Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

We are up to our eyeballs in homeschooling here...we're still getting used to our schedule and routines, but we're getting there.  I ordered the Letter of the Week curriculum from Confessions of a Homeschooler to do with Jojo and Jkaile together.  While I'm not doing the entire curriculum with them, I'm using a lot of the print-outs and ideas.  One idea that I loved was to use the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and make your own palm tree to put the letters on each week.  I found the book at the library last week and I think that we'll just have to invest in one of our own because Jkaile absolutely loves this book.  I don't think he'll be wanting to take it back! 

So here is my 'designer' version of the Chicka Tree...it

turned out a lot better than I'd imagined!  Scrapbooking paper

just makes everything better...each of the pieces are individually

backed with magnets so they can be rearranged.

Isn't that a happy grin?!

It would probably be a good idea to line the rest of the letters

with cardstock or cardboard, though, since it

appears they will be handled a lot!



Busy Busy Busy Days!

May was a Busy Month!  Besides the two birthdays, there were the odds and ends of school activities...this year, Barb, the kindergarten teacher, had all the kinders and any moms who wanted to join them out to her house for a swim party!

Barb, our hostess

(side note...Barb taught me in 3rd grade

at the MK school in Colombia before spending 

quite a few years in the Philippines!  She has now

spent several years here in Mexico teaching

MKs, some of whom are children of

former students, like Jojo!)

The pool was small, but lots of fun!

Then there was the Awards Ceremony and Graduation Day for Binimea, our MK school.  

The 1st and 2nd grade class performed a song

they learned in Music Class.  Gracia was quite nervous,

but did very well! 

Gracia receiving an award for Bible memorization. (yes, 

everyone is looking at me waiting for me to take the picture).

She received the Reading Award as well for reading

at least one book very six weeks

over the course of the school year.

Micah also received several awards for Bible memorization,

Bible reading (he read the books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke), 

and the Reading Award for reading 20 books over the course 

of the school year.

JD received a letter for playing on the basketball team.

And while he did not receive other awards, I did want

to mention that he read 18 books during the school

year, which is way more than he usually reads!  

We are proud of the hard work he did in his first

year at Binimea and his grades exceeded expectations!

Christmas with the Friendly Beasts

In spite of not having a music teacher this year at our MK school, the elementary teachers were able to put together a short Christmas program featuring "The Friendly Beasts" (at least I think that's what it was called...). Everyone worked very hard and we all enjoyed their presentation. It just hardly seems like Christmas without a school Christmas program, so I am glad they made the effort!

Jkaile checking out Baby Jesus before the show...

I helped with the refreshments and ended up
wearing the exact same shade of green as Anita and
Deanna AND the napkins! Too funny!

The entire Kindergarten class were sheep...

Micah (in the orange) was one of the Kings...his belt
is made out of my curtain tie-backs! lol

Gracia was a brown horse...

Micah and a friend after the program...

Family Fun Day Part III-Afternoon Activities

Miguel and the guys took the opportunity
to throw a few rounds of horseshoes...

The big afternoon activity was tug-of-war...
pull, Gracia, pull!!!

Micah's group won their round!

Apparently, Micah got a few 'toritos' in
his hand throughout the day...'toritos' are
thorns, the word literally means 'little bulls'
because of the shape of the thorns.

Even "Grandma" showed up for the tug-of-war games!

JD getting a kick out of watching "Grandma"!
Good to see a smile on his face!

Goody bags for all participants!

After I took this picture, I noticed Gracia's
top teeth were bleeding, but it's only because
they are loose! Tooth fairy should be visiting soon...

Jojo on the swings...

Family Fun Day Part II-Lunch

Lunch for Family Fun Day was provided on a donation basis by the students who are in missionary training at the Rancho Siloé. The money earned will be used for making a trip out to visit one of the tribal bases, so everyone was quite happy to chip in for that good cause!

They had a good variety of burritos and hot dogs as well.

Caleb, the cook, grilling hot dogs...we hope

to have a grill like that here at the Bible Institute

dorm soon! Miguel's working on it!

Miguel and Alcides enjoying their food...Alcides is

from the cowboy country in Colombia and

loves to dress the part!

Loving those chips! He kept begging
chips off of anyone who had any left on their plates! haha

Jojo and his lunch...

Barb, the Kindergarten teacher, taking

a break after lunch...

Family Fun Day Part I-Morning Activities

Every year, our school for MKs holds a Family Fun Day out at the Rancho Siloé, our organization's training institute north of town. All of the kids in school are divided into four teams and compete against each other in many different events according to their grade levels. This year, Family Fun Day fell on October 30 (which was also Micah's actual birthday, which is why we had his party the day before), the day after our Big Snow (see this post)...after the 'weather event' of the day before, we were blessed with a truly perfect day for Family Fun Day! Not too hot, not too cold, clear blue skies and plenty of sun!

JD (in the red cap) participated in the mile run

for the high schoolers, the first event of the day for them.

JD was on the yellow team and earned some points

for his team by coming in third.

It was a little hard for Miguel and I to keep track

of all four kids while they participated in

different events at the same time...

but we did pretty well at getting around and watching

their main events.

Jojo was on the pink team! Members of the

pink team were also allowed to wear red

in case they didn't care to sport pink shirts!

Here he is posing with the rest of the

kindergartners and his friend Isaac.

Gracia during the ball toss. Gracia was

on the black team.

Checking in with JD during the running
long jump. He came close to breaking the school record!

Jojo won the kindergarten sprints...look at him go!

Jojo won all of the events he participated in!

Micah (in the middle with blue jeans) running his sprints...

he came in second after a run-off. Micah was on the blue

team, but wore a red sash since they didn't have

enough blue ones...it was a little confusing...

We were very proud of Gracia for coming

in second in her sprints...

After the main sports-type events, the elementary students

had some fun games and continued to try to

collect points for their teams.

Odds and Ends

1. I am way, way behind on posting...but of course, you already noticed that since there's been nothin' new to read for a while...sorry, life has a way of whirling and twirling until the days just sort of run right into each other...
2. The kids started school a week ago today and it was a very interesting week...Jojo in his K4 class with 3 other little guys; so cute!!! Gracia moved up to the 1st and 2nd grade classroom where she is now not the only girl in the room! Micah also changed classrooms, moving into the 3rd and 4th grade room...so far he claims it's 'boring', but I have a sneaking suspicion that he's actually having fun! JD is in 10th grade and it seems to have been the right choice of grade for him...he is taking a Bible class, Physical Science, Geometry, English, Computers, and P.E. This week he also began practicing with the basketball team...the change in climates and altitude is affecting his game, so he'll have some adjusting to do there! He's also amazed at the amount of homework he has compared to back in Venezuela...he definitely has very little free time here, not necessarily a bad thing, if you know what I mean... :)
3. There was a mouse in my bedroom this morning...I thought I saw movement in the windowsill and sure enough, this mouse came swarming down the curtain into one of the potted plants on the bookshelf and then disappeared for a few seconds until it made a dash for the bathroom! I really am not a terribly squeamish type of girl, but I do confess to a couple of squeals here and there...brave Miguel shut himself up in the bathroom with the beast where he was able to slap it silly with one of my flip-flops...my hero! And all this at 5:30 this morning! Too early for such excitement, really...
4. I've been kinda sad lately, thinking about three of my sisters and my Mom getting together for a few days in Missouri this week...I'm really quite happy for them to get to spend the time together, but on the other hand would really love to be there and hang out with them! It's one of the hard things about this missionary life, the times we're separated from family...it's hard to be so 'close' and yet so far!
5. Also been thinking about my sister Chrissy in Ecuador...she had some really weird rash break out on her arms a couple of weeks ago that turned into quite a nasty ordeal. She was able to get out to town and see some different doctors, none of which have known exactly what is causing the rash or what to prescribe...she actually ended up hospitalized for a few days when the rash became infected! Sister Kathy and family just left Ecuador on their furlough, but PTL, their other coworkers (who had been on furlough themselves) returned in time to help out with things. They are thinking that perhaps it is a reaction to a plant there since my niece and nephew also had a bit of the same type of rash, too. The Awa people that they work with tell of a plant that gets 'angry' if it is not properly 'greeted'...that one sounds like a prime suspect! But honestly, I'm praying for Chrissy that she will heal quickly and not have to go through this again!
6. And to leave you tonight with a laugh...last week I was down in the basement with about five other people, showing two new single guys to their room...I had just explained to the guys that they needed to be sure to shut the window in their room when they left the house because the rain coming off the roof tends to splatter in and drench the entire room. At that point I turned and looked up in time to see Jojo taking a leak right in front of one of the basement windows!!!! Apparently he has absolutely NO idea that even though you can't see IN the windows, you can see OUT of them perfectly well! One of the guys then said, oh, well, now we know the REAL reason you need to shut the windows...ay, ay, ay!!!!

Back to School

It was back to school this morning, much to Micah's "disgust" (I think it was more show than anything...). Although other states in Mexico have extended the school closures due to more cases of swine flu, the state we live in decided to go ahead and begin classes as scheduled today. Ironically, our school (being an MK school and on a U.S. schedule) only has 2 1/2 more weeks of classes before summer break anyway!

There's a smile...sort of.

Okay, now it's just getting silly.

Notice Jkaile in pjs with full baseball gear! :)

Homeschooling Update

Influenza update: Still no reported/documented cases here in the city, but that could change. Everything is very quiet these days as everyone is mostly staying home. There was a run on face-masks and now there are none available to buy! I saw a lady wearing one when we went to the store this morning. As far as I know, travel is not being restricted to other countries although it does get delayed at times...it's a bit scary to think of the U.S. border being closed and us getting stuck here, but we'll be okay even if that happens. I used to be a lot more nervous about the idea of not being able to travel back "home" in emergency situations or whatever, but I think I'm growing in this area..."home" is where God has us and He will care for us wherever we are.

And nothing against homeschooling, I actually enjoy it! What's hard for me is to switch gears mid-stream, so to speak, so it's taking us some doing to figure out the homestudy dynamics...we ARE enjoying sleeping in and the relaxed schedule, though! :) We've been able to do some fun stuff, too, like play Yahtzee during a break, go to the "green gate" store for snacktime (one of the little local stores in our neighborhood that has a green sliding door), generally goof off more than usual, and play in the sandpile. Well, I don't play in the sand...

Spending a morning break in the sandpile.

Jojo was upset because he'd dropped his Chocorol in the sand.

We salvaged it after the picture.

It's just like having our own personal beach!

Goofing off with the camera...

Gracia helped me make arepas one day.

Today we made flour tortillas together for breakfast...

And here's a picture to prove that we are actually

doing some school! Okay, yeah, with chocolate chips... it's just that

they make math so much more interesting!

Nesting

I have to admit that it feels REALLY GOOD to know that I will probably live in this house for the next year! It's bringing out the nesting instincts...it's still going slowly, of course, because we are slow transitioners (is that a word?) and with four kids, life is just harder to keep up with! But in the last few days, I've been thinking about where I would like to place furniture and I did a little work in each room.

For the master bedroom, I took some of those wooden fruit crates and some leftover floor tiles and created some bedside tables. I had a cabinet in there, but it was too high for the bed and I also needed a t.v. cabinet, so that got moved to the living room. Not that the t.v. even gets any channels, but at least it's not on the floor any more! :) I also found a mirror hanging behind the door in the boys' room, so I put that over the head of our bed and now the room looks a little more decent.

The house here is not exactly spacious, but it's adequate. I'm chafing a little at having to put the 'office' in the living room because it doesn't look that great...but on the other hand, it's nice not to have it in the bedroom, either! At this point, I've got the boys sharing a room (that's been a challenge) and Gracia and Jkaile are sharing a room. That gets a little awkward sometimes if Gracia has friends over to play, but it has been working okay for the most part. There really isn't room to have the Jkaile in our room with us, there just isn't room!

Anyway, so lots of organizing still to do here in the house, but it will be done in time. The other big thing is that school is starting tomorrow for Micah and Gracia! This will be a huge transition for our whole family since we've homeschooled up until now. Micah had an academic placement test last week and tested average for his grade level according to U.S. standards. I am satisfied with those results, although Micah will have to work to catch up to the accelerated curriculum that the mission school uses (A Beka). I think his bigger problem will be paying attention and adjusting to a classroom environment, though. And I'm probably going through what every parent faces as their children head off to school...a certain amount of anxiety over sending them off into the 'unknown' knowing that they will have to face and overcome obstacles on their own.

I don't think I will miss the homeschooling, though, I think I need a break! I do enjoy it, but with all of our recent moves and changes, it was getting hard for me to handle. I am looking forward to having time at home with Jojo and Jkaile and also to having a more structured schedule. For the moment, I am not planning to have any committments outside the home to allow myself time to catch my breath after these last few years...that sounds like a wonderful plan for me!