We are on Winter Break. We spend each year at home, in Northern California, between the months of October and April, in a little town called
Windsor. My mother is not just a writer. She's a credentialed tax preparer. So, she returns home every winter to complete her tax law studies (the IRS changes the laws every year) and get ready for a new tax season of work. When her tax season ends, in April, we hit the road again! My sisters and I look forward to it because right about February is when my mother starts getting grumpy again and we all know what that means... She's getting sick of the house! But once she hits the road, she is super happy and all laughs again. We all love to travel. I think I love it as much as my mother but, as she says, sometimes it's good to take a break and relax at home. Besides, there's no place like home for Christmas. My mother makes the best food for Christmas!
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A picture of my mother working online.
You can't see the laptop in the picture but it's permanently attached to her lap during the day, while she's working! |
Now that I'm turning 15 years old, I'm mainly taking most of my classes online through the junior college. Right now, I'm enrolled in Algebra, Spanish, and Typing. I study Biology and American Government at home. I should have all my work completed by the time we leave town again. Once we hit the road, I'm taking 2 online high school classes in writing and high school grammar. Since my mother doesn't teach me that much anymore, I now have many teachers. They aren't as easy with deadlines as my mother was. They are pretty strict about turning schoolwork in - on time! At first, this was a little hard to get used to but now I have no problem staying on top of my work. You might remember last year that I had to miss a couple of family activities and sit in Starbucks to catch up on school assignments... like that time in San Antonio. But that's not true anymore. Now, I'm ahead and getting As in all my classes. This upcoming travel season, my mother plans to return in August. She says she wants me to take an in-person class at the college for English but I'm secretly hoping they will have the class available online so we can keep traveling! But, as my mother says, "There's only one chief." So, it will be up to the chief.
I don't usually blog during the Winter Break, since we don't go
anywhere. My mother drives once or twice a week... maybe! My mother even makes us walk to after school activities. She says it's good for us to get exercise. Well, I can't wait until I can drive.
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This is a picture of my mother, my sisters, and me at Fort Sumter in the summer of 2012.
This is the place the Civil War began! |
I did want to give you all the heads up that we are off to Washington, D.C. this April 2013. We won't be back until the end of May. We're staying with my mom's friend's sister the whole time we are in D.C. Here's something she wrote about
Washington DC monuments and museums. She also wrote an article about
visiting the White House.
After that, we are supposed to leave from June to August for my mom's work but her agency representative still has to confirm work for my mother before we leave. My mother is looking into back up work in Puerto Rico, in case this summer job falls through. She wrote about
Puerto Rico, too! What's cool about Puerto Rico is that it's part of the USA but it feels like you're in another country. Most of the people there speak Spanish - not English. So, it's a good thing we are studying Spanish!
My mother asked me if I want to go to high school and I visited four high schools last year but I decided I really love our life and I wouldn't want to go to high school when I can get my AA degree by the time I'm 18 years old. So, that's what I'm planning to do: travel with my mother, home school, and get my AA degree. I am almost done with my freshman year of college. It will take me at least another two years to finish my sophomore in college because I'm only going half time to college and the classes are starting to get a little harder. Then, I'll need the last year to wrap up any classes to complete my AA degree before I transfer to a university. I still want to go to Stanford. I still want to be an Engineer. What's great about Stanford is that I can still live at home and just commute there. My mother is thinking about getting a truck so I can do that. She says she it will be her truck and she will only let me use it for now but, if I graduate from Stanford, I can have it to keep. That would be an awesome graduation gift!
By the way, we are selling our baby grand piano. It's a Kawai (see below). Maybe you heard of them? They are really good pianos. The piano is actually worth $11,000 but my mother is selling it for $6,000 or for a trade of a used truck that seats at least four (for me to drive!) plus $2,000. We really want to sell it before we leave on our travels. If you're interested, we are in the Santa Rosa area of Northern California. You should contact my mother at: artemis.in.action@gmail.com. Write in the subject line "piano for sale on Emilio's blog."
If you're interested in reading my blog and seeing what I'm up to, you can follow me (See that follow button on the right side of the screen?). I only blog once or twice during the winter and about once or twice a month when we are on the road. So, you won't get tons of blogs from me but it would be nice to keep in touch! Feel free to leave comments, too.
I'll write you again to let you know about the upcoming fundraiser!
