Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Homeschooling Year 2010-2011: Week 8--Light Schedule

Trees in our neighborhood

Sign of fall: changing colors of leaves

Collections from our nature walk

Baby Girl's books & CD

Books for Doodles & Bug

Leaves changing from green to red

Doodles gathers acorns

Bug gathers acorns, too


Acorns

Baby Girl is still working on shapes

Butterfly in butterfly garden

Butterfly garde
We had a light schedule this week due to the trip to visit our soldier, plus we had a few doctors' appointments. We worked on the basics, did plenty of reading, & took a nature walk. It was nice. :)

Monday, September 27, 2010

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Homeschooling Year 2010-2011: Week 7-Spain & Portugal

We had a wonderful time. Our favorite project was making Spanish lanterns.

Baby Girl's Read Aloud this Week


She is loving this book, especially when we act it out together.

Low Carb Eating & Exercise

New Atkins for a New You: The Ultimate Diet for Shedding Weight and Feeling Great.
I made these today: pinwheel cookies & lemon pie. Both are slightly tweaked versions of Atkins recipes. And both are delicious! I've been living an Atkins lifestyle for 3 months now, and I love it. Not only have I lost weight, but I feel good and energized. I also have a regulare exercise program, which includes walking and using one of The Firm Videos (linked in this post.) I'm excited about trying lots of new recipes as we enter the holiday season. I'll keep you all posted as I find more delicious low carb treats.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Christian Liberty Nature Readers

This is a terrific series. Bugs is currently reading book #2 of the series. Right now he is learning about crabs, which is pretty cool since he owns a hermit crab.

Handbook of Nature Study

Handbook of Nature Study

We are really enjoying this book. It's a wonderful resource. This week the children have collected several caterpillars and we are housing them in a jar. A couple of them have already made cocoons. We can't wait to see what hatches! Also...we have done insect studies, tree studies, cow studies, and cloud studies using this book as a resource. Still to come are bird studies, squirrel studies, plant studies, earth & sky studies, and more. This book is quite a treasure!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Monday, September 13, 2010

So Long, Insecurity--Chapters 9 & 10

This week we discussed what we felt God spoke to us during our individual prayer time (Chapter 9.) We also discussed men's insecurities and how understanding their struggles helps us in our own journey to security (Chapter 10.)

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Baby Girl Becomes a Typical Two-Year Old

Here you can see her banging the TV with her toy, after being told, "No" on several occasions. Notice how she considers going back again a second time during this video. :)

Homeschooling Year 2010-2011: Weeks 5-6

We took a whirlwind trip through Switzerland and The Netherlands the past couple of weeks. We enjoyed every minute of it & are now trying to convince Dad that we need a vacation in The Swiss Alps!
Read aloud: Mandy, Science: Weather, Baby Girl's book: Snuggly Time
Baby Girl works with Play Dough


Doodles works on math

Pages about Switzerland



More books from the week
Pages about Switzerland & The Netherlands

More pages about Switzerland & The Netherlands

Bug grates cheese for Swiss fondue

Yummy!!! Swiss cheese fondue

Holiday in Switzerland

More Swiss pages
Nature study journal: seasonal weather observation

Swiss chalet

Geography Worksheet
Movie: "Heidi"--about a girl living in the Swiss Alps. It's a classic & the kiddos loved it!

Game played by Dutch children on Sinterklaas Avond. They must use clues to find a hidden gift, like a scavenger hunt!

Reading a clue...........

Hmmm....another clue

Finally!!!

The gifts: Make Your Own Bouncing Balls for Bug, new pajamas for Baby Girl, and Mosaic Art set for Doodles!









































Friday, September 10, 2010

Life Update

Busy, but blessed. :) Our little one had an eye exam this morning, & her vision in one eye is improving. That's great news! She's walking & doing a little talking, & it's so exciting to see her blossom & grow. Our oldest is actually enjoying Basic Training. We're going to see him for Family Day in a couple of weeks. We can't wait!!! My "middlers" are enjoying homeschooling this year & are learning about world geography & cultures, as well as several topics in science, math, & grammar. We are reading tons of wonderful books & enjoying weekly nature studies. Doodles is really starting to enjoy Latin, which is cool.:) My hubby is helping with children's drama at church and our kiddos are involved in that, too. I'm still teaching a Bible study on Beth Moore's book So Long Insecurity. The "middlers" have already written their Christmas lists. I'm still trying to think about what to get sweet baby girl this year. She's got quite a few toys and books already--can you imagine? I'm planning to get our oldest a Kindle from Amazon. He loves to read & this will be great for him to have as he travels the globe. Well, that's it for now!

Monday, September 6, 2010

Chinese Cinderella Story

This looks wonderful. Here's a link to read more: http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2010/littlesister

Documentary: Wo Ai Ni, Mommy

We watched this last night. It was about an 8-year old girl adopted from China. Here's a link to read more about this program: http://www.pbs.org/pov/woainimommy/ It brought back lots of memories of our time spent in China adopting our daughter: The White Swan hotel, the medical exam, Tai Chi in the park, nervous & excited feelings as we prepared to meet our daughter. It also stirred feelings and emotions in me that I did not expect. It caused me to think about things that I haven't been willing to face until now. A few things that were discussed in this program that really struck me were:
1) the possibility that one day my daughter will look at our family portraits & struggle with the fact that she does not look like me or her father or siblings.
2) that my daughter might feel completely American and not Chinese at all. This is because the little girl featured in this documentary, when asked if she felt Chinese or American, simply said, "American." I want my daughter to still feel that she is Chinese. I don't want her to lose that sense of who she is. It's complicated, much more than I ever thought it was.
3) similar to point #2...the film maker stated that she was struck by how quickly "Fang Sui Yong" became "Faith Sadowsky." In other words, how quickly she transformed from Chinese into American. I want my daughter to be both, to feel both. Is that possible? I don't know. Only time will tell. This is new territory for me....just another part of the journey that is international adoption.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Self-Care That's Not So Fun

As promised in my previous post, I am now going to talk about self-care that's not so much fun. This kind of self-care involves thin...