We took the week off from formal lesson plans.† Thank goodness we did because I got a sinus infection and was pretty much useless all week!
Kei cooked dinner one night all by herself.† She wouldn’t even let me come into the kitchen.† She made baked chicken breasts with ginger marinade, pasta with spinach and green peppers with a cream sauce and cheese bread.† It was wonderful and she was so proud of herself.† I was proud of her too.
PastaChicken Cooking...Delicious Dinner...
We watched a lot of TV, Gilmore Girls [our favorite show in the world], finished season 8 of Monk, watched Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, watched Pirates of the Caribbean [with my future son-in-law Johnny Depp], rented Grown-Ups which was silly but kinda cute, and the new Karate Kid.† Then Kei had to practice what she just watched.
Karate Kid....
Kei and I played with clay.† We started out with an Indian village, then switched to clay fairies, then to Santa’s village.
Indian Village...Little Fairies Having Tea..
Kei played Webkinz a lot.† She loves Webkinz and plays daily for a week or so, then not for a month.†† She decorates and re-decorates her rooms.† She wants so badly for me to get a Webkinz so I can play with her.† I am thinking that is what she will get me for Christmas. 🙂
Greenhouse..Den with Christmas Decorations...Pretty Cafe...
We spent Thanksgiving Day with Daddy and Marlene, Eddie, Heather, Seth and Katherine.† My head hurt so badly I couldn’t really enjoy all the delicious food.† :/† We brought leftovers home.
We have so much to be thankful for.† Wonderful friends, both near and far, old and new.† A wonderful family, a lifestyle that we both adore, an amazing church family, a lovely house, a crazy dog and each other.
Life is good.
And it is almost DECEMBER!!!!†† EEK!
Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.† ~W.T. Purkiser
Reading Harry, learning fractions, learning to play the ocarina, knitting with the new loom, salt maps, Arctic animals, physics, designing a roller coaster, Egypt and more Egypt and will we ever leave Egypt?
What a lovely week.
Happy Thanksgiving to all,
Blessings,
Some people care too much, I think it’s called love.
— Winnie the Pooh
SIFAT is ìServants in Faith and Technologyî.† I had heard about them a couple of months ago and wanted to go on a field trip there so badly.† Then for November our Homeschool group planned a trip!!† I was so excited and signed up immediately.
As the day drew nearer I was less excited about being at a field trip at 9:00 am to a location 3 hours away!† I hemmed and hawed about it back and forth.† Kei and I went to youtube and searched for some videos and got excited and we made up our mind to go!† We planned to ride with Heather and her boys and made plans to meet them about 20 minutes from here.
After a few problems; waking up at 4:30!, dog trying to escape at 5:00 AM, Dr. Pepper exploding in kitchen, running late, Kei getting car sick and Heather not feeling well, getting lost a couple of times; we finally arrived at the SIFAT campus.
This is a Christian international organization that provides training to people from all over the world.† This training helps people meet basic needs such as food, water, shelter.† They have summer camps and day field trips and also train missionaries.
They have a global village where you can visit parts of Latin America, Africa and Asia.† They have a representation of homes of each area, along with flags, furniture, animals, etc.† It was truly amazing.
After meeting as a group in the Quonset Hut, we divided into smaller groups and went with our first leader.† Our first stop taught the kids how to make mud bricks.† This involved sifting the dirt, chopping straw, getting water from the stream and mixing all together.† Kei, Zach and J.J. didnít mind getting dirty at all!† Our guide told us that smoke inhalation from cooking fires was one of the leading causes of death among women and children in some of these countries!
Kei and the Kitty... She finds a cat no matter WHERE we go!Sifting Dirt...Bringing in Dirt..Mixing the MudDirty HandsBricks for Homes and Fires..
Next we moved on the Uganda where we saw a waddle and daub house. They have no electricity or running water.† They have goats for milk.† Children start helping at a very young age.† They have storage ëwellsí to keep grain in.† Our guide told us to get the grain out someone has to actually go into the ëwellí and wait until someone pulls them out.† We also learned about the rocket stove.† These are easy to construct, with low-cost materials. These are low-mass stoves designed to burn small pieces of wood very efficiently. Cooking is done on top of a short insulated chimney.† The people of Uganda keep goats for milk and food.
Waddle and Daub HouseGrain Storage...Rocket Stove...Feeding the Goats...
Next stopÖthe slums. These slums were not indicative of any one place; there are slums all over the world, even in the United States. They are made from whatever can be found.† We saw old tires, pieces of cardboard, old couches, doors, bed pieces, anything they can find.† We learned about dirty water and what a huge problem it is for so many places in the world.† She told us how people die from diarrhea all over the world.† They get parasites and get dehydrated.† †We learned 3 ways to purify water.† The first uses a car battery, salt and water to produce ëchlorineí that purifies.† The second was using a mixture of rocks, gravel and sand that filters the water into drinkable water.† The one that surprised me the most was using solar power.† Just fill up a plastic water bottle and leave in direct sunlight for at least 6 hours.† This makes the water 98.99% purified!
Slums..Dirty Water full of parasites...Schools in the Slums..Purifying Water with Car Battery...
We then moved to Bolivia which we loved!† There was a guide who had actually spent 10 years in Bolivia. He had a guinea pig in a cage which he said that families ate! The people who live in the Southern part of the country, which is in the mountains, have a hard life.† They live in circular rock huts with thatched roofs that are extremely small and cramped. They surround their huts with goats to help keep the hut warm.† They father and sons would go work in the field while the mothers and children would tend to the house.† They would cook breakfast and lunch at the same time.
Bolivia Hut...Dinner???!!!Inside the Hut...Kei at the Bolivia Hut..
We then went for lunch.† Kei found a dog to pet.
Kei and G Petting the Dog, "Faithful"
Guatemala was next.† This was very cool because Sophia, who was cooking, was originally from Guatemala.† They explained the entire process of making tortillas.† First you have to grow the corn, then harvest and let the kernels dry.† Then the kernels are removed and it is boiled in a mixture of water, lime and ash.† This produces hominy! The outer shell is then removed and the inside is ground to a flour consistency by hand.† You then have Mesa flour and you make your dough and roll a section into a ball and press on a tortilla press.† Then they are fried on a cast iron griddle.† It just amazed me since the hardest part of OUR tortilla shopping is which kind to buy.† We take so much for granted.
Sophia making TortillasKei Watching the Process..
Kei got picked to actually make a tortilla.
Yummy Tortilla...
Then we went to the rope bridge.† This was unlike any rope bridge I had ever seen!† It had a single, very thick rope going across with runners coming up from it.† The guide told us that even llamas crossed the bridges!† We tried to convince him to let us go get the goat to experiment but he nixed that idea.† Zachary is afraid of heights and I was so proud of him for making it across.† Kei had no qualms and just took off.† I wasnít afraid but it was harder than it looked.† I think the fact that I had on big, clunky boots may have had something to do with it!† All of our group crossed and we were very proud of ourselves.
The BRIDGE...Zachary crossingKei's Turn...Halfway there...
Our last stop was the Philippines where the homes are constructed of bamboo. They were very cool and felt like a tree house because they are raised off the ground by stilts.† Bamboo is everywhere in the Philippines and it was on the walls and floor and even the furniture was made from Bamboo.
There are 7,000 islands in the Philippines but only about 1000 are inhabited.† The other 6000 island are under water when the tide rises.† Definitely a deterrent to living there!†† After we explored the house and discovered that the Philippines way to greet someone is to shake hands, touch your forehead to their hand and vice versa and say, ìMay God go with you and bless youî we went outside for a demonstration of tinikling.
Philippine House with Mosquito Netting Bed..
This is the native dance of the Philippines.†† First they learned how to move the sticks and then Kei was picked to TinikÖumm to tinikling?† She was pretty good at it.† She tried to get me to try but visions of broken bones as I slammed to the ground prevented that.
Kei Tinikling...Learning More Tinikling Skills...
It was just an amazing day.† The best field trip ever.† I truly left feeling I had visited, if only briefly, all of these places.† Kei and I talked about how lucky we are, how hard people have it.† The lifestyles that are so foreign and difficult for us to imagine.† I roll out of bed and grumble at my few measly chores I have.† I cannot imagine living like these people. SIFAT is doing an astonishing job of improving their health, the way they do work, and their very way of living.† I admire them so very much and pray that their good works continue.
Our Great Group...
I wish everyone I knew could experience SIFAT, it was that moving and heart wrenching.† It makes me want to do something, anything.† I told Kei this morning that the money we blow at Wal-Mart a couple of times a week could change these peopleís lives.† God bless the people of SIFAT and the wonderful work they are doing.
Be a blessing ,
A pessimist, they say, sees a glass of water as being half empty; an optimist sees the same glass as half full. But a giving person sees a glass of water and starts looking for someone who might be thirsty. – G. Thomas Gale
Hunger allows no choice
To the citizens or the police;
We must love one another or die. ~W.H. Auden
We live such a calm life.† Our series at church has focused on stress and how stressful our lives can be.† Our lives just aren’t.† Don’t get me wrong, there are days we want to kill each other, there are tears and yelling at times.† There are times we have too much scheduled and not enough time to do it all.† There are days when I am trying to do invoicing and Kei doesn’t understand something and we both get frustrated with each other.† There are days when I don’t know if I am coming or going.† But all of this is the exception rather than the rule.
We don’t wake up to the screaming of an alarm clock.† We don’t have to rush around gathering clothes and books and lessons to get out the door for school.† There are no fights about what to wear or “why didn’t you make my favorite lunch”?† We wake up slowly most mornings.† Sometimes the birds wake us up, sometimes I tickle her awake, sometimes it is the crazy dog but rarely is it an alarm clock.† We eat when we are hungry, we talk when we have something to say, we laugh as loud as we want, we act silly and dance around.† Our life is not frantic.† I think most people live such frantic lives.
If Kei is tired of doing Math she takes a break.† If she doesn’t really want to do this lesson today, we postpone it until the next day and do something else.† It is a simple life that fits us both like a glove.
That being said; this is what we did the last few days.
Kei wanted to make Banana pudding. I have never made banana pudding so we asked around.† Some of our favorite ladies at our local grocery store told us to use the recipe on the back of the Vanilla Wafer box so that is what she used.
Stirring the filling10 Minutes of Continuous Stirring...Adding the Meringue...Finished Pudding Minus a Bite or Two...
She made a flower puzzle for me to put together.† It turned out really cool.
The Flower Puzzle
Brit came over for a while today and they decided to RAKE!† and rake…and they are still raking.
I asked them what they were going to do with the leaves when they were finished playing and they said ‘Huh”?† So my visions of a leave free yard is just that…a vision.† Actually I like the leaves in the yard.† I am sure when my Daddy lived here he raked them as soon as they fell.† Crunching leaves are one of my favorite sounds.
Here are some of the sites we played on this week.
ìPeace is not a relationship of nations. It is a condition of mind brought about by a serenity of soul. Peace is not merely the absence of war. It is also a state of mind. Lasting peace can come only to peaceful people.î ~Jawaharlal Nehru
Worked on play <wrote, directed, acted, edited> This was set in the 1960’s.† She wore a Leave it to Beaver dress and pearls.† I just cracked up.† Daddy has an old rotary phone and she loves playing with it.† She set my Iphone for ‘old fashioned’ phone for the ringing.
Finger knitted with loops and yarn.† She loves doing this!† She has made purses, hats, scarves, bracelets, pom pom’s and more!
Finger Knitting...
Today we had our homeschool Skate Day.† We always have such fun there!
Skate, Skate, Skate...
Tomorrow is supposed to be COLD!† We intend on staying in and doing a lot of nothing!
Enjoy your weekend.
“The child who attends public school typically spends approximately 1,100 hours a year there, but only twenty percent of these — 220 — are spent, as the educators say, ‘on task’. Nearly 900 hours, or eighty percent, are squandered on what are essentially organizational matters.” -Homeschooling For Excellence
She must learn percentages, decimals and† fractions
History facts, dates, chemical reactions.
Science she must fully grasp,
Molecules and atoms and chemical mass.
She must learn to comprehend what she reads,
Biology, nature, birds and seeds.
Punctuation, adverbs, adjectives and such,
Some days it can be a little too much.
So…just as important are days such as these,
When we laugh and giggle and play in the leaves.
And bake banana bread, dress up and sing.
And know all the joys that homeschooling can bring.
Please, let them be little,
‘Cause they’re only that way for a while.
Give them hope, give them praise,
Give them love every day.
Let ’em cry, let ’em giggle,
Let ’em sleep in the middle,
Oh, but let them be little.
Thursday we went to the Story-Telling Festival in Athens.† It was so great.† We both love story tellers and it is quickly becoming a lost art.
A Good Story...
Kei made Halloween outfits for some of her Webkinz.† She did a great job!
Hedwig the HippieHenrietta the Flower and Leo the BeeLeo the Bee, Henrietta the Flower, Shanti the Witch, Magic the Princess, Mushmellow the Angel, Lietus as Mother Nature, Hedwig the Hippie
Thursday night we went to my sister-in-laws school Fall Festival.† Kei and I had a blast.
Disco Walk...
I work from home.† My boss has been in Atlanta filming Last Valentine.† He surprised Kei and I by stopping by on the way to LA.† It was so great to see him.† He is an awesome boss.† We took him to Cracker Barrel and he was amazed by how much food they brought us.† 🙂
Ka, Kei and Stan
Halloween afternoon my brother called and told us that my nephew had been attacked by wild dogs.† We went to the ER and saw him.† He ended up with 32 stitches!† I felt so angry and sad.† I can’t believe people let big dogs run wild.† Seth had a pocket knife and fended them off with that!
Poor baby...
This is my brother’s scarecrow.† Isn’t it awesome?
Kei and the Scarecrow
Kei carved the pumpkin Halloween afternoon.† I don’t do carving.† If you know me you understand why.
Working on the PumpkinKei and the Knife....
Nomad was a pirate.† For about 10 minutes.
Nomad the Pirate Matey...
Halloween night we went trick or treating with our friends.† Kei was a punk, black cat.† She looked awesome!
Kei the CatPunk CatKei
We went over to Gina’s and then to Cathy’s neighborhood to trick or treat.
The Crew...Kei and MichaelKei and Ben trading candy...Kid's at Cathy's
Except for Seth, it was a great week.† Today is November 1st.† I can’t wait to see what great adventures lie ahead for this month!
Be blessed,
“Two sounds of autumn are unmistakable, the hurrying rustle of crisp leaves blown
along the street or road by a gusty wind, and the gabble of a flock of migrating geese.
Both are warnings of chill days ahead, fireside and topcoat weather.” ~ † Hal Borland
We have both been sick since last week.† I hate being sick.† My Mother used to say, “I am sick to death of myself” when she was sick and I know the feeling!† We didn’t do very much the past 8 days but we did manage to sneak in a little fun.
I took Kei on a ride to the 1st elementary school I went to.† I went there from 1st-middle of 3rd grade.† As we walked around the playground I remembered a few stories to tell her.† She loves to hear about ‘when I was little’.
This used to be my playground...This used to be my childhood dream...
We had fun wandering around.† I even took her to our old house, pulled into the driveway, then backed up and showed her how Mother would take us to school.
We made crystals last week.† The recipe can be found here.
Measuring WaterAdding Color
It took about 5 days and the results were really pretty.† Kei wants to make more.
Beautiful Crystals...
Even though Kei and I felt horrible this past weekend, I wanted her to take Nomad out and play in the leaves for a few minutes.† I knew it was supposed to rain and they would be all wet and soggy.
Fall Fun...
We decorated our table for Fall.
Halloween Table...Pumpkins, Gourds and Apples...
Our Roamschool group had a Halloween party at Cathy’s house.† It was a blast as usual.† A great HS group is my #1 advice for anyone homeschooling.† Cathy and Kaitlin went all out for the food!
Hand PunchDeviled EyeballsGhostly Stew...
The kids had a blast.† We had tornado warnings all day and they were inside and outside. They would come running in when they heard the tornado warning horns.† We live in Alabama, we are used to tornados.† We don’t take cover until we see the funnel cloud. 🙂
Kei, Brit and Chan...Jake and Tiny...Kei and Chan...Our Amazing Kids...
All of the Moms had a blast too [and Bobby] We laughed and ate and watched Dan the Weather Guy [we missed you Suz!!].
Friends are the Best...
On the way home we saw the coolest mailbox and had to take a picture.
Spooky Mailbox...
We ran by Books a Million [and ran into Heather and gang] for Kei to get the Red Panda Webkinz she has been saving up for.† She named her Lietus which is Latvian for ‘rain’.† Latvian??? Where does she come up with this stuff???
Hope everyone has a wonderful, spooky Halloween week!
Be blessed, ‘Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this world.
~William Shakespeare
It has been a great week.† After the busyness of the last 2 weeks we just relaxed at home for the most part.
I had seen this really cool project that Kei wanted to try.† I didn’t have exactly the right material but that has never stopped me before!† It would have done better with 100% cotton because Kei’s† hammering knocked holes in the material.
Placing the materials...Hammering Away...Finished Project with a few Holes...
We love Halloween and Kei got into the Halloween spirit this week.
Vampire KeiCountess Dracula...
We went to the Halloween Store so she could pick out her costume.† This year she wanted to ‘be something really Evil.”
EEP!....
She found something that she like and while I don’t want to give it away here she did practice with a little makeup when we got home.
Meow!...
She just can’t do evil. 🙂
She found a really cool feather this week which she called The Yin Yang feather.
Yin Yang...
And made her hammock swing into a hammock ‘chair’ swing which she has always wanted.
Ingenious!
Somehow we have become the co-owner to ANOTHER dog.† He is a beautiful Golden Retriever that lives next door but digs under the fence to our house daily.
Dog 1 and Dog 2...
I am reading The Odyssey to Kei as our night time book.† We are both loving it but we are both mythological, fantasy kinda girls.† It is a children’s version but I am really enjoying it too.
Today we went swimming with HS friends at the indoor pool and afterward the kids decided to swing.
Just Swinging...
Livvy is spending the night with Kei and I am making Stone Soup. Yummy!
Happy weekend, Dreams surely are difficult, confusing, and not everything in them is brought to pass for mankind. For fleeting dreams have two gates: one is fashioned of horn and one of ivory. Those which pass through the one of sawn ivory are deceptive, bringing tidings which come to nought, but those which issue from the one of polished horn bring true results when a mortal sees them.† ~ Homer, The Odyssey
Kei went to K and 1st grade public school.† She loved it, had no problems, fit in, made great grades, blah blah.† I was Co-HomeRoom mom in K and HomeRoom Mom in 1st.
I had read about homeschooling since she was 4.† I had a folder full of great homeschool links and resources.† I thought I would love to do it but I was afraid.† I was not a certified teacher!† How could I possibly teach her?† Ok I could probably handle Dick and Jane and addition but what about Calculus, Chemistry, Physics????
So I left her in PS and tried to ignore the little niggling in the back of my head and the pinch in my heart each morning when I dropped her off.† K and 1st grade quickly sped past.
She started 2nd grade and my Homeschool Folder kept getting larger and larger.† I read more and more about homeschooling.† I didnít really know any homeschoolers except for ìmy sisterís best friend homeschoolsî kinda thing.
I was always one of those moms who hated school starting back.† I loved being with Kei.† We had a blast together.† 2nd grade started.† The first week I would ask her every afternoon, ìWhat did you do today?î and she would tell me she finished her work early and would help the other kids.† One of my favorite stories involved her helping this little girl with Math M&Mís.† They were supposed to put the colors into groups and count them but Kei said ìMommy she kept eating her M&Mís before we could count them!î† She was bored and not really happy with sitting quietly while the kids who took longer finished their work.
It was a Tuesday, her 2nd week of school.† I picked her up and said, ìSo how would you like to be homeschooled?î† She said, ìOh Please!! I would love it.î† Next day I withdrew her, found a cover school and the rest as they say is history.† My favorite homeschool saying, the one that has kept me sane at times is this:† ìYou only have to be ONE day smarter than your child.î
We just began our 4th year homeschooling.† I have never regretted it.† NOT FOR ONE SECOND.† Is it all smooth and calm and lovely?† Well of course not!† There are days I want to beat her, days she wants to beat me, but it is the best thing I have ever done.† The world is truly our classroom.
She is socialized [anyone who ever questions the socialization aspect does NOT know jack about Homeschooling], she has friends, she spends the night with people, they spend the night with her. †We get together with our immediate HS group at least once a week, sometimes more.† A huge bonus for me is that I have made amazing friends.† Keiís friends Moms are my best friends.† How cool is that?† How often does that happen?
Disclaimer* We aren't DOING every one of these, they are just available.
She loves being homeschooled.† I was thinking the other day that I have never heard one kid I know who is HSed† complaining about it.† They all love it.† They realize how incredibly lucky they are.† Kei hates running errands after 3:00.† She says she doesnít want people thinking she is a public school kid.† Now keep in mind, she loved PS, she just realizes that this life; this wonderful, wacky, fun, learning at its best life is wonderful!
Kei gets her ësubjectsí in.† It takes about 2 hours.† She doesnít mess around and I plan out pretty well each week.† Of course most weeks it never works out perfectly.† I mean what would you rather do, 20 Math problems or take an impromptu trip to a working farm?† But she gets all her Core subjects.
She also writes and performs plays with her dog, finger knits, has the coolest Webkinz rooms, explores nature, builds fairy houses, plays in her tree house, invents magical worlds and visits them via her tire swing, writes stories, writes songs, carries her tape recorder around and interviews almost every person she comes into contact with, plays her guitar, plays Wii, sews clothes for her Webkinz and dolls, blogs, swims in the summer, roller skates, ice skatesÖ.. you get the picture.† She has timeÖ..time to be 10, time to be little, time to visit every rabbit hole she finds, time to explore Godís world and all the glorious things in it.
Homeschooling isnít for everyone.† But for usÖit is as close to a perfect world as I have ever found.
Be blessed,
Bless me, what *do* they teach them at these schools?~ CS Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe
