A look back on the old school year.

This is such a fun kite bought and brought from China. See a poem Righteous wrote about a kite below.

 We finally finished the old school year on October 4th! After a 3 day break we began the new school year last week. Righteous is now in 6th grade, Nevaeh in 5th, Charis in 3rd and Samara in 1st. I had 2 wonderful helpers, from the land to the East, teach the younger 2 girls for this beginning week. This gave me the chance to have more time with the older two and dive in deeper into subjects they are struggling with . Along with the struggles I have really seen each girls individual personality start to take shape in this past year.

Our family has decided to school all year around for a multiple of reasons. One being that we have the opportunity to travel, we have been to the Coast 3 times this year! Usually when we travel I take time off of school so that we can invest fully on who we are visiting with. Another reason we don't take a summer break is because there is not many things we can do for that huge chunk of time, without getting into many arguments with one another out of pure boredom. Kenya children have holiday months off in May, August, and December, so I try to take a day or two off during those months so that my girls can interact with their friends.  But besides that it is so good for us to get into our routine and weekly schedule and build off of what we are learning without stopping.

I wanted to share a little bit about each daughter:

 Righteous often likes to ask questions while we are reading to find out how we might be feeling if we were one of the characters in the story. Her famous inquiry is, "Mom, what do you think about this?" And honestly I am just trying to finish the required reading, not take the time to stop and process all that is going on. I can miss out on the deeper purpose and my firstborn always challenges me not rush through. It is for this very reason we homeschool, to learn and grow together as a family.

Nevaeh has the natural gift to write exciting papers that are filled with descriptions and suspense. She also accomplishes this task fast so she finds herself with downtime when I am still working with her sisters. She will grab a book to read, more often than not a mystery novel, and quietly gets absorbed in the pages, not wanting to put it down. Nevaeh's heart has become tender for recognizing when she has done something wrong, and is quick to apologize. This is a newer development in her and it makes her inner beauty shine brighter than her outside beauty.

Charis is very creative and wants turn a normal assignment into something eye catching. When school is over she is usually working on some sort of art project using empty boxes, scrap papers or something that his lying around the house- not being used. Charis has picked up the pace in her reading, and while she still needs some work spelling words correctly, I can already tell she has a huge imagination when it comes to writing. She is already writing her own simple storybooks that are filled with pictures.

Samara always amazes me because it never looks like she is paying attention but if I ask her to give a review on what I just read, she can always give the right answer. There are other times she can draw a parallel from something we are learning to a movie we watched or a different book we had read months ago. She writes several letters and numbers backwards. She gets antsy every day so sometimes I have her run around the house a few times or play a quick game before continuing on with her assignments. I am excited to watch her grow, as well as each of her sisters, in this new school year.

"I kept the kite indoors. It was made of wire, dead paper and tight-bound wood. The day finally came for it to go high in the sky. The wind was so strong. It knocked me down. The kite on the string was glad to be free."
Righteous version of Valerie Worth's "Kite"

Nevaeh conducted a puppet show about Anne of Green Gables.

Anne and Marilla.

Righteous saw me trying to take a picture of her and can't help giving me a smile.

Nevaeh is a speed reader.

Nevaeh is giving a presentation about volcanoes and Samara helps hold her props up.

Charis wrote about good ol Bacon and eggs.

Painting and designing.

Busy at work.