Homeschooling update

Well, we had a really great week of school despite me and Audrey both being sick this week. I suppose we will experience periods of great accomplishments in any given week and some where we hardly accomplish any...However this week proved to be one that we accomplished so much. We began studying South America and specifically this week, Brazil. The kids enjoyed hearing some common words they knew both in English and Spanish spoken (I am sure incredibly INcorrectly, however spoken nonetheless...) in Portugese, the main language of Brazil. We also began studying the rainforests and other tropical forests, and we reviewed our trip to the forest last week with Matt's parents. We also attempted to make a Brazilian chocolate dessert that appears to be something like a cookie, maybe something like a Mexican wedding cake, but much more moist...Anyhow...I say attempted because it didn't quite come out like we thought it would...It is made with sweetened condesed milk, cocoa, and butter...and you are supposed to cook it and then roll the dough into ball and cover them with sprikles...however, they never set up...Kelly (she is curretnly serving with our team) was with us the day we were doing this and she and I had also decided to try to make the Nicaraguan version of an arepa. An arepa is a wonderful Venezuelan food that Coco has made several times and we just love. It is something like a pita, but more moist, and you cut it open and fill it with really whatever you'd like: cheese, vegetables, meat, etc. But the Nicaraguan version is a littler sweeter and more like a pancake. We ate them a couple of weeks ago in La Carpio and Melinda had figured out how to make them and so Kelly and I thought it would be fun to make them, too. So, we had made them by the time we realized that the Brazilian cookies were not going to become cookies but more like a sweet chocolate icing of sorts. So we, well, Ethan says that it was his idea, to combine the areaps and the Brazilian cookie-wanna-bes and make our own multi- cultural dessert...And they were fantastic! It was also a great lesson about making the most out of every situation, no matter what!

Earlier that same day, we took a field trip to a nearby greenhouse. We have studied how plants and animals work together in their exchange of different gases and also the greenhouse effect. So, in order to get a better understanding of exactly how a greenhouse works, what it looks like inside and how plants grow...we headed to the greenhouse. It was fun and the gardener was nice to let us look around.

It is funny the looks I get when I explain that I am the kids teacher and I teach them all their classes in our home. Sometimes, the looks are simply because the person I am talking to has never heard of such a thing. Other times, it is somewhat offensive as if I am not sending my children to school because I think the schools are not good enough. Often times it is just a look of "This woman is plainly crazy!" But, it is one of those cultural moments I just have to learn to live with. Homeschooling is just not heard of here. Apparently, according to Meg, children can be homeschooled here, but they have to complete 6th grade (I think) before they can begin taking classes in their home. (Meg would like to homeschool Mariana and Valeria in the future).

Anway, the gardner gave me one of those "crazy" looks, but was very kind and we looked all aroud and he even gave us a little lesson on orchids and how they grow, which was an added bonus!

We are reading about Nate Saint right now. The kids really love the book and my prayer is that one day my children have the courage to stand firm in the call God will place on their lives, whatever it may be, even when there will be persecution, suffering and that they will never feel peace staying "comfortable."

If I haven't said it before, I'll say it now: I LOVE homeschooling!"