All things considered, our first official week of school went really well. Things like:
- normal getting-used-to-the-new-routine stuff
- a brand new teenager in the family who has never been homeschooled
- getting ready to go to Africa next week
- helping the kids not stress about the time we'll be gone so far away
Really, with all that on our plate, the fact that we made it through this week at all feels fabulous, and is obviously only because of God in it all! Not only we did we make it through, we even had fun! (But I do have a few trip-related prayer requests towards the end of this post, if you don't mind!)
So far, Kathryn and I are having a great time with our Winter Promise "Children Around the World" curriculum. One of the fun things we're doing is making a Travel Journal. The first assignment for that was making a passport for her. Until I got my passport, I don't think I'd ever even seen one in real life! We got out mine, and made the best scrapbook-paper version we could. I think it came out great! We even took a passport photo (like we did for our own photos in our real passports!).
In our first unit of Christian Kids Explore Biology, we talked about creation, and made a paper mache Earth. It's been a l-o-n-g time since I played with paper mache and it was way messier than I remembered. Kathryn was totally grossed out with the first piece, then really got into the fun, and Lindsey wanted to join in, too.
After our Earth was made, the girls got into a paper-mache-goo fight, and had that stuff all over their arms. It was such a silly and sisterly moment. Made me happy. But it sure was hard to get off!
We all got a kick out of the photos of toilets of the world. Learning how much water we, as Americans, use in comparison to many other countries really made us think, though! We take so much for granted! I hope we have a lot of those moments as we go through this curriculum this year. I'm hoping to have most of those conversations when Lindsey is here to participate, as she was this time.
I was afraid Kathryn would be really rusty on math after taking months off, but she's done great, plugging away at a lesson each day (four days each week). So far, Algebra has been a big ol' thorn in Lindsey's side, but Ken has done a great job helping her work through it. She's very concerned about what she'll do without his help when we're gone, but our next door neighbor is a math tutor, and has offered to help if needed. When Brandon isn't working late, he can help, too. So she's in good hands.
Today was Lindsey's first day of classes. Actually, it was more of an orientation/open-house sort of thing, so we all went. The day started with a student-led chapel service, then about twenty minutes in each class to meet the teacher and listen to his/her explanation of the class, and so on. I am SO excited about her classes! I wouldn't have considered something like this for Kathryn, but I've always prayed for God's wisdom in knowing what's best for her schooling, and I know that this is exactly what He wants for Lindsey this year. I feel a great deal of peace about it, although I still have a lot of catching up to do in the Algebra department, and so on!
I'm feeling a bit stressed about leaving the girls, mostly because I know they are feeling a bit stressed. Next week, Lindsey has her first week of assignments from her classes, AND she'll have a cheer-leading clinic and tryout. She's a bit stressed that we'll be gone then, so we'd appreciate prayers to make that week go really well for her.
Kathryn is worried that she won't be able to talk to us when we're in Africa. It will be a challenge: the cell phones probably won't work; there is a six hour time difference; and we'll only be able to call when we are at the hotel, which won't be often. So please also pray for her (and ME!) to have peace about that, and for us to figure out all the details so we can talk at least a few times.
So far, Kathryn and I are having a great time with our Winter Promise "Children Around the World" curriculum. One of the fun things we're doing is making a Travel Journal. The first assignment for that was making a passport for her. Until I got my passport, I don't think I'd ever even seen one in real life! We got out mine, and made the best scrapbook-paper version we could. I think it came out great! We even took a passport photo (like we did for our own photos in our real passports!).
In our first unit of Christian Kids Explore Biology, we talked about creation, and made a paper mache Earth. It's been a l-o-n-g time since I played with paper mache and it was way messier than I remembered. Kathryn was totally grossed out with the first piece, then really got into the fun, and Lindsey wanted to join in, too.
After our Earth was made, the girls got into a paper-mache-goo fight, and had that stuff all over their arms. It was such a silly and sisterly moment. Made me happy. But it sure was hard to get off!
We all got a kick out of the photos of toilets of the world. Learning how much water we, as Americans, use in comparison to many other countries really made us think, though! We take so much for granted! I hope we have a lot of those moments as we go through this curriculum this year. I'm hoping to have most of those conversations when Lindsey is here to participate, as she was this time.
I was afraid Kathryn would be really rusty on math after taking months off, but she's done great, plugging away at a lesson each day (four days each week). So far, Algebra has been a big ol' thorn in Lindsey's side, but Ken has done a great job helping her work through it. She's very concerned about what she'll do without his help when we're gone, but our next door neighbor is a math tutor, and has offered to help if needed. When Brandon isn't working late, he can help, too. So she's in good hands.
Today was Lindsey's first day of classes. Actually, it was more of an orientation/open-house sort of thing, so we all went. The day started with a student-led chapel service, then about twenty minutes in each class to meet the teacher and listen to his/her explanation of the class, and so on. I am SO excited about her classes! I wouldn't have considered something like this for Kathryn, but I've always prayed for God's wisdom in knowing what's best for her schooling, and I know that this is exactly what He wants for Lindsey this year. I feel a great deal of peace about it, although I still have a lot of catching up to do in the Algebra department, and so on!
I'm feeling a bit stressed about leaving the girls, mostly because I know they are feeling a bit stressed. Next week, Lindsey has her first week of assignments from her classes, AND she'll have a cheer-leading clinic and tryout. She's a bit stressed that we'll be gone then, so we'd appreciate prayers to make that week go really well for her.
Kathryn is worried that she won't be able to talk to us when we're in Africa. It will be a challenge: the cell phones probably won't work; there is a six hour time difference; and we'll only be able to call when we are at the hotel, which won't be often. So please also pray for her (and ME!) to have peace about that, and for us to figure out all the details so we can talk at least a few times.
