A World without walls
everyday life while homeschooling overseas
Yes, Mom, I'm still alive. I know, I know, it's been a month since I last updated, but my life has been a serious WHIR of excitement and non-stop adventure since then! I promise to do some backposts and update with pictures, but this is part of the reason why I haven't updated lately! Let me sum up:
My friend moved away, so I spent two days helping her and watching her kids (June 22-24). A new friend moved in and we've been helping them settle in: incidentally, they have TWO girls Claire's age, and they are bestest of best friends so we spend all our extra time with them! :) (June 26-day before yesterday...) We've been seeing lots of fun things all over the place--on spur-of-the-moment trips! The computer that has all my pictures and data is ANNOYINGLY SLOW!!!!! As I'm typing this, I've been waiting for it to close a browser window for 20 minutes. GAH!! And it's twice as slow if I turn it off and restart it. It couldn't be that the poor thing is almost 8 years old...and that it's chock full of pictures and documents.... Devin tries his hardest to keep up with me and put all my extra stuff onto the external hard drive, but I admit that I put stuff on pretty fast, plus I haven't been taking it off so fast because I've been too exhausted to even write anything! So, after waiting for 15-20 minutes, I usually just give up and hope for the best the next day. However, since my mom wrote me a nasty comment (just kidding, mom, it wasn't nasty), I figured I should write at least a little in order to make people feel better! So, I switched computers and I'm on the other laptop that Devin won't let me use for pictures because he wants to keep it free for all our music files. I'm ok with that, but I think that that means it's time to get another laptop...for ME! :D Today was a MUCH more normal day than what I've been experiencing lately. We had a pretty slow morning where we did all our math and spelling and some cleaning and playing. Then the kids had Arabic classes, then tennis classes, then we went swimming for the rest of the afternoon. We got home around 7pm, ate dinner as fast as possible (well, the kids didn't eat much, but Devin and I did), and Devin rushed off to church meetings while I put the kids to bed. Ok, so I only put Peter, Andrew and Claire to bed. As part of my school, I have these little reward 'punch' cards for reading. They read 20 books, they get a special prize. Josh filled his up, so for his reward, after the kids were in bed, I took him to the local donut shop and he got a donut and a little cup of chocolate ice cream. I do this for 2 reasons: #1 I want to encourage my kids to read a LOT and to feel happily rewarded after reaching a goal, and #2 It gives me some great one on one time to chat with them and see how they're doing! :) Josh is such a good kid! I asked him if he liked homeschooling and he gave the right answer (he REALLY loves it!!), and I asked him what he'd like to study next year, and he told me he wants to study LOTS more science! I told him a little of what I had lined up for studies next year (namely an extended unit study on Astronomy--including a week-long trip to Wadi Rum with the telescope, and star parties on the roof of our apt building), and he was SO excited! That's what I like to see! So, we got back home around 8:30, Josh hopped into bed, I looked at the computer and realized that I had missed my Skype time with my mom (SORRY MOM!!!), saw her sad and lonely comment on my most recent post (yes, I'm pretty pathetic), and thought even without pictures it's high time I at least write SOMETHING!!!! So, I'm just going to tell about today, and make lots of good intention goals to write a little every day and work on getting myself 'caught up', even though we all know that that will never happen. :) Devin just got home from his meetings, which means my 'alone time' is over for today. *sigh* Tomorrow, I have planned to get the kids through their regularly scheduled math and spelling, plus tomorrow is spelling bee day! Then we have playdates and swimming set up for the rest of the day. Andrew filled up his punch card today, too, so I promised him a nighttime sojourn to the donut shop tomorrow night. Why do I take them at night and not during the day? Well, it's Ramadan here right now. The restaurants and shops are mostly closed during the day, and even if they aren't, you have to do take out and eat it at home. It's not good to eat it outside, since most of the country is fasting during the day! So, after Peter is asleep, I take the one who has a full reading card and we get to sit and chat for a minute! :) yes, it's a little late for donuts (in my humble opinion), but it's never too late to sit down and have a heart to heart with one of your kids! And besides, I sort of like the nighttime outing--makes it doubly special--and so they don't get upset that they read all 20 of those books for a measly 50 cent donut!
1 Comment
mom
7/18/2013 03:17:32 am
I didn't mean to make you feel too bad....just a little. ; ) But I'm glad that you've written all of these great insights to your days there in Jordan. I know I'm a catastrophizer, but if I see a post every so often then I know you're still okay.
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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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