s/v Lark: February 2014

2/27 schoolwork

Math
- number bond cards

History
- Read the second section of SotWV1 Ch 32 on Qin Huangdi and the six warring kingdoms.
- Answered review questions.
- dictation and narration

Spelling
- 20 stars

Math
- Number bond cards

History
- Read the third section of SotWV1 Ch 32 on the Great Wall of China
- Answered review question
- dictation

Spelling
- 20 stars

Science
- read koala and wombat books

Beach Bums

We spent our last days in Florida playing around Melbourne Beach, where GranMiri and Papa live, and hanging out at the beach.

The girls LOVED the beach! It was Lorelei's first time seeing the ocean and Audrey's 2nd, although she was only 14 months the first time. The water was a little chilly, so we started off just wading, but by the end Audrey was diving through the waves, oblivious of the cold. I think part of that had to do with her brave new 7-year-old friend Sarah who was also a little fish!

Lorelei really only got her feet wet. She wasn't a big fan of the waves, but she really loved helping Daddy and Papa make sand castles! Audrey also collected a ton of sea shells. She and Papa had a fun game of digging a big hole, putting her stash of shells in, marking the spot, and then having me dig them out. We saved a lot of her shells, and Papa drilled holes in them. Audrey made shell necklaces with them to give to her school friends. They turned out very beautifully.

We also got a chance to see our cousins, Melissa, Mark, Will and Jackson. It was extra special because it was Jackson's 3rd birthday. Audrey and Will seemed to have a lot in common and Audrey has been asking about when she can see him again since we left.

Hanging out on Papa's boat, Eumelia

Watching dolphins

Our dolphin sighting from the marina restaurant

Photo of Papa by Audrey

Playing on the beach

Getting her toes wet

Playing in the surf with GranMiri

Valentine's Day at the beach

Making a shell stash for me to find

A great blue heron

Take off!

Playing on GranMiri's sun porch

Little mermaids

Sweeping GranMiri's carport with a palm frond

Wearing the cute beach cover-ups GranMiri got them.

Will and Audrey at the beach.

Saying "goodbye" to Florida at the airport

2/25 schoolwork

History:
- Started reading SotWV1 Ch 32 on ancient China (We skipped forward to capitalize on Audrey's current passion for everything Chinese.
- Answered review questions.

Math:
- Played Save the Whale on number bonds of 10.

- Reviewed number bonds from memory.

Spelling:
- Went through cards for 20 stars.

Lorelei's art class:

2/26 schoolwork

History
- Read SotWV1 Ch 32 middle section on Qin Zhang.
- Answered review qsts.- narration and copywork

Math
- Counted A's saved allowance.

Spelling
- Did MCPB Lesson 22 and wrote new spelling cards.
- Did cards for 20 stars.

Composition
- WWE: 1, Week 16 day 4: Narration and Copywork on Aesop's fable "The Dog and His Reflection"

Science (with both girls)
- Read about Koalas in DK First Animal Encyclopedia.
- Narration and copywork

Library trip to get books on Koalas and next week's science topic-- panda bears.

Audrey finished painting the outside of her fairy house and read Poor Excuse for a Dragon during quiet time.

Reading:
- Finished reading aloud to L "Moses the Kitten" from the James Herriot collection.
- Read aloud to the girls "The Heavenly Flutist" from Cloud Weavers: Ancient Chinese Legends.
- Read aloud to the girls a chapter from Little Town in the Ozarks.
- A read aloud chapter 3 of The Knight at Dawn.

Island Packet 38

Island Packet 38, Fort Pierce, FL US$ 119,000

Loved the layout and the spacious feel given the shorter size. Beautiful woodwork, bright feeling. Nice galley layout, everything felt accessible. Too pricey. Jacob liked the cutter rig and how all the lines went to the cockpit. The bottom was nice and clean. Jacob liked the folding prop, and the transom arch and dingy davits. A finance-able vintage, not that we necessarily want to finance.

specs

	Island Packet 38
LWL	33
LOA	38
Beam	12.67
Draft	5
Disp (lbs)	21500
Ballast	10000
SA	870
LWL/Bm	2.60
D/L ratio	267.08
SA/D ratio	17.97
Bal/D	46.51
Capsize screening	1.83
Comfort ratio	32.49
Hull speed	7.70

2/25 progress

We're shipping out our dining table and chairs tomorrow. Grampsy will look after them for us, and it will go a long way toward lightening our load. In the process of clearing off the table and the stuff around it I got rid of some more stuff and began an inventory of what remains to unload for the next stage of our project.

113 days

2/24

April contacted John Neal about his consultation sevices, and, amazingly, he said he thought he'd be able to help us despite our highly constrained, Goodlanderian budget.

114 days left in CO

2/24 schoolwork

History:
- Finished reading SotWV1 Ch 20
- Answered review questions
- dictation and copywork

Math:
- Played Save the Whale on number bonds of 10.

Read aloud to Lorelei 'Moses The Kitten' from James Herriot's Treasury for Children.

Composition:
- Wrote a letter to Papa, including filling out the envelope.

Spelling:
- cards

Handwriting:
- 2 pages in Zaner-Bloser

Created a fairy house, including sewing a fairy bed and pillow and bejeweling the interior.

Swimming lessons for all

Read aloud to the whole family:

The Moon Empress and The Bunny from Cloud Weavers: Ancient Chinese Legends
Little Town in the Ozarks
Audrey read aloud chapter 2 of The Knight at Dawn

2/23 planning

Areas for Improvement

Neglected retro

Action Items

Order clear frogs?

Schedule for the week

Monday

early

Math: Work on memorizing number bonds through 10 with games and cards
Grammar: FLL Lesson 68
History: Finish SotWV1 Ch 20
Spelling: 10 cards
Reading, TYCTR, Kumon, or coloring with Lorelei

morning

Composition: Finish WWE: 1, Week 16
PE: Swimming Lessons
Spelling: Lesson 22

afternoon

Science: figure out with A what animals to do next
Quiet time (self directed time)

dinner time

Poem practice

evening

Tuesday

early

Math: Work on memorizing number bonds through 10 with games and cards
Spelling: 10 cards
Reading, TYCTR, Kumon, or coloring with Lorelei

morning

Kinderheart
Mt. View

afternoon

Lorelei's Art Class

dinner time

Poem practice

evening

Wednesday

early

Math: Work on memorizing number bonds through 10 with games and cards
Start SotWV1 Ch 21
Grammar: FLL Lesson 69, 71
Spelling: 10 cards
Reading, TYCTR, Kumon, or coloring with Lorelei

morning

Composition: first half of WWE: 1, Week 17
Spelling: cards
WOW with Living Classroom?

afternoon

Science:
Quiet time (self directed time)

evening

Thursday

early

Math: Work on memorizing number bonds through 10 with games and cards
Spelling: 10 cards
Reading, TYCTR, Kumon, or coloring with Lorelei

morning

Kinderheart
Mt. View

evening

Friday

early

Math: Work on memorizing number bonds through 10 with games and cards
Grammar: Lesson 72
History: Finish SotWV1 Ch 21
Spelling: 10 cards
Reading, TYCTR, Kumon, or coloring with Lorelei

morning

Composition: last half of WWE: 1, Week 17
Spelling: cards

afternoon

American Girl trip
Quiet time (self directed time)

evening

Sleep over with Athena

Saturday

evening

Sunday

evening

Boat Shopping

The beautiful Tayana 42 we looked at.

While in Florida we spent two days shopping for boats, and we learned so much about what we are looking for. A couple of the boats we thought we were in love with, turned out to not be quite what we thought they were. Others that I was positive would be too small had us feeling butterflies and dreaming of cruising tropical locales.

I learned that the length of the beam (width of the boat) is as important in determining size as the length. For instance we looked at a 47' boat that was fairly narrow, and seemed much smaller inside than a "beamy" 38' Island Packet! Also, I love it when the companion way does not deposit you right into the galley! It makes the kitchen seem much more usable.

A few of the other things that we find important:

decent sized cockpit with shade
cockpit that won't hold water, or dump water into the cabin
two staterooms (or two quarter berths with privacy for the girls and a stateroom for us)
good sized water and fuel tanks
u-shaped galley

Our first day we looked at 3 boats, and on our second day we spent the entire day with one broker in Ft. Pierce looking at 5 different boats. We really liked all of the boats in Ft. Pierce, and I was in love with two of them and could really imagine the 5 of us living on them. My two favorites where the Passport 42, and the Island Packet 38. They were both very nicely maintained, spacious, and seaworthy, but also very much out of our price range.

We have been discussing at great length if it makes sense to finance the boat. On one hand we don't want to be tied to a mortgage and never get off of the dock, but the other side is that we could put a lot of money into housing while waiting to have enough money to buy an appropriate boat.

Jacob came up with a pretty cool spreadsheet that really helped us see all the possible scenarios. We plugged in our downpayment amount, boat prices, live aboard expenses (from The Essentials of Living Aboard a Boat) and the spreadsheet spits out how long it will take us to get cruising. Looking at it has made us realize we really don't want to buy more than a $75K boat, because we are really hoping to be cruising within a few years!

Jacob has been posting individually about all of the boats we have been looking at:
Gulfstar 40 Walkover
Catalina 42
Reliance 44
Island Packet 38
Passport 42
Tayana Vancouver 42
CT 47
Ericson 36