Hart's Happenings

School Reports

It's time to give the grandparents, aunts and uncles a report on how the children are doing in school.  It's hard to come up with details on the phone, so you usually just hear "fine!"  I try to save these once/year "report cards" so that the children have some sort of keepsake record.

Kaleigh:  In school here in the UK she would be in year 2, and in Australia year 1, the US 1st grade.  She is currently at year 2 level in phonics (most likely because we don't push it), reading and spelling about 2 years ahead, and doesn't really have to think about math at all.  We started the year half way through 1st grade math (UK year 2) and after a few years jumped to 2nd grade.  She would most likely be fine if she skipped another year, but I'm paranoid about missing any of the basics.  She started violin lessons a few weeks ago, and after a rockier start now seems to be ok with it!  She plays tennis on a Saturday morning, and can now get the ball back over the net - not quite as bad as her mother, but not completely sporty either.  She attends an art and craft group every 2nd Friday.

Emily:  UK year 6, Australia end of year 4, US 5th grade.  This year Em is taking US 5th grade Bible, Reading, Math and Science through BJUhomesat on dvd.  I'm working with her on Abeka Language A (4th grade), CLP spelling (4th grade), Rosetta Stone French and CLP handwriting (4th grade).  Considering where she was 3 years ago she's doing brilliantly, and would now be well above the average state school level in each class.  Slow and steady wins the race! She was 2 years behind when we started homeschooling and is now quite competent!  She also plays tennis on a Saturday morning, and is quite good, and received a distinction in her last violin exam - violin seems to come naturally to her.  She attends an art and craft group every 2nd Friday.

Samuel:  UK year 8, Australia end of year 6, US 7th grade.  Sam is taking US 7th grade Math, Life Science, English (Grammar and Literature), and World Studies (History and Geography) with BJUhomesat DVD.  He's continuing with CLP handwriting and Rosetta Stone French.  He's consistently above 90% in everything except major writing assignments which would be more like 70%.  He continues to do well with cricket, but is taking a break this term from winter training for the first time in a few years.  He has joined the girls in Saturday morning tennis.  He continues to do well with piano - not overly drawn to it, but he works hard anyway. 

Melissa:  UK year 10, Australia end of year 9, US 9th grade.  Lis is taking BJU homesat on DVD for 10th grade Geometry, Biology, English (grammar and literature), 9th grade Geography, French and Bible.  She continues with violin (working on grade 6) and piano (grade 2), plays in a string group on a Monday evening, and is progressing well in music theory.  She attends a sewing class every 2nd Tuesday.

Aside from the reports, I have an update on Melissa's high school plan:

If Lis was in high school here, the last 4 years of school are structured so that they study for 2 years for a GCSE qualification (usually in 10 subjects/classes) and then 2 years study for A levels (1st year AS, 2nd year A2, anywhere from 2-5 classes over the 2 years, most often just 3!)  This is for years/grades 10-13, she would currently be in year 10 for school here, which is equiv US 9th grade.

Using BJ homesat is soooooooo different to standard UK education, but it's been excellent for us (in the standard of education, the christian content and the interesting format), especially as we have had to adjust from an NZ system, to Australian, to UK...you just aren't too bothered by the "norm".  One major difference though is that the UK system has one full year more formal schooling than the US/NZ/Aust systems (to reach the same standard for university - it's just more spread out), which means that if we continue with BJU all the way then Lis would be graduating a year ahead of her friends the same age..no biggie in practical terms though.

We think that the system of going from 10 classes down to so few is a little crazy..kind of like a splatter gun approach for 2 years with hardly any depth and then a huge jump. It seems like an expensive waste of time, and the depth is barely past  a decent 9th grade curriculum. So every time someone has asked if our kids will take GCSE's we have said no, and they think that our kids will be scarred for life.  I had looked around online for A level courses, and could only find those with prerequisites of 6 GCSE passes.  Last month though I found an online programme that allows for taking A levels without GCSE's!!!!!!!!  This is huge! 

Lis is currently half way through BJU homesat 10th grade at age nearly 15.  So because of her younger age (she skipped a year) we will have her also complete 11th grade with BJU - even though it's approx the same standard as first year A levels.  She will then study via this online course for 5 A levels.  This is considered a large amount, but she will take Biology for one of them, and that material is almost the same as BJU 10th grade Biology, so a large portion should just be review!  She will graduate at the same time as her friends in school, achieve some qualifications, and some of the courses look great.

You may be exhausted after reading all of this, but you certainly can't complain that it's lacking in detail!  I'll be back sometime in the next few days with pictures of our new home

September

We are all very busy getting ready to move house.  Completion is this Wednesday, and we will move on Thursday 4th - 11 months after they accepted our offer! This allows 8 days for cleaning and decorating - I'll have to remember to take before and after pics!

Here are a few shots taken over the last month.  We were sad to see N & A leave at the end of August, but delighed by the artwork left behind!  Here are the older 4 with their pencil portraits!

Here's Sophie at exactly 13 months of age

And here she is a few days later at a church BBQ.  She started taking a few steps just days after her birthday, and by the beginning of September was walking quite well.  She's still a little unsteady, but is starting to run.  She isn't too fond of wearing shoes but is starting to adjust with the start of the chilly autumn weather. 

Our sunflowers which looked so beautiful here are now wilting and brown.  Summer is truly at an end, and as soon as we have settled into our new home it will be time to start planning for Christmas!

Sophie's first birthday

Sophie enjoyed a special day spending the morning in the town of Les Carroz, later at Sallanches by the lakeside, and concluding with cake back at the chalet.

Waking up as a one year old!

Gifts - sorry it's so dark - she just loves her new baby doll!

Lunch at a creperie

About to "swim" in her paddling pool at the lake  - the white peaks of Mount Blanc are in the background, but very hard to see!

Having fun in the water

Enjoying her birthday cake!

Pics from the trip

This was taken a few days before we left, but since it's of everyone I included it.

On the road - isn't it amazing that even a skinny baby can look chubby from this angle?

On the Lindt Bunny throne during our chocolate factory tour - who could possibly look at the camera when you are between two giant Lindt Bunnies?

Lindt Bunny heaven!

Trecking in the French Alps

Taking a rest at the top!

Lake Annecy

Eating her first pizza crust at a canal side restaurant in Annecy

Late evening after our dinner - canal in the background and lake further back

Hello from Cologne!

We are staying near Cologne with friends who moved here in February.  The city kind of reminds us of Geneva.

Today we went to the Chocolate Museum, and watched them make Lindt Lindors.  We saw the original Lindt bunny mould, and I had the nicest hot chocolate - but that's to be expected when they add piped melted Lindt chocolate!

Pics will follow when we are home from our trip.  (August 9th)

We still didn't exchange on the house before we left, and are hoping to get a call while we are away.

Kaleigh's 6th Birthday

Kaleigh turned 6 a couple of weeks ago.

A birthday princess. 

With her "birthday fish" 2 black fish named after 2 of the "All Blacks" (NZ rugby team - what can I say, she's her father's daughter ) 

For her birthday treat she chose bowling and dinner with some family friends. Helped by Jack 

The restaurant sang Happy Birthday to her - you can just see the enthusiastic waiter. 

Sophie got up close and personal with a balloon for the first time - she absolutely loved it while I felt guilty for not having introduced her to balloons a lot sooner. 

House News

The bank called a few minutes ago, our financing has been approved!  Because it was such an unusual set up it took much longer than usual, and the last few days we hadn't heard anything despite leaving messages.  We are so thrilled and relieved!

The third and final step is that the Charities Commision now need to approve it.  This should not be an issue, but could take a while, so we would appreciate prayer for a really really swift decision.  The sellers are getting very antsy as they are only just hanging on to the house that they have found.  Once we get the ok from the CC we can set a date and move ASAP.

2 New Skills

Yesterday Lis made her first loaves of bread...

And Sophie can finally sit by herself...

Happy Easter to our family and friends!

Another gorgeous sunny day here in the UK!

On Friday Sophie tasted her first hot cross bun

My once/year homemade buns!

And on Sunday she tasted her first chocolate

Before church on Sunday

And some pics after church - again, note that the sun does shine here!

Sunday evening we visited another church for my cousin's baptismal service.  We had a fantastic evening and arrived home close to midnight.  Today (Easter Monday) we are heading off to a birthday party where the Dads and older kids will play laserquest.  Should be a lot of fun! 

We are taking a few days off school, and will most likely start back on Thursday - although if this weather holds then we might take until Monday, but the kids don't know that :)

Sisters

Kaleigh and Sophie love to snuggle in her bed while we pray for them.  Sophie's cot is opposite K's cabin bed, and as we turn out the light they are waving goodnight to each other.

The other kids have been pretty miserable with the flu.  Melissa first, then Sam and now Emily. 

March Moments

At the end of Feb we travelled to Lincolnshire for a week's break.  It was a little grey and cold - hey this is England in winter - but it was so good to escape and relax for a while.  I've lost the pics, but hope that Lis can find hers.  Just before we went away, Emily broke her right arm, close to the wrist.  At first she was delighted, less school work, no dishes etc.  She was thrilled to have the first official broken bone - even though Lis stil thinks that her broken toe counted for something! Then when she had to miss out on holiday treats like horse riding it stopped being so much fun.  The cast was removed yesterday and the arm has healed really well.  Last weekend some American friends visited for a couple of days.  My first real life visit with a Hker!  We had a great time showing them London condensed into one day. 

Kaleigh loves the queen's guards, but was a little more wary of this Horse Guard..she prefers a gun to a sword!

We still hope to move at some point.  The current owners have found a new house, and the church is doing well with raising their part of the finance.

We've had a gorgeous spring week, and all ended up with a slight sunburn after our day in London.  Spring flowers are everywhere, and we are looking forward to summer!  Everyone's on track with school, so we are hoping for another early start to the summer break. 

A few pics for Dad!

Sam has stepped up as man of the house - giving the once/day bottle (it can be a battle for her to take it from Roger!)

Her first meal containing the evil green stuff (avocado )

On Wednesday last week we woke up to our first snow fall this year..

Never let yourself be backed into a corner!

The snow was a great diversion as we had builders in the house making repairs to the floor and bathroom upstairs.  We were otherwise confined to the living room for 3 days which was interesting!

The final piece of hot off the press news is that Soph has her first tooth.  It has just broken the gum, so nothing to take a picture of yet.

Kid Pics

We had a mini home photoshoot today so that we can send pics to the grandparents with Roger.  Here are a few samples

Grandad

On Friday we received a phone call from Ruth to let us know that Roger's dad had just died from a sudden heart attack.  It was a shock to everyone, but we take comfort from the fact that he knew the Lord.  Ruth sent us an email with a quote from her daily calendar for that very day..

"The wicked is banished in his wickedness, but the righteous has a refuge in his death."

Happy New Year

We've had a great and luxuriously lazy start to the New Year.  I extended our school break by a few days when I realised that I had planned for us to start the new term sooner than the local schools!!!  So the last few days have been filled with lots of movies and board games.  We had a low key NYE at a friend's house after a tea at church before the evening service.  It was great to see a photo and video review of 2006.  So much happened in the last year that it was good to be reminded of all of the details.

Currently:  Yesterday Sophie turned 5 months old.  She's always smiling and chatting - but never for the camera.

Christmas Week

On the 20th Sophie celebrated by rolling over for the first time.

Playing:

And the next moment she was on her front!

Pretty pleased with herself!

On the 21st we visited the reindeer at a local garden centre

and had a lot of fun tasting at the local farmers market.

In the evening we went carol singing with some friends.  Most of our neighbours appreciated it (and the plates of fudge and other goodies that we left) although a couple promptly closed the door in our faces!  We had a lot of fun, complete with hot chocolate at the end with a discussion on the complexities of human nature.

With our carol singing friends:

Our  "Joseph" on Christmas Eve (she performed well despite her initial disgust at having to play a BOY'S part!!)

Christmas Dinner

Emily's nails covered with wax from the Edam cheese - hey it was late Christmas evening!

Monday Mayhem

Yesterday was a good day..kind of madly odd, but still good.  We started off with Christmas shopping with the kids, you know the kind where you each take a few then swap half way so that they can all get gifts for each other and us.  It's Roger's once/year shopping nightmare but he seemed to cope with it fairly well - meaning he managed to find something for me without having to make too many calls for help!!  Emily had a friend sleep over on Sunday, so her family joined us for lunch and then the rest of the day.  Highlights included Indian takeaway for dinner - always more exciting with Indian friends who were able to guide us through points of the menu that we usually avoid - watching Sam eat a whole green chilli and then spend the next hour soothing his mouth with yoghurt, tears streaming down his mouth and shaking in pain.  Hey we did warn him    We finished the day with a chaotic game of taboo in which the girls won without a problem!

Melissa spent the afternoon and evening at a horse show with friends..and I realised that we have now reached the point in life where we are waiting up for our child to come home.  I learnt that NO, I cannot sleep until she is in the door no matter how safe she is or how tired I am - all of those mothers of older kids were right -ugh!  So the day ended at 1am and I woke up with a headache and rash from accidentally eating coconut in one of the dishes last night

Today we are making more fudge for the gift plates that we will hand out when carolling on Thursday.

I'm Back!

Whew so pleased that this is back up and running after the recent changes :)

Our last week - well we have been working hard to finish school by Thursday - only 1.5 school days left in the term!!  Sophie has started on solids.  As much as I was hoping to wait until 6 months we only just made it past 4.   So far she has had rice and pumpkin   She has also found her voice - and is very loud the whole time that she is awake - the novelty is wearing thin despite how wide a grin she wears while making "AR-AR-AR" sounds!

We also received fantastic results from the 3 eldest's music exams.  Lis achieved another merit, and so did Sam, while Emily pulled off a distinction!  Sam and Emily, but Sam in particular were really pushed forward for this - we were originally planning a trip in March which would have been the next opportunity - and had to work very hard - it has been a good learning experience all round.

We plan to have a day of christmas baking on Friday, have our church carol service on Sunday evening as well as a service at a retirement home on Sunday afternoon.  Then it will be just one week until Christmas. 

Sophie - 4 months

On Sunday Sophie went in the Jolly Jumper for the first time - either we have a particularly bouncy model, or a particularly bouncy girl!  She just loved it and didn't stop bouncing.  It brought back memories of the older 3 - not so much Kaleigh as she used to scream every time that we went in it!

Bouncing Sophie!

and here are a few pics from Monday, her "4 month" day!

I took about 20 pics and couldn't catch a smile - she's usually very smily, but the flash made her close her eyes - I adjusted the timing and it made her look like she was asleep

It's hard to believe just how quickly she is growing.  She's nearly rolling over and supporting herself well when sitting on our laps. 

Saturday's pics..

Sorry for the delay here.  Saturday was a fantastic day.  The kid's exams went well (mostly!) and we had a great time choosing and decorating our tree.

Here's our day in pictures...

Post-exam relief!

At the Christmas tree farm...

The hardest part in our hunt for the "perfect" tree was that all of the rain over the last couple of months had caused the trees to grow more quickly than usual..and we only have a very small space in the corner of the living room to squeeze it in.

Kaleigh thought that these trees would work!

The "perfect" tree..

and again but obscured by the family..

Cutting the tree down - the owner used a chainsaw this year, unlike our last year's effort with a rusty handsaw!

Sophie did NOT like the noise..

Dragging the tree to the car..

The finished product!