California Dreams Come True

Gym class!

A typical school day aboard Ceilydh

A typical school day for me is like this:

Since we do passages sometimes I have to do three days of handwriting, two days of math and two days of social studies all in one day.
On other days if there is something interesting to do on shore, I visit it and then I might make a big poster picture about what I've learned.

My school day usually ends at lunch, depending on my mood.

On passage

Doing school work

The Battery Point Lighthouse

Riddles

Maia’s been talking in riddles lately. We all have.

It grew out of a homeschooling activity – ‘research an animal that interests you and make up a riddle based on facts you’ve learned.’

Maia’s first riddles were these:

My large eyes help me see in the dark

I am very cute

My long tail and long arms help me swing from trees

I live in the Amazon Rain forest

What am I?

Green skin around my eyes,

An optical illusion,

I mostly hop,

I’m a poor flyer.

What am I?

(if you leave your answer in the comments and Maia will tell you if you’ve got it:)

Her riddles have grown so cryptic that we need to let go of our adult thoughts and imagine the world through her eyes:

Mountains High

Valleys broad

Sun shining on my peak

I was once a volcano

Who am I?

Long sandy beaches

A hideaway

And friends

 At first we thought Maia was approaching riddle making the way she used to approach Eye Spy. Rather than giving us clues about something she could see – she gave us clues about something she imagined and wished she could see (made for a tricky game…)

But they all have solutions, we just need to close our eyes and listen. 

My Ocean School

 

A boater's birthdays are always fun - this was my 3rd, 8th birthday.

 This is the lighthouse near Victoria - we saw it just before we left to go south.

 

The sun is hot to hold. When the sun went down I helped with night watches - at night we keep sailing because there is no where to stop. It was fun because I got to sleep on the settee.

 

This is a humpback whale we saw he's one of my classmates. Don't you like him?

He likes gym and likes leaping and dancing.

We got to Coos Bay Oregon after 3 days at sea. I like passage making - Charlie wasn't so keen on it though.

 

 I was sad that we had to give away our crab trap before we left, but I found a new tiny one. So far I've caught five crab, a star fish and a fish carcas.

That's my school desk and these are my class mates. They are noisy and smelly, but when you're home schooled you have to take what you get.

Charlie the Boat Cat

Charlie is my cat. Sometimes he is very bad. Like just now, he jumped up on my craft project. It’s in his nature to be bad. Sometimes we have to remove him from behind the watermaker and every time we give him catnip he goes crazy. And he eats plastic bags. I don’t know why he has to be so bad…

But he is very cute and cuddly. But I just wish that he could for one day in his life be good. He does know how to open doors and hatches though - which is very clever.

Message in a Bottle

"hey maia! i found your message in a bottle at sarah point (Powell River BC) thats pretty cool that you live in a sail boat. By the way my name is Emily :)"

 

One day I sent out a message in a bottle. And just when I thought I wasn't going to get an answer a message turned up. I'm going to send out way more messages in bottles because it is really exciting to get an answer. 

If you want to put a message in a bottle you'll need to find a dry bottle with a wide neck that you can seal with a cork. Then get a bunch of duct tape and a small peice of paper. Write your message on the paper. You might want to write your age and name and how to contact you. You should write down where you are too! Once you're finished your message, role up the paper really tight and put it in the bottle. Cork it and wrap it with duct tape so it stays dry.

Throw it in an open stretch of water where there is some current. And then wait for an answer!

If you ever find one of my bottles please write me back.