Back to the travel clinic for booster shots... The girls knew what to expect this time, but they were brave and didn't make a fuss. So we got our booster shots for Hep A and B. It was combined into one needle so the girls were happy. This time we came away with the cool Shrek band aids. The not so cool ones went back in the box for the doctor's next victim!
We have one more booster for Hep A and B, but that isn't for another few months. We also need Japanese Encephalitis, but rather than pay $115/shot and we would each need three shots we think we may get it in China and pay only $5/shot. Amazing what happens when you mass produce something! We got the e-mail address of a clinic and will see what we can arrange.
We also need Malaria pills. It's not likely that we would get it, but better be safe than sorry. Those can wait until we are closer to our departure date.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Monday, November 19, 2007
Home schooling
When we decided we would live somewhat more like nomads and not just have one place as a home base for the year, our ideas of enrolling the girls in a foriegn school were given up and in thier place home schooling ideas began to grow. At first I thought how difficult could it be? So I started quite confidently looking at the Ontario curriculum guides online. No issues there. Then I started to look for lesson plans. That seemed a little harder. There were so many lesson plans! The free ones seemed like a lot of work to put them into a program that would flow and there were so many choices for the ones that you could purchase. I didn't really know where to start. So I was starting to get a little more nervous about pulling together the program... luckily I spoke with some friends about it and they put me in contact with a mom in the neighbourhood who was homeschooling her children. This was her first year doing it and she was very excited to share a ton of information. She had just finished grade three with one of her daughters so it was good timing.
We sat down and talked for a few hours and I came away with a much better idea of how she had structured her approach to home schooling and once again it didn't seem too bad. She lent me a book "The Well Trained Mind - A Guide to Classical Education at Home" by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise. I flipped through her copy and ended up getting my own copy. It helped me figure out what materials I wanted to purchase and how to structure my home schooling program. After reading it, I was totally pumped up. It's going to be so much fun to teach the girls. It will be hard work too, but I hope it will be very rewarding.
As I was reading I made notes on what workbooks and things I would need and also on how I would do the various subjects. I recently went online and tracked down all the items that I wanted and some of the things have already arrived! Yay.
I think we will be able to manage the various subjects Monday-Thursday mornings and leave Friday for spelling tests and projects. Mostly I am going to focus on English and Math. I've got the Rod & Staff, English 3 Beginning Wisely lesson plans and workbooks and the MCP Spelling workbooks. I have ordered the Saxon Math program, but they haven't come in yet. We will also be doing world history. The Ontario program calls for Ontario history in grade three, but forget that when we will be seeing things like the Great Wall of China! I also thought I would add in a religion class where the girls can study prayers, writings and the history of the Baha'i faith.
I wonder how I'll feel when we come back. Will I be glad to send them back to the public system or will I want to continue home schooling? One thing at a time I guess.
We sat down and talked for a few hours and I came away with a much better idea of how she had structured her approach to home schooling and once again it didn't seem too bad. She lent me a book "The Well Trained Mind - A Guide to Classical Education at Home" by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise. I flipped through her copy and ended up getting my own copy. It helped me figure out what materials I wanted to purchase and how to structure my home schooling program. After reading it, I was totally pumped up. It's going to be so much fun to teach the girls. It will be hard work too, but I hope it will be very rewarding.
As I was reading I made notes on what workbooks and things I would need and also on how I would do the various subjects. I recently went online and tracked down all the items that I wanted and some of the things have already arrived! Yay.
I think we will be able to manage the various subjects Monday-Thursday mornings and leave Friday for spelling tests and projects. Mostly I am going to focus on English and Math. I've got the Rod & Staff, English 3 Beginning Wisely lesson plans and workbooks and the MCP Spelling workbooks. I have ordered the Saxon Math program, but they haven't come in yet. We will also be doing world history. The Ontario program calls for Ontario history in grade three, but forget that when we will be seeing things like the Great Wall of China! I also thought I would add in a religion class where the girls can study prayers, writings and the history of the Baha'i faith.
I wonder how I'll feel when we come back. Will I be glad to send them back to the public system or will I want to continue home schooling? One thing at a time I guess.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Tickets, get your tickets!
So apparently you need to buy tickets to go anywhere! We had budgeted approximately $20k for airline tickets for the 4 of us. That was the estimate we had arrived at based on our review of various websites, including some "world traveller" sites. It was now time to meet with a travel agent to discuss airline tickets. It was very exciting to actually sit down with a travel agent and talk about the trip - it made it more real somehow, because all our rsearch until then was done at home on the internet! Also, the fact that they had a huge map of the world on their wall was very cool - we got up and mapped out the trip on the big map!
The agent said the world travel tickets start at approximately $4k per person, not including taxes. You get 26,000 miles of air travel with that type of ticket. Then he suggested we look at one of the major airlines to map out a basic route and then plan side trips. To make a long story short, this is the plan we came up with:
We could fly British Airways from Montreal to Beijing (through London), and return from Delhi to Montreal (again through London). This would be the main trip. We then book flights from Beijing to Hanoi, Hanoi to Bangkok and Bangkok to Bangalore (India), using regional airlines. Flights from Hanoi to Bangkok are $40 per person! You can't even get a bus ticket for that here. Then, once we fly from Delhi to London, we make another side trip to Bucharest, and return from Warsaw. We will probably rent a car in Bucharest and return it in Warsaw. That way we can do the eastern european leg of the trip by car. This scenario ends up costing us approximately $3,000 each, including taxes! Now that is great news! We get to save some money on flights - woohoo! And we can book all our flights right here in Ottawa, with the flexibility to change dates if we have to. We'll have to wait until late January or February 2008 for next year's ticket schedules to be released though.
Going through London is also exciting because we will have a chance to stop over for a few days and do some sight seeing. We may even get to visit some relatives in the area. Maybe drop in on the Queen if she's in town, and have some tea!
The agent said the world travel tickets start at approximately $4k per person, not including taxes. You get 26,000 miles of air travel with that type of ticket. Then he suggested we look at one of the major airlines to map out a basic route and then plan side trips. To make a long story short, this is the plan we came up with:
We could fly British Airways from Montreal to Beijing (through London), and return from Delhi to Montreal (again through London). This would be the main trip. We then book flights from Beijing to Hanoi, Hanoi to Bangkok and Bangkok to Bangalore (India), using regional airlines. Flights from Hanoi to Bangkok are $40 per person! You can't even get a bus ticket for that here. Then, once we fly from Delhi to London, we make another side trip to Bucharest, and return from Warsaw. We will probably rent a car in Bucharest and return it in Warsaw. That way we can do the eastern european leg of the trip by car. This scenario ends up costing us approximately $3,000 each, including taxes! Now that is great news! We get to save some money on flights - woohoo! And we can book all our flights right here in Ottawa, with the flexibility to change dates if we have to. We'll have to wait until late January or February 2008 for next year's ticket schedules to be released though.
Going through London is also exciting because we will have a chance to stop over for a few days and do some sight seeing. We may even get to visit some relatives in the area. Maybe drop in on the Queen if she's in town, and have some tea!
The Travel Clinic
So Nadim and I told the girls that we were going to the travel clinic and that we were going to just get some advise on the type of shots and medication we would need. Roya asked us, in that shy worried voice that kids sometimes have... 'are we going to have to get a needle?'. So first we told her that she would get a needle that was about a foot long and it would go right through her arm if she moved. Luckily she knows we are a bunch of jokers, so she didn't believe us. We then told the kids that we would get shots, but not at this visit. So off we went!
We had to wait a little while, but got in fairly quickly. I didn't notice it, but Nadim and Roya brought it to our attention afterwards - the doctor provided information in the form of questions. He would ask something like "So you could get Hep A, how bad is it?" then he would answer his own question. There were all sorts of questions "So will it kill you? No, but you could have symptoms like...." So we were asked lots of funny questions that thankfully we didn't have to answer, and we got all sorts of good info. We also were told that we needed Hep A and B shots and Typhoid, along with a bunch of others that would need to be ordered. He said he could give us the first shot of Hep A/B and Typhoid today if we wanted. Nadim and I looked at each other, shrugged and said why not!
The doctor said that he had one combo shot of Hep A/B for a child, but that the other girl would have to get separate needles since he only had one combo. Who was the braver of the two. We volunteered Yasmin. So the sleeves were rolled up and Roya went first. There were a few crocodile tears, but she survived with her Barbie Band-aid. Yasmin got her shots and also got a special Band-aid. It had Dora on it. Of course with the girls getting special Band-aids Nadim had to have one too. His was a Surfer Barbie. I was lucky enough to get one with My Little Pony on it.
So we have to go back and get a booster and then we are good for life for Hep A/B and for ten years for Typhoid. We also have to go back for Japanese Encephalitis shots and Malaria pills and whatever other good advise the doctor can give us. I hope I don't start laughing when the rhetorical questions start!
We had to wait a little while, but got in fairly quickly. I didn't notice it, but Nadim and Roya brought it to our attention afterwards - the doctor provided information in the form of questions. He would ask something like "So you could get Hep A, how bad is it?" then he would answer his own question. There were all sorts of questions "So will it kill you? No, but you could have symptoms like...." So we were asked lots of funny questions that thankfully we didn't have to answer, and we got all sorts of good info. We also were told that we needed Hep A and B shots and Typhoid, along with a bunch of others that would need to be ordered. He said he could give us the first shot of Hep A/B and Typhoid today if we wanted. Nadim and I looked at each other, shrugged and said why not!
The doctor said that he had one combo shot of Hep A/B for a child, but that the other girl would have to get separate needles since he only had one combo. Who was the braver of the two. We volunteered Yasmin. So the sleeves were rolled up and Roya went first. There were a few crocodile tears, but she survived with her Barbie Band-aid. Yasmin got her shots and also got a special Band-aid. It had Dora on it. Of course with the girls getting special Band-aids Nadim had to have one too. His was a Surfer Barbie. I was lucky enough to get one with My Little Pony on it.
So we have to go back and get a booster and then we are good for life for Hep A/B and for ten years for Typhoid. We also have to go back for Japanese Encephalitis shots and Malaria pills and whatever other good advise the doctor can give us. I hope I don't start laughing when the rhetorical questions start!
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