogs, Macedonia, Macedonian history, mosaics, roadschooling, Skopje, Thessaloniki, Unschooling

Yesterday our beach holiday ended and it was back to hardcore travelling.  For those unfamiliar with the term, “unschooling” is a form of homeschooling whereby you completely eschew textbooks and rote excercises in favour of experiential learning and following your interests.  While we don’t really practice this form of homeschooling in Canada, it has been what we have been doing on the road for the past six months.

Section of a beautiful mosaic from a wealthy home

Section of a beautiful mosaic from a wealthy home, Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki

Yesterday we visited the Archaelogical Museum of Thessaloniki.  The museum costs 6 euros per adult and 3 euros per child (free for under-18s if they are EU citizens).  In reality, I don’t think they ever charge children.  This museum is open every day, is world-class and all of the displays are explained both in Greek and in English.  The museum focuses on archaelogical excavations in the Thessaloniki area and includes rooms devoted to prehistory, classical Greece, Roman Greece, modern municipal history and much more.  A real highlight is the section displaying gold in the ancient world.  Currently, there is also a great exhibit on ancient coins.

Ancient coin

Ancient coin

The magnitude of the museum is overwhelming so pick and choose where you want to focus your attention.  We all learned many new things.  One of the things I discovered was the “acrolith”.  An acrolith is a composite sculpture.  In Greek times, they would often carve a statue out of wood and give it marble extremities (head, feet, hands).  The wooden part would be hidden in clothing or gilded.  Sneaky.

Wouldn't this look nice on Gwyneth?

Wouldn’t this look nice on Gwyneth?

I also learned that the goldsmiths who made all the exquisite jewlery and other fine objects as early as 580 BC (!) were considered artisans rather than artists.  They didn’t sign their work, probably didn’t get much respect and remained anonymous in history although their work looks as desirable today as then.  I could see Gwyneth Paltrow wearing one of these babies to the Golden Globe Awards!

Arch intricately carved from a single piece of marble

Massive arch carved from a single piece of marble

And speaking of fashion, the museum highlights the various hairstyles worn by ladies of the day as seen on the marble statues.

When Alexander the Great invaded and looted Persia, he flooded the market with so much gold that it became devalued.  You could spend a whole day just looking at all the gold items on display at the museum in Thessaloniki.

Ancient mosaic from a wealthy home

Ancient mosaic from a wealthy home

Here are the kids’ impressions of the museum:

Onlyboy (14 years old):

  • The museum was very informative.  I wish it was in my hometown so I could visit more often.  My favourite part was the gold.  It was very interesting.

Paris (12 years old):

  • Sup!  My first impression of the museum was: small.  Then my second impression was: rocks.  My third was: so. much. reading. I like books a lot but a bjillian words. That’s a lot to take in. In the end I (with only boy) were just skimming.  Then my forth impression was: that’s not the end!  My fifth and final impression was: not so small after all.

Venice (9 years old and taker of most of today’s photos):

  • It was an interesting museum.  I got to see all types of moneys from different places in the world a long, long time ago.  My favourite coin was probably the Italian one,  It had a sheaf of wheat and a creature that protects the town.
This beautiful gold crown is over 2000 years old!

This beautiful gold crown is over 2000 years old!

  • And my favourite room in the museum is definitely the Gold room!!!  It has dresses from old times and the dresses are stringed with gold!!!  Who ever owned that dress is REALLY rich! There’s also Gold crowns!!!  It was a wonderful museum! I really liked it!
Example of how a dress would have been decorated with gold

Example of how a dress would have been decorated with gold

Lastborn (4 years old):

  • I don’t have an impression, mama.  I saw bones of a girl and her hair was still there.  I saw a pot made out of clay that was used as a beehive.  I saw a sword and arrows that they would dip in poison to kill people.
People were buried with their personal pocessions

People were buried with their personal possessions

We ended our homeschool day with a drive through the Republic of Macedonia/FYROM to Skopje.  The scenery was magnificent and the way we know that is that it was enough to cause Onlyboy and Paris to stop i-poding and just stare out of the window saying, “Wow, look at that.”  I don’t believe they have ever done that in six months of travel and we have seen some pretty spectacular scenery.

But the quote of the day goes to Venice:

Why do we have keep seeing all this beautiful stuff?  It’s getting kind of annoying.

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