2 months and 1 week until blast off!
The trip is rapidly approaching. For some reason, I am oddly calm, which is not characteristic of my behavior before a major endeavor. Paul and I have been chipping away at the “To Do” list. My biggest concerns are 1) my job, 2) education for the kids, and 3) renting the house. For #1, I was notified in mid-November that I would be laid off from Adobe effective Feb. 26th. After I recovered from the shock, I called Paul, who questioned if we would still go on the trip. I responded with, “Hell yes! But let’s take a nine month trip instead of six, so that we can definitely get to Chile.” Thus, the stress of approval for an extended leave of absence and coverage for my job was immediately alleviated. At some point, I will need to figure out what I am going to do for work, but I don’t need to fret about that now 🙂
On the education front, I am relieved that home schooling should go smoothly. I met with the homeschooling teacher for the Pacifica School District and learned that all of the books and lesson plans will be provided for free (yippee!). We will send the completed school work in every two weeks and communicate about the lessons via email. I figure that the kids will need to study for about 3 hours each day, as well as read for 1 hour and keep a daily journal. The beauty of home schooling is that visiting a volcano, ruins, whales, etc. can be credited as part of the science and history curriculum. The kids will be on the regular school year (late August thru mid June), so they will actually get some time off. This is all great up to 8th grade, then the process changes. I still need to contact the high school to figure out what Connor needs to do for his first freshman semester; I am hoping that the high school has as good of a program as the grammar schools…
The next major task is to get the house rented. I will post the rental on Craig’s List in early January as a short-term rental for an amount that will cover mortgage, insurance, property tax, utilities, maintenance and a little extra for unexpected problems. We have been packing up the “clutter” and storing our stuff under the house. Paul says that things keep disappearing 🙂 Fingers crossed that we will find nice people to stay and take good care of our home.
Christmas is just one week away, then I will go back into full planning mode. There are lots of presents under the tree – almost all of them related to the trip. The kids will not be thrilled with their gifts: sleeping sacks, flashlights, head lamps, books, duffel bags, journals, umbrellas, etc.
I am so excited as 2010 approaches – it will be an amazing year for us, filled with adventures and stories that we will someday tell our grandchildren 🙂
Karen
Tags: Prep, Travel
hwy1alltheway
Karen – Love the first entry! I’m looking forward to reading each and every one of the ensuing ones and vicariously traveling along with you, Paul and the kids on your fantastic journey! Cindy
I replied to Paul’s email before reading “Highway 1 all the way”
Enjoy, not many families can take 9 mos. off. Be safe and eat well. WOW!
Thanks for including me as a blogee. Many will live vicariously through your adventure. Keep us posted and take sunscreen.
Best,
Bill and deb Tarran