A couple of pics from homeschooling -so far so good with both of them. Mum exhausted but enjoying it mostly.

Science experiment

Spray painting their papier mache Grand Canyon!

Soph trying out the Chicken Pie from her Little House on the Prairie cookbook

First prize in the Cadbury chocolate competition -a Wii U!!

Here we are trying out a new restaurant which has opened up down the road -beautiful food!

We just got home from a friends daughters 16th birthday party. The age 16 is a big deal here and the celebrations are quite formal. We love this family and we love learning more about the culture when we are invited to join in their family events.

Susu and her daughetr Siteri -wearing special decoration around her neck.

Pastor Tony and his family were seated up the front with the birthday girl.

We spent 4 days away at a conference with 50 students, where Tony spoke on the book of Colossians. Was a fantastic time - I loved getting to know some of the people that Tony sees pretty regularly and Ethan enjoyed teaching them how to ride a skateboard. Lots of fun.

 

Today is Palm Sunday - the week before Easter and it is a big deal here in Fiji. The streets are lined with people walking along with palm leaves and larger parades and singing is another feature. At our church, the kids were involved in a small play before they marched down the aisle singing
'Hosanna". Looking forward to our student conference at Easter "Jesus is enough" where Tony is speaking on Colossians -reminding us that Jesus death and resurrection was enough -we don't need any "spirituality" or "religious duties" to get us right with God. Will do a blog on that next week -meanwhile here are few pics of this mornings service -with Ethan starring as the donkey!!

We just got back from a super week away with mum and dad - and now that the 5 loads of washing are done, we're feeling very relaxed. Mum and Dad, on the other hand, WILL be feeling relaxed once their plane leaves Nadi -4 hours after it was due. Oh well, better to find the mechanical faults before take-off, I guess. Anyway, was unreal to see them and chat in person even though it makes us miss them even more -here are a few photos of the week.

Ethan and one of the fire-walkers

Visiting a local reptile park

One of Ethan's night adventures with his Dad

Building a fish-house with Moses

First time paddle-boarding -didn't fall off once!

Banana boat ride

We've come to the end of Term 1 -and it seems that I've picked up another student along the way. Soph has come to the end of her time at Suva Christian and will join Ethan at home with me. She made the decision to leave and is happy with it -but is still sad to be leaving some lovely people behind and she found it hard taking her uniform off on the last day. Anyway, Ethan is ecstatic and we have set up his bedroom as part classroom as it is so big. We are also ecstatic with 2 weeks of holidays ahead of us -with mum and dad coming in the second week - WOOHOO!! Here are some other photos of the last few weeks.

Fishing after school.

Success!

Another science experiment -wasn't quite the explosion that he was after, but still fun.

One of Ethan's latest dishes -lemon meringue pie-beautiful!

Soph's last day at school -finishing in prayer.

Goodbye Class 5 and Miss Betakai.

The kids new classroom at home.

Soph's area

Ethan's area

Gaering up to teach American history.

By far, the most frequently asked questions revolve around home-schooling. Why, who, what program, how long?? etc... So I will just try to answer them all in one hit.
Why -not happy with the school we started at -academically, socially and was killing their love of learning. We liked that they had to learn patience, mix with people different to them, learn how to persevere etc.. but it ran it's course. I wanted to home-school them to get them to an age-appropriate level before sending them to the International. I did 6 months with Hannah and am currently doing this year with Ethan (12).

Content -I write my own stuff. I follow the NSW maths syllabus. I choose english novels that I want them to read and tie it in with history. For example we did " My Place" for english, alongside Australian history. Next term we will do American History and CANNOT wait to study " To kill a mockingbird" together. I also throw in geography related to that country, like Ayers Rock , Great Barrier Reef. We fumble along with science on the internet. Learn poetry. Tony does exercise (running, tennis, squash) in the mornings followed by bible study. Also, PD (first aid, Christian book on sex/relationships) and he has art and a personal interest project of his choice. His cooking has really taken off -and we all have the slightly more snug pants to prove it! Oh and he comes to prison with me on Wednesday mornings to help teach. This week he was teaching them about camels -once they finished their maths -they were gobsmacked ha!

Social -as riveting as my company is, I don't think I quite cut it in the social department. He does hockey, soccer and nippers during the week. We also try to invite the boys who live behind us over for pizza/movies occasionally. He finds it lonely and boring at times, but thinks he can make it through the year. He will go to school next year. As for Soph, she finds the Christian school boring and unstimulating -so we will keep assessing her at the end of each term. Basically, flexibility is the key to living here -so far so good!

Friday afternoon nippers class (paddling, surf life-saving etc)

Australian history timeline.

Making damper -beautiful hot, with melted butter.

Brilliant having Tony working at home alot -boy fun at recess.

When he;s bored he'll often pop outisde and catch a frog....

to freak out his poor mum...

Hockey on Thursdays

Prison on Wednesdays

Just finished teaching the ladies maths and about the water cycle.

Soccer in the rain - if we waited for good weather, we would never get to play!

I feel like I've shown alot of the fun stuff -that's prob. about 20% of the time. Alot of it is Eth sitting at a computer or sitting over his maths book groaning and looking at the clock. I try to be as practical as I can be with little resources and not many options for excursions -but praise the Lord for the internet, which has pretty much made the whole thing possible!! Plus, I love getting to hang with hilarious Ethan - cracks me up!