Global Table Adventure

 The internet truly is an amazing resource for the homeschooling family. I had been having our children pick places to make food from, and then on the map next to our kitchen table, we'd stick a sticker on it when we'd eaten food from there and learned a little about the culture. We've "traveled" to Germany (note the lovely Baumkuchen above :) ), Italy, India, Somalia (Amy had a refugee friend from school last year), Hawaii, San Francisco (rice-a-roni), and Ukraine.

 I would look up the country, and pick a menu online, but then I found this AWESOME blog: globaltableadventure  which this woman has done all the work for me! She has 650 recipes from 195 countries. It's thanks to her than I found the Baumkuchen recipe, because I thought I'd never be able to eat one of those over here, and it was delicious, and fun to make.

I feel one of the great things about homeschooling is that the girls have become more keyed in to learning opportunities. Amy came and asked me to take a look at this miniature wasp that she found on the screen the other day. (It's so small, you can hardly see it -- but trust me, it was indeed a wasp, not a fly... tiniest one I've ever seen). When we see a new bug, we go to the internet and identify it, and look up a book at the library about it if there is one.

Wompanoag

Amy has been obsessed with Native Americans for the past few years, and this year for Halloween I made her a costume out of some old fleece I'd used as a drape over our couch a few years ago (nothing like upcycling something).

We watched a great documentary about the Wompanoag and the first Thanksgiving: "Plimoth Plantation: Virtual Field Trip" by Scholastic on YouTube. I wish we lived closer, because this museum seems simply awesome! They have people dress up and learn the type of languages, and pretty much live a reenactment of that time period. We also followed up that one with watching some cultural dances from the Wompanoag from their Powow. The internet really is an amazing wealth of knowledge.

Amy would like us to all dress up for our Thanksgiving and tell about who we are (and she will be the Indian of course). We will be making a more authentic meal, which will be interesting.

Making Feather Quills

 We had some leftover feathers from Amy's halloween costume, and decided to make some feather quills. Our neighbor, Monta, had canned some beets, and we used the beet juice as ink. It was a bit hit for all the girls.

 A bit messy...

 but fun!

Our Learning Nook

We bought these little desks from Downeast Outfitters and love how their study nook turned out.

Time as a Family

Probably my favorite thing about homeschooling is that the girls are able to spend time together. Our oldest always comments on how cute the baby is and how much she missed out on when she was in school. I like the time we have together as a family.

Honey pot Ants and Oobleck

We have found some great documentaries at the library, and one was about ants. The girls were fascinated by the honey pot ant that uses members of the colony as living food storage. BBC made a whole documentary about them called Empire of the Desert Ants in 2011.
http://www.strangeanimals.info/2011/02/honeypot-ants.html


We also made Oobleck with cornstarch and water, and with soap. It was very fun, but very messy.

Trusting in God during these Miscarriages

In August, we found out we were expecting again, only to find out at our 8 week ultrasound that we would miscarry. Then, in October I found out again that I was expecting. It made the previous miscarriage easier, because I thought maybe God just scrapped the first model for a better body for our baby. I also felt that this one was a boy (a strange thing in a house with 5 girls).

I was taking a test every week, and three weeks went by with positive results. My heart started hoping again. Then, I took another test and it was negative. I was devastated, and cried a lot...and listened to Lauren Daigle's "Trust inYou" song on repeat. A friend shared a scripture that has really helped me: Hosea 11:3-4 "Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down and fed them."

I know God is a tender parent, and hurts when we are hurting. Just as I scoop my baby up in my arms and kiss her cheeks when she tumbles, God is seeking to comfort and strengthen me. I have felt my heavy heart lightened and my faith increase. I know that someday God will wipe away all the tears from our eyes (Revelations 21:4) and all will make sense. This picture of Ryan cradling his daughter warms my heart... I am sure God is even more tender to each of us.