Botanical Buddies

You know that feeling of self-discovery when you realize something about yourself that has always been there but never been formulated into words and uttered? Epiphany and light-bulb-moment are terms for this occurrence. Last week one happened to me. Do you want to know what it is? Of course you do, that is why you are reading. (smile!) Drum roll please: I am an outdoorsy gal. There you have it! Stuff like skiing, hiking, swimming, camping and beach fun all float my boat. In any inclement weather I prefer to be out of doors. When given the choice I want to be communing with nature. And I drag people along with me. (another smile!)

Here is a group of pictures taken on our last Fun Friday. We picked up the kids of a fellow home school family and headed to the botanical gardens. Before unloading the truck I assigned Botanical Buddies so that they could roam and explore; yet still be safe. It was a blast!

May Day

Today in Bolivia we are observing Labor Day. This term seems to be an oxymoron seeing as it is observed by everyone taking the day off from work (except for the market workers, they are so industrious). Yet we are glad to give our team a day off. They work very hard and we are appreciative of them. Of course, my husband, the team leader, is glad to have the office all to him self to work. I must commend him, though, for sleeping in until 7:30 today. This is something he hasn’t done in a long while. I was actually up before him which is a rare occurrence indeed.

My day will include work as well. Aside from the usual laundry, dishes, cooking, cleaning, baby care, and food sanitization of groceries bought right before closing time at the store last night I have some fun things going on. An extra home school class taught by one of our friends: Spanish. As well as art this afternoon with our missionary / neighbor / church member / fellow home school family. After art the kids have a birthday party to go to at the bowling alley. Then we have church tonight. I enjoyed teaching while DaRonn (my husband the pastor) was gone, but I am so glad that he is back to share this evening.

The art project for today is shrinky-dinks. I tossed around the idea of making May baskets. I have some great childhood memories of May Day sneaking up to the neighbors’ houses, ringing the door bell and then running away to hide behind a bush to watch them discover their surprise treat. But, since that is not a tradition here and I have been saving styrofoam trays for weeks the anticipation has got the better of me. Here are the instructions for the project on line if you are interested: http://kidscrafts.suite101.com/article.cfm/make_your_own_shrinky_dinks

What childhood memories does this season invoke for you?

Laguna de Alalay

Yesterday for Fun Friday we went to the Laguna de Alalay, a man made lake in the South part of the town here in Cochabamba. Since it was Good Friday there were many families out walking, biking, playing soccer, picnicking, and fishing. My kids especially enjoyed forging a way to the shore line. It was hard to find because parts were flooded and overgrown. I let them take the lead exploring and eventually we made it through. There were piles of old lily pads that had been pulled out from last season that we had to climb over. The fish water smell was not as strong thanks to the breeze. Wild horses grazed on the banks as the men with bamboo poles waded in knee deep to catch fish for their families seated on the grass under the shade of the trees. There was even a man selling ice-cream out of his styrophome chest. The kids pulled up the large water plants and inspected the long hair like roots. God really has surrounded us with fascinating creations. As evening set in the mosquitoes awoke and were hungry so we left. As we were walking to the truck my son pronounces, “Thanks for a very fun Fun Friday mom!”

Yay for Art Day

Thursdays are Art Day here at our home school. We have been having a good time creating together. Usually some of the kids of another home school family who live a few blocks away walk down to do the art project with us. It makes for a fun time for everyone involved (teacher included). So far we have made: me posters, rubbings collections, potato prints, slot sculptures, color spinner pull yo-yos, and woven paper. Each week we learn an art vocabulary word. I make the oversized vocab cards with card stock. The top line is the term, the second line is the definition and finally the card has an example of the term. Some of my projects I find at the Art Attack web site. I love art!


Getting all set up


Raimy with some of the vocabulary cards


Gabrielle working hard


Timothy finishing up


Aren't they lovely?! (The art is pretty nice too)

Backyard Adventures

Just 15 minutes from our home sprawling on the side of a mountain lays Tunari National Park; this was our fun Friday destination today. The sun shone on my children’s way as they headed out on the trail to adventure and exploration. For an entrance fee of just a buck fifty we will be back again; and next time with a picnic lunch. Here are some snapshots from our morning.

My Eight Year Old Boy

Yesterday I took the kids up on a mountain for our first Fun Friday field trip. I let them take pictures and we will be posting their slide shows on our family site. I got some great pictures of Timothy while we were up there. I think that eight year old boys are some of my most favorite people in the world.

Home School Curriculum 2008

We follow the Bolivian school year: February to November. It just makes sense for me to start and finish a school year within the calendar year. It also works well with furlough trips. Not to mention that my kids’ Bolivian friends have their summer break November to February.

So we have got off to a good start this year. I have a 4th grader, a 3rd grader and a 1st grader. I also have an 18 month old; which adds a challenging dynamic to the mix.

Here is our curriculum list for the year:

Bible – “Bible Blast” (1,3,4) they are doing this with a group of kids from church
Math – “Saxon” (1,3,4)
Reading – “Abeka” books (1) the same ones my mom handed down to me, I am a second generation home school mom
Sight words – www.dolch-words.com (1,3) fun printable worksheets
Language – “Bob Jones” (3,4)
Handwriting – “Handwriting Without Tears” (1,3,4) given to me by an occupational therapist, it is very good
Spelling – “Spelling Power” (3,4) the kids like the part in this program that you get to write the words with your fingers in sand
Creative Writing – “Writing Strands” (4) and “Sparks” (3,4) found this one online
Science – www.sciencewithme.com and “Gray’s Anatomy Coloring Book” (3)
Science – “Bob Jones” (4)
Geography – “Galloping the Globe” (4) it was challenging to use this last year since we don’t exactly have all the resource books required on hand or even readily available– but I am going to give it one more try
Social Studies – “Bob Jones” (3,4)
Home Skills – “The Family Book of Manners” (1,3,4) also from my mom
Physical Education – Horseback riding (1,3,4)
Art – various projects (1,3,4)
Fun Friday Field trips – every Friday after a light school work load we go on an adventure somewhere in the city. I started this last year and we all loved it.

My home school focus:
“We learn to love and we love to learn.”

As a whole I desire that my kids have the skills to learn what they want to know. I want to expose them to many experiences that encourage them to want to learn more. Coupled with those experiences I will have a strong technical skills routine to give them the scaffolding by which to construct their learning.

Run, Mama, Run

Ringtones are out of my league; but I do know how to assign different ring sounds to individuals on my contacts list from the options in my cell phone. I have one general ring sound for the whole world – except one person: my husband. His ring sound is called bullfighter – it’s that cheesy music that you hear whenever you see some commercial of someone running. Well, I was in my room and the phone was in the dining room. Papa’s ring sounded for all to hear. I rushed out to the dining room and my kids saw me coming. My youngest daughter yells out to me as I whiz by, “Run, Mama, Run!” It sounded just like the famous Forest Gump phrase. It was so funny!

Things I am lovin’ today:
- A well made turkey cold cut sandwich purchased for lunch
- Bugles and Mineragua – a great combo
- Google Reader – I just switched all my subs – it is great
- Lists and charts
- Pilates
- A clean desk top even after a week
- Our 2 cute guinea pigs
- The fact that I remembered how to spell guinea pig
- On line Scrabble
- The book of First John
- Driving
- Hooded sweatshirts with pockets for these drippy days

Books I am reading at this point in time:
- “Mere Christianity” by: C.S. Lewis
- “The Lie that Tells a Truth” by: John Dufresne
- “Sacred Parenting” by: Gary Thomas

Projects I am working on right now:
- A surprise party
- Organizing for this year of home schooling – first week of February we start
- Church leadership get together on Saturday

Did I mention that I like lists and charts?

Summer Break

We are full swing into summer break. It feels very nice to have finished a school year and be able to focus on the year end festivities. The Bolivian school year runs from February to November. It makes logical sense to start and finish a school year in the same year; so we follow that system with our home schooling. To the South of the equator summer is November to March (more or less). For Cochabamba, Bolivia that means the rainy season. It has been relatively dry thus far; we are hoping for more rain since this is the only time during the year that rain comes.

We got our Christmas tree up this weekend. This is the earliest we have ever gotten it up. We had a bunch of fun as a family decorating, singing, laughing and munching.

Though I do so miss the frost and snow that enchant this season I am glad for my husband that we live in a place that they call “Eternal Spring”. He does not like the cold at all. I think I am getting used to my palm trees and sunshine on Christmas day. I am looking forward to it, actually.

Yeah for summer!

Basement Beginnings - 3

Part 3 – Tulsa, Oklahoma
(Garage)

“You make your choices and your choices make you.” This is a saying that holds much truth. There are other things that form us and shape our being beyond our control; thank God for it! Yet many of the outcomes of our life can be traced back to decisions that we have made. I read another quote just the other day, “If I succeed, I will give thanks. If Ifail, I will seek His Grace.” Choices are powerful things.

In our thoughts of grandeur we narrowed our choice of mission schools down to two: Ulf Ekman’s training center connected to Word of Life Church in Uppsala, Sweden or Billy Joe Daugherty’s Victory World Mission Training Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We opted for the latter. Off we went again making our way southward; a couple more inches closer on that map.

Fall was quickly approaching in the year 2000. Everything was packed in the truck down by the street, including DaRonn’s diploma. He finished his Business Administration degree with an emphasis in Marketing. I am so proud of him! We are standing together alone in an empty apartment and he decides that now would be a good time to tell me, “We have money for gas to get us down there, and that is it.” I knew that we did not have much; but somehow I knew that it was going to be ok. I looked at him, smiled, and said, “Ok, let’s go.” We turned to walk out and heard a knock.

There standing at the door was a friend from church breathing heavily from running up the three flights of stairs. The door had been left open; Shane Daniels popped his head in smiling and said, “I wanted to catch you before you left. Don’t open it ‘til you get to Tulsa.” He handed DaRonn a plain white envelope. The contents of that envelope were exactly enough for the deposit and first months rent!

God provided miraculously for us during that time. Once DaRonn was in his “office” (half of the garage of the duplex where we lived he had painted, put down a rug, and set up his desk) and his prayers turned to the financial needs we were facing. He sensed that God told him, “Look what you have in your hands.” And all of a sudden he remembered a check that had been given to him a few weeks ago that was just sitting on his desk.

Our spiritual preparation took place in Saint Joseph; the mud was being worked into formable clay. Tulsa is where we learned the technical ins-and-outs of this precarious career we had chosen; the hands of a skilled Potter were shaping us and then we were set out to dry. Santa Cruz, Bolivia is where it all would be put to the fiery test.

“Un poco de todo”

Here in Bolivia when you say, “Un poco de todo” it means: a little bit of everything, usually in reference to a friendly chat with someone. This blog entry has a little bit of everything. I have often thought of doing a whole entry in Spanish to see what kind of response I would get; maybe sometime, not today.

(First topic)
Home school

Home schooling your children is a very foreign concept here. It is met with varied responses, as is surely the case in any country. I have to be wise when answering inquiries about the nature of the way we are educating our children. I am so grateful for the Holy Spirit; that He guides me in both pleasant and uncomfortable encounters. The funniest argument that I have heard here in Bolivia (pro-public education) is that the principal reason I should put my kids in a normal school is so that they can learn the traditional dances of the country. That was the best he could do! I chuckled. Some people are indifferent, others rude, others confused, others critical, others try to act like they understand, others think it is a great thing. As for me, the reason I do it is because I have peace that it is what I am supposed to be doing right now.

(New topic)
Relevant Jesus

We were out to dinner with a few couples from church. Out of the blue the discussion abruptly went to the new people who were coming to church. The church building is located next to a market. Usually lower class people work in the market. So the parents who work Sunday morning send their kids to Sunday school at our church. It was fine, actually fabulous, to us. But there were some people concerned about the influence that “those” kids were having on their own. The parents we were dining with were concerned about hygiene, language and social standards. First I expressed to them that it is the parent’s responsibility to train their child for brushes with influences from the world. Those coming not only from the people at church but also at school, on the TV and in the movies they watch and finally with family and friends. Then I tried a different approach. I explained some of the habits that Jesus had in His everyday life. He spent considerable amounts of time with what some might describe as the dregs of society. Yet did not close him self off with “those” kind of people, rather also spent time with dignitaries. Actually, He had a very well rounded social life, if you might call it that. The husband then looked for a rebuttal. Here is what he came up with, “But times are different now than the time when Jesus was here on earth.” Ah, now I see where we are at! The relevancy issue. To this man Jesus is a historical figure, a story book character, if you will. He does not believe that Jesus has a lick of relevancy in our culture and age. The rest of the group got bored and the subject changed. All the couples who were there at the dinner are still coming to church. I appreciate it when people are honest about where they are at and feel close enough to us to be candid. It helps us to know where some of the others may be at. I think that people haven’t changed as much as this man thinks. I believe, actually I know, that Jesus has relevancy to every person in every time. I just think that there has been a false presentation of the true person of Jesus thus some people have felt inclined to relegate Him to just another good guy in the history books. May there be an awakening and a shaking to drive us far from that!

(Another new topic)
Shopping
In our house I do the market shopping and my husband does the supermarket shopping. It works well for us. My man is a super shopper. I am more of the go-get-it-and-leave-as--fast-as-you-can kind of gal. But yesterday my husband traveled to Chile; he will be back tomorrow. So some things were running out at the house and I had to get out there and brave those long aisles and push that big clunky cart around and get what I could. After about a half an hour of looking at price tags and labels my mind starts to get all muddled, I get very bored and a bit overwhelmed. I usually stop at about the frozen foods section considering the option of abandoning the cart and making a break for the door never to come back again. As I am frozen in the frozen foods section, deep from within me comes this voice, “You can do it! Just go to the check out.” So I put one foot in front of the other and make a fuzzy push to the cashier. Finally I am through with the ordeal. Yeah Angie! So later on tonight I get on the webcam with my husband who is in Santiago. I proudly tell him that I went shopping, and that I spent almost $50. He laughs! (I knew he would, it is the joke here at the Washington house when I do the shopping.) He said, “Good that will last us for about 2 days!” Ha! At any rate the kids will have milk for their Zucaritas tomorrow morning and the cupboards won’t be bare when we welcome home our man.

Back to School

My American Fortnight (see American Weekends on Xanga site) turned into almost a month. With all the political unrest there were no buses leaving from the pueblo that my house help gal was in. She had been traveling with her family and was headed back when all the problems started, so she decided to stay and not risk the roads (see Bolivia Update).

But now my husband is back and my house help is back so I am adjusting to not having the chores to do and focusing on home school and ministry. It is good.

Monday we start our school year. We follow the Bolivian school year of Feb – Nov. The kids are very excited. I am home schooling three grades this year: K, 2nd and 3rd; should be fun.

I leave you with a fun picture of some antics.