Explorers Come Home

We had a great year exploring God's World, but we are also glad to be done for the year 2009/2010. We spent our final week in Greece and finished on Friday. Hannah is officially through with 3rd grade! Here she is holding her certificate that was presented at the FCFE End of Year Celebration on June 2nd. She shared a poem at the event called Contentment. Great job, Hannah!

Josiah actually finished with Kindergarten early using My Father's World from A to Z. He's doing great with his speech therapy and loves it. He got a certificate at the celebration, too and is very proud of it.

These were the centerpieces that were used at the ceremony. The theme was Around the World. They could not have picked a more appropriate theme! How fitting for us.

There were also scripture cards on each table and a puzzle for the kids to color. We had a "pot luck" with a Mexican theme and International desserts while we listened to violinists, pianists, singers, and watched a very cute skit. What a blessed evening it was with fellow homeschoolers.

Exploring Antarctica

Well, we've spent a good bit of time in Antarctica, but it has been fun. We read alot about penguins. Maybe we read too much. Hannah started having vivid dreams about clay penguins that came to life and she was taking care of them. She had to feed them krill and she had to have Skua birds around to eat the chicks that died, so they would not stink.

We have not had any special dishes, but we did read a book called MY PENGUIN OSBERT and in the back it has recipes for Southern Lights Punch and Penguin cookies so you can have a penguin party. We've thought about doing that. Maybe we will do that when we finish our school for the year, which will be in one week.

I really enjoyed learning about the land surrounding the South Pole. We also have begun our Right Start Math early and we recently got Rosetta Stone and Hannah and I using that program to learn Spanish.

Josiah was tested a while back for his speech and found that we had made no progress in the year that I've been working with him. Now I am taking him to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta for therapy. He is doing great and I am pleased so far with the therapists. Josiah seems to be more motivated, too, because he has someone outside of family that he's accountable to. I'm also learning by watching the therapist work with him how I can better help him at home.

The following is a slide show of how we spent our Friday evening after I weeded the garden.

Yes, I'm real excited about the bats, too. I've been hearing them in the box and Theron set up the video camera and actually got pictures of them using the night light feature. There were 3 or 4 at the time. Don't know how to post that on here or I would. I did finally see three fly out of the box tonight, but it was too fast for me to snap it. I'll keep watching.

Exploring Australia

We're back from our adventure in the Outback! Josiah really liked the idea of boomerangs and was sure he could kill a snake with one if given the chance.

Hannah was happy just to cuddle with a Koala and learn about other marsupials.

We've been doing some Global Art from this book throughout the year. I say some, because we really did not do that much. My kids do so well coming up with their own ideas.

But I chose this one from the Australia section because I was curious about it. These are the ingredients.

These are the results. Can you figure out what it is suppose to be?

A yummy treat that's alot of fun to make and eat, but not much to behold. The book makes it look alot better than in real life. Store-bought peanut butter might have been easier to work with, too. We've been making our own.

We stretched out our study of Australia over three weeks. One evening we went to Outback Steakhouse. Hannah ordered Chicken on the Barbie (that's just aussie for barbeque). We let the kids have lollie water (soda). We put on our cozzies (swimsuits) and got in the pool. The kids watched FINDING NEMO. What was that address again? P Sherman 42 Sydney? Something like that. And I also made some good Australian tucker (food), like Australian Beef Curry. This is Theron's favorite recipe that I make in the pressure cooker.

Hannah and I made Damper bread to go with it (oops, it was a little heavy, I forgot it called for-self-rising flour). It looks good, though, especially on the bread tray Theron gave me for Mother's Day. The tray was hand-carved in India.

Then there was Australian beef pie! We made one without cheese. Hannah is not a cheese lover.

If you come around here, you might hear Hannah singing the Kookaburra song.

We've had a beaut of a time, but we really must be going . . . farther down under where it might be snowing. On to Antarctica, south is our goal . . . We might even reach it to the Pole.

Exploring Russia

Spring is definitely in the air and making it harder and harder to stay inside and do schoolwork. Some days we did take our lessons outside, but that just makes the call to come play that much stronger.
With the Jasmine blooming. . .


and the Money Plant making seeds next to flowers. . .

and the azaleas sparkling after a rain,

well it's hard to study about the Arctic and the cold land of Russia. But we did, and we learned alot about ice and snow.

The kids also made a marshmallow craft that looked like an abominable snowman. The idea was from Josiah's devotional book. The lesson was on not being selfish (don't eat too many marshmallows).

I found some really fun books at the library that you might also want to try with your young ones. The first was Come To My Party and Other Shape Poems.

Here's a sample of what you'll find inside. Maybe your kids will get some ideas to create their own shape poems.

The other one is EcoMazes, a fun book of mazes and find the animals. Each two page spread has a habitat theme. It's pretty easy, so even a Kindergardner could do it with you.

Have fun! We're off to the land of Oz! Australia, that is!

Exploring Japan - Haikus and Origami

What a fun two weeks in Japan! Kon nichi wa! Lots of art.

We learned about haikus (which is so fitting, since April is poetry month)

and made our own adding a watercolor picture to go with it.

This is Hannah's.

IRIS

perfect and purple

pretty, sweet, nice, kind, clueless

of yellow's secret

We also learned about origami and Hannah made these swans

and some lily pads, among other things.

This is a challenging art, because the instructions

can be hard to understand.

We enjoyed alot of good books. Many of them by Allen Say

were true stories of his family in Japan.

We also liked the Cuckoo's Haiku.

In case you didn't know, a haiku is only 3 lines.

The first line must have 5 syllables,

the second line 7,

and the third line 5.

One interesting tidbit we learned was that in Japan people will rent a dog for a day or weekend, whereas here most people will pay you to keep their dog for a day or a weekend. Not alot of people own a dog in Japan. We heard of a movie we want to watch sometime, called Hachiko. It is a story of a very faithful dog. He is famous in Japan and there is actually a monument in honor of him.

. . .

We finished our week by going to visit the North American Mission Board, which Josiah lovingly calls the "Mission Station". They showed us a video and talked to us about what they do. We learned about Annie Armstrong and the history of the NAMB. We had a lunch and then they took us on a walk around the pond, then they gave us each a goodie bag.

. . .

But that's not all. For supper, we went to Sho-Gun Japanese restaurant. The kids loved the show, and the food. I loved the atmosphere - the music (instrumental Christian tunes) and the sign at the door from Proverbs. Theron loved the steak and chicken.

Gladys Aylward

How did God use a little housemaid from England who was kicked out of Hudson Taylor's Inland Mission Evangelism School because she could not learn Chinese?
You will find out in this great book by Janet and Geoff Benge. With no mission to back her, only the belief that God wanted her to go, this young lady took her faith to the heart of China. She did learn the Yang Cheng dialect and earned the name "Virtuous One" among those who once thought her to be a "white devil". God placed into her lap and into her heart over 100 abandoned and orphaned children whom she led to safety over 100 miles of mountainous terrain.
I think you will enjoy reading about the experiences that she had, the people she influenced, and the God she trusted. And when you finish reading, watch the video by The Torchlighters. It includes a documentary on her life with photographs and audio of Gladys herself.

Exploring China

Ni Hao! Our two weeks in China seems to have flown past. We enjoyed lots of rice. We also used a Chinese tea set that some friends had given us, for the first time. And I adorned the table with a fancy table runner and placemats they had also given us.

We had to have the kids' favorite, Ramen noodles, and try using chopsticks. Not bad, Hannah!

My little chef also made some wonderful "egg flower soup", as it was called in her cook book. I like it better than what I get at the restaraunt.

Josiah started to get the hang of chopsticks. What? Ketchup with Chinese food?

One day we made paper lanterns. As you can see, I have one child who has learned to follow instructions and . . .

one that we're still working on. He came up with the idea of putting the ribbons on the bottom, though, which we thought was a good one.

There were so many good books to read on China. One of my favorites was the Empty Pot. A good story about honesty.

We had fun with this one- Grandfather Tang's Story. It mentions magic powers, so you might want to preview it before reading. There are Tanagram characters that you can try to make. It helps if you have TANGOES. After we read the book and made the characters in it, We played, using the cards in our TANGOES and Hannah got quite good at it.

Our read aloud is the Gladys Alward story, but we are not through with it yet. It continues for one or two more weeks.

To complete our study in China, we went out to a Chinese restaraunt and had fried won ton,

Egg drop soup,

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Hannah's favorite,

Spring Rolls,

and Spicy Chicken with Garlic Sauce.

When we got home, we watched a movie about Hudson Taylor who started the China Inland Mission. Then we let the kids put lights (glow sticks) into their lanterns and have some fun.
This is what happens when you spin it!

Josiah's didn't stay in his lantern for long.

Well, it was a yummy week. Thank you for reading. Xie Xie!

Exploring India

Ever since a neighbor introduced me to the spice and flavor of Indian food, I have been hooked. Our two weeks in India was a perfect opportunity to try out some recipes.

For starters, I made Spicy Fried Fish (Muchli Masala) and Curried Chickpeas (Channa Dal), with a crispy bread that I forget the name of at the moment.

One day, I cooked Yogurt Chicken (Murg Dahi) and Potatoes and Peas (Aloo Matar), but did not get a picture of that.

These are ground beef kabobs (Kabob Masala). They were good with rice.

We enjoyed reading about Amy Carmichael and her work with the children of India. She was a young woman from Ireland when she ventured onto the mission field. After going to China then Japan, the Lord finally led her to India and that is where she spent the rest of her life totally devoted to Him. She began a group called the Starry Cluster, which was a group of women who went around telling others about Jesus. Eventually young girls started coming to Amy for refuge and the Starry Cluster built a home for them and raised them. Amy was a mother to many even though she never married. Later, boys were also sent to her and new rooms were added.

A hospital was also built, thus providing care and job training for the children she had raised. It was an amazing story of Amy's faith and God's provision.

China, here we come!

Exploring Saudi Arabia

It seems like it was a quick two weeks in Saudi Arabia. We learned about deserts, since this country is mostly a desert peninsula. We learned the difference in a dromedary and a bactrian camel. We also learned about other animals that live and survive on very little water.
We had some warm days where the kids could go out and play in the sand as part of school.

Today, as part of our final lesson, Hannah made hummus, a typical middle-eastern dish that I like.
I cooked the chick-peas for her and she did the rest. After it was ready, she put it in a dish and placed pita bread around it.

Then she did a little more with celery leaves and chick-peas! We all tasted it and it was good. Hannah even decided that she liked it for the first time.

Next week, we travel to India.