We woke up to a wet morning, but no matter the weather, we’re grateful to be doing what we’re doing as a family. This morning, Ethan woke up hungry and wanted to start the day with an apple. He then suggested that we have a “Fruit of the Day.” We thought this was great, so we suggested learning about the different fruit we choose. This would be especially relevant to us as we’re on this road trip.
But the mention of doing some research and work kinda killed the mood. Ethan’s very good at researching things he’s interested in, so we’ll just have to play this one by ear.
This morning, we got up fairly early because our goal was to reach Ottawa. Homeschooling on the road has its challenges, and this is one of them: Driving for extended periods and how to fill the time.
Video to come!
Ethan loves reading. He’s always loved reading, even from a young age. It’s most likely because Dong Eun and I have been reading to him literally, from when he was in the womb. Most of these posts mention Ethan and his Kindle because he’s never far from it.
However, we were getting concerned that he was only interested in reading stories related to Minecraft or the Big Nate comics. We know he would find other books interesting, so we got him to switch it up today.
Morning
This morning, Ethan woke up and wanted to play a bit of hide and seek, as he had slept in the upper bunk.
And here was the inspiration for “Fruit Day.”
Today was an oatmeal breakfast with bananas and the “Fruit of the Day.” The mornings have been a bit chilly lately, so a warm breakfast has been quite welcome.
Looking at the bananas in the oatmeal, Ethan mentioned that he heard on YouTube that a blue banana costs $250 for a single banana. He sometimes tells us these random facts he’s heard on podcasts or YouTube.
Dong Eun was working with Ethan on some multiplication and they talked about what 20,000 in Korean is because Ethan couldn’t remember. After, she asked what 20,000 in French is, so we used Google Translate and found out that it’s vingt mille.
With breakfast done, it was time to set off for our nation’s capital. We knew it would be a bit of a drive, but since the weather wasn’t very nice, driving was probably a good way to spend the day.
Afternoon
Fortunately, we were able to take a couple of breaks at OnRoute, the awesome, sorta Korean style, rest stop. We wanted to stay here for a little while so that I could get some work done. We found a spot with a plug and together with the free wifi, work was accomplished.
This is also when we got Ethan to read something new. We searched for classic books on Amazon Unlimited, but there wasn’t much. However, they have the Harry Potter books, so we got Ethan to download the first book and try it. We weren’t sure how he’d like it, but he really enjoyed it.
He enjoyed the first Harry Potter book so much that he finished it in 3 hours. We think that because Ethan has been reading on his own for a few years, he’s become a fast reader, especially with material he finds interesting. So we downloaded the second, third and fourth books, too.
In between reading, he had time to make some funny faces with Dong Eun. One thing that hasn’t changed during the trip is his willingness to play at anytime. He’s always happy and finding ways to entertain himself.
Math practice has been pretty consistent. We’ve also been asking him to do calculations for us, such as adding up how much money we’ve spent each day, how many days we’ve been on the road, etc. We’re trying to watch for opportunities to ask him math problems whenever we can. It does take effort, but he enjoys it every time.
One of the simple joys of traveling in the Westfalia has been having Korean instant noodles. If you don’t know about Korean noodles, you have to try them because they are the best. And they’re tastier when cooked with an egg and eaten in the van.
As I’ve noted previously, Ethan has been looking for chances to help us out. He even helped with filling up the gas, which he didn’t want to help with at the start of our trip. I think it’s the smell so I don’t blame him.
Evening
Ottawa was only a 3.5 to 4 hour drive, but for us, that’s a whole day’s worth of driving. We’re slow is one reason because I only do 90kph on the highway to save gas; the other reason is that we take long breaks and try not to rush too much.
But we did want to hurry to make it to Ikea in Ottawa for dinner. We got to Ikea…
But had to settle for hot dogs since the restaurant was closed when we arrived. This was more than ok for Ethan, of course, because we normally don’t eat hot dogs. So he had two of them.
And then he went straight back into Harry Potter. We think it’s just timing because he wasn’t interested in the books a year or two ago.
The hot dogs were good, but we needed some real food, so Dong Eun whipped up some tasty scrambled eggs so we could have breakfast for dinner.
We wanted to stay at a nearby Walmart, but it didn’t allow overnight parking. One thing with boondocking at Walmart is checking whether the store allows overnight parking. There’s a website and app called AllStays that provides that information, which has come in handy on many occasions.
Tomorrow, we will head over to the Parliament building. Let’s see how it goes.
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