School starts in the McClain house!

Today we started homeschooling! It was a gerat day! We started everything but Math and English, both of which we will begin next week. The best thing about homeschooling, in my opinion, which works so well with our life, is the flexibility. Today, Matt an I had a meeting that started at 7:00 am (What? You thought that now that we were missionaries, we'd get to sleep in or something?) and then another one back-to-back to the first one at 8:30. We were done around 10:30...I think...and so the kids and I started right away after the meetings. We got as much as we could done before 2, which was when we headed to Tejarcillos for the afternoon. I took our stuff whith us that we needed to finish for the day (I bought this really cool storage container set the other day that I beilieve will really help me stay organized... and I have used it twice now to transport school books and stuff when I know that I'll have time to work on them. It is plastic which is important now that it is rainy season...)Anyway, I knew the kids and I would be at the Neris and Rogelio's house today because we stay behind to watch the car and so while there today, we finished up the rest of our lessons. It was the perfect amount of time we needed and it felt so good to have finished the day!

Today I gave the kids (Ethan and Isabelle) a geography quiz. The curriculum we are using is from My Father's World and the focus is heavy on geography. So, the first quiz (yeah- I know...I'm gonna gain the rep of being a pretty tough teacher- pop quiz first day...) was a blank map of the world with clues to fill in each of the 7 continents, the equator and the North and South pole. Ethan got every single one right- WITHOUT my help!!! I thought for sure he must have studied the map before but he said no, he hadn't. It was pretty cool. So, then we looked at blank maps of each of the 7 continents and he filled in only what he knew, even if it was just the continent name. He got a little confused between Africa and South America because I gave him the continent maps each seperately. First he marked South America as Africa but as soon as I handed him Africa, he realized his mistake and changed it- yes, I let him correct his mistake!!! I'm not that tough!!!

Anyway, I was quite impressed and pleased, Iz was very good at listening to the clues on the world quiz and got each one right, as well. I think her favorite part was when I gave her the word clues for remembering where to put north, south, east and west on a copass. I have always used Never Eat Sour Worms to remember it by (I think my third grade teacher Mrs. Wehr tought us that...) and when I told Iz that she must have laughed for ten minutes and you know what- she remembered it and it stuck with her when I gave her clues about a continent being North or south, etc...I allowed her to look at her completed World quiz and compare the blank continent quizzes to the world one to be able to find the answers. For both Ethan and Isabelle, Europe and Asia were the toughest. The Arctic Ocean was tough for Ethan to remember as well, but he remembered the other three oceans. It was cute during this part of the lesson because Audrey piped up and said "Remember we went to the ocean. We were there in NicaWagwa and there were crabs there!"

I didn't do much with her today, she hung out with Daddy. I have a couple pictures of the day, but the camera batteries are dead and I don't want to wake Matt up to go find more...it is REALLY late now, I need to go to bed...so I'll post them tomorrow hopefully...

Tomorrow, we will be gone in the morning and into the afternoon, and will start school when we get back. We will work into the evening tomorrow. It is so great to be able to flucuate our schedule like this! I hope it continues to work well for us. Wednesdays Matt and I have decided for me to continue to go to La Carpio and Matt will continue the afternoon lessons with the kids. This will also give him some time with htem without Mom around...I am happy because I was a little torn about what I should do abiut La Carpio and homeschool and so when he volunteered to do afternoon school and thought I should continue in La Carpio- I was very excited! I can't wait to surprise Luisa (my friend from Los Guido whom I'm partnered up with) because she thought my last day was last week.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) Matt and I are taking a young couple from Tejarcillos to their lawyers office so she can perform their civil wedding ceremony. We will be acting as their witnesses. It is an honor and privelege to be able to be part of their marriage in this way. I first met the wife-to-be, Rebecca, on my first trip here in June 2006. Her daughter was onlt about 18 months old at the time and now she is one of my best little buddies. I am looking forward to hte day with them.