Have a Great Week in Homeschool

     Step one:
                    Pray, pray, pray!  Spend as much time as you can the weekend before praying alone, and with your husband for the school week to go well.

     Step two:  Plan, plan, plan!  Sit down and plan out the week's lesson plans, if you are more of an unschooler list out some ideas of activities or trips so you aren't scrambling when Monday hits.

     Step three:  Sunday night-- Get the kids to bed at a descent time, and go to bed at a descent time yourself.  Keep this up all week.

      Step four:  Start Monday morning with some worship songs, sharing a Bible verse or devotional thought and pray for the school day together.  Do this every morning.

      Step five:  When there are irritations, interruptions, or arguments during school, think of it as a bump in the road and not a stop sign.  Try to keep positive, and move on without thinking "Well, there goes the day (week, year, etc.)". 
 
      Step six:  Focus on the positive times, like when they are actually studying quietly, (or eager to play a learning game for those active ones).

      Step seven: Take breaks and end school at a decent time.  Even a positive school day will degrade as the day drags on, and hungry, tired and bored kids want to just GO PLAY! 

     Step eight: Take a little time each day after school's "out" to pick up the school area, sharpen pencils, and pray for each student as you clean up their area. 

     Step nine:  If possible, add a fun learning activity that isn't in the curriculum like a field trip, watching an educational video, or studying art or Classical music.  I have learned that it is often these "extras" that my children remember most about their school year.

 
        Hope these help YOU have a good week in homeschool this week.
PS.  If you are having a "bad" school week-- kids are sick, there have been SO many distractions, etc. go ahead and have "half-days".  Do Math and Language and call it a day.  You DID SCHOOL (even if it only lasted 30 minutes)... mark that down as a school day!  Maybe you'll be able to do more tomorrow, but don't discount doing a half-day.  Public schools often have only half-day due to assemblies, fund-raisers, Parent teacher meetings, etc.  So, you don't have to do EVERY subject to think of it as a school day.   Blessings!

Strange sightings in Tanzania

Some things that I have seen in Tanzania that I doubt you'll see in America

      -While grocery shopping, a worker walking barefoot through the grocery store carrying a tray with tea to serve to the cashier, so she can take tea while she rings you up.

      -A cobra in our yard (ok, I didn't see it, but our guard did)

      -A mongoose in our yard.  The dogs chased it, and the guard caught it and threw it over our wall.

The mongoose who braved our dogs

      -A tigerfish while swimming (they are poisonous, so watch out)

      -A thorn spider.  They aren't poisonous, but they do look really cool.

thorn spider in our yard

      -An iron for ironing clothes, that uses a piece of coal to heat it.

      -A man selling fish from the back of his bike.
 
      -A jackfruit tree, cashew tree, coconut tree, custard apple tree, and mango tree growing in my yard.
      -A troop of blue monkeys coming through our yard, at least once a week.

      -Mudskippers-- fish that breath air and skip across the top of the water.

Have a nice day!