Today was a bit ambitious for our family—two big trips, including a playdate at a playground in another city, and then a festa in Rabat. We began at the San Anton Gardens in Balzan, a lovely town between Valletta and Rabat. Our friends, the Buttigiegs, told us about this park, and since there was no school today for their kids, we all met there for a playdate. Highlights included a pond full of turtles and some pretty fun playground equipment. At lunch, we introduced the Buttigieg girls to Uno, which... Read The Rest →

Today we ventured to another walled city in Malta, Mdina. This is the oldest city in Malta, and before the time of the Knights of Malta, the capital city. We began with a visit to the Domus Romana, a Roman villa that was discovered in the 19th century. We had read about this house earlier in the month and made our own mosaic, based on some of the beautifully preserved floors of the house. One of the amazing discoveries was an old Muslim cemetery, which was identified as such because... Read The Rest →

Today we started like most weekdays—we all get up at slightly different times, have breakfast, and then settle into some homeschooling for both boys. Sometimes, like today, we have one of our Luther students come to work with one of the boys for a while. We always do some math, and often, read some Greek mythology. After an early lunch, we headed into Valletta to visit the Grand Master’s Palace, and in particular, the Palace Armory. This palace was lavishly built after the Great Siege of 1565 in which the... Read The Rest →

On Saturday, we went on an expedition to Għar Dalam, the “cave of darkness.” This cave was discovered in the 19th century, and it was here that the bones of ancient dwarf elephants and hippopotami were discovered, thousands of years old. The only way those bones could have arrived was if the animals crossed by land…which suggests that Malta was, at one point, connected to Sicily. It was probably also connected to Northern Africa at some point in the distant past as well! It is also here that the first... Read The Rest →

This weekend, we experienced a slice of another important tradition in Malta, carnival. Similar to what one might experience in other Catholic regions of the world, carnival is a series of parades with floats, music, costumes, food, and general revelry. It begins on the Friday prior to Ash Wednesday (the start of Lent), and ends on Fat Tuesday, or Shrove Tuesday. In Malta,  carnival happens in two major locations, Valletta and Gozo. We headed to Valletta on Saturday afternoon, and saw some of those fancy floats we had heard about.... Read The Rest →

Day 3 in Rome: we step back in time to visit the ancient city, including the colosseum and Roman Forum. I have a vague memory of seeing the colosseum in 1984, though I’m not sure we actually went inside. It is quite an awesome sight, especially considering how well-preserved the structure has remained for almost 2000 years. The Roman Forum was quite haunting—some structures, like the Arch of Tutis and Corinthians, are perfectly visible and recognizable, while in other places, huge chunks of marble and stone are littered here and... Read The Rest →

Today we set out on our first big group travel experience with the students. Our destination is Rome, Italy, which happens to be the place my parents took me when we went overseas for the first time in 1984. It’s also the place where my siblings spent a summer in the early 70s. And Jennifer spent a summer in Rome in college, playing at an opera festival. So Rome figures pretty strongly in both our histories. Our first day was a mini-marathon. After arriving at the Rome airport, we were... Read The Rest →

Malta is wonderful, and we love it here. It is also very densely populated. The latest figure is 475,000 in the space of 122 sq miles. Contrast that with Winneshiek County, where we live in Iowa, which has 21,000 people in the space of 690 sq miles. As much as we love being in a big city, it’s nice to get out into the country. As it turns out, the western part of the island is much more rural, with some stunning scenery and actual space to roam. We headed... Read The Rest →

Thursdays are turning out to be good ones for exploring. I have class on Wednesday and Friday, and some administrative items always pop up on a daily basis, but Thursdays can be planned in advance to do fun things as a family. Today, we combined some homeschooling with one of the main attractions of Malta, Neolithic temples, and created a mini-adventure. The Tarxien Temples were discovered by accident in 1914 by farmers (which tells you something about the rapid growth of Malta—these temples are smack dab in the middle of... Read The Rest →

When we last reported, there were only the four of us living in our half of the apartment building. But on Thursday, February 7, our twelve wonderful Luther students joined us in Malta. They all arrived mostly on time, with all their luggage, and with smiles on their faces. The day before their arrival, we went on a special trip to the Dingli Cliffs, on the western coast of Malta. It was a beautiful day, and the cliffs were stunning. The bus trip routed us through Rabat and Mdina, the... Read The Rest →