congrats, again, to Mark for another photo that was selected for flickr's most interesting. it's titled "resurrection day". he's really jammin' with his new camera!  in the sidebar is a link to his photo site on flickr. 

Mom sent me this and it sounds cool.  I think I'll try it.  NOTE: Needs to be prepared and put in the oven Saturday pm. 

RESURRECTION COOKIES

 1 Cup Pecans

 1 Tsp. Vinegar

 3 egg whites

 1 pinch salt

 1 Cup Sugar

 Ziploc baggies

 Wooden spoon

 tape

 Bible

 Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Place pecans in Ziploc baggie and let children beat them with the   wooden spoon to break into small pieces.

 Explain that after Jesus was arrested he was beaten by the Roman Soldiers.

 Read John 19:1-3

 Let each child smell the vinegar.  Put 1 tsp. vinegar into mixing bowl.

 Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross he was given vinegar to drink.  Read John 19:28-30

 Add egg whites to vinegar.  Eggs represent life.

 Explain that Jesus gave His life to give us life.  Read John 10:10-11

 Sprinkle a little salt into each child's hand.  Let them taste it and brush the rest into the bowl.

 Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus' followers and the bitterness of our own sin.  Read Luke 23:27

 So far the ingredients are not very appetizing.

 Add 1 Cup Sugar

 Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us.  He wants us to know and belong to Him.  Read Ps 34:8 and John 3:16

 Beat with a mixer on high speed for 12 to 15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed.

 Explain that the color white represents the purity in God's eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus.  Read Isa. 1:18 & John 3:1-3.

 Fold in broken nuts.  Drop by teaspoons onto wax paper covered cookie sheet.

 Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus' body was laid.  Read Matt. 27:57-60.

 Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and turn the oven OFF.

 Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door.  Explain that Jesus' tomb was sealed.  Read Matt. 27:65-66

 GO TO BED!!  Explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in  the oven  overnight.  Jesus' followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed.  Read John 16:20 & 22

 On Easter morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie.  Notice the cracked surface and take a bite.  The cookies are Hollow!  On the first Easter Jesus' followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty.  Read Matt. 28:1-9.  HE HAS RISEN

we continued working through GEMS' Bubble Festival unit at this week's co-op. here's the "bubble windows" activity. putting your hand through the window without popping it, or placing windows inside one another, are special challenges. poor lydia has an allergy to either the Dawn dishwashing soap or the glycerin added, because she broke out in a rash.  she was able to continue with gloves.

i made 3 D shapes from pipe cleaners and straws to do a "polygon bubble" activity.  the last activity was "bubble tech"--determining what equipment makes the best bubble blowers.

yes, I did get over my math worries.  (see below) at the beginning of June, we will be going through a big one year move back to the US.  i want to have my homeschool order ready to shoot off as soon as i have a new address there. so, i've been thinking about it and outlined my curriculum and crunched the numbers, before moving mania sets in.  here's some highlights of the plan:

Tapestry of Grace Year One: History of Redemption  this history/literature/writing program for all ages is the beginning of a new four year, chronological history cycle for us.  so, Lydia has studied ancient history before, but not since 2nd grade, whereas it'll be luke's first time.  TOG covers a broad amount of ancient history:  egyptians, greeks, romans, mayans, chinese, & more, as well as incorporating in lots of Biblical history.  it'll end at the fall of rome.

MindBenders  Lydia will spend more time on Logic next year, starting with the A3-4 part of this deductive program and getting into a formal logic program afterwards.  She did the MindBenders A1-2 CD-Rom this year and enjoyed it. 

Noeo Science, Biology, 1st & 2nd level   we're definitely ready to repeat the Noeo program after having completed Chem I & II with my kids this school year.   

Rod and Staff Grammar and Writing (2nd and 6th)  i decided to try this program for the first time. i've always heard good things about it from friends with older kids and the well-trained mind recommends it, too. i'm feeling the need for a more comprehensive, formal program. we've done lots of good diagramming this year, but not much else for grammar.  i will actually have two complete writing programs between this one and the one incorporated in TOG, but I kinda like to resource and have options, so that's a plus.

Excellence in Spellng's The Phonetic Zoo, Level B   this spelling program is based on a mastery of levels of lists, somewhat like Spelling Power, while being easier for a student to complete independently. the most unique aspect of the program is the CDs that put strong emphasis on auditory SEQUENTIAL spelling (rather than our visual memory that can't always keep things in order). 

Math U See  I decided to stick with MUS for another year (6th and 2nd), but also do Singapore Math's 5th grade and 2nd grade program.  MUS doesn't take the kids very long, so i'm always looking for "more" to do, anyway. We'll probably change out of both of these programs by Algebra.

That's the basics, without the art & music we'll do.  lydia continues Rosetta Stone Spanish (i'm not classically classical; we don't do latin, at least, not yet). 

For our Friday co-op's science class, I did a Bubble Festival.  We're studying the properties of water in Noeo Science's Chemistry I.  The Bubble Festival, though, is an extra project book I bought from GEMS (Great Explorations in Math & Science).  Mark took most of the photos below with his new camera.

above i'm demonstrating how to blow a bubble in your palm with a straw.  the only "blowing" instrument we used for our activities was a straw. below, luke and david make table bubbles.

lydia and raema watch the bubble's stages of color change.  below, landry finishes a bubble.

mary's flickr photo site

this is the family at a thai restaurant in the capital last tue.  mark had just gotten his new camera for his birthday and i played with it here.  as you can see, i didn't do too well trying to compensate for the backlighting in this photo.  the shots below, of the kids, turned out much better because i put the camera on auto!  ha, ha!  i love intelligent cameras! 

it's so rare to get a serious photo of luke--usually it's one of those huge, fake smiles that children often do for a camera.  below is my sweetie, lydia.

last week, Lydia got up on stage for her first entry in a  "talent recital" before a large group of mish families and recited all of Psalm 139.  she hit it just right: a little bit of feeling in it, and not one hesitation. took her most of the school year to memorize it--she chose the scripture.  she was the only kid there that did Bible recitation, so it was a nice variation in the program.

lydia at the school table last spring

what did i learn at the educational conference last week?  It sunk in my head--high school is coming!  and before that --jr. high!  which means... my math curriculum choice for next year's 6th grade is actually important.  it can determine if my very bright 11yo dd will be ready for pre-alg in 7th and then alg in 8th, according to the new standards.  the responsibility, the decisions!!! 

i've been using MathUSee with both kids and supplementing some, mostly fun stuff.  MUS is a real thinking program, strong foundation, and steve demme is a great teacher, but it's more for average to slow students in its prep for high school math (according to homeschool review guru, cathy duffy).  i appreciate that my kids really "learn" without being in a hurry.  but, it just kind of putt-putts along while other curriculums are whizzing by to high school. i definitely plan to move out of the program by pre-alg, if not sooner.  they have just added an additional book to their pre-alg course to make it "honors", but i wonder if it's up to snuff to just tag something on to a regular level course?  

i've pretty much decided to do extra math work this summer with Lydia.  but, what direction to go?  stay with MUS and just do it faster?  supplement with Key to... workbooks?  try to catch her up to singapore math level?  SM is very far ahead of MUS--that's a fast train to catch.  i've spent the week back from hungary's education conference obsessing over internet math reviews, standards, etc. 

unfortunately, cathy duffy's are the only reviews i'm reading for homeschool materials that are "professional".  see CD's reviews.  most of the other stuff out there is like:  "my kid enjoys it"..."i was too busy to teach it"..."it's for kinesthetic types",... that's fine, but it's not seriously comparing the content/standards of the programs, like is done for public school curriculum.  reading some of the reviews for ps stuff was fascinating.  i learned a lot about the "math wars" that pits education professionals against parents teamed with college math professors. check this site out:  Mathematically Correct's Program Reviews   i am very grateful that i don't have to worry about a reform math curriculum in ps that doesn't prepare kids for college!    in the end, at least i learned a lot through my math obsession this week! 

earlier this month, my husband left to teach a Bible school class in albania for 2 weeks.  when protests were scheduled in response to the final status agreements for our area (see entry below "final status explained"), the kids and i were advised to stay out of sight and hole up for the weekend.  we decided to go ahead and leave the country, mostly because we were not looking forward to a boring weekend at home!  10 yo dd, lydia, had 2 sleepovers cancelled as well as a co-op valentine's party.    

without mark at home, it was all a little much.  we had a nice weekend in the nearby country, going to a huge indoor playland and 2 friends' houses. altogether, it was a good, but very long 2 weeks for me.  fortunately, the protests that happened were of limited scope because the major political parties here told their people to stay off the street.  one relatively small, radical group went out and attacked the parliament building.  our small town was completely quiet.

i read you on a diet, which i borrowed from a friend in skopje.  it motivated me to try to eat better because it describes in detail all the horrible things that happen in your body from fat and poor eating.  i've been starting school later in the morning for a week to allow time for exercising 30-45 min, and then showering, most mornings.  i had to give myself permission for that. since i'm naturally a morning person, i was already getting up early to do devotions, but i previously couldn't manage to do lengthy devotional studies, exercise, and start school early, too.  exercise was always put aside as the lowest of the 3 priorities.  i don't want to go to bed any earlier, either. 

well, the school day has felt much more interrupted and crazy with pushing it back by an hour or so, but we did get it done.  somehow, i've got to find the balance.  the good news is (1) the exercise has felt really great and i'm motivated to make it work and (2) hubby, who has a VERY high CVD risk, has been cutting back and eating salads every day for lunch besides doing some exercise several times this week! this is the man who loves to say salads are "rabbit food".  

whenever we're out of the country, like next week in hungary, it's so easy to go into "treat" mode because there is so much more yummy food choices available.  i'm already trying to prep myself for no ice cream and such when the kids get it.  both my kids are on the extreme side of slim, so I have to try to help them make fairly different food choices than i do.

flickr photo site    looking up at the walled town of Kruja

This weekend, the kids and I are off to Hungary for a week-long educational conference specifically for mish families in E. Europe.  My kids will be tested there and I'll go to workshops and stuff, kind of like a homeschool conference. I can't wait!   This is so much fun!  Teachers come from the US and do a full week's worth of classes for the kids. They'll be doing a unit study on Medieval Times and Luke is supposed to bring a picture of a castle he's been to. In Europe, you can ask students to do that. Ha, ha.

The rest of this post is for those interested in history:

These photos are from 2 years ago when we were in Kruja, Albania.  The tower was first built by locals after Goth invasions, c 6th cen BC. Whew, that was a LONG time ago!  However, it is best known today for withstanding 3 separate seiges of the Ottoman army, the largest army of its day, in the 1400s. 

The head guy in charge during the seiges, Skanderbeg, has a fascinating story, somewhat like the Biblical Daniel's.  His father was forced to pay tribute to the Turks and he was taken as a hostage by the Sultan, to insure his father's "cooperation".  At the Sultan's court, he was raised as a Musl#m, though his family was Catholic.  He began fighting in the Sultan's army and was eventually put in leadership, earning the honorary title "Skander-beg". (turkish="Lord Alexander", in reference to: Alexander the Great). 

En route to a battle to fight for the Turks against a Hungarian army in Nish, he abandoned course, heading for his father's castle in Kruja with 300 of his Albanian men.  There he took the now Turk-run castle by trickery, raised the Albanian flag, was baptized, publicly renounced Islam, and organized the Albanian princes into a League to fight off their Turkish conquerors. He is famously quoted as saying to the princes, "I did not bring you freedom, but found it here among you."  He obviously knew the Turks' fighting tactics well because he was able to successfully repel them. He led his vastly outnumbered army to not only protect his own castle, but helped protect Western Europe from the Turkish threat.  Becoming a legend in his own lifetime, he was given the title "Champion for Christ" by a contemporary Pope.  Much later, Longfellow wrote a poem about him, and Vivaldi an opera.

The Turks eventually overwhelmed defenses at the castle 10 years after his death by malaria at 63.  When the Turks found his body entombed at a church, they dug up the bones and made them into amulets, hoping they might receive some of his legendary strength. 

For those of you familiar with the Balkans, tragically, he did not make it to the 2nd Battle of Kosovo to fight with the Hungarians.  He, with his army, was delayed by an attack of the Serb Brankovic, an Ottoman vassal, on the way.  Skanderbeg's army arrived too late--the battle was over.

luke in front of skanderbeg's communist-era statue

girlfriend, lisa, this if for you.  these photos are all from last fri, before hubby took off with the (only) camera. this coming fri, judy's planning a v day party.  i'll get the kids to do v's cards tomorrow. 

above:  even johnny got in on the "evapu-art" project.  here he decided that lydia was way overdue in passing the watercolors.  below:  david intently studies where the water on the outside of the icy cup came from.

above: Raema figures out that without much air around the cup, there's no condensation.

below: i read about 'The Marketplace Dog' in The James Herriot Treasury for Children. here the kids pretended to be the begging dog.  we also watched 'Sound of Music' together, which your kids took home to enjoy again.