Art Class

Claire Harvey has been teaching the kids an Art Class on Friday afternoons with Isabelle Harvey as her assistant.  This past Friday evening, they had an Open House.  Each child took turns explaining some of the artwork and the things they had learned.

Hair Salon

Tabitha and Isabelle were pretending to have a hair salon.

Caleb was their first and only customer of the day. He loved his spiky hair. His next style was a Mohawk.

School work

Hard at work!

Coyote likes to join school. He especially likes to lay on top of books and papers.

Animal Experts

What do kids do when they're not in school? Look at animal encyclopedias and compare facts! What do you do for fun?

New Outfits

I had new outfits made for the boys, and I made a matching dress for Isabelle. They weren't very excited about them, but I thought that they all looked nice in their matching outfits.

Preparing Presents

We prepared presents for the ladies who cook, clean and do laundry for our family and guest housing. The kids helped put a dishcloth, coffee, milk, and sugar into each bowl. It gave us a chance to talk about loving and serving others at Christmas time.

Isabelle is learning to sew.

Caleb loves to help in the kitchen.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

These are a few pictures from our Christmas Eve party for the mission staff.

Ian, Isabelle, and Caleb recited Luke 2:1-20. They did a great job!

The Lookout Tower

Time for another activity from The Ancient Chinese Treasure Chest.
We worked on putting together a watch tower from the Great Wall of China. It looked fairly simple, but turned out to be a bit complicated. Isabelle and Caleb helped up to a certain point (pictured above) but the lost interest.
I persevered, and twenty minutes later, with Coyote to keep me company managed to complete the tower.

Meanwhile, the kids took the figures of soldiers included and made a tower out of blocks.

Like all the great historians, they melded facts with their interpretation and imagination as evidenced by the large hammer and the giants (paper dolls) that were involved in the battles.

Chinese Chess

Another activity from the Ancient Chinese Treasure Chest was Chinese Chess. The boys both know the fundamentals of chess and were really excited to try the Chinese version.

Calligrapy

We have been studying the Eastern Hemisphere in history. One of the books we are using is the Ancient Chinese Treasure Chest. It comes with activities that the kids have been really excited to try. The first one we did was calligraphy with a brush, ink stone and ink stick.

Starting School

No, we're not just now starting school! But school and a trip to Brazzaville in October have left me with little computer time. Now that we are winding down for Christmas break, I am *hoping* to get caught up with some posts over the holidays.

Before we started school this year, I planned an open house. I sat down with each child and gave them a small present. Then we went over the books they would be using this year and what our schedule would be like. It made the beginning seem more official, plus they knew what to expect the first day.

It's not all fun and games

Isabelle and Caleb are helping Grandpa Wegner with the frame for the screened in porch.

Isabelle isn't working, but she's modeling surgery gear.

Caleb helped me varnish some wooden squares with numbers to use at the hospital.

The kids helped find some new plants to put in the pots in the chapel.

Malaga, Spain

We had a great trip to Spain for our conference at the beginning of June. The only bad part was that Ian was sick for the first few days. Stephen and I took turns staying with him in the hotel room while the other one of us took Caleb and Isabelle out to see things. Caleb and Isabelle are splashing in the slightly cold Mediterranean Sea.

Caleb

Caleb is quite proud of the fact that he finished both of his Kindergarten Math books this year. He's officially in Kindergarten next year, but he wanted math to do along with Ian and Isabelle.

Caleb did lots of other activities throughout the year, too. In this picture, he is holding a calendar with velcro on the back of each number and month.

St. Patrick's Day

We've had sick kids for the last week and a half, so I decided not to try to do a St. Patrick's Day Party. We did manage to have a little fun, though. :)

Animal Party

After Isabelle had a princess party, Caleb decided he wanted to have an animal party. I kept putting him off until we had a chance to get some animal crackers.
All of the homeschool kids- plus a few others- came to enjoy playing, watching a movie, having a snack, and doing a craft.
As an extra special treat, Becky brought some animal masks. Even the kids enjoyed those.
Check facebook for more pictures.