A World without walls
everyday life while homeschooling overseas
Yes, this will be another rambling sampler of a day. I suppose this is what I've always done, up until I started homeschooling when I felt like I just didn't seem to have the time to just sit around and 'ramble' anymore. Well, I think I should make more time to just ramble. It's pretty relieving to just put things down and look at things from another point of view. Besides, I don't have anyone sitting by me all evening listening to me ramble on and on and on and on and on and on and...well, you get it. Poor Devin. He's either REALLY enjoying his solitude and silence now, or he's going crazy with it. Ha! This morning, the kids and I had the coolest discussion about things of the spirit. We're reading right now about Abraham and Isaac in the Bible. We had finished reading the account and were discussing things. Claire asked how Abraham heard God. The launched us into this fairly indepth discussion on how we hear the Voice of God--the Holy Ghost--and all the different ways He speaks to us! It was pretty cool and I saw quite a few 'lightbulbs' go off. I've been studying about hearing the Voice of the Spirit and personal revelation this week, so it was fun to share some of the things that I'd been studying. We talked about some of the things we have experienced and things we are experiencing and how we hear His voice every single day in so many different ways. Pretty cool. Another thing we were talking about this morning was right after History. Right now, I'm reading 'Famous Men of Greece' out loud to the kids, and I have it on my Kindle. Well, funny thing: A few weeks ago, I was just goofing off on the computer and found this site that sends you a notice with some of the free books on Amazon. At first I thought it would be all classics (I already have most of them), but it's not. Not at ALL. Every day, it appears, Amazon (and others) put tons of books out for free! These guys surf around and list a few and you can go nab 'em! After finding the first site, I found 3-4 more. So every day I get emails from many different places showing me all sorts of books for free (or .99)!! I've had WAY too much fun. At one point last week, while I was still only on one mailing list, I found that I now had 118 books on my Kindle. Wow! Then, today as I was reading the history book, I noticed that I now had 163! Ha! So I made Claire do the 'word problem' to find out how many books I had downloaded in the past week since I had found the other 3-4 sites: 45! Ha! That's pretty funny. I think so, anyway. In other news, some people know that I've suffered from some somewhat minor back issues for years now. It comes and goes, really. Ever since I had Josh. The past few weeks, it's bordered on the excruciating. Just thinking about bending over to pick up a paper would bring tears to my eyes. Sneezing would leave me in the fetal position, sobbing. I don't know why I have this problem. I'm active, I'm not overweight... Just my lot in life, I guess. It's been so bad that I've considered actually going to a chiropractor. That must mean it's pretty bad, because I don't go to doctors. Well, being true to myself, I did a little research. I found a bunch of exercise dvds expressly for low back pain, a few different sizes of those big exercise balls, and a book. I have been reading the book a little, and am super impressed thus far. He says that part of the low-back issues are from sitting in chairs a lot. It's better for people to sit cross-legged. Interesting. He gave some tips for better sleeping. Plus, he said when you sneeze, instead of bending forward (as EVERYONE does), you should lean back. Weird, eh? But I can tell you, today, I tried it and I LAUGHED!!! I CRIED! Why? Well, it was because it DIDN'T HURT!! I couldn't believe it! Who knew??? I've dreaded sneezing for years--I curl myself into a ball and hold tight to a counter or something solid when I sneeze so I don't have as much pain. But today? I just leaned back a little and Voila! Nothing!!!!!! The book is called Back RX, by the way. I forget the author--it's on my Kindle, of course. I'm only on chapter 4, but I like what he says so far. Yesterday, I sat cross-legged on the tennis court while the kids played tennis for 2 hours. I slept with pillows in various strategic places. This morning, I woke up with almost no pain in my back. I'm impressed. I did pilates this morning without cringing. I'm happy. Here's to hoping that it continues to improve. In other news: Josh played his first concert yesterday. It was so fun to watch that boy play! Good kid. I got a video of it, but sadly missed his introduction of, "This is Joshua Hendriksen....From America." Ha! Hooray! Sadly, the concert was in true Jordanian style. They don't teach concert etiquette here. Everyone was talking to their neighbors and chatting on their phones and walking around all through the performances of the many students. You always knew who the parents were, because during their child's performance, they'd stand and video it on their iPhone or iPad, then when the kid was done, they'd talk to each other (still standing), and pick up all their coats and kids and belongings and chat with people as they made their way out...during the next 2-3 kids' performances. There was pretty much constant leaving throughout the concert. Disconcerting. (ha ha) By the time Josh played, the room was only 1/3 full. That was fine by me. To me, it was all beyond rude. To them, that's how they do things. Welcome to Jordan. While we were there at the concert, Peter had to go to the bathroom. He managed to find them on his own (oh, it's so nice to have independent kids!!!), and ran back to me with the news: "Mom! I found the bathrooms! There's a boys' one and a girls' one, but there are no mommy ones." Guess I'll have to hold it.
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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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