A World without walls
everyday life while homeschooling overseas
This year we have been SO blessed to be able to get together with these families every Friday (and sometimes more)! I LOVE our co-op group! This is our 'end of semester/year' party. The kids all showcased something (music, recitations, stories, projects, etc.), we did a craft, then we ate a potluck snack together while watching 'Finding Dory'. I can't wait for next year, to see what that will bring!
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The kids and I decided to fill our last few weeks in Sri Lanka with a whole lot of field trips! Today, we headed down to Galle! We hopped on the early express train and buzzed our way down. The train was lovely, actually. Very relaxing and the A/C worked wonderfully! We arrived and Devika was there to meet us, so we all piled into her brother's van and went gallivanting about the city! We went to some shops, then walked up and down the Fort. After the walk, we got some ice cream and then headed over to see if we could look around at a museum. We found one that was open: The Marine Archaeology Museum. It was interesting...small, but interesting. They had a little movie that you watched about the history of marine archaeology here, then you got to wander around and look at all the things that you saw in the movie. :) They had a lovely little souvenir shop that only sold Buddha statues. Not sure why they didn't sell ships or something. But, that's ok. As we were walking out, there was a snake charmer guy sitting out in front of the museum...he had a cobra in a basket, a python, and a monkey. I admit...I've always wanted to hold a big python snake! It was only 200 rupees (like $1.50), so why not? I thought it was SUPER cool! I think the kids were a little freaked out that I thought that that was something cool...but, what can I do? Snakes are neat! Afterwards, we had lunch, found some neat souvenirs to bring to our family in the states, and then headed home! It was quite the lovely day!! And one more cool snake picture, just for fun!!
Peter and I were working in his vocabulary, and one of his words was 'luxury'. For an activity, the book asks questions about the vocab words, and he is supposed to choose the correct answer. Well, one of his questions sparked a pretty interesting family discussion on perspective. Here is the question:
Which of the following is considered a luxury: a) a loaf of bread b) a trip around the world c) a glass of milk d) a T-shirt This totally stumped Peter! He had no idea! It made me stop and think, too! So I polled all the kids. I asked them all this question--what would YOU guys consider a luxury? They all had to stop and think, too! The bigger kids knew the answer, but if they applied it to themselves personally, the answer was different! For us, we decided that from the list of 'luxuries' on Peter's vocabulary page, #1 is a glass of milk. We VERY rarely get milk. Usually, we get milk powder, which tastes nasty. We use it for baking. If we splurge, we get UHT milk (milk in a box), but it's nasty, too. So we only get milk if we're visiting family in the states. Hence, for us, that's a luxury! #2 is a T-shirt. A nice T-shirt that lasts more than a week or so. Local clothes are super duper cheap...but you get what you pay for! They fall apart in mere weeks, and off you go to find more. #3 is a loaf of bread. We make our own bread, so that's not the luxury. The luxury is buying bread from the store! Again, we rarely do that, since it's better to just make our own! Buying bread from the store is a special treat! And the last on OUR list of luxuries is a trip around the world. That we HAVE to do on a fairly regular basis, so that, for us, is not a luxury, it's a necessity! What an interesting perspective. Thank you, Wordly Wise, for a fascinating discussion. It seems like everyone was leaving the embassy during the Easter break/holiday, so we had our Easter Party in March! Why not? I felt SOOOOO bad for the poor guy dressed up as the Easter Bunny! Such a good sport! And how fun is this Tuk Tuk all dressed up? Who knew that the Easter Bunny delivers his eggs via tuk in Sri Lanka? Well, now we know. Where are Andrew and Josh? Well, Josh is where he ALWAYS is: behind the camera. And Andrew refused to leave the bouncy castle. Ha! :)
Nothing can beat a field trip at the end of our Ocean Science Unit!! We got together with our co-op group, went about 15 minutes down the road to the 'Shore By O' beach, and had ourselves a great time!!! There is a snorkeling 'company' (I think that's a very loose term here) that operates right on the beach. They had 3 boats for our big group, so we all piled in and took OFF! It is seriously FUN to be in a speed boat on the ocean!! Ha!! First, we sped around the water, and ended up at 'Oyster Rock', so called because it is completely covered in oysters (and is, in fact, a giant rock). I thought it was a lighthouse on top, but it's not. It's a shrine. After making a few rounds around Oyster Rock, the guys all decided that the water was still a little too murky to do any snorkeling. So, they wanted to take us to see some fishermen in a Catamaran. On our way over, Claire noticed these 3 big things poking out of the water that looked like Stonehenge. We asked what they were and found out that they are the top part of a big huge shipwreck! So after looking at the fish being caught that day, we headed over to check out the shipwreck! (Funny side note: Just as we were getting on our way from the fishermen, our boat turned back to them...to get some matches for the engine guy's cigarettes! Then as we headed out, the boat ahead of us stopped and pulled us over so they could pass the matches over to them...they all passed the matches from boat to boat, and eventually gave them back to the fishermen on the way back. I thought that was funny and a little sad...) When we got to the shipwreck, there was a boat there taking out some scuba divers! We looked in the water and there were huge schools of fish! Neat!! The boat guys saw how nice the water was, and asked if we'd rather go snorkeling there! Heck yes! So, we all jumped in and looked at the fish swimming around a giant shipwreck! Wow! We saw lots of Dory and Gill (Tangs and Angelfish), and a bunch of other kinds, too, that I don't know the name of. SO COOL!! After swimming around for about an hour, we all hopped back in the boats and headed toward a Sea Turtle Conservation Center. That was amazing, too! It was a cute little place with big pools set up for the sea turtles--and we not only got to feed them and pet them, but hold them! I held a big loggerhead turtle, and man, those guys are heavy!! He kept flapping his flippers and hitting my hands and it hurt! I was afraid I was going to drop the poor guy! They had a big tank full of tiny babies, and when we left, each of the kids got to take a baby sea turtle out in the boat, and release it into the ocean! After releasing our turtles, we headed back to the beach, and took a few photos (with those that were still there...we had a few kids go AWOL as soon as we landed!) I think it was a very successful venture, and everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves! For me, I have to admit that I had a LOT of amazing moments. My thoughts today: "Look at where I live and what I'm able to do!! I Live on a Island in the middle of the Indian Ocean! We're snorkeling above a shipwreck! I'm holding a giant sea turtle!" Magic. Absolute magic.
Devin and I have a habit of walking together every Saturday morning. The kids get their iPad/Cartoon time, and we leave together to get out and get a little exercise (mostly, just talk). This time, I took pictures to 'chronicle' what we saw as we walked along. Hope you enjoy our walk together! Here in Sri Lanka it's always summer. And what a glorious thing: right now I'm sitting on our front porch, painting, while my kids play in the warm rain while we wait for Devin to come home. They're sopping wet, running and screaming, and having a glorious time! Peter just rode by, "I love the rain! It gives me ENERGY!!!!" Coming from the kid whose 'batteries are always low', that's a fun thing to hear!! This really is something I love very much, and will miss: warm deluges! The funny part, though, and what I think we actually love about the rain here, is the fact that when it's raining, it's not as hot... ☺️ I love orchids. They're super hardy, super pretty, and even I can grow them! These are my pretty orchids:
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Who Am I?
As a Stay At Home Mom of 4 wonderful children, I have the amazing opportunity not only to home school them, but to do so in many different places! I am married to the most amazingly wonderful (and handsome) man in the whole world! Together, we seek out, every day, that Joy in the Journey that makes life exciting! Archives
November 2020
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Emily's books
by Dan Brown
I like that the plot twists and turns a lot...and it makes you think. However, I don't appreciate Dan Brown's endings in his books. I find the endings incongruent with the rest of his stories--why make it a romance for the last chapter...
by Shannon Hale
I loved this book. I'm a sucker for fairy tales/fantasy. This was so well written! I can't wait to read all the rest of her books!
by Shannon Hale
I'm reading this one again. I liked it the first time I read it. I'm still liking it for the second time around. I like all of Shannon Hales' books.
**Still lots of fun the second time around! I do like this book for a comfortable...
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