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.

Japan- Weeks 27 and 28

 I am woefully overdue when it comes to blogging, so this will just be a quick update on the past few weeks of our study of Japan and a few Easter pics. I knew the kids would not eat real sushi (I wouldn't either!) so we made fruit sushi.  Fruit Roll Ups, a rice krispy mixture, and gummy fish made a really fun sushi snack that at least got us talking about real sushi.

No raw fish, just candy fish!

 We had a great Easter, starting off with breakfast at  Grammy and Grampy's church.

 The number one coveted item at Easter is Cadbury Eggs. You wouldn't believe how hard they were to find but I did, finally, along with a few other goodies.

We are currently in Russia. The  next few weeks will be very busy, with school vacation in just one more week! Only five weeks of school left- incredible to believe!

China- Weeks 25 and 26

Another two weeks of school DONE!  We are in the final stretch, only 10 weeks left.  Or maybe even 9.  It is SO exciting.  We've had an awesome year.  We are looking forward to spring and then... ah, summer!

We have looked forward to studying China all year.  I have to say, I learned a ton about the history of Communism in China and was very surprised to learn that it is not nearly as restrictive now.  I finally learned what all the fuss about Tibet was over.  My thinking was challenged and I was able to challenge my children's thinking when it came to Communism, Buddhism, and our own faith.  Could education really be any better than that?

Our last missionary biography of the year was about Gladys Aylward and the kids begged me to read more than the one assigned chapter each day.  It is certainly a story of adventure and Aylward has become a hero to me.  Wow, she has guts!  I kept saying to the kids as we read.  We finished the book almost two weeks early because we loved it so much. I cried, of course.  Everyone  is getting used to that.  I have loved these missionary biographies and I know they have shaped my life and my children's.

One of our art projects was making a name stamp, as even the ancient Chinese artists used to sign their work.  We drew our initials on a pink school eraser and then carved it out using a bamboo skewer.  After that, all it takes is an ink pad to stamp your "signature" on your artwork.  So of course we had to make something to stamp.  Mister made a bamboo forest, Mt. Everest and some other Chinese things like a Siberian Tiger and pandas.

I made a cherry tree, but I think it is actually more Japanese. Oops.

 Brown-Eyed-Girl made a few hippos in the water. I'm not sure there are hippos in China, but who am I to stifle artistic expression. We used, my favorite, watercolor crayons for this project.

Tan grams is a Chinese game, the original using only nine pieces.  We started off using only the correct amount and shapes, but the kids quickly wanted to add to their projects.

Mister created this rendition of God the Father, God the Spirit, and God the Son creating man. See how they each have some of the parts to make another person?  Clever. Very clever.

We celebrated our last day in China at a Chinese buffet. I'm not sure the kids actually got anything Chinese.  Pizza, pigs-in-a-blanket, jello?  Nope, not Chinese. But they enjoyed the artwork and all the servers are indeed, from China.

We're headed across the Pacific to Japan!

India- Weeks 23 & 24

This post is very late in coming.  In fact, there will hardly be anything said about our two weeks in India.  We didn't do any of the India art projects and we didn't really eat any Indian food.  But we did love the biography of Amy Carmichael and we did do some other fun things during those weeks.

 Brown-Eyed-Girl and Cousin M. began a ballet class together at the church/school where we "come from".  

We had a very late 100th day of school celebration at an indoor pool.  Petite loved it, although at first she insisted she didn't want to go to a pool.  She thought it would be too cold to swim, so I assume she thought we would be swimming outside!.

We had friends join us.

Brown-Eyed- Girl has been doing some Project Life scrapbooking of her own.

Petite has begun drawing faces, arms and legs on everything.  Super cute and one of those developmental milestones.

We went bowling on the last Friday in India.  We did get some Naan bread and roasted chickpeas and some Halvah bars (even though we weren't sure they were Indian) at the natural food store.

I think bowling shoes are quite stylish.

But not as stylish as this little princess.

We are currently in China and I already have more to share of our actual studies than I did India.  

Saudi Arabia- Weeks 21 and 22!

 The past few weeks have been a whirlwind and I realize now I should have  blogged a little sooner.  We had a great Valentine's Day party with a few other families. It was the perfect amount of kids...

And I always love seeing the variety of valentines.  We're pretty heavy to girls in our group!

We gathered for pizza and lots of treats...

 and sharing valentines of course.  Petite just loved opening hers!  She said "I'm so happy" when she opened her mailbox.

I love this picture of Brown-Eyed Girl. I think it is hilarious.  We had "Box Day", the day our new curriculum arrives.  I was ecstatic... the kids, not so much. I know a lot of kids can't contain their excitement, but maybe those are the kids that rarely get a visit from the UPS man?  He comes here so much that he often says "I'll see you soon!". But remember- I don't get out much. Anyway, this picture is so funny because this girl LOVES art and she was actually really excited about this... she was just hamming up the unhappiness.

Next year we are doing Creation to the Greeks from My Father's World.  I really, really love what we have experienced so far with MFW so I am really excited for the coming years.  Why did I order so soon? Because there was a little sale and because I just like to have plenty of time to prepare and gather "extras" for next year.  This is another funny picture, with B-E-G creeping in.

My niece turned eight and had a birthday party at the roller rink, then I took her and B-E-G out for a "girls day". We hit Build-A-Bear, Dairy Queen, Toys R Us, Claire's, and Target.

Mister got an ant farm for Christmas and we finally ordered the ants.  He was so excited the day they arrived in the mail.  You can't imagine all the fun we have had watching them.  They are making some amazing tunnels.

Okay, right, Saudi Arabia, the focus of the past two weeks of school.  We learned about the Muslim religion, using  Story of the World to supplement MFW. SOTW is one of my very favorite homeschool resources, particularly the audio version.  We were already familiar with Arabian Nights thanks to Jim Weiss's audio CD containing several of the stories, but we also checked the book out of the library and I read a few more of the tales to them.  We had some store-bought hummus. I was shocked that Mister tried it.  I attempted to make homemade pita bread but it didn't make the pocket for some reason.  But it still tasted great.

We didn't do any of the suggested project in Global Art, the book in our Countries and Cultures core.  Instead we did this project, Glittering Tiles, from the Usborne Art Treasury.  The project is based upon tiles found in Middle Eastern architecture that follow a cross and star pattern.  Each tile is uniquely painted and covered with a glaze containing metal. We used oil crayons and then a mixture of white glue, water, and silver glitter to create our own tiles.  Above is Mister's, below is Brown-Eyed-Girl's.  They both did such a great and creative job.

 And now a peak into my world  :)  When I'm not homeschooling, attacking the mountain of laundry, sweeping crumbs, and cooking, I'm usually just trying to stay awake. Ducky Dynasty is my newest amusement.  It's a hoot.  It's how I am A-musing these days.  Everyone needs a diversion.

Next stop for us: India!

Africa- Weeks 18, 19, and 20

We learned how to play Mancala, a traditional African game.  We used Cadbury eggs instead of  seeds :)

Our visit to Africa is complete!  We had a great time, of course, and got a taste of the amazing diversity on this giant continent.  We specifically focused on Kenya, but touched on Africa as a whole.  I particularly loved gleaning some history of Africa as I read the biography of David Livingstone aloud to the kids.  It wasn't just the Europeans and Americans that were enslaving Africans... people came from all over to do this.  I also love Livingstone's story, the son of a cotton mill worker who began work in the mills of Scotland at the age of 12.  He had a love of science and worked hard to become a doctor.  He "changed his stars" as we like to say, but we know from his story that it was the God of the stars preparing the way for him!

We did some fun arts and crafts while learning about Africa.  Brown Eyed Girl and I decorated some pillar candles with coffee beans, one of the major crops of Kenya.

We created an African Savannah mural using some magazine photos of African animals and some original drawings.

Each of the kids made an African mask using cardboard and lots of bits and pieces of fibers and other scraps. Mister even created a staff to go along with his warrior mask.

The kids made original paintings using some artist's canvases I bought.  Brown-Eyed Girl loves to make rainbows.  I encouraged her to create a different kind of rainbow and this is what she came up with. She calls it "Guess".   

Our final art project was making a "basket" out of African textiles. I found this paper at the Salvation Army and we used Modge Podge to glue and seal strips of it around a bowl covered in plastic wrap.  When dry, we removed the plastic wrap and did the same to the inside. They are surprisingly sturdy and a great little catch all.

  Now for the weather report.  Over the course of three weeks in Africa, this is what happened here at home.  Week 1: bitterly cold outside!  The whole week was  below freezing, as cold as I can ever remember.  Above: a picture from week 2.  The temperature  got to about 50 degrees and all the snow melted in the backyard.

And this is a picture from the end of week 3!  A blizzard blew into town, creating drifts of snow above the windows.  We had to cancel our 100th day of school swimming trip and a birthday party and girls day shopping trip due to the storm.

But as they always say about Maine, if you don't like the weather, just wait a minute!

Next stop for us: Saudi Arabia!