At first, I found it odd that people asked me about how I do schooling on the boat. School is school - a subject teens tend to avoid out of dislike. But there's so many ways people do it out here. Distance education is probably the most common. We've also met some that do straight homeschool. What Chris did and I am still doing is more like a mix of the two. Through The Westbridge Academy, we get an advisor and a real transcript (not just mommy saying her darling is the best student in the class) without having to send and receive materials and work by snail-mail.

THIS SECTION IS OUTDATED. If you look elsewhere on the site you will notice that I am about to graduate from high-school. The most recent schoolwork I have put on this site is from when I was 15 or 16, but I leave it on because I realize that my views and the schooling I did back then can be quite interesting, especially for another family thinking of going cruising and wondering HOW they're going to manage school at the same time. So. That said, read ahead to see the schoolwork I was doing in Australia in April 2006.

PE

    Not much physical education to be done on a boat, really. It's more just getting exercise and resisting that lovely... cold... refreshing... ice cream.... Nor is the exercise very structured. Where it can be done, I do it. Recently I've been jogging with some girls my age through the botanical gardens in Brisbane every morning. I've also done stints of rowing and swimming laps.

Math

    Joyous math. Not. I'm still chugging through "Advanced Math," basically pre-calculus. I can't wait until I finish that book! But after that comes calculus, so maybe I shouldn't be so eager...

Language Arts/Social Studies

    I've done a fair amount of writing about places we've been, including stories about the Andes in Venezuela and a description of the tattooing in the Marquesas.

    Required for 9th graders at EAS is a reflection essay, which I was not spared from. It's such a unique view, my parents persuaded me to put it on the website!

    I'm also interested in journalism, and picked up a book from Suva's University of the South Pacific about it.

    Creative writing is one of my passions, and I always have about five different stories evolving in my head - and in the computer, of course. At this point none of my creative writing is on the site.

    For history, well... Just go look at the Fiji page and tell me I don't study history. I've taken several classes in high school of world history and geography, but it never really sticks. But the history and geography of the Caribbean and South Pacific I really know, down to my bones.

    I'm also taking an AP US History course, from a big friggin book. Joy of joys.

Science

    While in the States, we picked up a university-level textbook of marine biology. Perfect! I'm working through that this year, and I think it's a good class to take, seeing as I can relate to a lot of it, more than landlubbers (sorry ;-) ) can. I have discovered a few interesting things though - the book says nothing about the Galapagos penguin, the only equitorial species. Nothing wrong with that, I guess, it's only one species. But supposedly frigate-birds rely on long-range flights. Excuse me? Did you mean to say boobies? Or maybe albatrosses? (albatri?) We haven't seen a single frigate bird more that 100 miles offshore. But we've had a boobie bite our fishing lure out in the middle of NOwhere.

    I'm also taking a Fijian chemistry course, which is interesting - especially its examples, which require a basic knowledge of Fijian geography and customs, which I lack.

Art

    One of my most recent art projects was a Polynesian carving. i.e. start with a block of wood and make something out of it. I chose to create a bowl, which is currently displayed in the salon, while making itself useful by holding pens and pencils.

    I'm keeping a sketch book, and while we were in Dominica, another cruiser taught me how to make palm-frond birds. Back in the states, not many of you have palm fronds, but I was thinking cattails might work also. Or even paper!

Foreign Language

    I'm officially learning Spanish, but as we left South America my enthusiasm for it dimmed slightly. Since then we've been in two French-speaking regions (French Polynesia and New Caledonia) and I've considered taking some French, too.

    I've also enjoyed learning a bit of the island languages, seeing as we've been in Polynesia so long. Some of the differences between the languages:

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