Got the go ahead tonight from the Farm Boy to book our holiday. Woo hoo! So excited. We're going to Hawaii. The BIG island. The boys have never been before - of course - we lived in England. And I think it's really a perfect time to get the homeschooling thing into full swing.

Things have been a little quiet in the homeschooling land of our house. Big kid has been home since Christmas and is still going through his "de-schooling" time. They say a month for every year they've been in school. So that's 8 months - 9 if you count nursery! (Which is like American kindergarten, but they start 2 years earlier.) So hopefully, by the time everyone else is heading back to school, his little brain will be fed up with his iPod, all the rubbish telly he watches, and his general sloth-ness. Of course, I'm not naive enough to believe that some magic switch is going to flip and he will sit at the table, "Mummy, I'm ready for my math lesson now." But even just an occasional visit to Khan Academy would be a plus!

So my plan is this... Use Hawaii as a topic and run with it. Both boys (and the small one will not be returning to school in August, he'll stay home with his brother - oh, and me) are fascinated with volcanoes, hence going to the BIG island and not easy (and lovely) Maui or Oahu where I actually have family. So there's science. There's loads of history; cultural, political and otherwise. Language, food (my favorite, always), heck! we could even learn the hula! I was looking at the state flag earlier today and it should actually be the state flag of my family. It's meant to be a mix of the American stars & stripes and the Union Jack. Fitting, no? So of course, the idea is we do all this work, learn about Hawaii and then the payoff is 10 days there!

Anyway, that's the plan. Of course, the path is not always straight.

But as long as it leads to Hawaii, I'm good.

Right, I just got my new Joy the Baker cookbook so I'm off to make a Cream Cheese Pound Cake.