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!

Are Kids Growing up too Fast?

It's all over the web.  Kids are growing up too fast!  They are acting too mature!
The Pre-Tween Years-How to Keep your kids from growing up too fast

Whatever Happened to Childhood?

Modern Childhood ends at age 12

     Most of the concerns with kids growing up too fast is obvious-- wearing revealing clothing or make up a young age, dating at a young age, maybe smoking or drinking underage, becoming concerned with personal appearance.

      Ok, I get that none of those things are good.  But, since when do those things make you "grown up"?  As far as I can tell, none of those things signal real maturity, even in adults.  Therefore, I have a different point of view.

   Kids aren't growing up too fast.  They aren't growing up fast enough!  In ways that really make someone mature.  Such as thinking of someone else instead of yourself, putting the needs of others ahead of your own.  Taking responsibility for your own actions, and being self-motivated in studies and hobbies.  Being kind to others, and respectful to elders and family members. 
   THESE are the things that show that you are "growing up".  Not whether you get to wear make-up, or go to the movies unchaperoned. 

We should be encouraging our children to grow up, to "act mature"... that is, real maturity.  The maturity that is gained by taking our Christian faith seriously and becoming more like Him everyday.

                 

Where the Rooster Crows

Where we live, there are a handful of roosters that leave near us and we hear them crowing throughout the day.  There is rarely a time that a full minute passes that we don't hear a rooster crowing.  (I used to have the impression that roosters only crowed first thing in the morning, when the sun came up. What a laugh!) Most of the time, I don't notice, or if I do, it doesn't bother me.  But, sometimes, for unknown reasons, it bothers me. A lot.  Like do these things ever shut up?? 

  That seems to be a symbol of living here.  There are so many little things here that are different, or that don't seem to work as we expect, and I usually don't notice or it doesn't bother me at all.  Once in a while though, I feel like shouting, "Can't anything work right!?" 

   So many things here are different.  We have a milkman that rides his bike up to our gate and sells up fresh milk in washed out soda bottles.  A man rides his bike down our street selling fish from a basket on his bike.  We can't go on a walk anywhere without stares, points, and "Mzungu! Mzungu!" (White person).  We have to buy bottled water, or use a filter because the water is literally sandy when it comes out of the pipe.  You can see a layer of sand if you fill a pot with it, and it is a brownish color.  You are expected to greet everyone: the shopkeeper, the guy riding by on a bike, the strangers walking down the road.  The electricity can go out at any time, for unknown reasons, and stay off for hours without any explanation.  There are so many things that are different from our culture.

  Sometimes, I don't even notice, like the stray dogs that wander the neighborhood, or the chickens that roam free on the street.  It doesn't phase me to see 4 people on a motorcycle, one of them an infant (no helmets of course).  I don't bat an eye to see several men hanging off the back of a semi truck on the highway.  Most of the time things don't bother me.  I enjoy shopping for vegetables at the market every week.  We are used to seeing monkeys in our yard all of the time.

  But sometimes, occasionally,  Things Bother Me.  I'm glad these times aren't very often.  The other day, I was at the market, and the stall vendors were shoving vegetables in my face (as usual), and asking me what I wanted, and how much of what, etc.  They do this every week. But, for some reason, it suddenly was too much.  I couldn't figure out how to say "Leave me alone" in Swahili, because I was so flustered.  Finally, I was able to buy what I needed and get out of there. 

  It's like you never really  get over culture shock.  No matter how long you're here, it will sneak up and grab you unexpectedly out of the blue.  I'm very thankful that it doesn't get me very often. 

What do we do for fun?

We are still on school break, although school will be starting up again next week for us. 

      As most families during a school break, our kids act bored and want to be entertained.  If I allowed them, they would sit in front of a TV, computer or Wii all day.  However, I want more for them. 
 
    I want their childhood to be filled with memories of tree houses, bike rides, playing with Barbies and Legos, coloring in coloring books, and making forts.  If everything they do is on a video game, what real memories will they carry of their childhood with them into adulthood?  This is a magical time, where imagination can grow and dream.  I don't want an electronic device deaden that imagination.

 Nature Valley put out a video about what three generations did for fun as kids. Nature Valley Video

 Another concern I have is that if they are entertaining themselves electronically all the time as children, what will they do as adults? Will they only know how to interact with the world through their phones? I forgot my Phone video 

    One thing that we do at our house, is have "No TV or electronics day" on Sundays.  No movies, video games, e-mail, etc. for one day.  At first (for a few months) the kids would complain most of the day.  But, they have started to find things to do.  We usually go out on Sundays and spend time as a family, or have company over.  I like to remind ourselves that we don't "need" to be entertained electronically.

Fostering Self-Motivation in Children

Can you create self-motivation in someone else?  Isn't that an oxymoron?  Yes, in a sense.  However, you can help foster self-motivation by doing certain things and limiting certain other things. 

        This is based on my own thoughts and observations, nothing from a book.

-As toddlers, allow them to do as many things "by themselves" as they want.  Feeding themselves from 9 months old, dressing themselves at 2 years old, walking when it would be easier to carry them or use a stroller... you get the idea.  It may seem that everything takes twice as long (and it does!), but this will pay off with encouraging them in their ability to do things on their own.

-As preschoolers, encourage them to do things on their own even if it would be quicker and easier (and less messy) if you did it for them, such as pouring their own juice, buttering their bread, tying their shoes, etc.

-For all ages, limit screen time, which gives children instant gratification.

-For preschoolers, try to limit the toys and games that do all the playing for them, like dolls that talk, walk, and pee, and "learning games" that play music at the touch of a button.  Let them play with dolls without batteries, so they can make up the words the doll says themselves.  Give them play instruments like toy drums or xylophones so they can make their own music.

-For all ages, have them play outside a little everyday.  There is no schedule and no activities director, so they will have to come up with something to do on their own.

-When older children have an idea or suggestion, don't laugh or mock them.  Listen to them and their ideas.  If feasible, help them accomplish their ideas.

-If you have allowance, consider having a base-line amount, and then they can earn more if they decide to do more chores without being asked.

-Pray for your children to have self-motivation.  Since it comes from within, the only one who can really change a child is the Holy Spirit.


-If you are homeschooling, consider not "grading", but teaching for mastery.  When they have fully understood a concept to 100% or close, then move on to the next lesson.

-Show pride when they do something without being told, or start a hobby that interests them.  They are doing something on their own initiative.

                  What do you think?  Is self-motivation something you can learn, or does it have to be something you possess already at birth?

Why my kids aren't in ANY activities

 Ok, to be fair, where we live, there aren't any activities for the kids to be involved in like sports, co-ops, dance classes, etc.
          But, even when we lived in America for a year and had the kids in public school we didn't have them signed up for ANY activities.   Why?  There are many benefits to NOT being involved in organized sports, classes or groups. 

       I believe in lots of free time for the children to explore their interests, to learn to bake or cook, to read, and to play outside in nature.  Having them busy all of the time takes away from what I think is more important for them at this age- free time.

Katrina cutting fabric to sew doll clothes

      More time for family.  I for one don't like the idea of all of my family time spent driving the kids from one activity to the next.  Instead, I like to spend our time together. 


Katrina cross stitches and Heather knits while I read to them



      We are able to travel when we want, and make plans on our own schedule.  This is a big one for our family, as we travel almost every weekend when we are living in America doing support raising.  We need to be able to pick up and go whenever is convenient for us and not worry about missing a game or recital.

Helping Jonathan snorkel on one of our impromptu trips last month

     It's a lot cheaper. We are pretty cheap people. :)

                                                   This is not to say that organized activities for kids is wrong in any way, but it's just something we have chosen not to participate in as a family.   What do you think?  Do the benefits for being in activities outweigh the benefits of not being in them?