Spotlight on Madis81 !!! « Back to Group Discussions

[travelmumma]

Madis81, your up mumma!

[Mamabeakley]

Madis, where did your user name come from?  Tell us a little about yourself so we know what else to ask!

[madis81]

Ooo... so glad I decided to check this today or I would have totally missed it! We have been on vacation and getting a deep breath of fresh air away from the desert. It was needed!

My username came from an old e-mail address from highschool. That was many years ago, and I don't remember why I chose that name back then.

Let's see,... I've been married for almost 10 years to my DH and together we have 3 kids with 1 more on the way! Not too bad for being told it would be difficult to conceive on our own. None of our children were planned, but were very much wanted so we never used bc. My DH is 9 years older then I am and he's certain this will be our last child. We're both getting too "old" to have anymore children.

[kateadelle]

Where did you go on vacation? Do you travel much with your kids? Where are some of the places you have traveled/would like to travel?
 

[Mamabeakley]

What is your favorite thing about having a 'large' family?  (I know 3 - 4 isn't really that large, but in the current culture it's at least percieved that way . . . )  What's the most challenging thing about it?

What educational choices have you made for your kids so far?

[madis81]

Originally Posted by kateadelle 

Where did you go on vacation? Do you travel much with your kids? Where are some of the places you have traveled/would like to travel?
 

We went to San Antonio and visited the Alamo, the River Walk, and SeaWorld. I was hoping to take a detour to the gulf, but ran out of time. The beach is one of our most favorite placec to visit so we were a little bummed, yet our oldest has been telling us it was the best vacation ever. She is quite the animal expert though and her hearts desire is to work with sea mammals when she grows up, so the trip to Sea World was fascinating to her.

We use to travel often, but not so much since moving to Texas. My DH has been too busy at work to take a long leave for vacation, so our trip to San Antonio was the first real trip (unless you count 2 cross country moves!) we've taken in two years. Other then that, we live close enough to N.M. that we visit there often to check out White Sands Nat'l Monument, Las Cruces, Cloudcroft, and Ruidoso. We enjoy camping in Cloudcroft and hope to again before it gets to cold up there and we'll hopefully take a weekend road trip to Albuquerque or Tucson, AZ in October.

Some of the places we've traveled to are: Niagara Falls, Erie, PA, Nashville, Virginia Beach, Salt Lake City, D.C., Ohio (family lives there) and we've traveled all over Colorado when we lived there. Next Spring I will be taking a few weeks to travel cross country to visit family in Ohio and plan on stopping at several different locations to visit friends/family and to make the most of any educational opportunities we come across. It will help to stop often since it will be just me and 4 kids! Then hopefully I'll be taking a similar trip through the midwest and east coast to check out farm land with my DH, so we can start planning our little hobby farm! That or we'll go to Hawaii or the Caribbean so we can recoup as a family.

[madis81]

Originally Posted by Mamabeakley 

What is your favorite thing about having a 'large' family?  (I know 3 - 4 isn't really that large, but in the current culture it's at least percieved that way . . . )  What's the most challenging thing about it?

What educational choices have you made for your kids so far?

"Bigger is better", right? lol I really haven't thought about what my favorite thing is, but off-hand I would say that the amount of love that we experiance is amazing. I thin Benjamin Franklin says it well, "He that raises a large family does, indeed, while he lives to observe them, stand a broader mark for sorrow; but then he stands a broader mark for pleasure too." AND there is always a built-in playdate! I think the most challenging part is seldomly having "me time", and taking all the kids grocery shopping with me.

Right now we homeschool my oldest, and my 4-year-old will start "pre-school" at home tomorrow. We weren't planning to do pre-school at home, but she has been asking to do schoolwork and is eager to learn so I figured we could start something.

[Jackies]

Your trips sound exciting. Do you incorporate them into your homeschooling in a formal way? Do you homeschool on the road or take a break?

[DeeGee 1873]

Hey Madis!

Fellow Texan here, although I am an east Texan now, I grew up in San Antonio. I am sorry if I missed it, but where do you live now. And where are you from? Where did you grow up? What is your ideal place to live (if it is not where you are now)?

[madis81]

Originally Posted by Jackies 

Your trips sound exciting. Do you incorporate them into your homeschooling in a formal way? Do you homeschool on the road or take a break?

Well, yes and no. We always take trips to museums, explore nature, and learn about states as we drive through them. We collect all the brochures and scrapbook, but we don't do anything formal above asking questions to see if she understands what we're looking at and talking about and sometimes our DD will give us an oral presentation on what she learned. Aside from that, we usually take a break when we travel. We've tried to do it on the road, but we get sidetracked with all the other fun stuff happening.

[madis81]

Originally Posted by DeeGee 1873 

Hey Madis!

Fellow Texan here, although I am an east Texan now, I grew up in San Antonio. I am sorry if I missed it, but where do you live now. And where are you from? Where did you grow up? What is your ideal place to live (if it is not where you are now)?

Hi there! I'm in the hot, dry desert of southwest Texas., courtesy of the U.S. Armed Forces. We are originally from Denver, but I also claim southeastern Ohio and southwest Missouri as home. I lived in Ohio until I was 12, and moved back and forth between there and Colorado as a teenager. After getting married my DH and I lived in Missouri for 5 years while he finished school and loved it. The desert is NOT my ideal place to live. Mostly because I can't grow anything well here and I miss water. My ideal place would be somewhere close to the coast with mountains nearby, fertile soil/farm land, friendly farm laws, and a place where I can practive midwifery, homeschool my kids, and not worry about state requirements when it comes to vaxxing.