Welcome

Hello Everyone,

Thank you for following the link to Sam and Jillian's blog. We have started this up in preparation for our upcoming trip, but I hope that they will want to put up posts about other trips and outings as well.

Taking them out of school means being prepared to do the work with them so they don't fall behind, but I know this is easier said that done. I can plan to have them doing homework by the pool, but I know that in reality it will be hard to drag them away from the beach to get them to sit down and write a regular travel journal. My little farts are not going to be moved by the idea of having a log as a souvenir of the trip, and I know that it will be too easy to put it off and promise to write later. We all know that in kid-code 'later' is a way of saying 'maybe you'll forget and I'll be off the hook.'

So following the popularity of the 'Carole in Europe' blog, Sam and Jillian have agreed to keep an on-line journal of their trip and to share this with you. This is a closed blog, not because I worry about putting the kids' photos and writing out there, but because I think it's a bad idea to advertise that we are away and our house is empty. So if you share the blog with students, please don't give them the url (just in case.)

For those of you who are blog-newbies, you can follow using a blogreader, which saves you the trouble of checking for new posts. If you subscribe to the blog the kids will be able to see that they have an audience, and hopefully knowing that they are writing for people they know will motivate them to write more and write often.

Leaving comments is a good way to encourage them and takes only a minute or two. You can make yourself a google id or not, but even if you chose to leave anonymous comments please leave your name in the body of the message so they know it's you.

I hope you have fun reading their journal, and thanks for taking the time to see what they have to say.

Affectionately,
Kathy