Russia- Weeks 29 and 30

We completed our visit to Russia a week ago, but I'm late in posting because we had a much deserved week off.  I was gone on two different trips, including a homeschool conference.  We're about to embark on our study of my favorite place in the whole world: Australia. I've never been there, but it is the place I've always dreamed of going. But before we go there, I'll wrap up our trip to Russia.

We began reading the third and final volume in the Kingdom Tales trilogy by David and Karen Mains.  The kids were so excited to pick this series up again.  We get so much out of these allegorical tales and they always ask for more.  We cooked blinis, much like crepes, and spread them with jam and then rolled them up.

 They were so delicious, a mix between a pancake and french toast because of the eggs in them.

Our most memorable activity was blowing the center out of an egg so that we could decorate them.  We learned about Peter Faberge and his famous jeweled eggs and this was the suggested art project.  Oh my, we laughed soooooo hard!

We poked a small hole in the top and bottom of the egg and then we just blew into it.  If the yoke seemed to clog the hole, we pierced it or shook the egg to break it up.  Oh my, all I could think of was giving birth, with all the insides coming out of a tiny.... well, anyway.

I got in on the fun too.  Caleb said he's never heard me laugh so hard.

The kids then painted their eggs using acrylic paint.

We saw many beautiful Faberge eggs online, but I think the kids did a pretty competitive job at making their own.

Weeks 16 and 17- Germany

I'm so glad  our My Father's World curriculum spent six weeks exploring three European countries.  Europe is just incredible, and so diverse.  Although it's exciting and a nice shot in the arm to be headed south toward Africa,  we all feel there is still so much to learn about Europe!  We just don't want to leave.

Probably the most fun we had in Germany was using beeswax to create small sculptures.  In Germany, beeswax is a very common art supply in most class rooms.  I was excited to find some on clearance at the craft store.  Beeswax can take quite a while to get soft and moldable, so we cheated and used a hair dryer to speed up the process.  It comes in sheets so we unrolled them and tore off a piece, warmed it up, and started molding.  Mister made an elf and a knight.

Brown Eyed Girl made a menagerie of animals.

Petite just loves to have her picture taken.  She has a bit of blue beeswax in hand, but it didn't interest her the way Play-Dough does.

Brown Eyed Girl has been reading Amelia Bedelia and had been asking me for a few weeks to make a lemon meringue pie, just like Amelia. If you have ever made a lemon meringue pie, you know it's a lot of work between making the crust, custard, and meringue.  I felt bad that I kept putting her off and finally agreed, but I warned her this would take a while.  She did a wonderful job of sticking with it and learned how to separate eggs, juice and zest a lemon, and make a meringue (which was always impossible for me til I got my Kitchen aid!).

Our meringue was stiff and gorgeous and our custard was sweet and tart.  Here she is before we browned the meringue.

 And a picture of me thrown in.  I have to show up on here once in a while.
Our pie came out wonderful, but it turns out I'm the only one in the house who likes lemon.  B-E-G did have a little taste, but gave it a sideways thumb for a rating.  Josh admitted he had to choke it down cause he's not a lemon fan. And Mister wouldn't even touch it. Thankfully Grammy and Grampy like lemon and we also sent some to our brother-in-law who loves it.

Our German feast wasn't fancy, but we did have frankfurters and German potato pancakes, which everyone liked.

No true beer for us, but I happened to have a can of root beer in the fridge.  The Germans love their beer and I can't thank them enough for hamburgers!

As I write this post, we are finishing up the book Heidi, which is absolutely wonderful.  We all love it and I am so glad I pulled this classic off the shelf to read to my children.  The kids lay on the floor in front of the fire while I curl up on the couch. I cherish these moments of showing them what is good and pure and lovely in the form of a beautiful story.

Weeks 14 & 15- France

Yesterday we finished up our two week travels around France. We spent most of the time in Paris, because who doesn't love Paris?  Fridays are generally a lighter day. Mister finished his Singapore Math 3A book.  Brown-Eyed-Girl colored while I read to them from George Mueller.  We all felt the anticipation of getting school done for the day, because it meant school vacation for the holidays and the cousins were coming over.

As all this was happening in my home, the unspeakable was happening a few states away.  When I heard the terrible news of the Connecticut school shooting, I wept. I have to admit I was thankful my babies were home safe with me.  I have to admit I thanked God I could homeschool them.  I  have to admit the thought of sending them into this evil world makes me want to cloister them within the four walls of our house.

But I cannot do that, nor is that what God wants me to do. For now, yes, they are protected from certain things they would not be if they were in public school.  That is one reason why we homeschool.  But I have to admit that the terrible thing that happened yesterday at a school could happen absolutely anywhere.  It was not a school that did this, it was a man.  We could be at the library, at the grocery store, at the movies, at our church, and a man could walk in and do the same thing. 

My children and their lives are not in my hands. They are in God's.  I must prepare them to go into this world that has so much evil in it, but needs salt and light and the love of Jesus Christ.  I must do all I can to train them to be as wise as serpents but as harmless as doves.    I must entrust them to the Lord each and every day.  At home. At play.  And away.

Lord, please be with those hurting families in Connecticut.  Make good on Your promise to make beauty out of ashes and to use all things for good.  What Satan meant for evil, may You use for good.

France is known for making pretty soaps in different shapes with lots of rich scents. We made our own soap out of regular soap bars, melted in a "double boiler".

When it cooled, the kids molded some into various shapes, and also cut some with cookie cutters.

We made our first batch of gingerbread cookies since we were making the Eiffel Tower out of gingerbread as well.  I didn't get a picture of the finished project, but the kids cut theirs out using a template and decorated them once baked.  We didn't even attempt a 3-D model, though it had crossed my mind.

We enjoyed a French feast together last night.  We didn't have real wine, but we did have some sparkling juice, baguette and hot brie.  So delicious!  I'm happy to say the kids loved the brie!

Brown-Eyed-Girl loves all colored liquids, so she had many glasses of the juice. So much so, we teased her she would get drunk.  Mister was believing it would really happen.

We listened to accordion music from France while we ate and I cherished my family sitting around the table together.  As popular author Karen Kingsbury always writes at the end of her dedications, I am thankful to God Almighty, the Author of  Life,  who has- for now- blessed me with these.

Weeks 12 and 13- Norway!

Another stamp is in our homeschooling passport for the year!  We finished our visit to Norway.

We took a week off in between our visit for the Thanksgiving holiday. It was much needed and much deserved.  We did take a field trip to the Maine State Museum. a place we had gone before but one that is worthy of repeat visits.  I didn't get too many pictures because I was chasing Petite all over the place.  But here are the cousins in front of some Maine black bears.

We had the pleasure of hosting Thanksgiving for both my family and Josh's. Here's the crew crowded into the kitchen right before we carved Tom.

It was a very exciting week off for us, because Josh got his first deer since high school, right in our back field.  I never thought I'd be the kind of girl excited about hunting, but here I am posting my beautiful family all bedecked in blaze orange with  Josh's buck.  He got skunked last year so we were thrilled to celebrate with him.

Brown  Eyed Girl's Van Gogh-esque work

My very favorite artist is Vincent Van Gogh, who is from Holland.  I actually couldn't find Holland on the European map because it's another term for the Netherlands.  The kids created landscapes in the style of Van Gogh, using swirls and paint thickened with glue to give it texture.  Van Gogh often used thick paint and the brush strokes are evident in his work. I never met a painting of his that I didn't like, but I was surprised that he only sold one of his pieces while he was alive.  Now they are worth millions.  I enjoy the two giclees that I own of his work and I covet more. This project was from the excellent book Usborne Art Treasury.

Mister's fine art "reproduction"

Earlier this year, Josh had the awesome privilege of visiting Finland on business.  He brought me  home an excellent Scandinavian cookbook, Scandilicious: Secrets of Scandinavian Cooking, which we used to learn about Norwegian food.  We made this Tropisk Aroma, or Norwegian spiced chocolate cake.  We used my kitchen scale to accommodate the metric measurements- so we had a great math lesson with this too.

It was quite yummy, though I overcooked it a bit.  That's what happens when you're a busy mom.

I was hurrying to get this published before we head to France tomorrow, so I'm sure I left out fun details and that this has horrible typos, but forgive me.  Again, it's what happens when you're a busy mom!

My Father's World Curriculum "Review"

Sigh of joy and relief... we finished week 12 of school and we are breaking for Thanksgiving!  Things have been going great, but I was wise and planned for some time off.  The old teacher-mom in me would think, "Nah, we can keep going!".  No, we need a little vacation.

With that said, I'll get to the thrust of my post.  Quite a while ago, a blogging friend asked me for more information on My Father's World curriculum.  I am only a first-time user this school year, so I certainly don't know all the ins and outs, but I will attempt to share what I've learned and experienced so far.

My Father's World is an all-in-one curriculum provider, meaning when you purchase one of their core programs, you receive a complete year of social studies, science, art, music, and read aloud literature. The teacher's guide pulls all the included books together, schedules them for you, and supplies hands on project ideas, language arts suggestions, and more.  You add math, English, foreign language, writing, and spelling of your choice.  They sell their preferred version of these, including Singapore Math, Spelling Power, Writing Strands,  Emma Searl's Language arts, and Rosetta Stone, but they can all be substituted with your own preferences.

The cores follow a five year chronological history cycle.  They are designed to be multi-level for grades three through eight.  This means you can teach all of your children that are at this level together, however the teacher's guide has some work that is designated for "Advanced" students.

Other all-in-one programs include Sonlight and Winter Promise. Again, you purchase a core of books and receive a teacher's guide that outlines how to use the materials to teach your children.

By contrast, there are many, many home education products available that teach only one subject, such as Apologia Science, or The Mystery of History.  These often have teacher's guides available along with suggested teaching schedules.  You could make your own combination of these curriculum to create your own "core".

For the first five years of homeschool, I used The Weaver curriculum from Alpha Omega.  It is a unit study series made up of five volumes that move chronologically through the Bible, deriving the units studies from here.  Book suggestions are given, but they are rather outdated since it has not been updated since 2001.  It requires a lot of teacher planning and the purchase of books of your choice, or the frequent use of a library.  I personally enjoyed the planning process for those years that we did it.  I liked choosing the extra books to teach the units and choosing our own read alouds.  However, last year I grew weary of so much resting on my shoulders.

I have always loved the idea of using Sonlight, as I am such an avid book fan, and a book collector, and I believe it is a very rich curriculum.  However, it has not yet felt like the right fit for my children.  My sister-in-law used My Father's World for the past two years and found it very easy to use and very complete.  The first thing that sparked my interest was the teacher's guide, laid out in a very easy chart form for each week of lesson plans.  I just liked the look of it.  I have looked at many curriculums that are wonderful, but I just couldn't wrap my brain around the teacher's guide.  My Father's World is laid out very simply.  A list of materials required is given at the beginning of each week, a list of photocopies needed at the beginning of each unit.

That's another thing I love- the units!  Unit studies work great for me and my children. I love dwelling on one topic for an extended period of time.  But not too long- almost every unit this year in Exploring Countries and Cultures is two weeks long. Plenty of time to get a feel for our topic, but not get bored.  Hands on projects that are easy are given in the teacher's guide. I don't feel the need to do everything, though.

You can purchase either a basic or deluxe package for each core that My Father's World offers.  The basic package includes the books necessary for social studies, science, and Bible.  The deluxe package includes scheduled read-alouds, art, music, and perhaps some fun kits like an ant farm or magnet set.  Their prices are very reasonable because they also suggest a "Book Basket" for each core. In the back of each teacher's guide is a list of books by unit that could supplement the program and provide further learning.  It's a list you can take with you to your local library or purchase some books of interest new or used.  The packages provides everything you need; the book basket is if you want more. I love this aspect of the curriculum. I don't have to do all the planning, but I still get to enjoy picking particular books I think my children will love.

While the schedule is very thorough, I don't feel like we are doing so much school work that we don't have time to enjoy play, going outside, or work around the house.

The most important aspect of My Father's World, for me, is it's Biblical worldview and the integration of everything with the Bible.  Bible is not an isolated subject.  We are memorizing verses, using them as copywork and dictation exercises, and reading about great heroes of the faith and the work God is doing around the world.  This is not a west-centric curriculum.  In our 12 weeks so far, I've seen amazing fruit in my children's lives and my own when it comes to the things of the Lord.  This is irreplacable and this is why I home school.

Each time we finish a week, I literally want to sing the praises of this curriculum because it is not a chore to get through, or another thing to accomplish in my busy day. Yes, it is work of course, but it has eased the burden I began to carry in trying to do everything myself.  I honestly think "What on earth was I doing the past five years, planning everything myself!  This is so much easier!"  And it is a great fit for us.

I got to hear David Hazell speak at the Great Homeschool Convention in Hartford this past June. He and his wife Marie are the writers of My Father's World. They are former missionaries and Bible translators.  I had already bought my Exploring Countries and Cultures curriculum when I heard him, but it confirmed our choice for the new year.  To me, it truly does bring together the "best of" unit studies, Charlotte Mason, and classical education, and it's only our first year, and twelve weeks into it.

There is  a great community of families that use this curriculum.  It's fun to see what they are up to on their blogs or on the message boards. This is something I missed during my five previous years too.  It's a real encouragement to read about how others are being blessed by the curriculum too, and to get ideas for alernate projects etc.  My children love that we are doing the same school as their cousins and vice versa.  I think we all enjoy feeling like we have something in common with others.

It's very easy to do school on-the-go with My Father's World.  Several times we have gone to visit my parents and just packed up my Desk Apprentice from Staples with all our books in it and my teacher's guide.  We've had everything we need to easily get school done while we are away.

There is certainly a lot more to this wonderful curriculum than I can expound on. Again, it is my first year, and I have not used the K-2 programs that MFW offers.  But I think my thoughts are an accurate reflection on the grade 3-8 Family Cycle.  It's such a great fit for us this year and I would already go so far as to say it's our best year ever, partially because my own work load is lighter thanks to the wonderful teacher's guide.  Home education curriculum has come so far and there is so much to choose from, it can be extremely daunting.  My hope is that you find the resources for your family that are just the right fit.

Weeks 9-11- Brazil!

The past three weeks have been busy learning lots about South America, rainforests, and the country of Brazil.  The highlight of this time was reading aloud the biography of Nate Saint, a passionate pilot Missionary Aviation Fellowship who lost his life in Ecuador trying to share the gospel.  His story is inspiring, but what the Lord has done since and because of his death is nothing short of miraculous.  I personally watched the documentary Beyond Gates of Splendor made by his son Steve Saint. It is available to view on Netflix and I highly recommend it.  The photographs and video footage are haunting, but it is so inspiring to see how the Lord used something evil for good no one imagined.  The kids made a model paper airplane similar to the one Nate flew over the Ecuador rainforest.

We also watched an excellent documentary called Discovery Atlas: Brazil Revealed (also on Netflix).  It focused on eight different Brazilians, young and old. We learned so much about the culture, the religion, the sports, and Carnival!  Carnival is the world famous celebration held in Rio de Janeiro, of course, and we learned that is centers around the samba, the original dance and music of Brazil.  We listened to some samba and bossa nova music and made fancy Carnival masks for our own celebration.

 There was a Carnival mask project in Global Art, the book included in our My Father's World core, but it was much easier to print one off the Internet and decorate them!

We didn't have a huge Carnival celebration, but we did get the cousins together in their masks and Carnival costumes on Josh's birthday.  Nana helped Mister and Brown-Eyed Girl make pretty snazzy costumes featuring rainforest animals, piranha, and flowers while we visited her for a few days this past week.  We used simple white pillowcases for this project.

I also read the book Gooney Bird Green by Lois Lowry to the kids and they loved it!  It's a great, sneaky way to teach kids about writing stories!  They were both upset that there are no other books about Gooney Bird.

The next six weeks of our curriculum, we will be in Europe!  Our first stop is Norway, but I think we won't finish our travels through that country without taking the week of Thanksgiving off.  We've been  working hard and having a lot of fun, but we're all looking forward to a little time off.

O Canada! Weeks 7 &8

 This week I'm linking up with MFW Highlights at Discover Their Gifts.

The past two weeks we spent "in" Canada.

The more I learn about Canada, the more I want to go there!  What a beautiful country of diverse landscape it is.  Being Mainers, we're very close to our northern neighbors, although it used to be much easier to get over the border for a visit.

Some fun extras we did in the past two weeks included watching the first part of The Anne of Green Gables saga.  It is one of my all time favorites, but the kids' attention fizzled out once we put tape two in (yes, I still have it on VHS).  We also watched the 1966 version of Paddle-to-the-Sea (found on youtube).  We read the book last year and we all loved it.  I read Owls in the Family aloud and we all thoroughly enjoyed this book as well.  It's one that will stick in our memories, I think. I love the power of literature! We learned more about prairies, owls, ornithology, chinooks, and Canada and in a more memorable way than a textbook could ever tell us!

We spent a few days homeschooling during a visit to Nana and Pop-Pop.  I found it really easy to pack of our MFW curriculum and get everything done even though we were away.    Back home again, we did the Inuit Soap Carving craft from Global Art.  The kids really enjoyed this and did a great job.

 Brown Eyed Girl made a tulip.  Mister made a crescent moon.

We also had High Tea, as many still do in British Columbia.  It was a Tupperware/Fisher Price style High Tea, though we did have savories, tiny sandwiches, and scones.

B-E-G enjoyed the tea, Mister and Petite just dipped their food in theirs.

Who can resist tiny peanut butter sandwiches with a dollop of jam on top?

Exploring Countries and Cultures has a really fun Geography game included in the student sheets and teacher supplement.  We use chocolate chips or Cheerios as game markers. The goal is to draw a country card and place a marker on the map in the correct place.  Each country has a number.  You then turn the card over to see if you chose the correct place as  indicated by the number.  I learned all of the North and Central American countries and the kids have learned most of them.

One of my favorite parts of our visits to other countries is the celebration we have as we get ready to depart.  We had a great Canadian feast complete with baked fish, scalloped potatoes, and a maple pudding cake.  Everything was delicious.

We also finished our first missionary biography about Cameron Townsend.  I learned to do some condensing and eliminating of dates and redundant names to make it easier for the kids to listen to and we were all blessed.  Townsend is the founder of Wycliffe Bible Translators and the book  really showed us the importance of all people having the Bible in their native language.

Next week we take off for Brazil.  Carnival here we come!

Weeks 5 and 6- Mexico!

This week I'm linking up with My Father's World Highlights!

Our school year seems to be flying by. Okay, I realize it's only the end of our 6th week, but I truly look forward to each new day of school.  Studying a country for two weeks is a lot of fun and just enough time to follow some rabbit trails and not get bored.  We are loving My Father's World!

The past two weeks we spent in Mexico.  The kids got the first stamp in their passport as we crossed the border.  ( The passport is part of MFW- a really great idea).  Mexico is dear to our hearts because we sponsor a child from Compassion International from this country.  We write letters to Samuel and we have seen him grow and see the darkness in his eyes turn to light over the past few years of receiving pictures!

Pinatas are a Mexican tradition, particularly for Cinco de Mayo.  We had never made one from scratch, but we gave it a try.  Brown Eyed Girl made hers using a cereal box and Mister did the tradition balloon. I was very skeptical that the balloon pinata would work.  Paper mache is very messy!  I'm surprised Mister, who is a neat freak, was as intent to do this project as he was.

Surprise, surprise, the paper mache balloon held together and we hung it to dry.  It was soooo heavy!

In the meantime, we continue with our regular studies as well.  Mister is using Spelling Power this year and I think it is going pretty well. I like the philosophy behind it, I tweak it a little, and I have found myself surprised by what Mister can spell.  One of Spelling Power's methods is to do spelling activities that involve the five senses. Here, Mister writes misspelled words with fingerpaints.  He didn't complain :)

Once the pinatas were dry, painting began.  Brown Eyed Girl made hers a Mexican flag, and Mister's is going to be a globe. But I confess it's not finished yet.

  Petite is planking on the counter while painting.  Look how grown up she is getting!  She joins us in a lot of activities and has lots of things she can do to stay busy nearby.  She loves her school box, especially the markers. She can easily spend an hour coloring with those- and not just coloring books. Herself too.

Tissue paper flowers are popular at Mexican holidays, so we made a bunch. After I learned how to do it, which took forever.  I am so not crafty!  Once we got the hang of it, we made them in all sizes, made headbands, hung them from the curtain rods, and the kids decorated the staircase with them for our Mexican fiesta!

One thing that is making this year so great is that the cousins are doing the exact same things in school as we are! Almost daily, my kids ask if C & M are doing the same thing, and C & M ask the same of Auntie Jen.  This seems to be motivating to all of us!

We did the classic blindfolding and spinning the pinata whacker the number of years of their age, then went to doing it without the blindfold.  I took a while, the string broke (as I figured it would) and we ended up putting it on a stake, but eventually we got the pinata open and the goodies inside came out.

Later that night we had our fiesta, with homemade tortillas (more like gorditas, no tortilla press for me), lots of fillings, and guacamole, salsa, cheese dips!  We made Mexican wedding cookies for dessert as well as my version of churros.  Mariachi music was playing via the Internet.  When Josh offered up the prayer for the meal, we all chimed in with an  OLE! instead of an Amen.  Unit studies are too much fun!