I can't believe I haven't posted in a month! A lot of things have happened, including the decision to move out of Sweden and back to the United States. I will sit down and post the complete story as soon as I possibly can.

Posted in The View From Here

Tomorrow we are taking a trip to Stockholm. It's not by choice; it is necessary to renew DD11's and DD13's passports and to obtain Ella's first. Today we had Ella's picture taken at a photography studio, because there is no way to get our almost 4yo autistic darling to have them taken in a photo booth (as the older girls will do in Stockholm). Gunnar and DD13 biked over and Ella's hair was sooooo flat, but it is a decent picture of her face, so I can live with it.

The trip tomorrow is going to be an interesting one. We are borrowing the car of a friend of Gunnar's (in exchange for some help with the man's sailboat recently) and driving 350 km ONE WAY. That's a 217.5 mile trip one way; at 105 kph (65mph) it should take us around 4.5 hours each way (that's including road breaks for the kids). But that's not the fun part; we have to be at the American Embassy around 10:00 AM -- which means we have to get the kids up at 4AM and leave by 5AM to make sure we're there on time. *BLEAH*

The girls and Gunnar are taking a nap, while I stay up with Ella. Ella and I can sleep more on the trip.

Today we watched a special on National Geographic (channel) about the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991.

From NASA's earth observatory website:

"The explosion of Mt. Pinatubo on June 15, 1991, just 60 miles northwest of Manila, was the world’s largest volcanic eruption in nearly 80 years. Due to active monitoring of the volcano by scientists and warnings of an impending eruption, only a few hundred people died during the main eruption. Most casualties were caused by the collapse of buildings under the weight of rain-soaked ash and the lahars spawned by the eruption.

But the hazards posed by Mt. Pinatubo continue to this day, even though the volcano has remained quiet since 1991. Volcanologists estimate that damaging lahar flows may continue for another 10 years. More than 5 cubic kilometers (1 cubic mile) of volcanic ash and debris were deposited on the slopes around Mt. Pinatubo. Entire river valleys were filled. Each year part of that new volcanic layer is sent churning downslope by the heavy monsoon rains and typhoons that hit central Luzon between June and October. Scientists estimate that as much as 60 percent of the rocky debris from the eruption will eventually erode into the lowlands around the volcano. That’s enough sediment to cover the state of Rhode Island in a layer 1 meter deep."

Will write more tomorrow.

Posted in The View From Here

I know it's been a long time since I posted; I am undergoing some heavy "artillery" from the enemy right now and I am exhausted pretty early these days.

October is a busy month, with Yom T'ruah, Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret (Biblical Feast days) all within a few weeks of each other. The girls and I have been spending the days on the histories of each individual feast, review work and lots and lots of reading.

I also spent some time writing out the girls' subject preferences. They tell me they are satisfied with how we do our school but I want them to be eager to do their studies, not just resigned to doing them. And so we are going to concentrate on the areas of greatest interest, with our regular Bible study, reading and math (the important basic stuff).

We also started our nature walks again, gathering leaves to paint and print and look up on the Internet. We love to walk and talk, trying to guess species of trees by their leaves, seeing how many species of birds we can identify and what kinds of clouds are in the sky (including the types of weather they usher in). We collect specimens, bring them home and write about them in our notebooks. At night we look at the stars and the planets. A great way to learn.

Today, of course, is Friday. Aside from the regular preparations, we are trying to find a recipe for the old fashioned cookies that come in tins during the Yul season -- the ones with anise/anisette flavoring. You know the kind? They are shortbread cookies, I think. Later on, I'll let you know how our project turned out and elaborate more about how I'm "tweaking" our curriculum.

Posted in Resources

  I just "discovered" this while doing my Sunday work -- preparing for next week's seatwork. If you don't live in Florida or aren't fortunate enough to have this program carried on your local PBS, you're still in luck. Jack Horkheimer's  Stargazer shows are here to download to your RealPlayer.

The "shows" are little 1 or 5-minute presentations on what you will be able to witness in the skies (star-wise, anyway) for the coming week. No special equipment needed here; your naked eyeballs will do. Just to warn you, the man has a bad hairpiece and is, as my eldest remarked, "out there, Mom". But his pure enthusiasm will win you over.

If you and/or the kids love to look at the stars, this is a must-see.

Posted in The View From Here

  When I moved to Sweden, homeschooling as we know it did not exist here (or not to my knowledge, at least). I was told that the schools were progressive and that religion was not a problem. With those assurances and the hopes that going to public school would help our daughters make a smoother adjustment to Swedish culture, I placed them in the Swedish school system. The first few years, they seemed to do well. There were a few small problems (mostly their treatment by other children) but that comes with immaturity and can be found anywhere.

Soon we moved to a house in the country and the girls had to change schools. The school in this town was everything short of wonderful; at one point, my elder daughter, who was nine at the time, was being bullied by a girl in her class. Mikaela pushed DD9 down in the playground, made fun of her, knocked her things into puddles, and with the help of her six siblings, even followed her and her sister home, taunting them and throwing things at them. Emboldened by their success at school, these children even entered our yard and tried to start fights or steal toys, but I promptly put a stop to it.

DD9 got little sympathy and no protection whatsoever from her teacher. The girls have been taught not to act against another person; that when there are problems instead of continuing the argument/fight, they should tell an adult in charge. DD9 did so, only to have the teacher brush her off. "Stop complaining." She was told. "All you American children are spoiled."

At the lowest point of the year, I told DD9 to stay away from Mikaela. The teacher demanded to know why DD9 wouldn't play with "all the children". When DD9 informed her that I had instructed her to stay out of the girl's reach, the teacher replied, "Your mother does NOT run my classroom." Not only was DD9 forced to play with the terrorist, to make a point, the teacher seated her WITH Mikaela in class and ordered them to do their schoolwork together. When I complained, no action was taken. If anything, the situation became worse.

My two happy little girls, who could not wait to "have school", became miserable and it was a daily struggle to get them to go. I began to look into homeschooling in Sweden and we met with some local couples who were doing it. I was encouraged. But then I began to have serious health problems and started going through a rather difficult pregnancy.  Elle, our youngest, was born at that time. She had health problems and I was busy caring for her around the clock and healing from the surgery (c-section). I didn't want further trauma for the girls but to be honest I just couldn't handle teaching them at that point in time.

My husband was still working in town a few blocks away from their "old" school and we asked for special permission for the girls to be transferred back. The girls were happier and we decided to move back into town to cut down on expenses and to give the girls a more familiar and friendly environment. As Elle's needs became more manageable, I thought once again about homeschooling the girls.

To be continued...