• We've been here 8 weeks - What have we learned?
We've seen and done a lot!
In that time we've become more than tourists but less than residents. We're so glad that we live in a real neighborhood - not a tourist area. While we haven't met many of our neighbors more than to say 'buenos dias', the people we see are almost all local. We know the pick-up times for the local school so expect traffic - and no available parking spaces! - during those times. We hear the trash trucks early every morning. We recognize some of the folks who work the check-out line at the grocery store.
We walk almost everywhere we go. Our grocery store is a five-minute walk. We never buy more than we can carry. There are three lovely swimming beaches within a 20-minute walking radius. Our favorite - Balneario del Escambron - called the Coconut Beach by the kids - is protected by a coral reef and provides a great area for swimming and snorkeling. By contrast, the beach in Condado - location of many hotels - has a wicked rip current. There was a drowning there a few weeks ago.
We've seen and heard lots of interesting animals. From the iguanas that bask in the sun to the coqui that we hear singing every night, we have the chance for a lot of new experiences. Our latest find has been the animals that live in the Condado Lagoon, part of the Esturario de la Bahía de San Juan. Over the past couple of weeks we've noticed several manatees, including a mom and baby.
We've done some homework and have learned about manatee babies (at birth they are 3-4 feet long and weight 60-70 lbs) and about how manatees sleep (they are mammals, after all.....).
We've also seen a spotted sting ray several times. We now look for these friends every time we cross the estuary bridge.
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Homeschooling has been a fun and interesting adventure
The kids' schools provided some materials and assignments to be used during our time away. We structured our days so that we did schoolwork during the morning hours, saving the afternoons for excursions. The kids are most focused in the morning so this has worked well.
They typically start with math. Claire has covered multiplication and division (rapid-fire with flashcards and an online program from school), as well as understanding and computing perimeter and area. We've made up a lot of fun problems that involve painting her room or making a quilt. James has covered the school assignments - decimals and fractions, converting one to another, as well as adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing them and figuring the volume of rectangular prisms - as well as some other 'fun math' including beginning algebra (setting up and solving equations) and calculating square roots. He enjoyed working through the logic and math needed to decide whether buying and renovating a dilapidated hotel on the beach would be a good investment Answer: nope!
ELA (English language arts) often came next. This took a variety of forms from reading for pleasure (James is into young adult fiction by authors like Rick Riordan while Claire is reading books in the Emily Windsnap series) to non-fiction reading (we discovered the Smithsonian TweenTribune site that provides graded articles in both English and Spanish). The kids did a lot of writing, most often connected with social studies and science learning. They each wrote a blog where they reported on a variety of topics including indigenous people of Puerto Rico and the Spanish-American War. They each created a poster on an ecosystem (coral reefs for James and sea grass for Claire) and presented their poster in a formal session - complete with judges (Karen and me) and with refreshments. Both kids wrote a piece of realistic fiction about an animal (stone fish and sting ray) and James interviewed his mom and wrote an essay about the notion of school uniforms.
We took advantage of our surroundings to study science and social studies. We began our study of Puerto Rico by learning about the Taíno Indians, then moved on to Spanish explorers. We learned about the Spanish-American War and the beginning of Puerto Rico's relationship with the U.S. Learning about recent and current Puerto Rican history and culture has been fun and challenging. Sorting out the definitions of a state, a territory, and a commonwealth has been harder than we would have guessed. Not surprisingly, ideas on current political thinking depend on where you get your information and who you talk to. Notions of statehood vs. continuing as a territory vs. independence are hotly debated.
We explored a lot of Puerto Rico beginning with our neighborhood. We walked the area repeatedly, taking photos, making notes, and measuring distances. Each of the kids drew a to-scale map of our street and the surrounding area.
We researched the various ecosystems on the island and had a chance to experience all of them.
Of course, we took the opportunity to work on our Spanish while we were here. We had a tutor - a woman who works part-time for WPI (Karen's home institution) and who tutors part-time. She came to our apartment a couple of times a week and worked with us on a theme. We covered rooms in the house, food, parts of the body, counting and the alphabet, and pronunciation. We were reminded to enunciate, to use the correct vowel sounds, and to voice every syllable. We bought a Spanish card game (Kloo) that had us put sentences together. We practiced our Spanish in the grocery store and in restaurants. We quizzed each other while walking. And the kids asked - in Spanish - for the keys to open the door every single time we went out! We have tried to make time to do some Spanish reading each day. In hindsight, we realize that our 'book-learning' Spanish is pretty good but that true conversational Spanish needs more face-too-face interaction.
Finally, what would school be without PE! We have been taking turns being responsible for PE. With James and Claire both being gymnasts and Karen having participated in a bi-weekly 'bootcamp' series, we've been treated to a variety of activities including strength and conditioning exercises (lunges, pushups, planks, etc), as well as lively basketball drills at our local park. We discovered a series of exercise stations along the walk beside the laguna. This turned out to be a popular stop as we could do all kinds of exercises using the equipment while on one of our favorite walks. And swimming, of course! We have been swimming in the ocean 4-5 times a week. Karen and I have continued the exercise program in the evening as we watch the news or HGTV. Most nights we do 60-75 pushups (in sets of 15) followed by other assorted exercises that can be done in a small space. I think we'll be leaving Puerto Rico more fit than when we arrived!
I think we've all enjoyed the novelty of homeschooling. We have found that with focused attention, we can cover the material and get the work done in 3.5-4 hours per day. We've enjoyed the flexibility that such a schedule provides but I think we also realize that this would be much harder to do well on a continuing basis.
Trying to maximize experience requires thought and planning
Our goal was to learn and experience as much about Puerto Rico as possible during our time here. As we've described previously, we took a number of field trips and excursions that have allowed us to visit various parts of the island and beyond (Vieques!). We've explored the ecosystems and animals that inhabit this place. We've tried a lot of native fruits and vegetables, as well as local dishes such as mofungo. We've listened to the opinions of local people - our Spanish tutor and the museum docents - about politics in Puerto Rico. We've visited museums and craft fairs to learn about Puerto Rican history, culture, and art.
As with any trip, our discretionary dollars to spend have been limited. Early on we decided that we would plan to eat out twice a week, concentrating on breakfasts and lunches (which often provide similar choices at less expense than dinner). About two weeks ago we realized that we had had more meals at home than planned. So we've been splurging a bit! We've had a couple of lunches at amazing local, off the beaten path places where the food was good, plentiful, and reasonable. When you don't see any tourists in the place, you often have found a gem!
We've used our sightseeing dollars carefully. Many beautiful natural resources, such as El Yunque Natural Forest, are free. The tours sponsored by Para La Naturaleza are quite reasonable in price, assuming you have your own transportation to get there. A trip for 5 of us - two adults, one senior, and two kids - typically cost ~ $53. The bosques estatales (state forests) - with their hiking trails and scenic views - are free. The museums are low cost - $6 for one senior and one child to visit the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Shopping is another place where one can choose where, how, and how much to spend. We decided that we'd spend the first two-thirds of our time looking at things and not make any purchases until later in the trip. This strategy has served us well. After numerous trips walking through Old San Juan, we've made a couple of focused shopping trips. I'd been searching for a piece of art to take home with me as a
reminder of our time in Puerto Rico. Finding what I want - something
that captures both the scene and the spirit of the place - and that's
within my budget - was a bit of a challenge. But last week I found
'my painting'! I'm so pleased:-) The artist is Susana Lopez and the painting is called La Calle del Sol Este. (The painting is the fourth one from the left in the top row.)
We've done some holiday shopping at local craft fairs and in Old San Juan. Family members should not be surprised to receive gifts from Karen and me that come from both of us and are labelled as from 'Puerto Rico'! The kids have been thoughtful about the gifts they want to give and have made a number of craft presents for family and friends.
• It's hard to believe it's almost Christmas
When we talk to family at home every night, we hear about cold temps and snow. We hear about Christmas trees and Christmas lights, and about gift ideas, wrapping, and mailing. We look around us here in Miramar and see Christmas decorations everywhere - from decorated trees on the street to elaborate Christmas lights to a wreath on the front of our building and greenery decorating the handrails on the stairs.
Yet we find it hard to feel like Christmas is approaching. The weather has turned from fall to winter - meaning that we have temps in the low to mid 80s rather than in the high 80s most days. The humidity is definitely less and there are fewer rain showers. We comment on how pleasant the weather is as we continue to wear shorts and sandals and go swimming in the ocean on most days.
• We'll be headed home in less than a week!
We've had the luxury of time to explore many parts of Puerto Rico. We've visited historic sights and museums, have hiked in the ran forest and the dry forest, and have walked on numerous gorgeous sand beaches. A few weeks ago we decided that we'd spend our last few days here doing 'something special.' Karen will finish up her work with the WPI students and they will head home by the end of the week. We've decided to go to the western part of the island for a little 'vacation' before leaving Puerto Rico. We'll be staying in Rincon and exploring places - such as Cabo Rojo - that are too far for a day trip from San Juan.We leave here with bittersweet feelings. We've had a great time and have enjoyed the fun, the challenge, and the change of pace yet we're ready to be back home with our routines, and family and friends. I'm guessing that's the perfect way to end this trip!
