Thanksgiving through the alphabet

This year as our November thanksgiving emphasis I decided that we would go through the alphabet listing things we are thankful for corresponding with each letter. It is good to at least take one period of time and list things we are thankful for.

Here is the list of things that we have compiled.

A -  aunts, airplanes without them we would not have travelled as far this year, AWANA, Apple Computer, the Apostles Creed.

B - ball, baby, bus, books, butter (that must have come from Miss K, did I ever tell you about the stick of butter with tooth prints which matched her mouth, ballet (that is another Miss K love), bags (I love bags for organizing), and me cause I am a double B.

C - cousins, coffee, candy/chocolate, Chinese Food

Enjoying Chinese noodles for breakfast. 

Peking Duck

D - daddy, division problems (I didn't really think that anyone in our family would say thats), doctors including daddy who had his D.Min

E - eggs, energy, electricity, England

F - family, friends, flute, food

G - grapes, grandparents

H - heart, house (even if it is just a place to stay these feel months), hobbies, my side of the family

I - ice cream, ice cubes, iPad, Island Air

J - Bob that is code for J, our friends the J family

K - Miss K, knights, kids, Keurig (see coffee above), kitchen it is equipped with everything we need

L - laughter, lettuce, life, latte, lentils

M - mama, moon, morning (I love the reminder that God's faithfulness is new every morning),

N - nuts, naps (I don't know who takes them around here, I would love to but that doesn't happen),

O - oxygen, outside, oranges, Odyssey

Q - quilts, the Queen

R - roads, rainbow, red, roses, rain, root beer

S - Stuart, soup, soap, Singapore, Switzerland, Southwest (we flew Southwest back to the Northewest in September), Sheffield, soccer

T - tractor (Miss K was just listing all the words that she knew that began with each letter) turkeys, Trader Joe's (that is my closest grocery store), tea, toffee

U - uncles, umbrellas (after all we live in the Northwest), upstairs

V - Value Village (one of my favorite thrift stores), visa which we are praying we receive soon, vitamins, vet (we have no pets and have never been to the vet but we are still thankful for them), vase (I need something to put roses in), vegetables

X - Xander, x-rays

Y - yogurt, YogurtLand, yarn, yard

Z - zippers, and Zach and all the cousins

It has been a year full of transitions and things that we didn't plan but in all that we know that God is good and we have much to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving from our family.

Beth

More Thoughts on Classical Education

I wrote a rather long post about some of my thoughts about Classical Education. I have been thinking a bit about that since writing. One of the challenges that I took away from what I wrote was having a passion for what I am teaching. My attitude and passion will spill into my teaching and my children's learning.

If you had asked me a few years ago, if I thought Classical Education could be fun. I might have said, "no." Don't ask my why. It is just one of those perceptions in my head. I guess just not knowing and thinking it was studying the classics as well as Latin made it boring in my mind. Can you believe I am confessing that to the world? I have changed. I understand more about Classical Education and understand more about fun learning. I don't think studying Latin and the classics are boring. Now I need to convince my children of that.

In that rather long post about Classical Education that even included footnotes. I wrote a bit about my thoughts from Cheryl Lowe's article "Is Learning Fun?". In The Classical Teacher late summer 2013 Part 2 was published. I was eager to read more and continue my learning.

"Really effective learning activities resemble work, and since we are all naturally lazy, they aren't exactly fun." I know about the naturally lazy part. I fight it in myself and see it in my children. I also remember a time in my life when I had a job that I loved. I really did love my job. Because I loved my job, I enjoyed it and it didn't seem that hard. I didn't mind the long hours, the late night phone calls, the problems of did we have enough manufacturing capacity. It was hard but I enjoyed it. So what if I apply that love for math? Could we learn to enjoy math even though it is hard?

"It is simple: It is the enthusiasm, passion, and knowledge of the teacher that makes a lesson compelling and motivates students to learn." So much depends on my attitude. That puts the burden on me. I am challenged.

The author tells about a Sunday school class she taught and how the children were excited and eager to attend. She states, "I didn't do anything remarkable that anyone else couldn't easily do--just my usual bag of tricks--content that is concrete, elevated, and meaningful. Lots of review questions, memorization, bees and drills. Bingo. Learning is fun. Here is the secret Learning is more fun when you actually learn something." So is what I am teaching concrete, something that they can understand. Is it twaddle? It should be something that moves them forward. It needs to be meaningful.

"Kids love to know the answer." I chuckle inside sometimes when Bob and I are doing school and he will raise his hand and say, "pick me, I know." I do pick him. So if children love to know the answer and I helping him to have the answer. Am I asking the questions that he knows the answer? I am not talking about teaching to the test but rather giving him confidence and encouraging his learning.

Classical Education can be fun. The teacher holds the key to that. What am I going to do?

Where is your passion in teaching? Do you have a specific subject that you enjoy?

Beth

Fire Safety

I know October was fire safety month. I have been thinking about fire safety and knew it was something that we needed to do in some form.

Where we lived last we had to do a homeschool portfolio. One of the things that was just an item that the evaluators looked for was fire safety. While I am not living there, I am still following most of the requirements.

Last year we visited the fire station during their open house and counted that as our fire safety. One year I picked up some brochures and fire hats when I went to vote, we reviewed those and called it fire safety.  The year we did Classical Conversation our campus had a fire marshall and fire truck come.

I missed the open house at the fire station. I decided to have a fire safety seminar. Just like in life you attend a seminar to refresh your skills or to learn a new skill I decided to have a fire safety seminar.

We started with a video that I found online just discussing fire safety. I also pulled some posters and made a Power Point presentation. Doesn't every seminar need to have a Power Point presentation.

Miss K showed us how to "Stop, Drop, and Roll".

I wanted something to include in the portfolio and so I assigned them to make a fire safety poster. Miss K didn't really have much to write.

I had a bit more expectations of what I wanted Bob to do. I thought his fire safety poster was a good reminder and also demonstrated his creativity.

I think most seminars have a tea and coffee break. We didn't have tea and coffee but we did have Jello, all three colors that make up the colors of fire. (I found that idea on Pinterest.)

I allowed the kids to fill their bowls and then told them it was on fire and we needed to put the fire out. The best thing to put on a bowl of Jello is whipped cream.

We had our fire safety seminar and can check that off the list for this school year.

Do you do teach fire safety?

Beth

Weekly Wrap-up - November 22, 2013

I really should have a snazzy title to describe this week. It just seems like a typical week but I am still coughing, my husband is jet lagged, my son is hitting the teen sleep in all day and be grumpy if I do stage and my daughter continues to dance through life. That about describes us this week. So in the midst of all that what did we do.

We are continuing in Mystery of History Volume II. We made it to the Sui and Tang Dynasty. I love when we touch just a bit of Chinese history. A few years ago we spent weeks studying China some day we might go back and study it again.

We are continuing in the Middle East in Geography. I wrote a bit of information this week about my thoughts on teaching Geography. We are using Memoria Press Geography I. I do try to verbally quiz them on what we have learned.

We did our fire safety seminar this week. It was one of those things on my list of things to cover. Now we can check that off as done. More on that later.

Bob had his piano recital last weekend. It was just a short little event.

I had all these thoughts that this year Bob would be able to plan his week and then work his plan. I was getting frustrated and so I decided I need to write out exactly what I want him to do and then review it each day. My desire is that he would be self-motivated but since that is not yet happening I will continue to be the planner and motivator.

I have ordered a collection of various dice -- fractions, decimals, operation dice as well as six-sided dice. We have done various drills with the dice. One of the things that Bob and I have done is rolled one or two dice and then depending on the number we roll we have to say the multiplication table. I require him to say 3x1=3, 3x=6 and so on. I will do it as well. Hey, it keeps me learning and showing him that I can do it. I might as well do the math I know because it won't be long until I will be learning with him.

Miss K is continuing to enjoy Reading Eggs. I don't know what we will do when the free trial is up. When all her school is done,  she is allowed to spend time on Reading Eggs.

We have a mustard monster that lives here which means we go through mustard. I think I know why everyone eats mustard on their sandwich except me. Currently Miss K is in a phase where she will eat a sandwich every day. I decided it is time that she learn to make her own sandwich.

I was excited to find a bag of Unique Pretzels in the grocery store. Do you know that the average American eats 1 1/2 pounds of pretzels a year but the average person in Pennsylvania eats 12 pounds a year. My roots are deep and so when I found these I had to buy a bag.

In addition to the pretzels that I ate I cooked -- a lentil dahl using up the lentils but I still have a few pounds, black bean and pumpkin soup, black bean lasagna which Miss K ate three servings and we did have some meat with fajitas.

That wraps up another exciting week here. Okay, maybe it wasn't that exciting but it does wrap-up another week.


Beth

The Holidays while in Transition

I wrote previously a bit about kids in transition. We are still in transition and with the holidays approaching it brings new and different feelings, emotions, and challenges.

The dictionary defines transition as "passage from one state, stage, subject or place to another." It sounds so simple and easy. At our training this summer, the illustration that was given for transition was the trapeze artist between swinging bars, that short time letting go of the one bar and grabbing the next swinging bar. That in between time is transition. Most move quickly from one bar to the next. For our family we are still in that in between place called transition.

So we currently live in transition.  We didn't plan to be in transition this long. We packed our boxes in February and thought we would be unpacking in September in the UK but God had other plans. We are waiting. We are still praying that we will be able to move in January.

Turkeys are on sale. Christmas tree stands are popping up in parking lots. Christmas stamps are available at the Post Office. We are living in the mission house, waiting, in transition.

So how do we celebrate the holidays?

Don't mourn what we don't have. I planned to have my Christmas things by the holidays so I didn't keep even little things to make it feel special. I have to guard my mind and not allow myself to mourn the things that we don't have -- the special stockings that my friend found with my son and daughter's name at the LL Bean outlet, the stockings I made, the Jesse tree ornaments, even some of my recipes, Christmas CD's and DVD's, or books. We are far from family. I cannot allow myself to dwell on those things.

Celebrate what we have. We are together as a family. We have a house to stay in and Bob found some Christmas decorations in the house. I also found some cookie cutters. We have friends here.

Look for ways to enjoy the traditions. There are some things that are hard to do because of the transition but looks for ways to enjoy the traditions you have enjoyed. We can drink hot chocolate and drive around and look at the lights. We might be able to find a live nativity to visit. I bought some socks to use as stockings.

Create new ways to celebrate. We have friends here and so we will enjoy our time with them. Someone told me about their tradition, everyone gets their favorite cereal. She even wraps them up because as she said they look great under the tree. That might be a fun tradition to our Christmas morning.

Remember the purpose, reason for the transition. Our family has been called to go overseas. We are waiting for our visa. I need to rest in the fact that this is where God wants us at this time. This is not about me and my family but about God and His plan for the world.

Remember the reason for the holidays. Thanksgiving is the time to remember and think of the things that we are thankful for. This year we are going through the alphabet listing things that we are thankful for. I will share the list later. Christmas is that time of celebrating Christ's coming to earth.

I am writing this because I needed the reminder myself. I also know that I set the tone of our family this holiday season. I might need to go back and read this a few times this holiday season.

What memories do you have of holidays while in transition?


Beth

Teaching Geography

Our family loves to travel which is a good thing because we do quite a bit of traveling or maybe because we love to travel we travel. Oh well, it doesn't really matter the fact is we love to travel and we travel. We have driven across the USA a few times and we have flown around the world. That is part of the education and learning through living, but we else do I want to teach and make sure the children know about the world around them.

I want to make sure they know geographic terms.
Do they know cove, bay, peninsula, mountain? To help in learning these terms, we have done some hands-on projects. Here are some of the hands-on projects that we did. Here is a link to some land form cards and another link (personally I like the 2nd link best).  I also found some Montessori cards that have the terms and photos and I laminated those. Using both sets of cards, we would quiz to see if they could tell me what the land form is.

I want them to have a big picture of the world. I want them to know the continents. I want them to have an idea of where various countries are located and historical significance or other facts. If someone is talk about Jordan, I want them to know where it is located and a bit of information about Jordan.

I want them to know more details for specific parts and peoples of the world. Mainly the places where they live, the people we minister to, and their passport country as well as a bit about the country of their birth. (Totally random fact is both of my children were born outside of the US.) They should know the US states and capitals, major cities, major land forms, rivers, etc. They should know some of China's geography which they have learned some during our trips. We will add UK geography to the list of things they need to know in detail. This also happens as we meet people from various places. Miss K knows that Dom lives in Switzerland and that cheese and chocolate are from there. She also knows that her friends Grace and Faith live in Japan as well as the capital is Tokyo.

Traveling down the Li River in China.

I want them to be able to pray for people around the world. It might be missionaries around the world and the people living there. Having an understanding of geography helps us to pray with knowledge.

What do we use to teach geography?

Traveling is a big part of that. Layovers have taken us through Malaysia, Iceland and Japan. A missed flight resulted in being rerouted through Honolulu. Our time in England as well as our drives across the USA taught us geography.

Landing in Iceland

Books and resources help as well. I need to say that I have had some different curriculum on my shelves, you know the curriculum that I am talking about, yes, I had the big ones and got rid of them, sold them. They just were not what I was looking for. We are using Memoria Press' Geography I this year. Maybe it is because I decided that I didn't have time to write my own, but really I think it gives us what I am looking for. This gives us the overview of countries and regions. I add a bit more to the country if I want. We are studying the Middle East right now and learning quite a bit about that part of the world.

We have a big huge atlas as well as a pocket atlas and a few paperback ones as well.  Geography from A to Z: A Picture Glossary by Jack Knowlton is a great resource especially when learning the geography terms. I will add more of the resource books when I unpack our boxes.

This article gave some thoughts about developing geographic awareness. I like the list of books that can be used to teach geographic awareness. We have read a number of these books and I do agree that books can help to teach geographic awareness.

Puzzles, maps, and games are great for learning and reviewing geography. I have found some puzzles at thrift stores. My kids have gotten puzzles for Christmas. We have a flags of the world puzzle that we bought at the thrift store. Some of the games that we have that teach geography include Where in the World is Carmen San Diego and Touring England are just a few.

Stamps, coins, and geography boxes are hands-on items. Bob has a stamp collection and he will spend time with that looking on the map. We have a can of coins and we will look on the map to see where the countries are located. We have a few things in our geography boxes and I am excited about the things that we got this summer to add to the boxes. These are fun things to look for when I am in a thrift store.

Here are a few things that we will add to our geography boxes from this summer -- the fun thing is how we acquired each of these -- the fan was a gift from a Chinese girl, her father made it, the Singapore flags were something that we were given as we went through the Botanical Gardens as it was just before National day. The koala bear was a gift from an Australian child care worker, and the cowbell from Switzerland was a birthday gift to Miss K from a child care worker from there.

I enjoy geography and enjoy exploring our world literally with our passports in hand or figuratively through books and other methods.

What are your favorite geography teaching aids?


Beth

Piano Recital

Bob had a piano recital this weekend. I am so thankful that we have a piano in the house here and that we were able to find a piano teacher. It is an extra blessing that the teacher comes to the house.

Bob has been taking lessons for about 4 years now. He has had three different teachers and while that is quite a bit of changes in teachers I think each one has done something different to encourage and teach him. We miss Olga but our teacher here has been encouraging and helping Bob along.

The current teacher is also will to give Miss K a short lesson at the end of Bob's. She is learning to play Hot Cross Buns, Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater, and Meow Meow. We are seeing improvement and she is learning to use her finger independently.

Piano and music lessons are important to us. This article explained reasons that I agree with. I also know that music has helped the children to relax.

One thing that was interesting at the recital this evening was there were two guys that I would guess to be in their 20's that are taking lessons from this teacher and both performed. I was impressed that they were continuing to put the time into lessons and practice.



Beth

Comfort Food - Egg in a Hole

Comfort food is that food that takes you back to your childhood and is probably not gourmet but what reminds you of your mom or in this case my dad.

When I was growing up on Saturday morning, my dad would make egg in a hole. We didn't watch Saturday morning cartoons rather we sat and listened to Ranger Bill, Ranger Bill warrior of the woodlands . . . and then we listened to Uncle Charlie. I remember going to an Uncle Charlie rally/gathering. So on Saturday morning we had to be up by 8:00 so we could hear these program. For one of my brothers that was not a problem he got up at 6:00 and I think he still does. We would go to the kitchen and while we listened my dad would make egg in a hole for each of us.

My mom had a cookie cutter that was just the right size to make the hole. You want the hole big enough so the egg will go through but also not too big because it is nice to have some bread around the egg. Mine were hand crafted meaning I used a knife and carefully cut a hole.

Then you need to butter both sides of the bread.

Put the bread on the frying pan and put an egg in the hole. That is how it gets its name.

Let it cook for a bit and then carefully flip it. That side should be nicely browned and toasted.

Cook until it is done. The white should be cooked and the egg runny so you have a dippy egg (using that term shows my east coast upbringing).

Butter and toast the hole and serve that with the egg in a hole.

Now you have your egg and toast all on the same plate. You are ready for breakfast and some Saturday morning radio. I made these the other week for my kids and they enjoyed them. Nine years ago when my parents came to Asia to visit my dad taught my husband how to make them.

The other comfort food that my dad makes is fried potatoes and eggs. I really do like it even though I think that is all we ate when my mom was working. Actually I do know that he cooked other things. Every now and then I have to make some fried potatoes and eggs for comfort food.

I think no one makes a grilled cheese sandwich like my mom. I do think that is comfort food for me. The bread is toasted to just a light golden and the cheese nicely melted. Sometimes we will add some ham or in the summer when we have tomatoes from the garden a slice of tomato.

One other things that my mom makes is her Salad Dressing Cake. I think I requested that every year for my birthday.

I wonder what my kids will say is comfort food? Corn chowder, meatball soup, or maybe rice.

What is your comfort food?


Beth
who felt that it was fitting to publish this on a Saturday morning at 8:00.

Weekly Wrap-up - November 15, 2013

My husband was out of town all week. He left in time to avoid all the germs we had which resulted in those of us here being sick and coughing all week. Being sick did put a damper on our week. I figure we got more school done than if they were going to school.

Bob is us Christian Kids Explore Physics and one of the activities was to make atomic models from Styrofoam balls or clay. We had some clay and so we made them.

Then the next day I made atomic model pancakes.

That was a special treat because we normal rotate between eggs and oatmeal. The kids said they tasted as good as Grandma's. One of grandma's specialties is pancakes. When we were growing up, we got plain pancakes once a week or so but now the grandkids get pancakes with chocolate chips.

That was part of trying to make school a bit more fun.

I can't say that this was our best week of school. We continued on and I think some weeks that is worth it.

I can't believe we are halfway through November already. In fact I didn't think that today was the 15th. I thought that was next week and so we went to swim team today and then realized that it is this week that Friday practice was moved to Saturday. We could have had a morning at home without an interruption. Oh well, we will go back tomorrow.

Miss K continues to ask for breaks. She also wants to do school backwards but I don't know what is backwards and forwards for her. I have a four week trial for Reading Eggs. She is enjoying that. I think some of the challenge is working on the trackpad on my computer. We will try it for four weeks and then decide.

Miss K's sight word reading is amazing. I just order 1,000 most commonly used words from Little Giant Steps. I want to spend some time this weekend reviewing this and putting a plan together on how we can use this.

I am thankful that we have another week next week. I want to spend some time this weekend planning. I had expectations of what Bob could do and I am needing to adjust them and do a bit of planning this weekend.

Bob has a piano recital tomorrow. I have a feeling that Miss K thinks she has one as well.

That wraps up this week.

Beth

Some days I am amazed

I know I shouldn't be amazed. I have mentioned how I know Miss K is capable of so much. I know she has ability. I admit though there are some days that she does amaze me.

Sunday evening at AWANA the leader had a worksheet there for the kids to do when they had finished saying their verses. I was sitting across the room and had heard it was a hidden code. I wasn't sure what Miss K would write on the paper. I was half expecting her to just write letters without considering the code. This is the paper that she gave me.

Miss K did it. She looked at the code and filled in the blanks. I am impressed and amazed.

Thank you for allowing me to brag a bit. Now I know she can do it, I will push a bit more.


Beth

Celebrating the Ordinary

The other week I made macaroni and cheese for lunch. It was not out of a box but homemade. I will say that as I was making it I was thinking and even beginning to search for a new recipe. I wasn't sure that my macaroni and cheese was that good. Oh well, it was lunch and we needed to eat lunch.

Miss K asked what was for lunch and when I told her macaroni and cheese, she burst out singing,

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow:

Praise him, all creatures here below;

Praise him above, ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

It was just macaroni and cheese but her to that day it was worth celebrating. My thought it was just macaroni and cheese.  I wonder if too many times I don't enjoy and celebrate something because I think it is ordinary, not worth the celebration. 

What ordinary things can you celebrate today? 

Beth

P.S. I am still looking for a good macaroni and cheese recipe. I will also confess that my kids ate macaroni and cheese tonight from a box. Bob offered to cook, I wasn't feeling good, and daddy is out of town so macaroni and cheese from a box was the menu.

Friends and a Morning Out

One of the wonderful parts of moving and living in different places is the friends that I meet along the way.  I will also say that the introvert in me does find it hard at times.

A few weeks ago a friend here and I were talking about how we enjoy going downtown and so we decided to find a Saturday morning and go downtown. We found the first weekend that our husbands were home so we could sneak away.

It has been so long since I have been downtown early on a Saturday morning. Actually I am not sure I have ever done it before. I do remember spending quite a number of Saturdays at the library when I was in grad school. It was a super windy day. I thought for a few minutes I was in the windy city. Since it was Saturday morning we were able to find parking without a problem. Then we walked toward Pike Place.

We knew we were early there were a number of shops that were not even opened yet. The clock will let you know that we were early.

I love bread especially the artisan bread. There is just something wonderful about a piece of bread with some butter. Now I am sound like Miss K would loves her bread and butter. Maybe we know where she got that from. Back to our morning downtown. We walked and saw a bakery open with various breads for sale.

Our first stop was Piroshky Piroshky since the line was not long. In fact there wasn't a line at all which is unusual for that shop.

Then we walked down the street to Starbucks. Now this is not just any Starbucks but Starbucks, the Starbucks that started the coffee craze that encircled the globe. One of the first places that my husband and I went when we were just getting to know each other when we were living in Taiwan was Starbucks. Starbucks had opened near my apartment and so I took him there. I wonder how many countries I have had a Starbucks coffee?

They have mugs there that are only sold at the original Starbucks. There is often a line there as well. It really is the same coffee but there is something about getting it at the original. I used my birthday gift card to get a coffee. The red cups are back. Is there something delicious about the coffee that is served in the red cups. I did get a Peppermint Mocha which is a special treat for me.

With my coffee in my hand and my pastry, I was ready to walk through the market. Though it was hard to walk, hold my coffee and pastry and take photos.

I love the colors. I love the flowers, so fresh, so colorful. I wanted to take some home but didn't want to carry them around so instead I took photos of some of my favorites.

I thought these were pretty. I do like the fall flowers.

There was a stand selling cheese - I love cheese, good cheese none of that processed stuff for us. Once we got a can of Cheese Whiz and Bob is talking about it. I can't decide if he thinks that is the coolest thing or the weirdest thing. I think I bought it to introduce him to the culture of cheese in a can. I didn't buy any cheese but did enjoy looking at it all lined up in the case ready to be served with some crackers or some bread.

The flowers were so colorful but the fruits and vegetables also have their variety of colors and everything so neatly stacked and ready to go home and be served. I did buy some pears but I will admit that the bumping around in my bag caused them to bruise a bit but they were still good.

Walking through the market reminded me of the photos we had in our dining room. Three framed photos from the market. My desire was to frame some photos from the markets in Asia to hand beside the Pike Place photos. Those photos are in a box waiting to ship to England so we can have a piece of Seattle there.

I think I have written about my love of markets before here is a previous visit to Pike Place. Here is a visit to a market in China.

We walked to the Spice Market. There they have shelves and shelves of spices and of course their famous spice tea. I would prefer coffee but I do know someone that enjoys it so I buy it.

We wandered through the kitchen shops making a list of some things that we would like. Have you seen the magnetic measuring spoons? I think that would be great to keep them together but make it easy to get them apart to use them.

We ended our time downtown with lunch at a little Mediterranean cafe. I enjoyed a panini.

We had plans to then go to a few of the thrift stores on that side but the wind that morning had knocked out some electricity so traffic was slow and when we made it to one of the thrift stores it was closed because of no power. We did get to Goodwill and I found a dress for Miss K for $3 and a few books.

It was a fun morning and time in the city. I am thankful for the friends that I have met along the way. The memories, the laughs, the chats, the prayer times, and the encouragement. Friend so make it hard to leave one place but we are not talking about leaving today we are talking about enjoying the time with friends and where we are living.



Beth