School Days

We are in our third week of homeschool.  Isaac and Graham have adjusted well to having BOTH of their parents as teachers.  Bryan is teaching Math and I’m working with the boys on everything else.  Owen is attending preschool three days a week.  In my opinion, he’s had the biggest adjustment of all.  After his first day, he informed me that he wasn’t going back.  He’s bravely made new friends and faced homesickness.  I’m proud of him.  

 

This is what Owen does while we are doing school.

 

 

Graham hard at work.

 

 

Isaac loves math!

 

 

Bryan and Isaac discussion quadratic equations...Not!

Disco Fever!

The excitement has been building for weeks. Last night, Kara Christian Academy, celebrated the end of the school year with a dance party and ice cream sundaes! Parents and students alike got out on the dance floor and moved to classic disco hits like Dancing Queen and YMCA. Now, don’t start thinking that there was any inappropriate dancing going on…it was more like a 1 hour aerobics session! The kids were great entertainment to watch. They were doing jumping jacks, kart wheels, break dancing and random cheer moves. It was wild! There were some tender moments too when the daughters danced with their dads and the sons danced with their moms.

I was even asked to dance the final “slow dance” with Asher Miller, age 4. He came up to me and said very sweetly, “Mrs. Tracey, would you dance with me?” Then he proceed to kiss me on the chest! A little bit forward, but considering that I was sitting down and that was at his level, I forgave the bold move. He’s a great dancer by the way.

If you haven’t let loose with your kids and funky music in awhile, I advise doing so…it’s a great stress reliever and a fun memory-making activity!

KCA Open House

Our community school, Kara Christian Academy, had our first ever open house this month! The students and teachers worked hard to prepare for the big event. My 4th grade class sang four American themed songs and did a drawing demonstration. The 2nd grade class sang a few scripture songs and performed an adorable poem about a dog disco. The preschoolers sang the Itsy Bitsy Spider in that precious way that only 3 and 4 years old can.  The parents did their part by oohing and aahing over the children’s work.  Of course, the night was completed with a refreshment table!

My class with their lovely pastel chalk drawings. They really enjoyed improving their art skills this year.

Mrs. Nicole and the 2nd grade class.

Mrs. Becky and the preschoolers.

The Long-Goodbye, Part 15

This past week has been a comedy of errors.

To start off, I misspelled two words on the weekly spelling list - constrast and fragil.  Becky pointed out to me that I had done the same thing a few weeks ago too - exclaimation.  Where is my brain?  It’s in stress mode that’s where!

We tried to start our farewell tour to village churches on Sunday, but the truck was dead.  All of our teammates had already left for their morning visits so there was no one to give us a jump-start.  So, our family returned to the house and did what else but turn on the game-cube.  Can anyone say avoidance?

Our dog, Charger, broke a nail and trailed blood all over the house until I discovered what was going on.  Imagine Graham yelling in a fascinated-panicked tone, “Mom! There is blood all over the place!”

It hasn’t been all bad though.  My gas bottles are miraculously staying usable.  I had just enough forks (11) to host a dinner party last night.  (Remember all of my plates and silverware are already in Dallas!)  The goodies that PRCC brought haven’t run out yet even though my kids are eating them constantly.

And best of all…I figured out all by myself how to change my blog design!  (If you know me well, then you know that I gave a triumphant squeal as I saw the results of my amateur skills!)

Roller-coaster

Roller-coasters can be fun, but the one I’ve been on this week has been a little too “extreme” for my taste.

The lows…

On our trip to Lome on Sunday, Bryan hit a motorcycle with two men on it with our truck. We were driving on the national highway when the motorcycle driver decided to cross the road without looking first. Bryan honked the horn and slammed on the brakes, but was unable to avoid rear-ending the bike. The passenger flew backwards and his head slammed into our windshield. The driver hit the asphalt. The seconds that followed were terrifying since we didn’t know the extent of their injuries. We took them to a local hospital and waited around for 3 hours until the doctor checked them out. Thankfully, God protected them (and us) and they only had minor injuries. We paid for their medical bills and gave them some cash to help repair the motorcycle.

Because of the accident our visit to Tabligbo and Lome didn’t go according to plan (obviously) which caused us a lot of stress. (Read: arguments and bad parenting)

The highs…

An encouraging visit with the Crowson & Koonce families in Tabligbo.

Bryan’s brothers, Andy and Ben, are here! They are a joy to have around plus they brought us a lot of goodies!

Bryan gave me an ipod nano for Valentine’s Day!!! I am thrilled. I drifted off to sleep listening to Coldplay last night.

The school Valentine’s Day party! There’s nothing like handmade valentine cards from children to brighten the day.

I am thankful for God’s presence in all of these situations, especially the scary ones!

Comic Relief

Like most mothers and teachers of young children, I have a constant stream of funny things said to me or in my presence. Here’s a just a sampling from last week….

When asked during our vocabulary lesson what the students thought certain words meant…

Q: What is a nativity?

A: Oh! I know, it’s the navy doing activities!

Q: What is a nomad?

A: Oooh! Oooh! It’s a small person!

Q: What is a goblet?

A:  Is it a scary thing?

Q: What is a monocle?

A: It’s a tiny part of something bigger.

My favorite- said to me by Graham as I walked into the room to tuck him into bed after taking a shower.  “Wow Mom!  You smell good- just like a Bible page!”

Whirlwind

My family and I have enjoyed a jam-packed, whirlwind week with our dear friends and former teammates, Don & Jane Neal and their four children. They moved away from Togo 20 months ago and this is their first time back for a visit. We had to share them with our other team families, the Millers and Reeves. So, they were only at our house for 3 nights. Each of those nights, I took full advantage of having Jane all to myself! We stayed up late chatting, surfing online and chatting some more. A good friend does the heart wonders!

We were blessed to be with them on Sunday morning as they visited the village of Sanda Te which is where Don primarily worked. The people of Te were so pleased to see them again! After worship, they prepared a delicious meal of foofoo and chicken. (This is the first time that I’ve seen the entire bird prepared! Head, feet, brain, etc.) Peter bravely tried to eat the chicken foot! The other kids occupied themselves by chasing ducklings around the yard.

Mary Claire was baptized on Monday morning at the Bafilo waterfall. The entire team made the hike to witness this special occasion.

We celebrated our annual Harvest Party at the Reeves home. There were games for the kids to play and plenty of candy to eat. But, the highlight was the performances that each class gave based on what they had been learning in school. The fourth grade performed a play based on experiences on the Oregon Trail. The second grade recited their memory verse and the preschool sang some fall songs. It was precious!

Mary Claire, Peter, Rachel and Honor all joined our kids in school. It was a treat to have Mary Claire in class. She’s grown up so much!

It’s been a great week catching up with them. Needless to say, we will sorely miss the Neals when they head back to Texas tomorrow morning. We love you!!!

I Gotcha!

You’re out! I know I am out! Oooh, ya missed me! That touched you!! And lots of laughter have been heard on our playground at recess all week.

Realizing that the kids were missing out on some classic recess games, Bryan kindly brought back 3 bouncy balls from America for the school. I showed the kids how to play dodgeball and now they are dodgeball maniacs! (One of them actually asked me if I invented the game! Poor sheltered missionary kids.) Each day they’ve honed their skills and become a bit more aggressive. It’s been entertaining to watch the progression.

If dodgeball wasn’t enough, today the tetherball was tied onto a new pole! Andrea Miller and David Reeves demonstrated to the kids how a game is played. They way the kids were cheering you would’ve thought they were at the Super Bowl! Life can’t get much better, can it?

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Isaac, Hannah and Abby have greatly improved their drawing skills this year. For our art curriculum we are using The Draw Squad, it’s a great book that teaches simple cartoon drawings using 10 key drawing words. You can catch them during the day huddled over their sketch pads practicing their latest skill. I have seen them grow in confidence as their skills have increased. I picked a few of the best drawing from our Art Wall for you to enjoy!  In order of appearance…Hannah’s Ant Town, Abby’s bedroom and Isaac’s castle battle scene.

Launch!

Fourth Grade Tales, the official writing blog of my 4th grade class is ready for you to pay it a visit! For the first set of postings, Isaac Ries, Abigail Miller and Hannah Reeves have each written a story from the perspective of a gold nugget. This assignment went along with our history study of the 1849 California Gold Rush. I know they would appreciate you taking the time to read and comment on their stories.  A little bit of encouragement goes a long way to an aspiring writer. Go now… fourthgradetales.wordpress.com

School Days

Today marks the completion of two weeks of school! (Yes, we go to school on Saturdays!) The days are getting easier as we fall into a steady routine. In the 4th grade, we’ve already finished a unit on South America & Simon Bolivar, El Liberator! Now, we are shifting our focus to North America in the mid-1800s- that includes the California Gold Rush, the Oregon Trail and tools that early Americans used on their homesteads. In Science, we are studying magnetism. (One of the many things I love about teaching is that I get to “relearn” all of the information along with the kids!) The art program has the kids really exciting about drawing. I’ll try to post some of their favorite works here sometime soon.

Graham and Owen are both doing well in their classes with Miss Emily and Ms. Becky, respectively. Graham is learning about birds in Science and of course practicing reading! Owen is learning about the body through fun preschool projects like finger-painting. It looks like this year if off to a great start!

Abby, Hannah and Isaac take time out from drawing to smile for the camera!

Abby and Hannah show off their cool magnet creations!