Nov. 24, 2009

The Way, The Truth, The Life

We made crowns. Jesus is our king.

Love that dimple!!

We sang a song that we got from Sadlier We Believe to the tune of Frere Jacques.

Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ
is our king;
is our king.

He rules with peace and justice.
He gives life to all people.
We praise him.
Praise our king.

Let us worship,
let us worship,
Christ our king;
Christ our king.

As king he shows the way,
the truth, and the life.
We praise him.
Praise our king.

Then today, we made our own Pledge of Allegiance to Jesus. (By we, I mean Robby.)

Pledge of allegiance to Jesus the son of God and the King of Heaven.

Please forgive our sins on the earth that we stand on.

But take us to Heaven to be with the Son of God.    

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Nov. 24, 2009

Faith, Hope, and Love

We've been learning a lot in Catechism. The boys made crosses, anchors, and hearts to remind them to live their life with faith, hope, and love. It's so cute to hear Connor repeat that later. These are really good for Alex and Connor. The discussions are good for me, Robby, and Justin. I learn a lot about what they believe through our talks. It's really good for all of us. Their faith has really grown.

They put a thumb mark in the middle to represent that they will put their thumbprint on the world through faith, hope, and love.

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Nov. 24, 2009

Dissecting a Brain

     The boys learned so much from dissecting the heart, that when learning about the brain, we had to dissect one of those too. I asked for a beef brain, but that wasn't possible. So, we had to do with a lamb's brain. This was a little hard on me because it was just so tiny. So, while daddy was home this week, I thought it was a perfect time to have brain dissection and he could take the lead.

They looked at the left and the right hemispheres, the cerebrum, cerebellum, and the brain stem. They learned a lot and had a lot of fun. Rob messed them up by pretending to lick it. Robby and Justin said that it was the grossest thing he has ever done. Rob said, "So far..." I was just excited to get it out of the fridge. Thomas says that he is still working on getting me a beef brain though. And now we're learning about the eye and are supposed to dissect a beef eye. We'll see how that all works out.

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Nov. 13, 2009

Making the Right Choices

     Yesterday, we were walking through the mall and they have been hanging anti-smoking posters everywhere with the picture of the healthy lung with a picture of a smoker's lung. This is a very good visual. Well, Robby said something very smart to me. He said, "Why would anyone pick up a cigarette knowing that they are choosing that ugly lung?" I really don't know how this happened, but our boys are all very anti-smoking. I often wish that I knew what we did so that I could use it  in other aspects of their lives. They are so passionate about not smoking. I told Robby that when people pick up that cigarette, they think that they are just hanging out with friends and having fun with them, they don't realize they are choosing the black lung. I told him that it is comparable to when he does his math well and focuses, he is unknowingly choosing the path he wants, which is to be an airline pilot. He is choosing the pilot's uniform. But, when he hides his math or rushes through it, not caring, he is choosing a harder path, maybe a luggage handler's uniform. I think that this is a good visual for him too. I have always taught the boys that when they do good things, they get good things and when they do bad things, they get bad things. Sometimes we don't realize that there are so many choices in a day that determine their future. I am starting to encourage them to spend more time on pursuits that will help them acheive their goals. They have many airplane magazines and games and that is a better way for them to spend their free time, then watching tv or playing ds. We are starting to get a lot stricter about their tv watching. I'm always telling them to find some brain food. I explained it a little better yesterday by telling them that we don't let them eat candy whenever they want because it is junk food and no good for them, just like kid shows are like junk food for the brain. So, Justin said that he studies in school for eight hours and should be able to have tv junk food after that. But, then, I asked him if it would be healthy if he ate three meals of good food and then, three meals of junk food. I think they're getting it now. They haven't even asked for any kid shows since. We've realized that we need to be more disciplined in limiting it for them. Hopefully, as a family we'll make better choices from now on.

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Nov. 12, 2009

Learning about Saints

   We learned about the Saints and how to walk the path to heaven by following the Beatitudes. Here they cut out feet and then, wrote one of the beatitudes on each one. There are clouds on there to that signify heaven. They loved showing Rob these when he got home to see if he could guess which foot belongs to who.

Here they drew a picture of themselves. They are God's family.

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Oct. 29, 2009

Homeschooling kindergartners

     I received the following comment:

 
I am an Indian living in SaudiArabia and while looking up for homeschooling groups in this region i happen to hit on your blog. I have 2 daughters, a 5 yr old and 10 months old. I have just began homeschooling my elder one and as a beginner have many concerns and queries like what methods to follow and how to deal with issues like group activities and socialization. I would appreciate if you, as an experienced home schooler can advice and help me out.

First of all, thank you for your comment. I may be able to hook you up with other people who are homeschooling in your region if I knew more details. Feel free to email me if you want. For a kindergartner, it is best to concentrate on the language arts. Kindergartners don't need a lot of time yet. You could give her a one on one reading lesson while your other daughter is napping. I use How to Teach Your Child in 100 Easy Lessons. Connor really enjoys it. All of my boys have been different in their reading abilities. Some needed a lot of attention, but Connor can practically do them on his own because he knows I am busy with my other three. Kindergartners love to color and do crafts. I would recommend using Singapore Math. But, if you don't want to buy it right now, you might want to just look at what they are teaching in kindergarten and find worksheets for free online.

Socialization may be a challenge for you living in Saudi Arabia. If you live on a compound with other kids, it shouldn't be a problem. She will have plenty of kids to play with when school is out. But, if you live in an apartment, you may have to work a little harder to find people that you and your kids can hang out with. It's very important for you as well to find other women who share your interests and who you can laugh with here. It can be lonely for women if you don't make the effort and reach out to others.

Homeschooling is tough for anyone when starting out. But, it is well worth it. If she learns to read during kindergarten, then you are doing very well. You may want her to learn Arabic as well. Rosetta Stone is good. I would spend the quality time that you have with her alone, teaching her to read and then, reading to her. The most important thing about kindergarten is that it should be fun and instill in her a love for learning. If a lesson is to hard for her, then, go back and review and try it again in a couple of days. The most important thing that I have learned is that kids may fight you about learning something, but if you keep trying they will eventually get it and will get so excited about it. They'll get it when they're ready. Don't give up!!

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Oct. 25, 2009

Adventure Projects

     We are loving the Adventure Projects in Eastern Hemisphere Explorer with Sonlight. Robby has designed his own island resort, made pavlova, and now he created his own puppet show while learning about Japan. He is doing it to Tikko Tikko Tembo and we have some traditional Japanese music to set the mood. Robby created all this on his own. I was very impressed. I never could have imagined it turning out better.

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Oct. 22, 2009

Book of Service

    For catechism this week, we created a book of service. We are going to dedicate Saturday catechism to doing something for someone else. Each week, the kids will make something for somebody or do something for them. We have lots of opportunities here to help people. We know how intimidating and lonely it can be moving to this country and some of the people who live here are older and all alone. The first thing we will do is have the boys deliver a movie and shows that my husband got for one of our friends here who just had surgery. She's a very nice lady and has been very good to our family. It's very easy to do something nice for her.

     Next week, I was  thinking that it would be better to make some cookies or do something nice for the man who cleans our porch. He is from Pakistan. We don't interact with him very much because he doesn't speak English. But, he is all alone here too and helping him would be more selfless. He probably doesn't get homemade cookies very often either. I'm glad that we're doing this because it just makes us think about what we can do for other people a lot more. It makes it more of a habit when we have to come up with something every week. I bought smiley faces to put on the sheet every time they write something in it. I was reading an article about how important praise is to our children. Sometimes, I do get wrapped up in criticizing what they do and I forget to tell them how great they are doing. It's something I will have to work on. I'm going to have to start recognizing the problems they get right and make more of a point letting them know how great that is, instead of focusing on the ones that are wrong.

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Oct. 15, 2009

Choosing to Homeschool

     The other kids here in Saudi have been home from school because of the H1N1 virus. Some of the moms have commented to me that they couldn't wait for their kids to go back to school and they didn't understand how I do it every day, all year. About eight years ago, Rob came home with a bunch of library books about homeschooling and asked me to think about it. I was amazed by what I learned. Homeschooling just seemed like such a great fit for our family. I had no idea how to begin though and everyone else I knew was against it. But, I think that like everything else in life, it's all about commitment. I didn't jump in with both feet and that was what was really messing me up. Homeschooling was on my heart, but I struggled with the opinions of others. Before we moved to Saudi we had decided that no matter where we were, we were homeschoolers. We had to accept that. So, we have been doing it on our own consistently for three years. There were times that I knew that I couldn't leave the numbers of the schools by the phone, because there were times that I was very anxious about enrolling them. But, after two years of living in Saudi and never giving up, I no longer have those thoughts. I love having them home with me. Having a set schedule has really helped. Each child has their own lesson plans and the older two can look at them and get their work done independently. It helps that I know that everything is going to work out ok. It wasn't an easy road, but neither is sending kids to school. Either way, ensuring quality education and extra curriculars falls on the parents. What it boils down to is just knowing that whatever you are doing is best for your child. For me, once the idea of homeschooling was on my heart, I never had the commitment to make sending them to school work. I see many of friends wondering whether they should try homeschooling too. Sometimes, I think that I have it easier than my friends do because because I don't have to deal with any of the hassles here with the schools. My recommendation is to make a decision, follow that path, and just do it with your whole heart in it. This is what will have the greatest impact on a child.

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Oct. 13, 2009

Perfectionism

     This school year has been going really well. We are about to end our 5th week and I am really happy about how things have been going. I have to admit that before school started, I had a pit in my stomach and was really terrified. I didn't want to have to do a lot of fighting over getting work done this year. But, it hasn't been like that at all. I finally feel like everything is going to be ok. Robby just breezes through his math every day which still feels like a miracle. I don't know how that happened. I thought it would be really hard this year. I'm impressed with how well he is doing in science too. He's not a big reader of fiction and that has been a struggle, but he's getting better. I've made spelling a first priority and he is making progress.

     I have learned along the way that my boys would balk and say that things were too hard when I would present them with something new. Then, I would think that I was pushing them too hard and give them something easier. Then, I realized that that is what school is all about. It's not about practicing what we already know, but learning new things. Duh!! So, now I've gotten tougher and I remind them that it's hard learning something new, that they won't get it right away and that's okay. It takes time learning something new. I have really struggled with teaching the boys to have neat handwriting. We are still really working on it. I found this great program that the boys love. It is Write On Handwriting. It has helped a lot.

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