4 mile bike ride and more

Today, the weather is gorgeous, true spring weather. The kids and I spend our morning studying outside. J is getting ready to test to be memory master for CC. She says it is "so fun!"

Later the kids wanted to show me how to bike to our grocery store. They have been on the route with daddy before couple nights ago. We got there fine but got a little lost meandering through another sub that I'm not familiar with on the way back. So it took us a little while to get home. J was fine but W says his tummy is "grumbling". :) Good thing I brought water and snack with me.

The kids was also excited to show me the "mountain" as they call it. This was our first stop on the way to the grocery store.

Someone else made this and left it here. What a great idea. The kids had fun going down and up using the rope as a guide for the slope.

Yes, we arrived at the grocery store. J led the way.

He lives!

Today, we celebrate Jesus' resurrection. HE LIVES!!!

In Sunday school, the children made a cross with toothpicks glued on it. Good fine motor skills, patience practice (need lots of toothpicks so take a while to do), and good way to remember Jesus died for our sins on the cross.

Weekend

We had a lovely weekend. I enjoyed a trip to the mall all by myself Sat. while the kids had fun with their cousins and their auntie/uncle. Lots of goofy poses and lots of treats give by auntie T after a fabulous egg hunt. Everybody also had a special extra-large egg with special treats inside. Thanks, auntie T!!



Looking at these pictures just makes me smile. :)

We also cleaned and prepared our garden for the season this afternoon. W found a lot of worms under the bricks and we are starting a worm home. :)

Discovered a centi or milli (?) pede. We found our peppermint is "thinking outside of the box" and growing too prolific. ;-)

J doing some planting and cleaning. She was such a good helper. Love you lots, J!

Later, we will celebrate Jesus' resurrection with some friends.

Taking a trip around the world!

We had a very full and fun day at the International Fair of a local college in our town. We enjoyed lots of yummy food from all the different countries and different ethnic restaurants as well as performances from the different countries and ethnic groups. Best of all, it was all free. The event was definitely better than I expected. The kids had a lot of fun since they got to meet up with their friends which is always a plus.

J/W won 2 inflatable globe which acted as their soccer ball and volleyball later at home for answering questions correctly at International Trivia game. I'm thankful for the vast opportunities that exist in our city. We'll definitely be back next year to learn more.

I did a lot of recording of the performances but here, I'll just share few pictures.


folk dance group for North Africa, the Near East and Central Asia.

Irish Step Dance. The kids also loved to watch the Armenian dancers (not shown here). My very good friend is Armenian so it was neat to learn more about the culture. She said she used to practice their cultural dance all the time. We'll have to ask for lessons in the fall.

Another favorite of the kids is watching the belly dancer. Very exotic and looks really fun.
Afro-Brazilian Dance/Drummers.
This the strolling musical group playing authentic Mexican rhythms.


Stopping by at the different tables and getting their name written in the various languages was a highlight culturally for the kids. That's in addition to collecting all the national flag stickers in their international passport.

Share the recipe of one of my favorite food: Labanese Fatthoush

1/2 kg cucumber
1/2 kg tomatoes
2 bunches of parsley
2 bunches of fresh mint
1 bunch of purslane or lettuce
3 onions (if wanted)
4 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon sumac
4 tablespoon olive oil
5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt

Separate the leaves off the parsley, mint and purslane. Slice the cucumbers, dice the tomatoes. Pound the garlic with salt and mix it in the oil and lemon. Mix the vegetables and to with pita bread. Pour the sauce and sprinkle all over.

Day at the art museum

We spend a good deal of our day at the art museum. Share a few of the highlights.


Amazing wood work! Look at the details. I love the finish of the wood.


Learning about the Art of Dinning. This was really cool. Seeing the 6 courses sure makes me hungry.

Wish I can play the harp. How many people can sleep there on those bunk bed? The kids wish they can climb on there.

Play Eye Spy! A favorite with the girls though J always tries to look at the 2nd clue.
Another amazing wood work.

Copying statues or people in the painting is another favorite thing to do with the kids.

Relaxing at the atrium cafe. It was a great day spent with friends.

A little fun with mummy

As an activity to our study of Egyptian's ritual of mummifying, the kids tried to mummify their stuffed animals. (This idea is from The Mystery of History) I love the activities in there.


Here is W's first attempt at mummifying his fox. See how much paper he used? My goodness. The second one is a later attempt with a some mommy help.

Here is J's bear fully mummified with some help. W didn't want his fox's head to be wrapped up.


Here is me trying to mummify W. :) I guess he enjoyed it by the look of it. He had fun trying to unwrap all the paper too. And that mound of paper left afterward is cave/haven for their animal friends.

2010-2011 homeschool resources

This is what I'm planning to use for the 2010-2011 school year with my 2 kids. J will be 3rd grade while W will be 1st grade if they were in public school.

1. Rod and Staff (Building Christian English series 3)
2. The Easy Spanish / Collins Spanish Club
3. Apologia science and science experiment kit
4. Drawing with Children
5. Select sections of Marsha Johnson's 2nd grade curriculum guide (avail. free on her yahoo group)
6. MEP math/ Math It for math practice
7. Sonlight for World History (Core 1)- 2 year program
8. Chinese (we use a wide variety of resources. Leave a comment if you are interested to learn more)
9. Color the classic (music)
10. Christopherus 2nd grade Saints & Heroes (plus other saint/hero books)
11. Fables (Aesop's fables for young children, books from library, and Jakata's Tales from 2nd grade Main Lesson)
12. Form Drawing (Enki 1st grade, Form Drawing by Hans R. Nierderhauser, and Melissa Nielson's Journey Through Waldorf 2nd grade book)